Brendan moves forward and drops down on the couch beside me, wrapping his arm around my neck. He smells like Louis Vuitton—the cologne I could drink up. “I was convincing myself we were moving in the right direction, but he’s so busy with his career that I don’t see his focus ever being on a relationship or a family. You know that’s what I want.”
“I know, but you love him.”
“Love sometimes means setting things free, Scarlett.”
“Yeah, I got that out of your letter earlier,” I tell him.
“Well, you’re more than love to me. You’re my best friend and my safe place. If you have to leave, I’m going with you.”
I twist to face him, curling my leg up in front of me onto the couch. “I don’t know if the offer is still available. I walked out, remember?”
“If it’s not, we’ll figure it out. This is our next adventure. I have money saved up. We’ll be okay until we get on our feet down there,” and for the first time all day, a spark of excitement rumbles through me. I’ve been an independent woman most of my adult life, and it’s never bothered me, but the thought of starting over with no one by my side scares me more now than it did during my college years. I’m used to having Brendan by my side, I guess, so if I have him next to me, a change could feel a little less scary.
“Those boxes weren’t all for me, were they?”
“Nope. I started packing too.”
Wow. “This is really happening. I’m scared.”
“I’m scared too,” he says.
“I’m a little excited though,” I tell him.
“Same here. I’m going to find myself a hottie cowboy,” he says.
“Um.” I press my finger against my lip. “Brenny, sweetie, I don’t think there are too many cowboys in South Carolina. I think you’re confusing your Southern states.”
“Fine, then I’ll find myself a Southern belle-man,” he says with laughter.
I huff and laugh along with him as I rest my head against his chest. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“Dress like shit. Remember back when you only wore neutral colors?” he asks.
“Now, look at me.” I’m wearing next month’s rent and this season’s color. “You’re such a good influence.”
“I know,” he quips with pride. “So, what’s this town we’re going to?”
“Oh, I don’t know. It’s some place I’ve never heard of, but I’m sure it’s nice. It’s in South Carolina. There are palm trees, beaches, and warm weather. I wrote down the name in my notes on my phone. I’ll grab it in a minute.”
Maybe if I had given myself the night to consider Dick's offer, I would have a chance at taking him up on the position in South Carolina. Instead, I have a feeling I’m going to walk in to the hotel to a sign that says “No” on it. Dick isn't one for second chances, but all I can do right now is try.
It's cold as hell today, and just to make it a little more miserable out, it’s also raining. Between the bus and the three long blocks of walking, my pants are soaked and the rain’s sideways mist hit my hair in a bad way, even under my umbrella. I must look like a wreck. I sure as hell feel like one.
I walk through the revolving door and find Tatiana at the front desk, helping a customer. Her smile is welcoming, which I know the guests love. What I don’t understand is how she never seems to have a bad day. It's not that I’m miserable or anything, but I have a hard time putting on the charm when I’m tired and worn out after a week of long shifts.
“Hey girl!” she calls out to me as she finishes up with the customer. “I heard.” Her voice lowers to a whisper and her mouth quirks into a rigid grimace. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah—no—I don't know. I need to talk to Dick. Is he here by any chance?”
“Yeah, he just went to grab a coffee. I’m sure he'll be back in a minute.”
“Oh, good.” I place my purse down on top of the counter and run my fingers through my wet strands. “I'm a disaster.”
“I'm sure you’re stressed out. I would be too,” Tatiana says. “I did overhear that he offered you a position in South Carolina, though. That’s a pretty big move, but maybe it would be worth a try?”
I look up at her and sigh. “Yeah, that's why I'm here. I should never have just walked out yesterday without giving the opportunity any thought. I definitely wasn’t thinking clearly at the time. Maybe the position in South Carolina would be good for me. I don't know if it’s too late, though.”
