She fanned herself, grinning at me like an idiot. “That’s so hot.”
“No, it’s not. If you met him, you would understand. He’s not at all my type. It’s not just that he’s uptight about everything. He’s just so…programmed.”
“What does that even mean?”
“Like, he’s got a plan for everything. He has too much order in his life. I mean, fine, but that’s not for me. I have enough of that at work. I definitely don’t need a man like that.”
“Alright, you seem to be missing one very obvious point in all of this.” I waited as she leaned in closer. “On a scale of one to ten, how hot are we talking?”
I shrugged. “Honestly, I’m not sure. I mean, I suppose he’s good looking, but with all the crazy, it’s kind of hard to focus on his looks.”
She sighed, plopping her chin down in her hand. “So, no happily-ever-after?”
“I don’t see how that could possibly happen. We’re just too different. He wanted to meet up and talk last night and he suggested I be his fake girlfriend so that he didn’t disappoint his parents.”
She sucked in a breath and jerked back. “Ouch. Mommy and Daddy issues? Stay far away from that one.”
“Kind of hard to do that now. What the hell am I going to do? I mean, it’s not like he’s a bad date I can just get rid of. I made a freaking baby with him. I’m linked to him for the rest of my life. He’s completely neurotic and my kid could inherit those traits. How the hell do I deal with that?”
“Alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol.” I shot her a glare and she shrugged. “I’m not saying now. I’m saying when the kid is older.”
“Thanks. That’s very helpful,” I said, snatching my chart off the counter and walking around. I had to get to work before my boss caught me talking. We had been standing there long enough. Any longer and I was asking to be caught.
“By the way, Casey’s not doing so well. It looks like she’s going to be here for a while.”
My heart sank for that poor girl. Her parents were probably devastated. Sometimes it just killed me to work here, but I also knew that I was doing something really good. That’s what kept me here. I took a deep breath and headed down the hall to her room. I checked over her chart on the way. Her white blood cell count was extremely low and her most recent scans showed that her cancer was spreading.
I put a smile on my face as I entered her room, but she didn’t light up like she normally did. “Hey, peanut. How are you feeling today?”
“Not so good.”
Her mom sat by her bedside, holding her hand and giving me a faint smile. Her dad stood by the window, staring out at absolutely nothing.
“Does anything hurt?” I asked.
She shook her head and closed her eyes. I walked over and checked her vitals and looked through all the notes that the doctor had left for monitoring. There wasn’t a whole lot I could do for her. Sometimes, there were days like this. Medicine could only do so much. The cancer was slowly killing her, and if they didn’t find something soon to help her, she would die.
Casey was asleep by the time I was done checking on her. I placed my hand on the mother’s shoulder and gave a squeeze. “Is there anything I can do for you?”
She glanced down at her daughter and stood, walking with me out the door. She looked ragged, like she hadn’t slept in a long time. “Mike has to go back to work. They said they understood why he was missing so much, but that they needed someone to fill in for him. If he’s gone longer than this week, they’ll have to hire someone to replace him.”
I stared at her in shock. Mike and Cynthia lived three hours away. This hospital had a specialized cancer-treatment center. That’s why they came here.
“I don’t know how he’s going to deal with leaving. He’s devastated, but we can’t afford for him to lose his job. His health insurance is all that we have.”
I squeezed her hand in mine, feeling the tears prick my eyes. I quickly blinked them away. She didn’t need my tears on top of her own. She needed someone to be strong for her. “It’ll be okay. I’ll be here as often as I can, and I’ll help however I can. I know I’m not her father, but I can be here when you need a break. I can sit with Casey when you need me to.”
“You’re so sweet,” she smiled. “I don’t know what we would do without you.”
I glanced past her into the bedroom at the sweet girl in the bed. Life wasn’t fair, and as I watched her in that bed, I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if it was my own child in that bed. I prayed that I would never have to find out.
Eric
I knew I had a lot of making up to do with Anna this morning. I had to get something to go right, and since I couldn’t just magically make everything right with Katherine, I had to try with Anna. Shit, I never thought I would have two women in my life at once, let alone two women that downright hated me.
I walked into the bakery and studied the menu. There were so many donuts. What did women like? I glanced at the other side of the menu and saw they also made coffee. Maybe I should get some of that for her too.
“Eric, it’s good to see you,” Mary Anne said with a smile. “What can I get for you?”
“Um…I need to get some donuts and coffee.”
“Sure, how many and what kind?”
I scratched my head. “Um…I’m not sure. It’s for a woman,” I said, as if that would clear up everything.
She raised an eyebrow at me, clearly not amused with my answer. “What does she like?”
I snorted. “Well, she breathes fire and spits nails,” I laughed. When she didn’t laugh along with me, I figured that joking around about this was not the way to go. “I don’t know. I just met her.”
“Lovers spat?” she asked with a smile.
“Not even close. She works for me, but she only started yesterday.”
