by Liza Brown
I paused, trying to decide what to say. “Maybe I should let Millard explain the issue,” I said finally.
“Ooh, that doesn’t sound good.”
“It kind of isn’t. I tried to fire her but she wouldn’t let me because I’m not her boss.”
“Why in the world were you trying to fire her?” he asked.
“We went to the bar and while Millard was in the bathroom, Bart and Jeremy showed up and started pestering me. A number of times I said their names loud enough for her to hear and she did nothing. She hasn’t read my file at all. I don’t want to sound ungrateful to you for bringing her on, but she had both of their pictures in her email but didn’t bother to look or read about them to know that she should get them away.”
“Where is she?” he asked sternly. “Let me talk to her.”
I stepped out of the bathroom and into the living room area to look for April. She wasn’t around so I knocked on her bedroom door. She came to the door dressed in shorts and a faded Sponge Bob t-shirt. “Your boss would like to speak to you.” I handed her the phone.
“Mr. Benjamin?” she said into the phone. “Yes sir.”
She quickly put the phone on speaker per Elsu’s command. “So let me get this straight, you were hired to protect Mae from two people in particular. You couldn’t even take the time to read her dossier?”
“I’m sorry sir, I got the information right before I boarded the plane and then I had to go straight to her shop to start and I didn’t have time to read it.”
“I sent that information out Sunday evening. There’s no reason for it to not have gotten there faster than that. You could have read it on the plane.”
“Yes sir, I’ll read it first thing in the morning,” she said. She seemed to be nearly shaking she was so frightened.
“No, April, I want you reading that tonight, and tomorrow I will be quizzing you on it to make sure you know it front to back and inside out.”
“Yes sir,” she said.
“I may be paying your salary, but Mae is your boss. If she asks you to do something you are to listen to her. You are in charge of making sure the most important person in my life is safe. I need to know I can trust you to do that. Otherwise, you will be let go.”
“You can count on me, sir.” I was waiting for her to salute the phone.
She handed Elsu back to me and eyed my towel-wrapped body for the first time. “I need to get some clothes on,” I giggled and walked to my room.
“So I leave town and you start walking around the apartment naked with April?” asked Elsu.
“We were about to have a pillow fight and talk about boys when you called.”
“I would pay a large chunk of money to see that,” he said. I had a feeling he wasn’t lying.
“Don’t worry. I’ve got a towel on.” I dropped the towel to the ground and grabbed my sweats and a shop shirt.
“Just a towel?”
“It was just a towel. Now I’m about to put on some sweats.”
“Really? So now you’re not wearing anything?”
“That is correct,” I said as I sat down on my bed, still nude to listen to his voice.
“I have to say, Monday night when you caught me being a creep was the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.”
“You didn’t see anything but my back, and it was clothed,” I said as I pulled the blankets on my bed back and snuggled in while still undressed. I’d never slept naked before, and hated being under covers, but the Elsu pillow and Elsu’s voice made me feel safe for some reason.
“I saw those sexy panties and your bare legs and socked feet. How do you make socked feet sexy?” he asked. I silently thanked Colette for buying my new underthings the week before.
“I think you’ve lost your mind,” I said as I pulled my Elsu pillow close to me, inhaling his scent.
“I know I have, Mae.”
“So what are you wearing?” I asked.
“Shorts and a t-shirt. I think Brent would prefer me keeping my clothes on while we’re sharing a room.” My heart sank. This conversation wasn’t going where I was hoping. But I could still smell him and let his voice fill my mind. I pulled the comforter up over my head and pulled the pillow against me.
“Did you see the picture I sent you?” I asked.
“Yeah, what’s this ‘almost like the real thing’ bit?” he joked.
“Well, it smells like you and it had your face.”
“Had? I’ve been decapitated? You’re a cruel woman, Sweet Mae,” he said.
“I had to put your head on my nightstand. Basketballs don’t make good cuddle buddies. A pillow you slept on wearing a shirt you wore, however. That makes an excellent cuddle buddy.” I squeezed ‘him’ even harder.
“So you’ve stolen yet another one of my shirts?”
“You shouldn’t have left it here,” I said. “Finders keepers.”
“So you’re in bed, in your sweats and t-shirt snuggling with my pillow?”
“Actually, I decided to forego the sweats and t-shirt.”
“Shit, Mae. How am I supposed to go to sleep with that image in my head?” he hissed.
I giggled into the phone. I was really tired and knew if I wasn’t careful I was going to fall asleep while he was talking to me. “Just take care of yourself, in the bathroom,” I said.
“Something tells me looking at the shower curtain isn’t going to do it for me.”
“By the way, thank you for the gorgeous flowers! I put them in a vase and they’re nearly as big as my table.”
“I’m glad you got them.”
“Were you sending me signals during the game?” I asked.
“You caught that?” he asked.
“Everyone kept asking what you were doing and I said I didn’t know. But I knew.”
“I’m glad you knew. She helped me make all my free throws,” he said.
“And all these years you’ve been doing it without her help.”
“Maybe she’s always been around, I just had to find her.” I don’t think he could be any sweeter if he tried.