“Oh, I’m sure he’ll still let you have the job,” she says, slapping her hand at the air as if to suggest he’d do anything for me. Dick hates me. Always has, but I’m not exactly sure why. I wasn’t always showing up late. It’s just been happening more often recently since the bus schedule changed. Before that happened, I could literally run out of my apartment ten minutes before I had to be here, and I’d be on time. Now, I have to leave an extra thirty minutes early, and it’s still a struggle to get here on time. Not like any of that matters now. I’ve been fired from this location.
“Scarlett, what brings you back to our establishment today? If you recall, you were escorted out of here yesterday for a good reason. Am I right?” I cringe at the sound of his voice while summoning my courage as I turn toward him.
“Richard, can I have a word with you for a moment?” I ask him, avoiding eye contact with the habitual twitch in the corner of his top lip. He constantly looks like he wants to murder me.
Dick hesitates for a brief moment, and I hold my breath the entire time. “Sure.” He gestures toward the back room with his arm, and I don’t waste any time before heading back to the quiet employee room. “How can I help you?” He closes the wooden door and pivots on his heels before crossing his arms over his chest. My focus holds tightly to the puckering of his suit jacket, and the way his tie is knotted crookedly, forcing it to hang slightly to the right. “Well? What is it?”
I snap out of my frozen gaze and look up at him, hearing Brendan’s warning about never looking a dick right in the eye, but surely today is an exception. Of course, now I have the desire to burst out laughing, but I know that won’t help me more than I’ve already helped myself. “I was wondering if the opportunity in South Carolina was still available?”
Dick chuckles as if he were expecting me to come running back. The thought makes me want to tell him where he can shove his name so I can get the hell out of this confined room that smells like tuna. “I had a feeling you’d be back.” Like I thought.
“I should have told you I needed the night to consider my options. It was foolish of me to walk out before doing so,” I tell him.
“Agreed. Unfortunately, I offered the position to Darrel last night, and he jumped at the opportunity,” Dick says.
“Darrel? As in Darrel who works one shift a week and always shows up at least an hour late and leaves an hour early?” That man made me look like employee of the year.
“Management told me to offer it to you, and if you didn’t want it, to check with Darrel. There’s not much I can do at this point. My hands are tied, Scarlett.” Are they? Because they sort of look like they’re folded so tightly across his chest that a chest hair is now popping through the opening of his dress shirt. If his tie were straight, it would at least be covering that pucker.
“Awesome. Great, well, I’m so glad I came down here for nothing.” Burning bridges again. It’s something I’m just so damn good at.
“What do you want me to tell you, Scarlett?” He unfolds his arms and places his hand on the doorknob, finalizing this useless conversation.
“That you’re going to tell Darrel there is someone more qualified for the position, and unfortunately, he’s going to have to be let go from his one-day-a-week job?”
Dick stares me for a long minute, narrows his eyes, and sighs through his lip twitch. “I was just testing you to see if you truly wanted the position. It’s yours. Darrel was let go two weeks ago.”
Was he? I didn’t happen to notice his name missing on
the schedule. It’s obviously because I’m so amazingly detail oriented. Ugh.
“Right.” I’m mortified. “Well, I’m glad the position is still available.”
“I think you’ll do fine there. Life is a bit slower, and everyone takes extra time to get where they’re going. You’ll fit in well.”
I can’t figure out if that’s an insult to me or the state of South Carolina. Just because everyone in Boston has to act like they’re on speed doesn’t mean the rest of the country should have to keep up.
“I’m looking forward to starting the new position,” I offer, quietly, due to being out of breath from the thoughts racing through my head.
“I will have our travel department book you a flight for Sunday afternoon. There are villas on-site, so we’re going to offer you room and board for one year in addition to your compensation. Look at it as a bonus for transferring.” Well, that was unexpected.
Sunday.
As in three days from now.
As in, I better get my ass in gear real quick.
“Again, I appreciate the offer. Thank you, Dick—Richard.” I reach out to shake his hand, knowing this will, thankfully, be the last time I have to see the man who I’ve grown to dislike a lot over the past few years.
