by Mima
“A lot of work.”
“No problem.”
“Very good then,” she pushed the sheets aside and opened her MacBook. “Let’s get to work.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
He was a nervous wreck. Jolene was the first female boss that Chase ever had, so he was always scared about how he should act around her. Women in general always made him kind of nervous. If life had taught him anything, it was that the fairer sex often grew angry or frustrated with him, often without him really doing much to provoke such a reaction. He wasn’t really sure if he said or did the wrong thing but eventually, they all grew annoyed with him; his mother, Lucy, Maggie, Kelsey, even the women he had affairs with in the past. It sometimes felt like it wasn’t what he did say but more, what he didn’t say that pissed them off.
Jolene was probably the exception to that rule but it took him some time to realize it. She was patient, strong and didn’t appear annoyed if he fucked up. Not that he fucked up on anything major but on the small things he misunderstood because of a slight language barrier. “So what? We just fix it.” She would say with a mere shrug, her voice neither lifting or changing, her body language continuing to be relaxed. In fact, it was probably a week in, while the two were shopping for suits, that she burst into laughter, her head swinging back and she clapped her hands together.
Dumbfound, Chase glanced down to make sure the zipper wasn’t opened in his pants or that his shirt buttons weren’t crooked but everything was perfectly fine. The sales associate appeared to be perplexed, almost nervous, as he rushed away to another customer. Jolene didn’t seem to notice and shook her head.
“Chase, you like a lost little boy scared of his mommy,” She spoke gleefully, wiping a stray tear from her eye, while a smile glistened on her pouty lips. Gesturing toward the suit he was wearing, she shook her head. “You look nervous when I say that I do not like. It is not, it is not you? You know? It…I do not like, I think it is not a good color for you.I want to see white shirts, they look fresh, you know? That shirt, that yellow, banana color shirt, it is not good.”
“I guess,” He glanced in the mirror and shrugged. “I’m not great with fashion. The sales guy said-”
“Sales guy stupid, your skin, it looks yellow too,” She rushed through the store and grabbed a white shirt. “You need white, it looks so nice on you with your dark skin, it brings out the white in your eyes and teeth. You look good!” She glanced down at the dark gray suit. “The suit, I don’t know. I do not like. We will find better.”
With an extra bill added to his credit card, Chase was a little nervous. He was about to move into a new apartment downstairs from Maggie and his expenses were building while Audrey was back home, demanding money. Even his mother started to ask for some money, now that her finances since Carl Jacobs’ death and insurance were dwindling. Chase could barely afford to support himself. Although his job paid well, Calgary wasn’t a cheap city and he wasn’t scheduled to receive his first pay cheque until the day of his move.
Jolene somehow managed to haggle him a deal; probably because her abrupt nature had a tendency to sometimes scare those around her but she was really quite harmless. Her comment in the dressing room was a bit of an awakening to him and something he thought about in the days to come. Why did women intimidate him? When he thought of his mother lashing out when he was a child, her anger seemed to erupt out of nowhere, often with Chase unsure of what he did wrong. Audrey had been the same. Whereas other women, those he was attracted to, intimidated him for completely different reasons.
The only woman who didn’t intimidate him was Kelsey; but now that he had moved, she ignored him. He had made a few attempts to text her but she never replied. At a certain point, he realized that it was probably for the best anyway. Perhaps it was time for her to move on, not be obsessed with him, with dreams of seduction floating through her head. She was better than that and really, she was better than him. He had fucked up his life but Kelsey still had a chance.
After moving into his new apartment and growing more comfortable with his job and the city as a whole, Chase reached out to both his aunt Maureen and sister, in hopes of meeting the two for dinner some evening. It would be a way of killing two birds with one stone but his attempts were futile. His sister was tied up with her boyfriend and work, promising that she would get together with him when things slowed down but he almost felt like that was just an excuse. Wasn’t he busy too? Working long hours for Jolene and recently locating Harold’s friend Billy’s gym, the potential of a second job came into the picture. Meeting the owner, a guy he immediately recognized as native, the two instantly connected.
“Harold has a lot of great things to say about you,” He eased into a smile as he showed Chase around the facility; which was three times the size of the gym that Chase used to work at for Harold. When he made this comment, Billy gave a short laugh. “I bet, out in Hennessey, I’m guessing the demand for a gym probably isn’t anything close to what we got.”
Chase felt a little embarrassed by his wide-eyed comment, fearing he sounded like an ignorant hick, he didn’t reply.
“It sucks that it didn’t work out for him but it’s a tough industry,” Billy commented as he continued to give him the tour. “Harold said you’re into boxing, we’ve got a ring, heavy bags and everything on the second level.” He gestured toward the nearby stairs leading to the basement portion of the building. Walking into the room, Chase felt as though he was in heaven. It wasn’t a huge, bright room like the rest of the gym, but it was exactly what he needed. A young man appeared to be training a young, black woman in the ring, both barely glanced in his direction. “We got it all here.”
Chase nodded and a smile lit up his face as he looked around at the array of heavy bags and smaller, speed bags. By the time he left, he got a reasonable membership and was also asked if he would be interested in occasionally taking a shift in the future.
