DADDY BOSS
By Claire Adams
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2018 Claire Adams
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Chapter One
James
I was sitting in my office on the second floor above the art gallery. I loved having my office up there. It gave me the ability to think so much more clearly than if it had been right next door to the showroom.
“Hey, man,” Derek, my best friend, said as he walked in.
It drove me crazy that he would just walk into my office whenever he wanted, without even knocking. Every time he did it, I thought again that it was a good thing I didn’t have a girlfriend or a wife. That way he couldn’t just barge in on me while we were doing shit he shouldn’t see.
“Hey,” I said, trying to hide my annoyance.
Derek walked over to the chair on the other side of my desk, pulled it out and sat down. The sound of the chair dragging across the thin carpet made me clench my jaw. He clasped his hands together and leaned into my desk.
“So,” he said, nodding his head. “I had a crazy fucking weekend.”
I shook my head and laughed, “When do you not?”
“This is why you need to come out with me. You’d see how much fun I really can be,” he said.
“I know you can be fun. Too damn much fun. If I spent time with you on the weekends, I’d never get anything done at work,” I laughed.
“You don’t get it, man. I took two chicks home with me. Two!” He held up two fingers when he repeated the word, like I wouldn’t be able to grasp it without the visual assistance.
“That’s awesome.” I guess. I wasn’t really sure what else to say to him. I really wasn’t that interested in his stories anymore. Not since Whitney died two years ago. Nothing had really been the same ever since. It wasn’t Derek’s fault, and I tried hard to still be a good friend to him, but it just wasn’t the same. I wasn’t the same—and I never would be again.
“Dude, you seriously need to come out with me next time,” he said.
My phone beeped on the table, indicating I had an email. I glanced at it and saw it was an email from one of the artists that wanted to book a show. They had said they’d call me this week, but I hadn’t heard from them, so I was surprised when I saw the email. They were asking if I was okay, because they hadn’t heard from me. I was going to have to look into what Janice was up to after Derek left.
“Yeah right. So, Derek, do you remember, Nell. She’s a little girl—about yay high.” I held my hand up, demonstrating her height.
“Yeah, so?”
“She’s my daughter. I can’t just leave and go do whatever I want on the weekends anymore. You know this,” I said.
Derek blew out a deep breath.
“What?” I wanted to know why he was so irritated.
“Nothing.” He was just trying to brush this off. He was clearly upset about something and I wanted to know what it was.
“What? Seriously, just tell me,” I pressed him.
“It’s just that things used to not be like this.”
I gave him a confused look. “Like what?”
“You. You never come out with me anymore. You used to. You and Whitney used to come out with me on the weekends all the time.”
I stared at him for a moment, not sure what to say. He didn’t know what it was like to find the love of your life and then have her ripped from you way too soon. He didn’t know what it was like: not even close. Yet here he was trying to say that I was no longer any fun. I ignored the anger that bubbled deep within me. I knew anger would never get me anywhere, so I always tried to avoid it.
I looked down at my hands and picked at the skin on the side of my nail. “You mean before she died?”
My intent was only to remind him of why I’d been acting the way I had for the last two years. I knew I had changed, but an event like this changes people: it’s just a fact.
“Yeah, but dude, you remember you are still allowed to have a life, right?” For the first time in two years, Derek was looking at me differently. He wasn’t looking at me with pity. He was looking at me like he meant business. It was a little refreshing in a way, but it still stung. No matter how much truth was in his words.
“I know, but it’s hard.” It was all I could say, anything else and I might have fallen apart. I was still working through my emotions, still grieving. Though it wasn’t as bad as the first year. Each day it hurt a little less, and I thought about her and the way it ended a little less. But it was still there. It still seemed like it had just happened sometimes. Everyone else moved on so easily. Even Nell wasn’t upset about her mom’s passing. But she also didn’t remember her much. She was barely just three when it happened.
Derek stood up and started walking to the door of my office. He placed his hand on the doorknob and turned back to look at me.
“It’s been two years, James. It’s time to get out and get on with your life,” he said and stared at me.
I wasn’t sure how to respond to that, so I figured a change of subject was in order.
“I’ll be having another showing for you soon, buddy.” It was all I could think of, and all I wanted to say.
Derek nodded at me; he knew what I was doing. He left just as abruptly as he entered, and once again I was alone in my office. I turned my attention back to the email I’d received from the artist, asking if I was okay. I wrote back and told them all was good here and asked if they had tried to call. After that, I turned my attention back to my schedule planning.
I had four shows coming up that I needed to plan and fit into the month of September. I’d been getting busier and busier lately, and it was refreshing to have a lot of work to focus on. Nell had just started kindergarten, and that was a pretty big ‘first’ that her mom was missing. She was fine, but I found it difficult to cope with. I had been trying to proactively protect myself from certain events, but Nell’s first day of kindergarten was unavoidable, and one of the hardest. It had definitely gotten to me.