“We’ll miss you around here. Good luck, Scarlett.”
I pull in a lung full of air and walk out the door as he’s opening it, unable to bring myself to voice a similar sentiment in return.
While making my way past the front desk, Tatiana is eagerly waiting to hear what happened, or so it looks by the questioning smile stretched across her face. I give her a thumbs-up as I walk by, knowing Dick is on my heels. Tatiana and I weren’t close since we never worked a shift together, but we passed each other during shift changes. “Good luck!” she offers.
“Thank you! Same to you,” I reply, sincerely, but also glad it’s, and not me, who has to continue working with Dick. Maybe I’ll make more meaningful friendships down in South Carolina. I certainly did a shitty job at maintaining those here, except for Brendan, but he’s like the easiest person to be friends with. He’s there when you need him and quiet when you don’t. I’m the same way with him. It’s perfect.
The moment I step back out into the rain, I see a break in the clouds. How symbolic. I can only hope it’s a little foreshadowing of my future as a Southerner. With relief pouring through me, I pull my phone out of my bag and dial Brendan’s number. That man lives with his phone in his right hand, so I don’t think the phone even rings once before I hear his voice on the other end of the line.
“What happened? Is it a go? I’ve been sitting by the phone for the past two hours schvitzing to death.”
“You were what?” I ask him.
“Sorry, it’s Yiddish. I was sweating to death.”
“Oh … well, it was touch and go there for a minute as Dick attempted to teach me a lesson about life choices, but it’s all good. We leave Sunday. Or, I leave Sunday. I don’t know how fast you can have your life packed up.”
“Sunday, it is. I’m packed up and ready to go, babe. It’s you who has a room full of shit that needs to find a home.”
Right. That. I’m moving, not going on vacation. This should be fun.
“I’ve already started a pile of trash, donation, and things to take.”
“Oh, it’s like a dream come true for you,” I joke.
“It was like orgasming. Honestly, it’s just invigorating to consider the thought of burning some of that shit from the nineties you persist in holding onto.”
“Ten years until the style comes back,” I argue. “I want those jeans you’re referring to by the way.”
“All ten pairs of low-waisted, bootcut, dark denim? You haven’t worn them in the whole time I’ve known you. You have taste, and those are not tasteful. Plus, sweetie, you’re a woman now, not a teenage girl with no curves. Oh, and those Candie’s Mary Janes are going too.”
“I love those!”
“Okay, well you don’t wear those either, and you might need to turn them in for a pair of cowboy boots.”
“Brenny, darling, I told you we aren’t heading out west to the deserts with tumbleweeds.”
“Have you even taken geography?” he asks.
“Yes. Have you?”
“No.”
“Awesome. Well, I guess this is just going to be one big surprise for both of us, but even more so for you,” I tell him.
“Or, we can Google the town and find out what we’re getting ourselves into.”
“Mmm, I’d rather be surprised. Google can be deceiving with their drone cameras plopping random pictures all over the Internet.”
“Well, suit yourself, but I’ve been Googling all day.”
“I don’t want to know,” I tell him.
“Um, I think you kinda do want to know.”
“No. No, no, no. I’ll hang up on you if you say anything else.”
“I’ll torture you when you get back home then. Love you!”
He’s exaggerating. He likes to do that. He always does that. I’m sure it’s just like any other town with hotels in it. I’m not worried. It’ll be fine.
Chapter Four
Austin
This is why I’m single. I glance down at my watch just as the little hand hits the two. I’m never home long enough to enjoy a damn beer, never mind entertain a woman. We’ve been short-staffed for more than two years now, so I’m constantly in the floating nurse role. Seeing as this is the only hospital within the surrounding four towns, our ER is constantly swamped with patients so I usually end up there.
After walking in a few hours ago to standing room only, we’re down to the last few patients, and these are the least critically injured.
