by Kris Bryant
“I wonder where she came from. And why she picked you. You know, cats pick their owners. They’re excellent judges of character.”
Catmas stretched and leapt off the couch. She soundlessly jumped on the top of the recliner. My father was so engrossed in the game he didn’t realize he was petting a curled-up Catmas on his lap thirty seconds later. My mom and I waited and watched his reaction, but were disappointed that he was so oblivious.
“Let’s finish decorating the tree,” Mom said. She dug through the box and found several yarn snowflakes my brother and I made in grade school.
“Keep them high so that you-know-who doesn’t get ahold of them,” I said.
“Then the tree will look lopsided.” My mom frowned. Their tree was a three-footer they carried down to the basement every January, fully decorated, and put a large trash bag over. I didn’t go anywhere near it. Spiders lurked in basements. I wouldn’t even allow my mind to think of all the bugs that resided in that tree by now. They wouldn’t consider a bigger tree until they had grandkids. We were at a standoff.
I put my arm over my mom’s shoulders. “I think it looks great. The snowflakes add a nice touch. I think Grandma will like it, too.” It was nice to see our family ornaments up. Some of them were cheesy, and some were ridiculous, but they all had meaning. It would be hard to give the ornaments to my mom when they upgraded their tree, but for now, I intended to enjoy our history.
“Roger, we should go. Let Jess get some sleep. She has a big day tomorrow.” My mother stood and waited for my father to untangle himself from Catmas and get his coat on.
“I do?”
“You have that big meeting with the soap people. I heard Melissa talk about it earlier to that nice man who works next to you. You were busy getting your coat.”
“I don’t know anything about that. I’ll have to check my emails.” Sudsley Soap was coming in for a pitch, but it wasn’t for another two weeks.
“Don’t kill her. I don’t want to have to visit you in jail.”
“I’m too pretty for jail.” I hugged both my parents and waited patiently for them to say good-bye to Catmas. After they took turns holding her again, I finally kicked them out. I pulled out my laptop and looked through my emails. Nothing about a meeting. I looked at the group calendar, and sure enough, we had an appointment with Sudsley at eleven tomorrow. I picked up my phone and texted Brandon.
Hey, what’s going on with Sudsley? Are they coming tomorrow?
Yeah. I thought you knew.
My blood boiled. No. Can you please forward me the emails? Apparently Melissa forgot to include me.
On it. Give me two seconds.
Eight emails showed up in my inbox. Son of a bitch. She purposely left me off the email thread. I also noticed I wasn’t given any responsibilities. Was I getting fired? No. I couldn’t imagine climbing the ladder as fast as I did to have the ladder kicked out from underneath me by somebody who was notorious for being an asshole.
I’m sorry, J. I didn’t even see that your name wasn’t on the thread.
No worries. I should get caught up by morning. Thanks, B.
I was seething. So much of the project had changed. I logged into the project file and took notes on the changes. Melissa was Team Lead, but I was presenting with her. I had half a notebook full of notes before I took a break at ten thirty. I stood and stretched, trying to revive the circulation in my body and grabbed a Diet Coke from the refrigerator.
“Catmas. What are we going to do about Melissa?”
She meowed her answer and some additional information. I nodded like I understood her. “Good fucking plan. Let’s get to it.” She trotted over and plopped down next to me as if we were planning a heist or the demise of my wannabe boss. After an hour, I was struggling to stay awake. It felt so good to close my eyes for just a moment. I reached for my phone to set the alarm but fell asleep before I even turned it on.
* * *
Something soft was tapping my lips. Fish breath and a loud meow got me to crack open my eyes. Gray fur impaired my vision.
“Catmas, what are you doing? Let me sleep.”
The garbled yet loud meow that came from her tiny body bolted me straight up. “Are you okay? Is something wrong?” I rubbed my eyes and looked at the clock. Shit. It was seven. I wanted to get to work early so I could prep and review my notes. I jumped up, patted Catmas on her fuzzy head, and raced to the shower. She followed me and sat on the counter while I got ready. Shit. I forgot to feed her. This was why I couldn’t be responsible for another living thing. I was irresponsible with important things like feeding it.
“Oh, my gosh! I’m so sorry.” I scooped her up, carried her to the kitchen, and gave her a little bit more food out of guilt. “Thank you, sweetheart, for waking me up.” I was out the door at seven forty, dressed for success. I wasn’t entirely comfortable with the meeting, but at least I was prepared. No surprises today. Most of the team got in about eight thirty or nine. Flex time was an appreciated perk. I dumped my stuff at my desk and grabbed a cup of coffee from the community pot. Too bad I’d banned myself from Cool Beans. I could have gone for an espresso or a latte.