I heard the ping of my email and saw it was a reply from the same artist, saying three messages had been left for me. I was shocked. This meant Janice wasn’t doing her job at all. How the hell was my business going to thrive when my assistant was so awful? This wasn’t the first thing she had done that could cost me artists, reputation, and money.
I sent them back a quick email letting them know that I was very sorry for the delayed response and that my assistant was in charge of calls, but that it was partially my fault for not checking up on things more. I let them know she would be fired by the end of the day. Then I gave them my personal cell phone number.
I got up from my desk and walked downstairs. I couldn’t believe that she had done this. I couldn’t believe I had let things get so fucking bad.
“Janice,” I said, as I walked over to her desk. I noticed her hair was starting to grey some and the wrinkles on her face were starting to show more. Maybe she was just forgetting more easily. But probably not. She’d worked for me for a year, and I’d had nothing but problems with her.
“Yeah?” She was chewing a piece of gum and popping it. Something I hated more than anything. It was my biggest pet peeve, and I knew she was aware of it.
>
“Have I had any calls?” I asked, in my normal, everything-is-just-peachy voice.
She smiled at me, “Yeah, you’ve had a few.”
“Why didn’t you come tell me about them?” I asked her.
She shrugged, which I didn’t really understand. Seems like trying to explain why she wasn’t actually doing her job would require more than a shrug. I was trying hard not to get too upset with her as I didn’t need some crazy ass lawsuit to come out of nowhere. But it was fucking hard.
I cocked my head to the side and crossed my arms. I wanted to give her a chance to redeem herself and possibly save her job.
“I don’t know. You were busy, and then I just forgot. People forget.”
“All week? Janice, come on, all week? Three messages from one artist and God only knows what else. And you just forgot?” I was starting to lose my temper.
“It wasn’t anything that important; calm down.”
The fact that she was telling me to calm down pissed me off even more, but the cherry on top was how nonchalant she was about the whole thing. Like it was okay to just forget things when it came to your job. Like nothing was important here.
I was seriously tired of untrustworthy people. I had been through a pretty tragic event and had found that I had zero patience for bullshit. I didn’t want anything to do with this sort of bullshit.
“You know why I hired you, right?” I asked her.
“Because you needed an assistant?” she asked. Her voice sounded bored, disinterested even.
“Yep. And that means you come upstairs and let me know when I receive messages from clients. I have an artist that just emailed me asking if I was okay because they hadn’t heard from me and after making several calls this week. Do you know how embarrassing that is? How do you think that reflects on me and on the reputation of my business?”
She shrugged.
“Janice, I was trying to be nice and hopefully give you the benefit of the doubt. But I can’t do this anymore. This is not okay. You’re done,” I said, and watched her mouth fall open.
“You can’t fire me,” she said.
“Why is that?” I shot back.
“Because you need me.”
“No, I need someone who can be my assistant. Someone who will actually do the job and do it effectively. That’s not you.”
“Whatever, I was about to quit anyway,” she said and stood up, knocking over her chair. She didn’t bother to pick it up. Instead, she grabbed her purse from the desk drawer, swung it over her shoulder, and flipped me off.
I nodded my head at her. “Yep, pretty sure I made a good decision,” I said.
She flipped me off again, called me an asshole and walked out of the building. I shook my head and sat down at her desk. Right there on a little sticky note were several names. No messages, no phone numbers. Just names and the number of times they called.
What I couldn’t figure out was how I had waited so long to fire her. I had kept her around and let her keep on working when she couldn’t even deliver a simple message to me. She could have just called me and let me know. She didn’t even have to walk up the stairs to my office if she didn’t want to.
Taking a deep breath, I started thinking about my options. I really needed to get a new assistant in here, and I needed to do it quickly, so I could get help fixing what Janice had fucked up.
I hoped that I hadn’t lost any artists from her inept handling of my business.
Walking back upstairs, I went into my office. When I got to my computer, I posted an ad online for a new assistant. Then I sat just back and waited.
Chapter Two
Rachel
It was two in the afternoon, and I was still sitting on the couch in my pajamas. I didn’t really care. I was mindlessly watching daytime television. It was awful, but it kept my mind busy. For the most part. It was hard not to get sucked into my own thoughts. Into my own miserable little world.
Sitting there, I let the loss of my desire to do anything with my life take over. I still wasn’t ready to function normally, and at this point, didn’t really think I would ever be able to.
There was a knock on my apartment door that pulled me out of my thoughts. I got up off the couch, walked over, and looked through the peephole. It was my best friend, Sadie. I debated for a moment about letting her in or not. I liked being by myself and hated having to socialize these days.
I figured I’d better let her in before I pushed her away too much, though. I had already lost enough friends over the last year, and I couldn’t really handle losing anymore. Especially not Sadie: not my best friend.
