“Therefore, we have hired a permanent manager and much to my dismay, I am afraid we have no choice but to let you go.”
My heart stops and my mind grows weary. Was this a bad dream? I must still be asleep. Am I being fired?
“Magda, I don’t understand. I have been a loyal employee to this company for nearly 3 years. Why can’t I just take on my old position as the manager’s lead?”
“Well, Natalie, it would not be appropriate. You can’t hold respect from your peers while being demoted at the same time.” She replies, waving her hands as her chunky bracelets tap together. Me, not having a job is of no concern for her. Defaulting on credit card payments and car loans were the farthest thing on her mind. She had one of those trees in her back yard that blossomed with apples and worthwhile jobs as well as ample monetary funds.
“Here is your final check. We paid you for the full pay period as severance. It was nice working with you. The security man should be bringing some boxes for your things and will help you out. I have a meeting I must run to though so I’m afraid we need to wrap this up. Take care.”
I walked back to my desk through the maze of cubicles where not a soul would meet my eyes. People would stare down at the floor or quickly turn to their monitors as though they were actually concerned about their work. I fought back the tears because I refused to let anyone see my pain and humiliation.
I boxed up my things while Jerome the security guard stood outside my cubicle. Do they think I actually want their stupid tape roll or stapler? I would like to kick my foot into the computer monitor but that could scuff my cute shoes and that would be worse.
“Natasha, I just wanted to say that we are really going to miss you and we’re sorry that you decided to leave.” It was Marcia. Marcia the 40 year old, scrunchie wearing co-worker that still had not realized 80’s style tapered pants and Keds were not flattering.
“Marcia, I was fired. You hear me? Fired. I’m not leaving because I have a fabulous new job. I’m leaving because 3 years of blood, sweat and tears means nothing to my boss or anyone else around here! And for the record, MARCIA, my name is NATALIE!!! It is not Natasha, Natalia, Nicola or anything else besides NATALIE you stupid 80’s fashion train wreck! Here, take my Cosmo! You might learn something!” I threw my magazine at her and was hastily escorted out of the suite.
I got into my car and sobbed uncontrollably. I have never been fired in my entire life. I felt like a failure. What was I going to do? The job market in Portland was terrible. People with years of experience in their field are now working as fast food shift managers just to try and make ends meet. I now have no health insurance, no retirement plan and no steady paycheck.
I knew that I could not face my mother right now, Mya was at class and Jenna, was well, not in the picture at the moment. I knew there was one person that had a pretty good idea what I was going through right now. I just hoped she was home. Of course, it was barely 10 A.M. and I knew she was still unemployed.
I drove to Laura’s apartment and tapped on her door. It took a while but she answered, still wearing her bathrobe and a messy bun on her head.
“Natalie, what’s going on? Is everything okay?” A quick look at the expression on my face and the rampant river of tears down my face woke her up.
“Come in, come in. Here are some tissues. Oh sweetie, what happened?”
“I, I…I can’t even say it.” I groaned in between my hysterical choked up crying.
“Natalie, did you get fired?” Laura asked in a whisper, almost unable to say it herself.
“Yesssss.” I sob some more and a little bit louder.
“Jiminy Christmas, what the hell were they thinking? Did something happen?”
I explained to Laura Magda’s half assed excuse for firing me. After about half an hour of complete meltdown, I calmed down a bit.
“Wow, you really said that to Marcia? You rock. I’d been wanting to say that for years. She’s such a bitch.” I love Laura. She always knows just what to say.
“Oh no, I have a cooking class tonight. Ugh, I don’t want to go at all now.”
“You’re taking a cooking class? Hmm, that’s cool.”
“No, it isn’t cool at all. My mother invited Ian and his little sister over for dinner last night. While Ian and I were having one of our typical altercations, they signed us up for cooking classes.”
“Wow, your mother likes him Natalie.”
“Yeah, well then she can date him. I find him despicable.”
“Despicable and hot more like it!”
“Yeah, he is hot, the bastard. It makes it really difficult to hate him when part of me wants to tear his clothes off.”
“Well, I know under these circumstances, you would like nothing more than to stay at home and watch all 6 seasons of Sex and the City, but I think it would do you some good to get out.”
“Hm, I wonder what Carrie Bradshaw would do in a situation like this?” I pondered for a moment and Laura and I both came to same conclusion.
“Natalie, I don’t think buying new shoes is going to help your situation.” Laura warned but I had to do something. I know it isn’t smart either but if I was going to face Ian O’Reilly tonight, I wanted to feel cute.
“Come on. I’ll use my emergency credit card. It doesn’t have a huge credit line anyway so I can’t do that much damage.”
Three hours later, I had a dark brown Coach Bag, new pair of Citizens, coral velvet blazer, cashmere turtleneck oh and a pair of dark brown Via Spiga boots. I kind of went overboard but I needed to do it. Besides, I got the boots on sale at Nordstrom Rack, the blazer and the turtleneck were from Gap and well, the rest were, luxury investments.
