by Maise, Ella
“I’m sure they look fine. It does hurt a little when I bend them, but only because I landed pretty hard on them, not because they’re scraped.”
Kneeling down, I looked at the foot she was trying her best not to put weight on. I rolled up her jeans once and gently wrapped my hand around her ankle. Even this. Even an innocent touch like this was starting to affect me.
“Jack?” Rose whispered and snapped me back from my thoughts.
When I pressed on a spot that was slightly red, she jerked it back.
“Yes,” I said dryly as I stood up. “You’re completely fine. Can you walk?
“Yes.”
“Okay. Let’s see how you walk.” Slipping her bag off her shoulder, I turned left, but she turned right. I stopped. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“To work, of course,” she replied with a small frown forming between her brows.
“I don’t think so.”
“Excuse me?”
“Rose, I need to take a look at what else is hurt. We’re going home.”
“I don’t think so. I’m already late so if you’re not gonna help, I’m completely fine walking on my own.”
She turned, getting ready to walk away.
“Because that turned out so well for you the last time, right?” I asked, stopping her in her tracks before she could take a step.
Her eyes were narrowed when she faced me again. “Yes, actually, it’s worked out just fine these last few weeks. So, I’m thinking it’s gonna be just fine now too.”
I gritted my teeth and kept my mouth shut. She didn’t give me a chance to say anything anyway before she turned around to leave again. Her first step looked normal, but the second didn’t look smooth enough. She was favoring her left leg. What was I gonna do with her? Without even realizing it, she had just crumpled another wall I’d tried my best to put up.
Still just a few steps separating us, I called out after her. “Your bag.”
She stopped and looked at me over her shoulder, her features tight. “What?”
Staying silent, I raised my eyebrow and showed her the bag in my hand. She limped back the few steps she had taken and held her hand up, eyes boring into mine.
She was something else.
I studied her face, thinking maybe I could intimidate her, but she wasn’t giving an inch. I’d gotten to know her pretty well, and I knew she wouldn’t give in, no matter what I said or did. Shaking my head, I threw her bag on my left shoulder and tucked her arm around my right.
She stiffened next to me and tried to pull away. I covered the back of her hand with my right hand to keep her still.
“I’m not going back to your apartment, Jack,” she said through gritted teeth as a group of runners and their two dogs forced us to move to the edge of the road.
“It’s not my apartment anymore, is it?” I asked distractedly. “It’s supposed to be ours. Get used to it so you don’t let something like that slip around your cousins or other people.”
“Are you taking me to work or—”
“We’re going to your precious coffee shop, goddammit,” I burst out, and then I tried my best to gentle my voice. “You called me for help and I’m helping. Stop arguing with me and try to walk instead.”
That shut her up. She gave me another look and bit down on her lip as she grabbed my arm with her left hand too. After a few slow steps, she rested a bit more of her weight on me.
She was as stubborn as a mule. Another thing that made me like her more.
“How are your knees?” I asked, completely aware of how surly I sounded.
Another fleeting look at me. “They feel a little tight. I’m sure it’ll go back to normal in a few hours. We’re closer to the coffee shop than our apartment anyway.”
I gritted my teeth, glaring at the people walking past us. “Right.” After a few minutes of shuffling and resting and wincing, I couldn’t take it anymore. “Put your arm around my neck,” I ordered. When she hesitated, I sighed and did it myself.
“I’m shorter than you, so we can’t walk like that—Jack!”
“What?” I asked, grunting softly when I had her up in my arms.
“Have you lost your mind?”
I started walking at a normal pace, holding her tightly against my chest as she slid her other hand around my neck.
“Jack, you don’t have to carry me, I can walk. Put me down.”
“No. You can’t put weight on your left leg. You’re gonna make it worse.”
“I can. I’ve been walking with your help. Jack, I can.”
“With the speed we were going, you’d reach your coffee shop at noon. What’s the problem? I’m doing all the work here, and I thought you were in a hurry to get there.”
“Jack,” she growled, her eyes shooting daggers at me. I kept my eyes forward and continued walking. “Jack, I’m warning you, you’re not going to carry me all the way to the coffee shop.”
“I’m not? If you say so, I’m sure it must be true.”
“Everyone is staring at us,” she whispered.
“We’ve only passed two people.”
“And both of them were looking at us like we were crazy. I’m not gonna be in your arms while we’re crossing 5th Avenue with all those people around. Everyone will look at us. The traffic! And Madison Avenue!”
“You will.”
“I’m really regretting calling you right now.”
“I couldn’t tell.”
I was enjoying it too much.
When trying to push off of me so she could get down didn’t work, she gently slapped my shoulder with her injured hand and then winced.
I clenched my jaw so I wouldn’t smile. “Stop squirming. You’re not the only one who likes to get to work on time.”
“Fine, have it your way. You’ll put me down once we exit the park.” Since we were almost out of it anyway, a lot more people started to pass us, some of them snickering, some of them giving us disapproving looks. I ignored them, but Rose wasn’t exactly good at that.