I opened the door.
“Hi, Sadie,” I said, trying to muster up my most cheerful voice.
“Hey, Rachel. Can I come in, or are you just going to make me stand here?”
Opening the door, I stepped back some. “No, no come in. Sorry, my apartment is such a mess. It’s just I’ve been so busy lately.”
She raised an eyebrow, “Busy? With what?”
“With… With nothing,” I finally said, exhaling a sigh.
“That’s what I thought,” she said, and then I watched as she began to pick various things up and set them off to the side or put them away. She even unloaded and loaded my dishwasher. I hadn’t done that in at least three weeks. I’d ended up just opting for paper plates and plastic ware. I didn’t necessarily use many dishes. I hadn’t been eating much anyway since it was just me all by myself. There had been no one else to feed meals to.
“You really need to get yourself out of the house and get your life back together, Rachel,” she said, as she cleaned.
“I know,” I said, speaking quietly. She was right. I knew she was, but I was so damn tired. I wasn’t happy. I had nothing to live for now, so getting my life back together was a lot harder than it seemed. I sat down on the couch. I felt awkward in my own apartment while she was cleaning it, and didn’t really know what to do. I wasn’t sure if I should help her or just stay out of the way.
“I’m serious, Rachel. I’m worried about you.”
I waved a hand at her. “Oh, don’t be. I’m just fine,” I said.
“Are you sure about that?” she asked me, as she made a gesture around the apartment.
Tears were starting to burn the corner of my eyes. I didn’t want to cry again though. Especially not in front of Sadie. Not in front of anyone. I didn’t even want to cry again when I was alone. I was tired of crying.
Sadie came over and sat down next to me. She put her arm around my shoulders and pulled me to her.
“What’s wrong, Rach?”
I took a deep breath, but my shoulders slouched forward, and the tears ripped through me. “I’m just so tired and overwhelmed,” I admitted.
It was the truth. I hadn’t been sleeping well, and I knew depression made people tired. I knew without a doubt that I had depression. I just wouldn’t admit it out loud to anyone. I felt constantly tired and the more tired I felt, the more I didn’t want to do anything. Thus leading to me feeling more and more overwhelmed. It was a vicious and never-ending cycle, and I had no idea how to break it.
“I know; that’s why I’m here.”
“It’s just been so hard for me.”
“I know. But Rachel, it’s been a year. It’s time to start working on putting your life back together now, she said.
Turning back to Sadie, I gave her a hug. There was a reason this girl was my best friend. She had always been there for me through everything bad that had happened.
“He’s engaged,” I told her.
“How do you know?” she asked.
“I made a fake account, and I stalk him. I look at least once a week.”
A hand went to her mouth. “Oh, Rachel. That needs to stop. You are so much better than that. You are so much better than them.”
The ‘them’ she referred to were my ex-husband and his fiancée. The girl he left me for because he couldn’t deal with our marriage anymore. Even a year later, it was still too
hard for me to cope with. Especially since I had discovered they were engaged. In one year they had moved their relationship status so fast, and I hadn’t moved at all. It seemed so unfair.
“Let’s go get you ready and go out to lunch. Come on. I want to take you out for a bite to eat,” Sadie said.
I didn’t want to go. I wanted to just stay at home. I didn’t want to have to continue on with my life. I was perfectly happy just wasting away in my own little apartment away from the world and all the evil in it.
But I didn’t want to lose Sadie, and somewhere deep down inside of me, I hoped that it would make me feel a little better to actually get out of the house. So reluctantly, but with a tiny sliver of hope, I made my way from the living room to my bedroom so I could start getting ready.
Grabbing some clothes from my closet, I threw them on and stepped into the bathroom to fix myself up a bit.
I applied just a bit of mascara and lip gloss, then brushed through my hair and threw it up into a messy bun. I was ready, readier than I had been in a while.
Walking back into the living room where she was waiting for me, I grabbed my purse.
We decided to take Sadie’s car. I didn’t feel like driving, anyway. I climbed inside of her white Volvo and buckled myself in.
“You know what I think would help you?” she asked, as we drove toward the restaurant.
I had been looking out the window, in my own world. Starring off into the distance, and once again, wrapped up in my own thoughts. Lost in them and feeling lonely. It was weird to watch the world just fly by. Everything looked different now. I hardly ever left the house, and when I did it, I always noticed new things going on in my community. Almost every time there was something new to look at.
“What’s that?” I asked her, only partially curious as to what she was going to say.
“A job.”
I turned my head slowly and looked at her. Had she lost her mind? I bought paper plates and plastic forks so I wouldn’t have to worry about dishes anymore. How the hell did she think I was going to be able to hold a job? I hadn’t had a job in over a year. I lived off the alimony my ex-husband paid me. It wasn’t at all, a life of luxury, but it paid the bills and allowed me to buy food. It was enough for me.
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