The Game-Kirsten Backhard

by Shawnte Borris

  “Hey, I heard you getting sick this morning. Are you all right?” asked Rick as he passed me a ginger ale.

  I poured it into my coffee cup. “Thanks. I don’t know why I’m so nervous. I make these kind of presentations all the time. I don’t know why this one is so different.”

  “Maybe because the whole board is going to be here in one room instead of half of them Skyping in.”

  “Maybe.” I grabbed my cell phone to see if Drew had texted me back yet.

  Drew: Sorry, babe, my breakfast meeting went longer than I thought. Knock them dead. You got this all the way! Hurry home! I miss the fuck out of you. XO

  He always put a smile on my face. Hurry home…I love the sound of that.

  “That must be the boyfriend wishing you luck,” Rick said, glancing toward my phone.

  “It is, he says I’m gonna knock them dead.”

  “We better get going.”

  Walking down the hallway, my stomach started to turn a little. I stopped and put my hand on my stomach hoping to settle it.

  “You okay?” Rick asked concerned.

  I looked up, “Yeah.”

  “You sure?”

  I nodded my head yes.

  Rick opened the meeting room door for me. “I’ll place a garbage can next to me just in case.”

  I took a deep breath. “Thanks.”

  “Gentlemen, how very nice to see you all in the same room,” I announced as I made my rounds, shaking each person’s hand.

  “Likewise, Kirsten.” Chris took my hand. “It’s great to finally meet you in person.”

  I smiled. “The pleasure is all mine, Chris.”

  “If you are done, Kirsten, we can start,” sneered Marc.

  “All right, gentlemen. Shall we get started?”

  After going over all the proposals that I had been working on for the past six months and how much money I’d made the company so far, I stood in front of the room. I was proud of myself. When I looked at every man’s face, I knew that I had done each one proud, too. The last face that I observed was Rick’s.

  He winked and mouthed, Good job.

  “What the hell was that?”

  I whipped my head to the person standing at the back of the room with an angry expression on his face.

  “What?” I asked, stunned.

  “I asked you, what the hell was that? Your last three proposals reeked of a lack of focus,” fumed Marc.

  Rick went to say something, but Chris beat him to it. “Care to elaborate on that, Marc?”

  “Can’t you see it?” Marc spat, waving his hands toward my presentation boards.

  “Lack of focus?” I challenged him.

  “If you attended to your job, instead of taking all this time off—”

  Oh hell, he did not just go there! “First, let me make something very clear here. I have not skipped out on my job. I have taken my three weeks of vacation just like any other employee. In fact, while I was taking my vacation time, I answered all my emails and worked with a few of my clients over the phone. So, Marc, do not stand there and tell me that I skipped out on my job or that I have a lack of focus.”

  I could see his feathers start to puff out a little more. I stayed my ground, waiting to hear what else this asswipe had to say.

  “As a partner now, we expect you to—”

  Chris stood up between the two of us. The other eight men moved their heads back and forth, like we were at a tennis match, as they waited to see what other ball was going to be dropped.

  “Marc, you are being unfair. Kirsten has shown her abilities and then some. That is why we gave her the position we did. We all love what she brings to the company, and she is very entitled to her vacation time, like everyone else. We all are very aware of her worth ethic. Not only does she work during her vacations, but she has also been here at all hours of the night. She always throws herself into other projects just to make sure our company looks good.”

  “Her evaluations over the years have been impeccable. We didn’t have one employee or clients that said Kirsten never did her job to the fullest. I agree with Chris, Marc. You are being unfair,” announced a different board member.

  Marc snickered.

  “What the hell are you snickering at?” I glared, placing my hands on the table.

  “What you bring to the company,” Marc said sarcastically, waving his hand up and down my body.

  “You fuck—” I leapt over the table, and Rick grabbed me around my waist.

  “See! Look at her. She can’t even control her emotions. I told you that we should have never offered the position to her.”

  “To me or any female?” I snarled.

  “Please.” Chris put out both his hands. “Let’s take a minute.”

  The rest of the board members nodded their heads in agreement.

  “No,” I said. “Marc wants to get real, then let’s get real.” I sat down and pulled my chair up to the table. “Would you like to explain to me and the rest of the board why you have been taking my clients away? I’ve worked with them for the past eight years, and instead, you’ve been handing me jobs that an intern could easily handle.”

  “Change is good.”

  “I agree, Marc, but when you phone my clients and tell them that I’m no longer interested in their cases or them as clients…”

  Marc tried to cut me off, but I kept going.

  “You see, Marc, these people are not only my clients, but they are also my friends. They send me Christmas cards, I get invited to family dinners, and they offer to let me stay at their family cottages. As soon as you had hung up the phone with them, they called me.”

  The room was dead silent.

  “Not only did they call, but they also later emailed me, and each and every one of them offered me a job.”

  “You can’t work for them, Kirsten. You signed a contract,” ranted Marc.

  “I’m not agreeing with what Marc did, but he is right. You cannot work for the competition,” intercepted Chris.