“Hi,” she shouted to a stranger walking by and staring at her. “I just hurt my leg, that’s why he’s carrying me. He’s my husband. Everything is good.” The woman just shook her head and quickened her steps. “Jack,” she groaned, her voice muffled by her face being buried in my neck. “They think we’re crazy. I’ll never be able to walk through here again.”
I hiked her up and, with a surprisingly satisfying squeak, she held tighter on my neck. That was fun.
“If you don’t want them to think you’re crazy, I’d suggest stop shouting at them. And you aren’t going to walk through here again anyway, so stop complaining.”
She lifted her head off my chest. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“I’ll talk to Raymond. He’ll come earlier and take you across then he’ll come back and take me to work. It was stupid of you to walk through the park while it was barely light out. You’re lucky you didn’t break your leg or get mugged.”
I could feel her eyes on me, but I didn’t look at her.
“I have pepper spray in my bag. And I don’t need a driver. I’m not the kind of person who has a driver. No offense to Raymond—I like him, and he’s a nice guy—but I’m not like you.”
Finally, we made it out onto 5th, where there were a lot more people. “Thanks for pointing that out. I hadn’t noticed.”
“I’ve been taking care of myself all my life, Jack,” she said softly.
“I know and you’ve done an amazing job. Just because you can take care of yourself, you’re not supposed to let anyone else help you? I’m sorry for committing this atrocity against you.”
“You’re insane.”
“I think we covered that the first day we met. No need to rehash it all over again.”
“You’re also unbelievable, do you know that?” she asked softer.
“I can imagine,” I murmured, a little distracted. Standing next to a group of people, I waited for the light to change.
“He
is my husband,” Rose announced to the group. “I fell.”
There were some snickers from the school girls on our left when I hiked her up again and Rose squeaked.
As we made it across, she started up again, and I sighed.
“We’re almost there—”
“You can hold on for a few more minutes then.”
“Jack.”
“Rose. You know some women would find this romantic.”
“I’m not some women.”
“You’re telling me,” I grunted.
Luckily, there was silence after that until we reached the front door of her beautiful coffee shop. I gently put her down under the roses and handed her bag to her. Keeping her gaze averted, she searched for a key and opened the door. I could see the light in the kitchen from where we were standing, meaning the guy, the part-time worker, was already there. With jerky movements, she unlocked the door and walked in.
“Let’s take a look at your knees while I—”
Before I could finish my sentence and follow her in, she slammed the door in my face and reset the alarm. As I stared after her, she didn’t even look back. Still limping, she disappeared into the kitchen.
Shocked and absurdly amused, I stood there looking into the empty coffee shop for another ten seconds. Then, turning around, my hands in my pockets, I walked for a block or two. I eventually hailed a cab and headed home so I could get to work myself. I wasn’t sure what to feel about the smile that stayed on my face the entire morning.
* * *
Later, I walked into my office and greeted Cynthia.
“Good morning, Jack.”
I leaned against the edge of my desk. “Good morning. Any changes in my schedule for today?”
Her forehead creased, and she looked down at her tablet. “No, no changes.”
“Then I need you to clear everything between…” I checked my watch, trying to decide what time would be better. “Eleven-thirty and two-thirty. A few hours would be enough, I think.”
“Enough for what?”
“I have something I need to take care of.”
“Jack, I can’t clear those time slots.”
“Why not?”
“Did you forget? You have the negotiations with Morrison and Gadd.”
“The documents with the necessary changes are ready?”
“An associate is on it, and it’ll be done in time for the meeting.”
“Get them from him.”
“But—”
“I’ll get it done quicker. Get it for me.”
“Done.”
“Good, and push the negotiations to two. The other side, Gadd, didn’t want to meet up that early anyway, so let them know first.” I got up and moved to sit behind my desk.
“And Morrison? What am I supposed to tell him?” she asked.
I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair. “Did you read his email? The one he sent this morning?”
She nodded.
“Well, tell him we need to do more research on the new company he wants to invest twenty million in. I want to get both the negotiations and the new investment deal taken care of today. He won’t mind the delay if we have everything ready.”
“Okay. What about the rest of your schedule? We’ll need to push everything back. You have a five PM call with Gilbert—you can’t miss that today.”
“Fine. I’ll leave the office at eleven. I can get through my ten-thirty call by then, and I’ll come back around one-thirty for the meeting so push it to then instead. That way I’ll be done with Morrison and Gadd by the time I need to be on the phone with Gilbert. If everything goes as planned, we’ll have Gadd sign the final papers at the end of the meeting and I’ll be ready for the call with Gilbert. I’ll stay late and catch up, don’t worry.”
“Okay, I can work with that. Where did you say you were going again?”
“I didn’t say. Close the door, please, and don’t forget to bring me those documents.”
When I lifted my head up from my laptop, Cynthia was already gone.