Mary Anne leaned on the counter, rapt with attention. “Anna?” I nodded. “I heard about her getting a new job. It was all around town that she quit on Earl. And it was about time she got a new job. That man worked her to the bone, but didn’t pay her very well. I would have hired her here, but I don’t have enough work to go around. Not that anyone in town is hiring.”
While this was all very…not interesting, I didn’t have time to stand around and gossip. “Right, well, I need a sort of makeup box of donuts for her. What would you recommend?”
She winked at me. “I’ll put together something for you.”
“And a coffee. Something she might like.”
“You got it, sugar.”
I waited as she gathered up an assortment of donuts and then blended some kind of coffee drink with whipped cream, drizzled with caramel. It looked disgusting. Who could drink that much sugar? What was wrong with just black coffee?
“Alright, sugar, that’ll be seventeen-fifty.”
I handed over a twenty. “Keep the change.”
“Well, aren’t you sweet.”
I grabbed the donuts and drink off the counter and turned around, almost running smack dab into the town sheriff.
“Jack,” I said with a nod.
“Eric,” he nodded back, eyeing the drink in my hand. “Had a rough night?”
“It’s not for me.”
“Uh-huh. Look, son, there’s nothing to be ashamed about. We all like different things, even if they are girly,” he muttered the last part under his breath.
“It’s not for me,” I reiterated.
“Hey, what is that?” a woman behind the sheriff asked.
“I don’t know.”
“It’s a caramel latte,” Mary Anne answered.
“A latte?” the sheriff asked, chuckling under his breath.
“Jack, you know me. Do I look like the kind of man that would order a latte?”
“Well, you have one in your hand.”
“It’s not for me,” I practically yelled.
“It’s for a woman,” another man said, hooking his thumbs in the loops of his pants. “He done pissed off a woman.
”
“I haven’t done pissed off anyone,” I said irritatedly, even though it was a lie. They didn’t need to know that.
“Then, it’s for a girlfriend,” Jack surmised.
“Definitely not a girlfriend.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Mary Anne said. “It’s for his new office manager.”
Jack raised his eyebrows in surprise. “You know, bribery is a crime.” He leaned in closer so only I could hear. “And bribing her for sexual favors with a coffee isn’t the way to go. Think jewelry.”
“I’m not bribing anyone. Well, I sort of am, but not for sexual favors,” I said a little too loudly.
The door clanked shut as a group of women from church entered, staring at me in surprise. One of them held her hands together and started praying.
“It’s for my office manager, Anna. I was rude to her. This,” I said, holding up the donuts and coffee, “is an apology.”
“Anna Richards?” Jack asked.
“Yeah,” I said warily.
He ran a hand across his jaw and chuckled. “Well, I don’t suppose coffee and donuts will work with that one, but it’s a start.”
He clapped me on the shoulder and moved past me to order. I headed for the door, ignoring the women from church glaring at me.
“Womanizer,” one of the women muttered under her breath.
I slowly turned to her, doing my best not to return her glare. “It’s so nice to see you again, Mrs. Charles. How’s Frank? Is he doing okay with the hip replacement?”
Caught off guard by my kill ‘em with kindness attitude, she spluttered out, “He’s doing alright. The stairs are a little hard on him, but he’s getting by.”
I nodded. “Let me know if you want a ramp put in. I’d do it at cost for you.”
Her eyes widened in surprise. “You’d…you’d do that?”
“Of course. It’s the Christian thing to do.”
She gulped hard and nodded. “Thank you.”
I tipped my head and walked out the door. Ma always said that you had to kill ‘em with kindness. I never implemented that until this very moment, and I had to say, it was quite satisfying. Besides, seeing as how I knocked up Katherine, I was going to have to implement that tactic a lot. Might as well get used to it.
I walked into the office, holding my proffered donuts and coffee out in front of me like they would shield me from her wrath. Anna was sitting at the desk, not bothering to look up when she heard the door open.
“Good morning.”
She barely glanced up at me. “Is that a bribe?”
“It might be.”
“What did you get me?”
“Uh, I got some of everything.”
“And it’s all for me?”
“Yeah.”
She nodded. “Put it on the table over there and leave.”
“Excuse me?” I asked, rearing back. Had I stepped in an alternate universe? Wasn’t this still my office? “I don’t really think-“
“Look, you kicked me out last night when I was trying to show you something important. I’m guessing you figured out what that was, otherwise, you wouldn’t have had Robert call me and beg me to come back. So, the way I see it, I have the right to treat you the same way.”
It was actually pretty logical. I just had to make sure this wasn’t the dynamic every time I walked into the office. “Fine, just this once, but tomorrow, things go back to normal.”
“I can deal with that.”
I set the donuts and coffee on the table and turned back to her. “So, do you have any messages for me?”
“Nope. I’ll let you know if I need anything. Otherwise, I should have all this organized by the end of the day. I’ll need to see you tomorrow morning at eight to go through what I’ve found.”
“Uh…”
“That wasn’t a suggestion,” she said, her eyes flicking up to meet mine. “You can go now.”
I stepped back, taking the dismissal like a punch to the face. I was temporarily stunned and confused. Was I just supposed to leave? “Uh…okay.”