“Okay shopping queen, do you feel better?”
“Yeah, for the moment or until I get my statements showing the $527.50 shopping spree.” Yikes. I better get a job soon.
“Did you want to come in and hang out some more? We could watch chick flicks and eat ice cream.”
“I better get home. I’d like to take a nap before my evening of culinary hell. Thank you Laura.”
“For what? That’s what friends are for. Now go and prepare yourself. You have to look hot. Oh, and wear your sexy underwear.”
I wasn’t sure the purpose of sexy underwear when it came to cooking class, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt.
Chapter Fifty
After a few hours of curling up in front of the television with the cat and my new Coach Bag, I figured it was time to get ready for the class. Luckily, I already knew what I was going to wear so that made life a little bit easier. The fact that Mya wasn’t going to be home until later on tonight also gave me a sigh of relief. I love my dear friend but I just wasn’t ready to talk about my morning yet…not to mention my irresponsible shopping spree. Maybe I was still in denial.
Although it was rush hour traffic, the drive wasn’t too long. Our class was held at a community college a few miles from my apartment. I hadn’t ever been there and really had no idea even which room to go to. Luckily, I arrived at the same time as Ian and we found it together. Mr. Always-Be-Prepared apparently already did his research and knew exactly where to find it.
“You look nice Natalie, something new?” Why do people bother to compliment when they are obviously going to ruin it with another comment?
“Ian, I’m not in the mood for you to remind me of what a materialistic clone I am. Let’s just get this stupid thing over with.”
“That’s not what I said or meant Natalie. Never mind, you’re right. I don’t know what I was thinking agreeing to this anyway. We clearly can’t spend more than minutes without bringing out the evil in our personalities.”
“Okay class welcome! If everyone could stand at a station we can begin. My name is Gerard Le Bleu. For those of you who have not heard of me, I was a chef for many years to stars such as Mimi Joy and Rolf Van Derzanden.”
“Have you ever heard of those people?” Ian whispered in my ear.
“No have you?” I pride my
self on my knowledge of obscure names in the entertainment field. Yet, the people Chef Le Bleu name dropped were not even in my mental data.
“Hm, mm.” The Chef cleared his throat and cast his eyes in our direction. He was a chubby little man with a balding gray head. His cheeks had a rosy tint to them and when he smiled, they lit up even more. I couldn’t decide if he was gay or just really excited over being a cooking teacher. Nevertheless he tended to wave his arms a lot in glee.
“Now since this class is Vegetarian Cooking for the 21st Century, we are going to make an Apple, Onion and Gruyere Tart. It is a succulent dish that can be served with a very basic arugula salad that will both satisfy and impress your dinner guests.” Chef Le Bleu clapped his hands and I actually got a little excited at the fact that I might learn to make a vegetarian dinner for my carnivore friends.
We gathered all of our supplies and got down to business. I had some difficulty with rolling out the dough but Ian helped by adding more flour to the board.
“Ah yes, this is what I like to see. Neighbor is helping neighbor. Cooking should not be a competition, it should be a delight!” Ian and I looked at each other and could not help but laugh.
“Well, maybe there is hope for us yet. I haven’t thought about ringing your neck for at least 12 minutes Ian. You should be proud.” I say while finely chopping my onions.
“Back at ya, Everett. But don’t fret; I’m sure I will make some sort of comment or joke that will be offensive to get me back on your list.” He winked and walked over to the refrigerator to chill the dough.
I stopped chopping my onion and just stared at him as he walked away. I was smiling and giggling to myself like a teenager and I think the Chef noticed. As he was assisting a young lady across the room, I noticed him smiling at me as though he knew this class was more than just about learning to cook.
“I have to say, I was very surprised that my meal turned out as well as it did.” Ian said as we walked to our cars.
“Me too, besides, I needed a night like this to get my mind off my life.” Oops, too much information. For a moment, I got a little too comfortable with Ian and forgot that I should not be opening up with information such as…
“I got fired today.” Hello, Natalie, didn’t we just decide to ourselves that we should not be talking to Ian about this? Hmm, maybe I should be talking to someone besides the voices in my head, psycho. Oh wait I can’t now because I don’t have health insurance. Shut up!
“Are you ok? Natalie?” Ian asks as I try to come out of my inner conversation.
“Huh?” I respond feeling a bit embarrassed.
“Are you alright? What happened? Sorry, I’m sure the last thing you want right now is 20 questions. Would you like to go have some coffee somewhere and talk?” I really didn’t want to go home right now and in all honesty, I also didn’t want my night with Ian to end. I was actually having a good time. I wasn’t angry with him or feeling competitive. I was comfortable and relaxed and felt like he was a friend for the first time, not my enemy.
“I think I would like that. Are you sure though? Do you have to get back to Maggie?”
