Tight Ass!

by Tracey Pedersen

  A few years ago, he’d considered leaving the bank and starting something of his own. Fear had kept him from doing it then, but maybe now was the perfect time. He picked up his phone, intending to do an internet search for possible businesses for sale. He was distracted from his search by the reminder that Kelly still hadn’t answered him. Whenever he’d thought of her today, his stomach churned and a chill washed over him.

  Where was she? Why hadn’t she replied? Was she angry that he’d had to leave and had cancelled their date? Or did she think he was making excuses? What if something had happened to her?

  Whatever it was, he planned to go to her house on his way home from the airport. If she was angry, they’d sort it out; once he explained what had happened she would understand. Apprehension still tickled at his senses.

  God, I hope nothing has happened to her.

  His flight was called and he pushed down the fear that could only be him overreacting. He tucked the letter into his briefcase and made his way to the gate, all the while considering what he might like to do in the future that had now opened wide in front of him.

  That was a decision his staff would all have to make now, too. He’d emailed Samantha to ask everyone to come in early on Monday so he could notify them personally of what was about to happen. The bank had supplied him with information kits and a slide show to break the news to the staff.

  They should send someone from head office to do their dirty work.

  He’d dedicated a good part of his adult life to the one employer. Working in a bank had the perception of being rock solid employment. Nate’s father had informed him he had a job for life when he’d been promoted to the role of branch manager, and he’d believed it. The job landscape had changed, though, and now he had to find something new. Another job wouldn’t be that hard to find; he could start applying as soon as he got home.

  An hour on the plane listening to the man next to him complain about his job had him convinced this was his opportunity to do something big and different, something that didn’t necessarily include him finding new employment. When an advertisement to invest in a community bank played on the radio on the way home, he grinned to himself. Boring Nate was suddenly considering all kinds of changes he wouldn’t have considered if this change hadn’t been thrust upon him. Owning a small bank that supported the community was just one possible option on a long list he’d written on the back of his redundancy letter on the plane.

  The glimmer of excitement that twisted in his gut made it impossible to be worried about this turn of events. Every part of him vibrated with an energy he hadn’t noticed in a long time. This was the same excitement he’d felt with Kelly when they’d hung out together that first night. He needed to talk to her and see what she thought about it all.

  When he pulled up outside her house an hour later it was silent and dark. A fresh wave of irrational fear washed over him as he got out of the car and checked the mailbox.

  Empty.

  No junk mail piled up. A good sign nothing had happened to her. He pulled out his phone and dialled her number but it went straight to message bank. Fang didn’t bark at him from inside so she wasn’t home. He sent her another text and then went back to his car to get paper and a pen from his briefcase. He wedged a short note between the doorjamb and the handle and then he returned to the car.

  If she’d stopped speaking to him, he figured he’d done everything he could to get in contact with her now. Her work was modelling, but he’d never asked where she worked, assuming she did location shoots and they changed based on the assignment. She’d said she worked in a studio but it could be anywhere. That information would have been useful right now.

  When he got home his house seemed quieter than usual. There was nothing to unpack since he’d only been gone for the day and he quickly found himself at a loose end. A quick check of the fridge revealed nothing tempting for dinner and he made the easy decision to round up some of the boys and see if they were doing anything fun. A couple of texts later and he was out the door, headed for the corner pub and the promise of cold beer.

  Chapter 8

  “What would you do if you suddenly found yourself unemployed?”

  “I’d go overseas for a nice long holiday.” Dean tipped his beer in the air before taking a long drink. The bar they’d chosen was packed tonight and his eyes skated over the crowd as he answered, “I’d rent out my house and go for months and months.”

  “You would? By yourself?”

  “Hell, yeah! Backpacking with all those hot European girls you hear about? I wouldn’t even need time to think about it.” He laughed and took another drink. “If that letter had been presented to me I’d have booked tickets at the airport before I even got home.”

  “That sounds a bit extreme.”

  “Maybe for you, sensible Nate, but I like to live, ya know?”

  “You wouldn’t save the cash and look for another job?”

  “Fuck, no! How many chances do you get to do something amazing with a windfall like that? I’d rent out my house and go. I’m not as financially savvy as you, though, so I don’t own a house to worry about. Maybe the boring option is the right one.”

  “It doesn’t sound like it when you say it like that.”

  “Yeah. I’m hoping you’ll take my travel option. Go exploring. See the world while you’re still young enough to climb things and meet hot chicks. I’ll house sit for ya!”

  “For a stripper, you sure mention the chicks a lot. Don’t you get enough of them at work?”

  “I get my share.” Dean laughed and licked his lips, making a lewd expression as Nate frowned at him. “My stage name isn’t Dean-the-Machine-Cox for nothing. If the travelling girls who come to work in the club are anything to go by you need to get yourself to Europe right now, my friend!” He laughed again and headed to the bar for another round.

  “What does your new lady friend think of the news?” Jasper spoke without looking up from his phone. “Women always have an opinion, I’ve discovered.”

  “I haven’t told her yet.”