“Well, you found her,” I tried to yawn quietly but it escaped.
“You’re tired,” he said. “I’m sorry you had to deal with those assholes tonight. I wish I had been there to take care of them for you.”
“I just wish you were here,” I said sadly.
“I’ll be there Friday, then we have Saturday to ourselves.”
“No we don’t. Tonesha’s daughter’s birthday party is that day. She invited me. She said you were going.”
“Ah crap. Well, we can make an appearance then I’m taking you on a date.” My ears perked.
“A date? That sounds fun.” I squeezed him closer.
“I’m going to let you go, I’ll talk to you later, sweet Mae.”
“I’ll talk to you later, Mount Elsu.” I smiled.
“You’re still a nut.”
“Goodnight,” I said and we finally hung up. If I didn’t have to function in the morning I would have talked to him all night, but that wouldn’t have done either one of us any good.
CHAPTER 11
The next morning was rather uneventful, Arnold brought his bills for me to write out while I ate my breakfast and we discussed the game loss. No one dared to blame me. If they knew what was good for them, they never would.
April, Millard, and I rode to the shop and from there I drove the work truck to Mansfield with April to visit my dad’s shop. The forty-five minute road trip would have given us some time to talk. Unfortunately, every time I brought up a topic, she would reply with one-word answers and I quickly decided to stop trying.
Once at my dad’s shop, I was quickly dismayed. The last time I had been there, which had been about four months ago, everything was organized and put in its place. Now it looked like a tornado had ripped through it.
My dad was in the office talking to an employee I hadn’t met.
“Hey dad,” I said as I walked in. “What’s going on here?”
&n
bsp; “It’s good to see you too, Mae. How have you been?” I recognized a snarky reply when I heard it. I had learned from him, the master snarker. The employee slipped out the door behind me.
“Don’t start, dad. What’s happened here?” I walked into the garage where a car was up on a rack and another sat on the floor with the hood up.
“I told you, I’m getting too old for this stuff anymore.”
“That doesn’t mean it goes to shit, dad! This place is filthy, the tools are just thrown everywhere. When was the last time you had someone take care of the landscaping?”
“I’m too old…I don’t deal with the tools…and I can’t remember.” There was no denying I was his daughter. I probably would have had a similar comeback if the same was asked of me.
“You run the shop, you run the shop, you run the shop.” I replied.
“Which is why I’m passing it to Cameron.” He signaled to a man I recognized who was working on the lower car. “Cameron, you know my daughter Mae. Mae, Cameron.”
I shook his hand quickly and turned back to my dad. “You do know you can’t pass it without my say-so, right? It’s in the contract. Otherwise I take the name and the shop loses all of its support from home.”
“Yeah, but I’m your dad.”
“Yeah, that doesn’t get you bonus points. Grandpa gave ME the shop and the name. If you don’t like the way I do things, shut it down today.”
“Are you this hard on your other shops?” he asked.
“Come on, dad. You know I am. I visit them each at least once a month. I don’t come here as often because you’re my dad and I trusted you to keep it up the right way. The right way isn’t any different than the way grandpa ran things.” When I branched out with the three garages I had misgivings from the beginning, but dad promised me he’d take care of the Mansfield one the way I wanted. I was learning that was not a forever promise.
“Let’s go to the office, Mae.” He turned and we followed. My eyes couldn’t settle on anything in the shop that was not in disarray. It was messing with my brain.
I sat down next to Cameron and my dad sat across from us. April was standing outside, talking to Elsu about her homework. I really wished I could have heard his questions and her answers but I knew the current meeting was more important.
“Mae, Cameron is thirty-five years old, he’s been working here since we opened, and he knows everything about the shop. He’s completely capable.”
I turned and looked at Cameron. I didn’t doubt dad’s recommendation, but letting any of my shops be managed by someone from outside the family was not something I wanted to deal with. My other two shops were run by cousins who knew the importance of the shops and took care of them the way I required. “What about Christopher and Candice?”
“You can’t be serious!” said my dad. “They barely share a whole brain between them.”
I looked at Cameron again. I knew my dad was right. I was just trying to keep the place in the family. “How about this, there is a list that you should have about what this shop is supposed to look like. Do you have that?” Yes, I was strict. But I never felt it was too much to ask to make the place presentable to the public.
My dad rummaged through a huge stack of papers on another table that I hadn’t even noticed until then. “What is that?” I was nearly crying at this point.
“Oh, stuff that needs filed, ordered, paid,” I raised my eyebrows at him and buried my head in my hands. I was starting to get sick to my stomach.
After some more rummaging and a search through a few filing cabinet drawers he finally found the list. He handed it to me and I reminded myself of my own requirements.
“Waiting area and customer service area should be cleaned daily. Floors swept daily, scrubbed once a week or as needed. Tools in working order and put away when not in use. Supplies kept on hand. The first ten things on this list I can tell haven’t been done in I don’t know how long. I can only imagine what the rest of this list would show.” I handed the list to Cameron. “You have until the first of the year to get this place in order according to this list. If it’s in good shape when I come down, we’ll discuss you taking over. If not, I’m pulling out.” I looked at my dad with my final statement.