“We don’t have a lot of work right now but sometimes we need a casual and you never know what will happen, right?”
Chase agreed that he would be interested, time permitting and left the gym feeling pretty reassured, confident about what the future held. Although he had a lot of doubts when first moving to the city, he was slowly starting to see things work out in his favor. It still stung a bit that family and friends seemed indifferent about his decision, he managed to push that aside and decided not to dwell on it.
He often would Skype the children back home but they seemed uninterested in him, often appearing frustrated that they were being pulled away from other activities. Audrey could be heard in the background reminding them that ‘Daddy is really busy, we have to talk to him when he’s available’ but he sensed their rush to get away, only saying a quick hi; the twins were too young to comprehend what was going on, Leland going between crying for him to come home, while other times appearing bored by their conversation. It pulled his heart strings more than Chase would’ve expected. It appeared that Audrey’s new man, a quiet guy he went to high school with, was turning out to be a better father than he had ever been. Maybe he deserved what he got, Chase decided.
The loneliness that he never expected with such a busy schedule, would creep in at night and on his day’s off. Sitting alone at the computer in the evening, while others could be heard walking by outside his door, going out to restaurants and bars, left him feeling lonely. It was the darkest hours in the night and early mornings, when he felt his desires churning, wishing to reach out and feel a warm body beside him when Chase felt at his lowest point. He briefly considered going on a dating website for some companionship; he even thought about going out to a bar to find a quick hookup but felt awkward doing so in a strange city and instead stayed home, inadvertently learning some porn stars by their first name.
Women gave him some attention but everyone he met appeared to be part of a happy couple. Jolene was gorgeous but totally off limits. He certainly wasn�
��t about to cross that line, even though in his private fantasies, she rocked his world. Her body was perfect; curvy and lean, her lips full and enticing, he had to purposely ignore these factors while working together - something he fully acknowledged would’ve been impossible even a few years ago - her sexy voice, full of confidence and strength, empowering and with never ending optimism. He imaged having sex with her many times, always with her aggressive, passionate and vocal in her pleasures. She would wreck him; he was sure of it.
Meanwhile, he made many attempts to smile, flirt, but city women were harder to get to know. Many were pleasant but like Maggie, somewhat cold and maybe even judgemental. It depended on how he was dressed; when wearing a suit, they were chatty and eyeballing him but in jeans and a t-shirt, even one that showed off his muscular body, they were less friendly. It was strange. What the hell did they want?
By Christmas time, the dry spell was starting to get to him. Was it possible that he was hornier during the holidays? While everyone else was singing Christmas carols and shopping for snowmen ornaments and candy cane scented everything, he was starting to curiously check out escort ads in the back of the free papers he found at the local bus stop. It was the day that Jolene caught him, that he felt completely humiliated.
“Don’t go there, you’ll get funny things growing on your deek,” she ripped the paper away from him in the middle of McDonald’s, where he had been waiting to meet her for an early breakfast. Her booming voice brought unwanted attention, while his face grew hot from embarrassment.
“I was just looking-
“Stop looking!” She sat across from him with a large coffee in her hand and glanced down at the ad. “You, you do not need this, you’re handsome. Go talk to women.”
“I wasn’t seriously looking at-
“You get funny diseases from these women,” she promptly closed the paper and pushed it aside. “You will grow lumps on your deek.”
He opened his mouth but couldn’t talk. It was bad enough it was his boss, but also an attractive woman, who saw the desperation ringing through his life.
“I set you up.”
“No, Jolene, it’s not-
“I will set you up,” she shook her head. “Don’t worry, we take care of you.”
Then it was business as usual. Many parties were coming in upcoming weeks, something they had taken great pains to plan and the two of them would be required, along with Maggie and a few casual staff members he briefly met, to travel to Vancouver, Montreal and spend two nights in Toronto. They had already hosted parties in Calgary but with them, he merely stood at the door while beautiful women flocked into a venue they rented for the evening. What happened behind closed doors, he could only imagine and something told him, his imagination had nothing on reality.
Originally, Chase intended to go home to be with his kids during the holidays but when a huge storm hit Calgary two days before with more warnings to follow, Audrey suggested that he stay put in the city and come after the holidays. Although he felt loneliness strike his heart at the possibility of spending Christmas away from the kids, another part of him felt almost like it was a rite of passage. It was clear that Audrey and her new boyfriend were forming a new family and he was now being pushed out. It felt as though a jagged piece of glass were ripping through his heart but he reluctantly agreed, knowing that he had to do what was right for the kids.
His aunt Maureen insisted that he drop by during the holidays to spend time with the family but he made an excuse for Christmas Day, choosing instead to sleep in, watch some television and eat take out pizza. He’d never been a Christmas fanatic, things had often been a fucked up mess during the holidays while growing up, his mother often getting crazier during the season, something he now recognized was due to her feeling justified drinking despite her medication. Holidays with Audrey were as uncomfortable as their entire relationship and well, what else did he know about Christmas? It certainly wasn’t the kind that holiday movies represented.