An hour later, when I was going through the documents, making sure everything was ready for the meeting, Samantha appeared at my door. I glanced at Cynthia’s desk, but she was nowhere to be seen.
Wanting to get it over with, I was the one who engaged her. “What do you want, Samantha? I need to go over these before I leave.”
She shrugged and took my question as an invitation to walk in and sit across from me. “Something is not right with you—or maybe I should say something has changed.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“You’ve been leaving early.”
“And that’s your business because…?”
“You’re the last one to leave here, every day.”
“And now I’m not.” I put down the papers in my hands. “What do you want?”
She lifted her hands in surrender, her red lips curving up. “Nothing. I’m just making conversation and sharing my observations.”
“What gave you the impression that I would be interested in your observations? I’m not going to explain myself to you. Do you need something from me?”
“Not really. I had a little free time so I’m just chatting with you. How is your lovely wife?”
If it had been someone else sitting across from me, they would’ve tucked their tail between their legs and left already, but Samantha wasn’t like other people. She had never been scared of me, and I thought maybe it was time to change that.
“If you pull the same shit you pulled at dinner again, we’ll have problems.”
“Excuse me?”
“What you did at dinner—I’m letting you know if it happens again, we’ll have problems.”
“It’s going to be like that, huh?”
“Cut the crap and don’t act like you care about my life or my wife. We know each other pretty well by now, I’d think. You know I don’t like having people in my business, so stay out of it.”
Cynthia stuck her head in, interrupting before Samantha could give a response. “Did you call me, Jack?”
I hadn’t, but Cynthia knew the trick. If there was someone in my office she was sure I wouldn’t want there, she always ran interference. “Yes, I need you to get me the—”
Samantha rose to her high-heeled feet and I paused midsentence. “I’ll leave you to your work. I didn’t mean any harm, Jack, truly—not that night, and not just now. I’m simply pointing out that you’ve changed, and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing. Plus, I was curious, obviously.”
When she realized I wasn’t going to answer, she released a long sigh, turned around, and gave Cynthia a smile before walking out of my office.
“You need anything?” Cynthia asked, and I shook my head. She left without another word. She was the best assistant in the entire firm.
Done with the papers, I got on with my ten-thirty call, and we wrapped up at a quarter past eleven. Rising, I put on my suit jacket and called Raymond so he could bring the car around front.
Leaving the office, I stopped in front of Cynthia’s desk and dropped off the documents. “Can you have the copies ready by the time I get back?”
“Of course.”
“Also, do you remember the charity thing you mentioned a few weeks ago? Something for kids?” I tried to remember where it was going to be held, but I couldn’t come up with the name. “It was on the tenth, I think. I’m not sure.”
“Yes, I remember. What about it?”
“I want to donate, so I’m going to attend with my wife. Can you take care of everything?”
“You’re going to attend a charity dinner?” Her voice got thinner with each word as her brows rose higher.
“Try not to look so surprised. Can you handle it?”
She shook herself out of her disbelief. “Of course I can. I’ll give you the info you need when you get back.”
“Okay. Thank you, Cynthia. I’ll see you later.”
I managed to take a few steps away from her desk
before her voice stopped me.
“Jack?”
I turned back and waited. She played with her glasses and looked away from me.
“I’m going to be late. What do you want?”
“Jack…it’s not my place, and I know that, so don’t bite my head off for saying this, but…” I knew nothing that started with those words could be something I’d want to hear.
“I don’t bite your head off.”
She smiled, relaxing in her seat. “Only every day.”
“Surely not every day,” I said seriously, but her smile grew, and then she slowly went back to being serious.
“You have to tell her, Jack.”
“I have to tell who what? Samantha?”
She pinned me with her stare. “No. Not Samantha. I’ve known you for years now—don’t try to act stupid with me. You have to tell her. That’s all I’m going to say on the matter.”
I opened my mouth, but she lifted her finger and stopped me. “You have to tell her.”
It finally dawned on me what the hell she was talking about. Of course she was talking about Rose. If there was one person whose crap I’d tolerate, it was Cynthia, and even with her, I had a limit, yet I didn’t respond the way I would’ve responded if it was anyone but her. “It’s not the right time,” I forced out through my gritted teeth.
“It’s never going to be the right time, Jack.”
As if I didn’t already know that. As if I didn’t know I was doomed.
I left before she could say anything else.
* * *
Not exactly sure what I would face—because it always seemed to be a surprise when it came to Rose—I walked through the door. The day before, it had smelled like vanilla; it now smelled of cinnamon and fragrant coffee. With the bell’s noise, Rose glanced my way while still attending to a customer. Her smile faltered, but she didn’t lose it completely. Instead of heading over to her, I picked the table next to her little library and got comfortable. My seat was facing her, so I looked around and noticed, out of the twelve tables, nine were occupied. For her second day, she was doing amazingly well. Even the bar seats had a couple customers deep in conversation as they looked out on the street, drinking their coffees. Two new customers walked in and I settled down to wait. Taking out my phone, I started to catch up on emails.