“I can’t believe you’d give up on grandpa’s dream because you’re being stubborn!” He knew how to play the game. Messing with my grandpa was a low blow. I had been his favorite of all the grandkids. Hence the gift of the shop.
“The chains weren’t grandpa’s dream, they were mine. Apparently I had misjudged the dream for a nightmare,” I said as I looked around the small room. “Now, I have to go back home and deal with everything that’s going on up there. Elsu’s bodyguard is having security upgraded in the warehouse and there are guys there filling gaps in the shelves.”
“Elsu?” Cameron spoke for the first time. “So you really are dating Elsu? Elsu Benjamin? From the Whoopsters?”
I nodded.
“No one here believes me,” said my dad.
I just smiled and walked out of the building. My dad followed me and gave me a hug. “I’m sorry, pumpkin. I’ve just been so tired lately.” I took a moment and looked into his eyes. There was something different about him that I hadn’t noticed on Monday.
“Are you ok?” I asked him.
“I’m fine, Mae. I’m just tired. Time to retire.” He hugged me again, then April and I got in the truck to head home.
I watched my dad walk back to the shop. He didn’t have the same pep in his step as he used to. Before I turned the key in the ignition, I grabbed my phone and called Margaret. “Hello?” I heard her voice.
“Margaret, it’s Mae. I’m just leaving dad’s shop and I wanted to touch base with you. Is he ok?” I asked.
“He’s just tired a lot lately, Mae. He needs to take a break. He’s been working since he was sixteen years old.”
“I know, but he’s also only fifty-five. He’s too young to be that tired. I’m worried about him. Can you promise me you’ll get him to a doctor? He won’t do it if I tell him.” I looked at April who was looking at me for the first time since we left Massillon.
“I’ll see what I can do, Mae. But give him some time to relax,” she said.
“Relax? It’s really not a strenuous job.”
“Well, he always puts one hundred and ten percent into everything he does. So what might not be stressful to you may very easily be to him.”
“I suppose.”
“So, this Elsu character.”
“Yes?”
“I didn’t know you were into his kind.”
“His kind?”
There was a pause in the conversation. “Celebrities.”
“I’m not into him because he’s a celebrity, Margaret. I’m into him because…” The reasons were numerous. Which one would make her stop questioning my motives?
“Because? Because why, Mae? Your father is worried sick about this, you know that, right?”
“He hasn’t said anything to me about it.”
“Would he?”
“What does it matter to him who I date? He’s all the way over here. Moving away from us pretty much negated his right to an opinion in matters like this.”
“Mae, just think about what you having a relationship with someone…someone like Elsu would do to your father.”
“Someone like Elsu? Someone who from what I can tell is nothing but sweet, generous, kind, and caring? I haven’t found one thing I dislike about him, Margaret. You really should get to know him. Why don’t you and dad come back up for dinner? Elsu’s housekeeper loves to cook. I’m sure I could talk her into making us a meal.”
“His housekeeper? No, I would never want a servant to make me a meal. The fact that you think that’s an ok thing to suggest bothers me, Mae.”
“She’s not a slave. He pays her. She works for him. She’s a very sweet woman. You should see what she has done to my apartment.”
“Mae, I’m going to end this call. I want you to know I
’m rather disappointed in you right now. Please take a moment and think about what you’re doing. It’s not proper and in no way could it ever end well.”
There was a click and I sat dumbfounded. “What was that about?” I asked the air in front of me, not expecting an answer from my passenger.
“That’s your mom?”
“No, that’s my step-mother. I don’t know why but she apparently doesn’t like Elsu. Dad’s only been with her a few years but she’s never talked to me like that.”
“I couldn’t help but overhear,” said April. “She sounded kind of…what’s the word? Narrow-minded?”
“She’s never come across that way to me before. I really don’t know what to make of her comments. Elsu is really a great guy. I don’t know how anyone wouldn’t like him.”
I sat staring off into the distance at nothing in particular. “April, do you have normal parents?” I asked.
“I don’t think there is any such thing.” It was the first time she’d spoken to me like a human and not like a robot soldier girl. I smiled at her.
“Wait ‘til you meet my mom and the twins, you’ll see why I’m so messed up.”
We started towards home and I saw that it was after noon. “Are you hungry?” I asked.
“Yes, ma’am,” she said.
“April, please call me Mae. Or if you have to be formal, Millard’s version of ‘Miss Mae’ is ok, too. I just feel so old when someone calls me ‘ma’am.’”
“Yes, Miss Mae,” she said and I glanced at her with a smile.
“So, did you pass Elsu’s quiz?” I had hoped I had gotten her enough out of her hard outer coating that she’d open up about it.
“Yes Miss Mae. He was very detailed in his questions,” she said. “He really cares for you.”
I smiled. “I care for him too, April.”
We drove to Dalton and stopped at The Dutch Kitchen, an Amish restaurant for a home-style lunch. We ordered and I watched April as she glanced around at the rustic décor. “They don’t have places like this where I come from.”
“We get a lot of Amish influence around here. We’re not far from the biggest population in the world.”
“Amish? That’s got to be a hard life.”