  Jasper looked up from his screen and his finger hovered in mid air. “Why the hell are you here with all of us, then?”

  “You weren’t my first choice. No offence.” Nate rolled his eyes as Jasper grinned at him. “I’ve called and sent texts yesterday and all day today and she hasn’t answered. Now her phone is turned off.” He took a sip of his beer and tried to look unconcerned.

  “Ooh man, you’re in big trouble then.” Jasper waved his phone in the air, “They don’t usually turn the phone off, trust me.”

  “I know. It seems a bit odd but what can I do? I left a note at her place and now I just have to wait.”

  “It’s the weekend. Did you have plans with her?”

  “We had plans for tonight. I thought I’d be home a lot later so I sent her a text to cancel.”

  “You probably should have called.”

  “Probably.” Nate pushed his empty bottle across the table. “Too late now, though. So, we wait.”

  Dean returned and pushed another beer toward them both. “I’ve been meditating on your predicament.”

  “And?”

  “And I definitely think you should take the travel option. Go cheap, though. No staying in fancy hotels like you normally would on holiday. If you’re going to bag the women you should stay where they are. Going local is your best chance. Plus, if you don’t spend too much you could go for six months, or a whole year!”

  “Here I was thinking you had a solution about my lack of return phone calls of the female variety.”

  “Nope. There’s a reason I’m single. If they play games, I drop them like hot potatoes. Hence, they think I’m a dick and they don’t chase me.”

  “You can be a bit of a dick,” Jasper said, still engrossed in his phone.

  Dean leaned over and snatched it out of his hand. “Says you, who’s here to support a mate in his moment of need but is glued to his phone. Who are you—”


  “Give that back, idiot.” Jasper swiped in the air but Dean held the phone out of his reach. He peered at the screen and then at Jasper.

  “Just as I suspected. Mimi has your attention even though she’s not here.”

  “Sorry.” Jasper shrugged at Nate. “Can’t help it. I’ve liked her for years and I’m not doing anything to ruin it.”

  “She still planning another calendar next year?” Dean handed back the phone and Jasper snatched it from his grip.

  “Yep. She just can’t decide who to put in it. I say do something new, she says people really enjoyed the last one.”

  “Too bad you weren’t in it Nate. This conversation might have been a non-event if you were taken.”

  “I am taken.”

  Nate frowned at Dean as his friend laughed and drank his beer. “Maybe. We’ll see if she’s still talking to you after the weekend. If not, there’s always the backpacker plan.”

  “Aren’t I a bit old to go backpacking?”

  “No way. You’re turning, what, thirty-three soon? You’re not too old until you’re a creepy old dude checking out twenty year olds. You have a way to go yet, even if you do channel your grandpa some days.”

  “Hmmm.” Nate sipped his beer. “I’ll think about it.”

  Dean nudged his shoulder. “I was serious about looking after the house, though. My lease is up soon, if you decide to go I’d be happy to rent your place. That way you know who’s in it and you can relax.”

  “Yeah. I’ve never rented my house out before. I would worry about it unless it was with an agent who kept an eye on it for me.”

  “Keep me in mind, then. It would save you paying an agent and still give you some cash coming in.” Dean looked thoughtful for a second, then he banged his beer down on the table. “Of course, I want a rental discount dude! I’m not doing it all from the kindness of my heart!”

  The three of them laughed and Jasper rolled his eyes as he slipped his phone into his pocket. “Mimi says the travel plan is an awesome idea but she’d be bummed to lose you from her roster of models for the next calendar.”

  “Me nude on the pages of a calendar is never going to happen. No matter what I decide to do.”

  Jasper laughed and picked up his beer again. “It wasn’t so bad. If your new lady doesn’t come back, and you don’t go travelling, you might be desperate for a date by this time next year!”

  ***

  Nate spent the rest of the weekend scouring travel sights and cursing Dean for planting the idea of travel in his head. He’d told Kelly he wanted to travel but he’d never spent any time researching all the places there were to go. After the first day of clicking and reading websites his mind was spinning.

  While he searched he’d found several sites that explained how to travel cheaply for long periods of time. Although it seemed money wasn’t going to be a big consideration for him he thought it would be great if he could return home with a decent amount still squirrelled away in the bank.

  Money. Squirrelled away.

  That summed up his entire life’s plan. Work hard, get a good job, save as much money as possible and pay down the house. No debt, no extravagant purchases. Basically, nothing fun. His plan had been to be as responsible with his cash as possible to set himself up for a decent retirement.

  Now those plans were looking shaky. He was seriously considering Dean’s plan to go exploring on a shoe string budget.

  An advertisement caught his eye on the sidebar of the website he was reading. It had a colourful graphic showing Lonely Planet guides were fifty percent off for one day only. One of the covers said Southeast Asia on a Shoestring.

  He bit his lip and rolled his eyes as he caught himself thinking silly thoughts about the universe influencing him.

  It’s a sign. We’ve been talking about shoe string budgets and going cheap. Asia is close so it’s an obvious starting point. Fuck it, I’m buying that guide!