“Well, at least I didn’t have to watch “Top Gun” again,” Clara says as she slumps over the main counter to take a quick breath.
“And I didn’t have to drink myself to sleep. See? Win-win for both of us.”
“Austin, you make my heart sad.”
“I am perfectly content with drinking myself to sleep. Why would that make your heart sad?”
She groans and lifts her files off the countertop. “Someday, you’ll understand,” Nah, probably not. The despondent look in her eyes mimics my statement as she glances back up at me.
I take a glance around the waiting room. We’re still taking patients in order of the seriousness of their injury. However, I don’t recall seeing the little girl who’s sitting in the corner by herself, squeezing her arm. She looks like she’s trying to be brave, but where the hell are her parents?
I head on over to her and squat down to make eye contact. “Hey, sweetheart, what’s your name?”
“Candace,” she says softly.
“How old are you, Candace?”
“Eight.” She swallows hard and looks down at her arm.
“Where are your parents?” I ask her.
“They’re at home, asleep. I—I kind of snuck out to meet my friend down at the square.
“Is that when you found yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time?” I ask her.
She looks terrified. Sneaking out after dark isn’t an uncommon activity around here for kids her age, but it looks like it may be her first offense.
“Yes, sir.”
“Well, I’m going to give your parents a call, okay? They need to know you’re down here.”
“Please don’t,” she begs.
“Miss Candace, there are rules I have to follow here. You don’t want me to get in trouble now, do you?”
She looks down, past her injured arm and thinks for a moment. “No, sir.”
“Can you give me your telephone number?”
She exhales loudly and looks up at me, tears filling her eyes. It’s breaking my heart having to get her in trouble. I did the same shit at her age, but I’d lose my job if I didn’t get their permission to treat her.
“555-0253.”
“Got it. Come on over here with me. You know what I bet? I bet
your parents will be so worried that you’re hurt that they won’t even be thinking about the part where you snuck out. That’s how parents are, you know?”
“Is that how your parents are?” she asks innocently.
A minute of thoughts enter and exit the dark hole inside of my head. “When I was your age, they sure did.”
“What about now?” she asks. This kid is definitely trying to stall me. Or she was just sent here to test me tonight.
“I’m a grown man, so no one needs to worry about me now,” I tell her.
“Everyone needs someone to worry about them,” she retorts.
I inhale sharply and reach over the counter for the phone. “You said, 555-02—”
“53,” she repeats.
The phone rings a couple of times before a croaky voice answers. “Who in the world is calling at this time of night?”
“Uh, yes, hi, ma’am. This is Austin Trace, an RN down at Blytheville Medical.”
“Oh, dear God, is everything okay? Is it my father, Harris? Did he fall again?”
“No, no, ma’am. I have Candace down here. She’s okay, but she has a bit of a contusion I need to treat on her arm, and I can’t do so without your permission.”
“That’s impossible,” she says, sounded exhaustedly confused. “Candace is sleeping in her bedroom next door.”
“I hate to be the messenger, but The Square was a bit more exciting than her bed tonight, ma’am.”
“Is she okay?”
“She’ll be just fine, but I need your permission to treat her.”
“Yes, yes, of course, I’ll be right down, but you go ahead and start working on her.”
“Thank you, ma’am. I’ll see you shortly.”
Candace covers her face with her uninjured hand. “I’m dead.”
“Maybe, but we all live and learn, kid. Trust me.” I take her to the triage area and get her seated on the bed. “Let’s take a look.” She pulls up her sleeve and exposes an injury far worse than I expected to see. There’s exposed tissue surrounded by blisters. At a glance, it looks like second and third-degree burns. I take a hospital gown from under the bed and lay it down beside her. “Do you think you’re able to change into this or would you like me to find a female nurse to help you out?”
The Man Cave Collection: Manservant, Man Flu, Man Handler, and Man Buns Page 63