  I stood and gathered my thoughts. This is it, sweetheart. Now or never. I will never back down. I smiled to all the men in the room. “You’re right, Chris. I can’t, but I’m sure with a civil suit for discrimination from this company, I’ll be more than able to live off of that.”

  Gasps came from all the men.

  I looked over to Rick and mouthed, Sorry.

  “Kirsten,” said Bill, the oldest out of all the board members, “please. You don’t mean that. Take a few days off with pay, and we will work this out.” He glanced over and growled at Marc. “I promise that this will be handled properly.”

  I smiled sweetly at him. “Thank you, Bill. I very much appreciate that, but I cannot work for a company that does not believe in me. I’ve worked my ass off for this company for eight years, and I’ve put my personal life on the back burner…” I rubbed my stomach. “but not anymore. I quit.” I stood and walked toward the door, grabbed handle and turned it.

  “Kirsten?”

  I turned around and looked at Chris.

  “I will personally write a letter of recommendation for you, and I will email it to you first thing tomorrow morning.”

  “As will I,” countered Bill and a few others.

  I wiped the one tear that had fallen onto my cheek. “Thank you. I appreciate that.”

  “Liz, why is there a suitcase at the bottom of the steps?” asked Brad loudly after he’d tripped over it.

  Lying in bed, Liz and I looked at each other and then glanced to her bedroom door where we saw two figures standing there.

  “I told you, buddy. These two had to have muff-dived at least once…okay, maybe twice in college,” joked Brad while focusing on two fingers.

  “Kirsten?”

  I sat up in bed to face Drew. “Hey.”

  “What are you doing home? And why are you in Liz’s bed?”

  “I needed some snuggle time.” I shrugged my shoulders, trying to be funny.

  Brad pointed to us while leaning
on the doorjamb. “See? I told ya, buddy. These two totally muff-dived.” He started to sway. “But I always seem to miss it.” He pouted.

  Liz got up and walked over to her husband. “Babe, are you drunk?” She laughed.

  “No.” He slapped her nose with three fingers.

  “Yes, you are.”

  “Nope! I’m just blowing off some steam before the baby comes. Did you know what happens to your vagina when you deliver a baby?”

  “Uh, yeah,” she answered sarcastically.

  “It’s gonna be weeks before I can fuck that pretty little pussy of yours,” Brad slurred all his words before trying to kiss Liz’s neck.

  I couldn’t help it. I just started laughing. I wasn’t sure if was from the stress, the baby news, feeling happy for being home, or whatever, but at this very moment, I was finding Brad funnier than hell. I couldn’t wipe my tears away fast enough.

  “Oh my god, Kirsten! You’re doing the ugly pregnancy laugh,” teased Liz.

  “I know! I can’t help it!” Now, I was on the ugly cry.

  “The what?” asked Drew, looking between Liz and me.

  “The ugly pregnant cry, silly. She’s pregnant, you goofus.” Brad flopped sideways onto the bed, like he’d just competed in the Olympics. He let out a grunt and then passed out.

  I stood up from the bed. I was perfectly still, just looking at Liz, because I was too afraid to look at Drew.

  “Babe?”

  He walked toward me, but I still wouldn’t look at him. I kept staring into Liz’s eyes with tears in mine.

  “Babe, please look at me.”

  I shook my head, but my body was up in Drew’s arms before I could even get a breath in.

  Leaning toward my ear, he whispered, “We’re having a baby?”

  I just nodded yes and cried against his chest.

  “Liz, will you be okay if we go home? I’ll grab Kirsten’s suitcase in the morning,” he whispered.

  “Yes, go. She needs you. Let her get it out, Drew. Don’t say a word. Just let her work it out. She’s scared and stressed out. She quit her job today, and she has raging hormones yelling at her right now.”

  Drew kissed my head. “Sweetheart, I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy in my life.”

  He pulled back the covers and placed me onto our bed. He untied my sneakers, took them off, and pulled out my ponytail. I just crawled into the fetal position. Drew climbed in behind me and held me all night long. He didn’t say another word as I cried myself into exhaustion.

  I rolled over in the bed to face the window, so my back was facing my bedroom door. I heard people coming in and out of my bedroom, but I didn’t want to talk, so I just pretended to sleep.

  “How is she?” Liz sighed to Drew.

  “I don’t know. She won’t talk, and she keeps looking out that fucking window.”

  “Relax, Drew. Go for a walk, and I’ll sit with her.”

  I heard Drew huff before he went down the stairs.

  “You know this is supposed to be one of the fucking happiest times in our life! I’m so tired of this shit.” he yelled before he slammed the front door.

  The sound of the door slamming shut made me jump, and I started to cry again.

  Liz crawled into bed the best she could. “You are gonna have to scoot over, chica. Two of us are trying to snuggle you.”

  I gave a small laugh and felt peanut kick me on my back.

  “There you are,” Liz soothed. “Where did you go, hon?”

  I rolled over and wiped away my tears. “I didn’t even know I was pregnant. Derek knew.”

  “Derek?”

  “He said it was a twin thing.” I rubbed peanut.

  “That’s why you are having a meltdown? Because Derek thought you were pregnant?”

  “He knew. He was the one who brought me the home pregnancy test.”