  He clicked the advertisement, entered his credit card details and clicked the checkout button. He slouched back in his chair with a smile on his face. There was a damn good chance he was going to do this!

  ***

  Monday rolled around with no text or call from Kelly. Instead of pining for her he decided to let it go, even though he’d been convinced they had a connection. She’d sent her message loud and clear. He’d fucked up and she wasn’t amused.

  When he reached the office, he sat at his desk and enjoyed a few moments of peace before the other staff arrived. For eight years he’d made sure he was the first one in every day, except for that one morning last week. Soon, that routine would be gone. All for nothing. All that dedication to this one bank and now they were closing the branch because some numbers on a page told them to do it. No worrying about how their customers would do their banking; how far elderly clients might now have to travel to make a deposit or enquire about a loan. Everything was online these days or able to be done over the phone through an offshore call centre. Nate knew, from talking to customers every day, that the elderly ones preferred to deal in person with the people handling their money.

  Those concerns were secondary this morning. He had the unenviable task of notifying the branch staff that they would be closing in just a few months. He was expecting tears and recriminations. Not something he thought he would ever have to experience here.

  The first staff arrived and he saw the wary looks on their faces. Their expressions said it all.

  Nate has never called a full staff meeting before.

  Of course, they had meetings every week, but there’d never been one where every casual staff member had been requested to attend. Today was that day and they were worried.

  Chapter 9

  An hour later Nate was down two staff members who were so upset after receiving the news of their upcoming redundancy that they had to go home. Samantha was teary but did her best to concentrate on work. With two small children in school the loss of her income to the family would affect them greatly.

  Nate called her into his office late in the afternoon and she slipped in and closed the door behind her.

  “How are you doing?” he asked.

  “I’m okay. It’s just a shock, you know?”

  “I do. I nearly called you on Friday night but then I worried about ruining your weekend.”

  “Yeah, there’s no great time to tell someone they’re about to be unemployed.”

  “Well, don’t panic yet. The letters will arrive on Wednesday with all the payout figures. You might even feel better about it then. You’ve been here longer than I have.”

  “I know, that’s what I’m trying to tell myself. I called my husband and he said the same thing.”

  “Us men are fantastic!” He smiled at her, trying to lighten the mood. “Whatever time off you need to go to interviews you know you can have and of course you can use me as a reference.”

  “Thanks, Nate. It won’t be the same without all of us working together. Can you get yourself a manager’s job in another bank so we can all come work for you, please?” she laughed and the worry left her face for a moment as she slouched back in her seat.

  “See, that humour will get you through this. I am thinking of a change, though.” He put his hands behind his head and watched for her response. “I’m thinking of taking off overseas instead of looking for something right away.”

  Her eyes brightened and she sat up straight. “Really? A holiday is a great idea. You never use your leave anyway.”

  “That’s what I figured. Thought I might have a nice, long break. Maybe six months or more.”

  “Wow! That’s awesome.”

  “Maybe. Everyone seems to think it’s awesome but I’m not convinced quite yet.” He dropped his hands and let the smile slip from his face.

  “Well convince yourself today and start planning. My sister went overseas for two years right after school and she still talks about it ten years later. My parents almost had to drag her home. If she hadn’t run out of money she tells us sh
e would never have come back.”

  “As I said, I’m seriously considering it. Anyway, that’s not why I called you in here. I just wanted to make sure you’re not too upset.”

  “Nope. I’ll manage. Did they tell you when our last day would be?”

  “I don’t have an exact date but as I said, it’s a six-month period. So, no one is going to the poor house anytime soon. As people leave they plan to send us casual staff from other branches to take up the slack until the end.”

  “That’s going to be fun to juggle. I’m glad I don’t have to worry about that part.”

  “I’m the lucky one who gets to deal with that, aren’t I?” Nate grinned at her. “My letter gave me the option to leave early but I’ve decided to stay the full six months. I’ll be here until the end.”

  Samantha stood up and turned toward the door. “I’m pleased to hear that Nate. There’s going to be one almighty party on our last day!”

  ***

  Despite attempts all day to tell himself he could just forget about Kelly and her silence, Nate found himself outside her house on Monday night after work. Just like on Friday night the house was dark. This time, however, mail and junk catalogues did spill out of the mailbox. He opened the car door and stood looking at the house for a moment.

  Is this stalker-ish behaviour? Have I become that guy who can’t take no for an answer? I can’t be him, though—I didn’t get a no.

  He pushed the door closed and walked toward the house to check if his note was still wedged in the door.

  She probably read it, rolled her eyes and told Nate Black to fuck off under her breath.

  No. She didn’t. The note was still there, wedged tightly just where he’d left it.

  Damn!

  What does that mean? Did she go away somewhere and not tell me since I cancelled by text? He stood there playing over their last night and morning together in his head. The way she’d kissed his chin when he’d left for work, running late for the first time in eight years. The sheet she’d dragged off the bed to hold over her breasts as she waved from his doorway with a smile.