“Hey, Jess. You good?” Brandon popped into the kitchen to grab a cup, too.
“Thank you so much for the heads up,” I said.
“I can’t believe you weren’t copied. That was unprofessional of Melissa.”
“I’m just glad I could count on you. Come on. Let’s review a few things before the rest of the crowd gets here. Meet me in the conference room?”
By nine thirty, most of the team was there warming up and reviewing the changes and direction we were going with Sudsley. I wasn’t completely on board, but that’s probably why Melissa didn’t include me. She wanted this to be about her success, not mine. When she breezed into the room, her gaze met mine, and for a split second, she looked nervous. I smiled sweetly as I walked over to her. My voice was low and I had to grit my teeth to keep my anger in check. I wanted to wipe the smugness off her face. “Nice try.”
According to the schedule, Melissa would take the lead, and I was to present market research on her pitch. It wasn’t what we’d agreed on in our initial meeting with the customer, but Melissa was positive the new direction was the way to go. I had my numbers to present, but I also had the original idea that was a tad old-fashioned. Everyone had to face facts. Soap wasn’t exciting. It wasn’t sexy. It was a necessity. Sudsley was a family business, not a new superhero taking the liquid detergent world by storm. I was embarrassed for Melissa and the team, but no way was I going down without a fight. My backup plan was just that. In case seventy-five-year-old Mr. Holls wasn’t hip to super strong men in capes and scantily clad women with powerful swords, I had a few mock-ups from a brainstorming session earlier in the month in my portfolio. I didn’t want my entire team to look bad, even though I wanted her to fail. It wasn’t nice, but neither was she.
“Okay, so we all know our role and what to do when Mr. Holls gets here?”
“No, not really. Would you care to enlighten me?”
The conference room grew quiet. By now, everyone knew what Melissa had done.
“You have the numbers there in front of you. You just have to read them and make them sound good,” she said.
“I don’t know anything about these numbers. I don’t know where they came from. I don’t know the sources. Hell, I didn’t even know about this meeting.”
“It’s been on the calendar for days.” She rolled her eyes at me as if I was inconveniencing her.
I stood. She took a step back. “I know you purposely left me off the emails.” I held my hand up at her when she tried to interrupt. “Even if you lie and say it was an oversight, my name is not mentioned on the thread at all. It was deliberate.” I stared at her faithful sidekick, Jeff, who immediately looked away. He was in on it. Jerk. “We’re going to get through this, but I’m not reciting bullshit numbers I know nothing about. Give them to Jeff. It looks like he knows what’s going on.
”
“Are you refusing to do your job?”
A few gasps in the room perforated the silence that ensued.
“Are you threatening me? Because I’m pretty sure Jocelyn is going to be upset that I was conveniently left off this entire project. But I would be more than happy to go with you to her office to discuss this further.” I knew my cheeks and my ears were flaming red. Even though Melissa had been with the company longer, our boss preferred my work over hers. Melissa was good, but I was better.
The receptionist informing the team that Mr. Holls and his associates were here interrupted us. We all jumped into action. I slid the numbers to Jeff and smiled. I was going to sit back and watch this whole disaster unfold. It wasn’t that Melissa’s idea was bad; it was just the wrong client to try something new with. The man wore a suit with a cut popular in the seventies. His collar wasn’t quite butterfly, but his chunky tie with brown diagonal stripes was a dead giveaway. He was going to shut down the minute she presented the superhero angle. I didn’t intend to abandon the team since I was a part of it, but I would wait a bit before I jumped in.
“Mr. Holls, please come in,” Melissa said. She waited for everyone to get settled before she started the meeting.
Jeff offered coffee and water, which Mr. Holls and his people refused. I could already tell he wasn’t in a good mood and probably didn’t want to be there. His body language screamed closed-minded, but Melissa saw none of this. I cracked open my portfolio and waited to strike.
Chapter Five
“Hello, sweet baby.”
Catmas greeted me at the door. She meowed and did a little twisty dance for me. Was she hungry? I picked her up and threw her over my shoulder, petting her and loving the tiny motor purring in my ear.
“Well, look. You have food and water. Maybe you just missed me?”
I got a head bump for that. I hugged her and put her on the chair while I took off my still- stained coat and hung it up. I would have to take care of that and give Taylor the bill.
“Today was a great day, Catmas. Remember Melissa? The girl I work with who cheated with my girlfriend? Well, ex-girlfriend? She tanked a very important client today. It was true karma for keeping me out of the loop. Can you believe that?”