All was calm that evening, so he decided to go for a walk. Wandering down the street, he was surprised to find a cafe opened with a lone employee behind the counter. He noted her bored expression as he wandered in, glancing from side to side, Chase wondered out loud if she was about to close since no one was there.
“People have lives, I guess,” She shrugged, looking up from a textbook, she scratched around her eyebrow piercing and pushed a strand of bleached blond hair behind her ear. She was cute. Appearing to be his age, she had sort of a rocker chick look, with heavy eye makeup and dark, perfectly manicured eyebrows. She stood upright and he immediately noticed the tattoos peeking out from underneath her uniform and he briefly considered that Jolene would give him shit if he showed up to work with a tattoo peeking out from underneath his suit.
“Not me,” Chase let out a short laugh.
She looked him up and down curiously as if he were under evaluation. “Can I get you something?”
He wasn’t sure how it happened. A simple coffee and conversation in an empty dimly lit cafe somehow ended with him having very rough sex with her in the staff room at closing time. He hadn’t intended on things getting so crazy, but she was incredibly aggressive for such a petite woman; biting his shoulder until she drew blood, screaming at him to fuck her harder as he pushed her against the wall and she dug her long nails into him. He was so aroused that the pain didn’t matter, having her hard nipples press into him while he moved inside her was pure heaven as she gasped in pleasure as she grabbed his ass with one, powerful hand, forcing him in farther, she gasped and panted and finally seemed to relax as she made sounds that resembled an animal in pain.
It was awkward after as they dressed and made their way toward the door. She walked as if in discomfort but didn’t ask for his name or number. Waving bye, she warned him that he better leave soon before her boyfriend got there.
Message received.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
“Pretty empty apartment, isn’t it?” His aunt Maureen immediately commented after arriving at his door on Boxing Day, a container of food in hand, along with a small, neatly wrapped gift. Guilt filled him when he realized he hadn’t bought her anything. In fact, he hadn’t bought any gifts but sent some money to Audrey to make sure the children had a nice Christmas. He hadn’t even bought his boss a card, despite the fact that one from Jolene sat on his countertop.
“Yeah, I’m not here a lot.” He confessed and glanced around at the empty living room and gestured for her to sit down on one of the bar stools that were left in the apartment when he moved in. There was an island separating the kitchen and living room and the two sat at it after Maureen placed the food and gift on the counter and gave him a brief smile.
“Typical bachelor,” Her brown eyes gleamed underneath her glasses, her sparkling rings caught the light as she gestured around the room. “I can hear an echo when I talk.”
“Yeah, I’ll get some stuff later. I’m trying to catch up a bit on things right now,” He confessed and gave a self-conscious smile, glancing at his sweatpants. His attention back on Maureen, he noted that she was dressed as if it were another day at the office under her leather coat, he quickly decided that she probably just stopping in on her way to somewhere else. She was a bit overdressed for a casual visit with her nephew. “Can I get you something? Coffee? A bottle of water? I guess I don’t really have much.”
“No no,” she waved her hand and shook her head. “I can’t stay long. I’m on my way to meet Jack and some friends for a dinner party.”
He knew Jack was her long time boyfriend but had never met him. He noticed his aunt kept their family at arm’s length from her Calgary life and really, could he blame her? He was starting to see why, now that he felt disregarded since leaving home. It felt as if no one contacted him unless they wanted something; and that something was usually money. No one checked in to see how he was doing, how he was navigating the city but
almost as if he no longer was a part of the family.
“You didn’t have to bring anything,” his voice was soft as he glanced toward the gift and food on the counter. “I feel like shit, I didn’t get you anything, it’s just that-
“No no,” She reached out and touched his arm. “It’s okay, Chase. I didn’t want you to buy me anything, I just picked up a little something. The food was leftovers from yesterday. You should’ve joined us!”
“I don’t know.” He avoided her eyes.
“It’s hard, isn’t it?” She asked, her eyes full of kindness and her lips formed a sympathetic smile. “Being away from the kids for the holidays and the weather was hardly ideal for traveling. It’s hard.”
“A little harder than I expected.” He confessed. “It feels weird. Everything does.”
“I know,” her eyes squinted with a broad smile and she pointed toward her head. “I remember those days too. You feel as if the city is going to swallow you up and everything seems unfamiliar and a bit scary, even for a big, strong guy like yourself,” she teased and he laughed in spite of himself.
“I don’t think it matters how big or strong you are in this city.”
“We’re all scared when we do something new, move somewhere new, make major life changes,” She reminded him as she leaned against the counter. “But it’s a good kind of scared. It usually means we are heading in the right direction.”
“Here’s hoping.”
“There was nothing for you in Hennessey Chase,” Maureen continued, reaching up to touch the heart pendant on her necklace. “I know you have a family there, that’s not what I mean, I just feel it was a dead end for someone like you. You outgrew it long ago and once you outgrow something, it’s time to move on.”
He glumly nodded.
“It will get easier, I’m sure of it,” She reassured him and jumped up from the stool and he followed her lead. Reaching into her pocket for a set of car keys, she rushed forward and gave him a brief, yet warm hug, before rushing toward the door. “We will get together again soon, okay?”