I turned to leave, glancing back at her one more time. I shook my head and walked out of the office. That could have gone better. It could have gone worse.
My phone buzzed in my pocket.
Robert: Did she show up?
Me: She’s here.
Robert: I wasn’t sure she was going to listen to me. How’d it go?
Me: I brought her donuts and coffee.
Robert: You’re real smooth.
Me: It seems to have worked.
Robert: And everything’s cool?
Me: Um…Not sure. She kicked me out of the office.
My phone rang and I answered. “Yeah?”
“What do you mean, she kicked you out of the office?”
“She basically told me it was only fair and kicked me out. Honestly, I’m not sure what happened.”
“So, you just let her kick you out of your own office?”
“Yes?”
“You don’t know if you allowed it?”
“I’m not sure what the fuck happened.”
He chuckled over the line. “You’re a pussy.”
I ran my hand through my hair, still trying to figure out what just happened. “That woman has some balls. Was she always like that?”
“Not at all, but I’m guessing she’s changed a lot in the last twelve years.”
“I’m not really sure what to do here.”
“What do you mean?”
“She threw me out. And I’m her boss. That changes the whole dynamic in the office.”
“Well, you just have to lay down the law with her.”
I glanced back at the door and cringed. “I’m not seeing how that will benefit me. She ordered me into the office tomorrow morning. Me. I’m her boss.”
“You could always fire her again.”
“I need someone in the office. I can’t afford to search for someone else.”
“Then suck it up and deal with it.”
“Do you think you could smooth things over for me?”
He sucked in a breath. “Look, I already did all I could. We didn’t exactly end things on good terms. I’m not sure I’m the person to make this better for you.”
“Then what the fuck do I do?”
“Bring her coffee every morning and pray that she doesn’t fuck with your business.”
“That’s your advice?”
“Well, it doesn’t sound like you have much of a choice.”
“What happened between you two? Maybe she doesn’t like me because of you.”
“That’s very possible, but it could also just be that you’re an asshole.”
“Whatever. She probably would have been just a normal woman if you hadn’t fucked it up with her.”
“Who says I fucked it up?”
I shook my head. “Really? You weren’t always an asshole lawyer. If anyone fucked it up, it was you. Something changed when you went off to college. And you said that you didn’t leave it on good terms. I’d bet my left nut that you fucked it up, and now she’s in my office and she’s going to have access to all my shit. I swear to God, if I come in and find she’s erased all my files, I’m coming after you.”
He snorted. “Yeah, I’d like to see you do that. You won’t touch me because Ma asked you to take care of us. And you’ve always been more worried about what Ma and Dad think than what’s normal for any grown man.”
He was right there. “You may have a point, but that still doesn’t change the fact that I’ll be really pissed if she fucks my business up.”
“Ooh, I’m really scared now.”
“Fuck off,” I spat, hanging up my phone. I glanced back at the door one last time and crept toward it. I would just check in really quick and make sure she wasn’t spray painting the walls or something. I cracked the door, but didn’t see her at the desk. I opened the door wider and ducked, but not fast enough when I saw the object flying at my head. Chocolate smashed into my face and
raspberry filling oozed out and down my lip, onto my shirt.
“Didn’t I say to get the fuck out?”
I was out on a job, doing a home renovation. I would rather be doing my own home renovation, but time wasn’t always on my side. Besides, now the things that I thought I wanted for my house had changed. I had a baby one the way. Would I have to install permanent baby gates? What about smaller tubs? I didn’t want the kid to drown in an adult sized tub. At what age were they able to bathe on their own? There was so much that I didn’t know and I didn’t even know where to begin. All I knew was that I had to figure this shit out before Katherine decided to kick me out her life.
I had been a total douchebag when I asked her to be my pretend girlfriend. What kind of asshole did that? Apparently, I did. She was right. Asking her out on a date would have been the smarter thing to do. In fact, had she not been pregnant and I had been thinking clearly, that’s what I would have done. But it seemed her pregnancy was affecting my brain cells. I had heard of baby brain. Was there such a thing as father brain?
It had only been a few days since the last time I spoke with Katherine, but I thought about her every day. It was strange, for a woman that I had known for such a short time, she was eating up all my thoughts. I was constantly wondering how she was doing or if she needed anything. I wanted to be there for her, mostly because she was carrying my child, but partly because I was intrigued by this woman. She had come into my house and basically told me how things were going to be. Usually I was the one that did that, albeit in a very respectful way.
I needed to feel like I was in control and right now, I wasn’t in control of anything. I wanted to take care of her and make sure that her every need was met, but it was clear to me that she didn’t see things the same way. She didn’t seem overly independent, like one of those women that would kick me in the balls for suggesting she needed help, but she knew what she wanted, and apparently what I offered wasn’t good enough. I could see that now. I had seen a problem and found a solution. But it was a terrible solution brought on by extreme fear of being a disappointment to everyone around me.
Maintenance Required: A small town romance (The Cortell Brothers Book 1) Page 7