  “I’m not following you,” Liz said.

  “Don’t you get it? How in the hell am I going to be a good mom when I can’t even figure out when my body is telling me that I’m pregnant?”

  “Kirsten…”

  “I don’t have a mother’s instinct bone in my body. Fuck, I just barely got my personal life together. Now, I have no job, no security—”

  “Stop. It doesn’t matter that your personal life is just getting started. You know damn well...” She stuck her finger on my belly. “That baby, right there, is made out of love. You have a hiccup in your career. So what?”

  “It’s a little more than a hiccup.”

  “Don’t you cut me off, Kirsten Backhard. I’m not done yet.”

  Liz tried to get up, and I muffled a little laugh.

  “Don’t you fucking laugh at me, bitch. You’re next.”

  I sat up and gave her a hand to help her up into a sitting position.

  “I understand your fears. I have them, too. I think all first-time mothers do. I don’t really think you get those mother instincts until the baby comes out.”

  “I have no job, Liz.”

  “So?”

  “I’m not going to freeload off of Drew.”

  “What the fuck? Freeload off of Drew? You cannot be serious. Are you telling me that when you look at me I’m freeloading off Brad?”

  “No. It’s different. You’re married.”

  “Yeah, well, if Drew had his way, you would have been married long before me.”

  “I’m scared,” I confessed.

  “I know, but you’ve got to let Drew in, babe. He’s panicking.”

  I cried in my hands. “I’m such a fuck-up.”

  “No, you’re not. Can I let you in on a little secret?”

  I looked up at my best friend.

  “When I found out I was pregnant, I went batshit crazy.”

  “Really?”

  “Hell yeah. You should have seen Brad. He was thinking of taking me to church to have people pray over me.”

  “Seriously?”

  “No, but I did go all crazy-bitch on him.” Liz laughed. “The best part about being pregnant, besides growing a miracle, is that you can blame everything on your hormones.”

  “Everything?”

  My best friend nodded. “Everything. Now, go hop in the shower, and I’ll order you some Chinese food.”

  “But—”

  “But nothing. I can hear your baby, and she’s craving Chinese.”

  “She is, is she?” I laughed, walking into the bathroom and starting the shower.

  “Yes! Now, get cleaned up before Drew comes back.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Love you.”

  I was just rinsing out the conditioner when I felt Drew behind me in the shower. “Hi.”

  He skimmed his hands all around my back. “Hey.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Drew kissed my back. “Are you done?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Can we be excited now?”

  “Yeah.” I slowly turned around and looked in the eyes of my live-in boyfriend. “Liz thinks it’s a girl.”

  Drew picked me up, and I wrapped my legs around his waist as he put my back up against the cool tile.

  I placed my hands on the sides of his face and looked into his eyes. “We’re going to have a baby.”

  Drew had tears in his eyes, which meant that I had tears in mine. “Thank you. Thank you, Kirsten.”

  I kissed him soft and slow.

  “But we can still have sex, right? I mean, it’s still okay right?” he asked.

  I giggled and slapped his shoulder.

  “Come on, my sexy, beautiful live-in girlfriend. Let’s go downstairs and feed that precious cargo you’re carrying.”

  Drew went to grab my hand as we left the bedroom, but I pulled my hand back`, which made him stop and look at me.

  “Drew?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I don’t want to have a different last name than my children.”

  He placed a hand on my cheek. “That’s okay. We can give them your last name, sweethear
t. I don’t mind.”

  “Drew, you don’t understand what I’m saying.”

  We stood there, looking at each other. I waited for my clue to click, and when it did, a huge grin came across Drew’s face. It was so worth the wait.

  “Sweetheart, are you saying what I think you are saying?”

  I nodded.

  He picked me up and swung me around in circles. “Oh shit, I’m sorry. I probably shouldn’t have done that.”

  I laughed as he put me down.

  Drew went running over to his dresser and pulled out the ring. Then, he kneeled in front of me. “Kirsten, I know this isn’t romantic…shit, it might not even be the perfect time, but—”

  “It’s perfect,” I whispered.

  Drew took my left hand and looked me in the eyes. “Kirsten Stubborn-Ass-Woman Backhard…would you please finally put me out of my misery and marry me already?”

  “Yes.”

  The next morning, Drew was getting ready to go ice fishing with his dad, but he was fighting me the whole way.

  “I really don’t want to go now that you are home.”

  “I know, but you already made plans. Go and have a good time.”

  “I can just ask Dad to come here and hang out.”

  “And what? Miss out on a fish fry for dinner tonight? I think not. The baby and I want fish fry.” I stuck out my bottom lip and pushed out my baby belly. This is gonna be so much fun.

  Drew wrapped his strong arms around me. “If you’re sure—”

  “I’m sure. Now, go and have a good time. I’ll see you when you get back.” I kissed his cheek and passed him his tackle box.

  In the afternoon, I went and paid my dad and mom a visit. I thought I should let them in on what was going on before the close-knit community did.

  “Hey, Dad. What’s for lunch?” I asked, walking into the kitchen.

  “Kirsten, what are you doing here? I thought you were still in Chicago.”