“Crap, I dropped her off at your mother’s tonight. I know she isn’t a kid anymore but I feel funny leaving her alone at night, you know? It’s interesting too because Maggie and your mother are becoming thick as thieves. You better watch it, you may be getting replaced.”
“That’s fine. It takes some of the heat off of me to get married and give her grandchildren.”
“I’ll give her a call and see how things are. Hang on; I left my phone in the car.” As Ian was talking to my mother, I took a quick glance in my car window and tried to discretely apply more lip gloss.
“Alright we’re good to go. As soon as I mentioned we might go get coffee, she practically cried.” Ian smiled and he looked as though he may actually be blushing.
“You know, I just remembered, I am supposed to meet up with Mya after this. Maybe we could have a rain check?” Okay, ‘what are you thinking?’ is going through your head right? Yeah, it’s going through mine too. But we have had such a great time tonight; I don’t want to ruin it. I want it to end with civility and smiles not daggers and insults. Not to mention the fact that I am completely freaked out right now. I could say something stupid at any moment.
“Yeah, sure, I understand. It is getting late anyway. Maggie has school tomorrow.” Ian wrinkled up his nose and waved his hand to say it was no big deal to him. But I felt maybe it was.
“Okay, well, I’ll talk to you later then?” I turned back toward my car wondering if I was making a mistake.
“Hey Natalie?”
“Yeah?”
“I enjoyed spending this time with you.” I thought I would melt. His eyes were sincere and thoughtful and his mouth curled with a smile. This was it. The guy that once stepped on me in a video store and turned me into a righteous bitch had grown on me. It was official. I had fallen for the not so wretched Ian O’Reilly.
Chapter Fifty-One
It had been two days since my employment terminated. It had also been two days since my fantabulous night with Ian. Needless to say, there were many different emotions running through me. One was guilt for lying to Mya about being sick. I had to give her some explanation for why I was still in bed when she woke up at 9:00 A.M. The truth was not an option at the time, okay?
So now it is Thursday morning and I can hear Mya rustling around in the kitchen. Hmm, I’m kind of hungry. I wonder if she is making breakfast.
“Natalie? Are you awake?” The door is pushed ajar and I see Mya’s face appear.
“Yeah, I just woke up. What’s going on?” Mya has a thermometer; blood pressure monitor and stethoscope, along with some foul smelling cup of please don’t tell me I have to drink that.
“I know you don’t want to see the doctor, but I really think you should let me get your vitals.” Ah yes, the pros and cons of having a nursing student as your best friend.
“Actually Mya, I feel much better today.” Phew, that could have been worse!
“Then why aren’t you at work?” She asks puzzled.
“Can’t I stay home from work and not feel like I need to have you sign a note for my boss? I really appreciate your concern but I am an adult and I am just fine!”
“Natalie what is wrong with you? Have I made you mad? You have been avoiding me since Tuesday and I don’t get it.”
“Do you have all day?”
“Fine, I’m not going to talk to you when you’re like this. Call when you’re not being a bitch.” She walked out and slammed the door. God, I was being a bitch. I really wanted her to just break up with her boyfriend and go back home, which was only down the street, by the way.
“Mya wait, I’m sorry. I haven’t been totally honest with you. Can I talk to you?” She was sitting on the sofa with her feet up on the coffee table, reading a rather large book about Physiology.
“I’m trying to study Nat. Maybe later?” Wow, I did piss her off. I wasn’t even getting direct eye contact.
“I got fired on Tuesday morning! There I said it. I am a loser that got fired from a job that I didn’t even like in the first place and now I’m going to be poor and I’ll probably have to move to an old smelly studio apartment on Burnside where my neighbors are all drug dealers!” It was true maybe. I could barely afford the apartment I was in and my salary although not great would probably be difficult to match. The thought of moving into a smelly apartment scared the hell out of me.
“Natalie, you got fired? Why didn’t you tell me?” Finally, the big text book came down and her face softened but looked confused.
“I was embarrassed. You have your career planned out. When you graduate and take your boards, you are going to be a nurse. Not only will you have a job you like, you’re also going to make pretty decent money. I went to college, got a degree and had absolutely no idea what I would do after. All I have to show for my education are student loans and credit card debt. Oh, and some old books tha
t say USED in yellow tape. I’m a classy chick. No wonder I can’t get a boyfriend!” Oh, here they come, the tears. It was really only a matter of time.
“Hey, it’s going to be alright. You are a fighter Natalie Everett. You don’t give up when things get tough. So you don’t have life planned out. Big deal! Losing this job may be the best thing that happened to you. And boyfriends are not all they’re cracked up to be. Look at me, I had one and I still wasn’t happy.”
“Actually Mya, you still have him.”
“You’re right. I need to just do it. Like a band aid?”
“Yep, like a band aid.”
Chapter Fifty-Two
Disillusion Meets Delight Page 20