I swore Catmas snarled and stuck her nose up in the air at Melissa’s name. I picked her up again and headed to the living room to sprawl on the couch. It had been an exhausting day. Not only did I save the customer, but once Jocelyn heard what happened, she made me Team Lead on the project, much to Melissa’s chagrin and my delight. I even smiled in our very somber meeting.
“How was your day, baby girl?” Catmas responded by plopping on her side and pawing at my pants. “I really need to get those flyers up. What if some little kid somewhere is crying for you? You’re entirely too adorable for your own good.” I leaned down and kissed her little belly. She put her paws in my hair and tried to eat it. I sat back up. “Nope. Not a good idea.”
How’d it go? Tell me everything.
I’d texted Mo last night when I found out what happened. I also told her I’d call her when it was done. That was hours ago.
It went better than expected. I’m Team Lead now because Melissa tanked the meeting.
A slew of gifs followed that made me laugh out loud. And just so you know, Friday night we’re picking you up and taking you to Dawn’s party. Be ready. Look awesome. Oh, you should wear that wool skirt I like with the tall boots and your new coat.
I have a cute sweater I can wear with it. The coat is out of commission.
What happened?
Doc Klutz happened. I keep running into her. Literally. She spilled a full cup of coffee all over my coat.
Catmas pushed my hands up so she could curl into my lap. “Well, okay, missy. Have a seat.”
Catmas. I deleted the name and replaced it with Kitty because Mo gave me such a hard time about her temporary name.
Kitty is bossy. She doesn’t like it when I text.
Give her some love. I’ll see you Friday. We’ll get there early so we can spend some time with my floofy niece. Don’t forget the gift exchange.
I rolled my eyes. She’s not staying. I just need to get out there and hang some flyers, but not tonight. I’m exhausted. And thanks for the reminder. I’ll hit Amazon and find the perfect gift for the perfect stranger.
Right, right. She’s not staying, my ass. Oh, I know, maybe this spring you’ll get around to hanging flyers.
Jerk. I followed it by a wink just in case she thought I was serious. See you Friday.
* * *
“Aren’t you just the most precious kitty in all of the world?” Mo completely ignored me and grabbed Catmas who lay on the recliner waiting to be picked up. “Oh, my God. She hugs. I’m in love.”
“No, no, you’re not.” Angie, Mo’s wife, shook her head and gave me a hug. “Good to see you, sweetie. Nice cat. Nope, we don’t want her.”
“I know. Tomorrow it’s supposed to be sunny and above freezing. I’m planning to go around the neighborhood and hang flyers,” I said.
It was adorable to watch Catmas and Mo play together. In the span of ten minutes, they cuddled, chased one another, played fetch, and cuddled again.
“Your tree looks great, but a little top-heavy. Did you run out of tinsel?”
“No. I just wasn’t sure if the kitten would try to eat it or play with it if I covered the tree. I found a box of it in my grandmother’s Christmas ornaments. It does look pretty though. Maybe I should put a few more strands on.” I stood back and nodded. Angie was right. With the family coming over Christmas Eve for dinner, I needed to make everything perfect. Grandma would really love the effort. “What time are we leaving?”
“I need at least ten more minutes with the kitty,” Mo said.
“Don’t get dirty or cat hairy,” Angie said.
“In all fairness, she is wearing a white shirt, and the kitty’s dark gray. I can’t control that,” I said. I handed Angie the box of tinsel. “Want to help me while that love fest continues?”
We had the tree done in ten minutes. “What do you think?” I asked Mo.
She sat up from where she was sprawled on the couch playing with the fishing rod and Catmas. “It looks nice. Complete now. Where are the presents, specifically mine?” She playfully looked around.
“Kitty has a problem with gifts. She likes to ninja-slice the wrapping paper, and if anything’s stacked, she’s going to climb it.”
“But she doesn’t want to try to climb the tree?”
“She seems uninterested.”
“That’s amazing, because if I was a cat, I totally would,” Mo said.
“Don’t you dare give her any ideas. Come on. Let’s get out of here while I’m still in the mood.” I grabbed my boring black peacoat and followed Mo and Angie. From the door, I looked back at Catmas. “Be a good girl. I’ll be home in a few hours.”
* * *
“I’m going to need a drink,” I said.
“I’m on it. Gin and tonic?” Mo asked.
I was nodding before she even got the words out. She slipped away to get Angie and me drinks.
“I’m dreading this gift exchange. I barely know half the people here. The other half I’ve never seen in my life.”
“Everyone looks so young. When did we get old?” Angie asked.
I smiled at a few girls I recognized from past parties, but nobody grabbed my attention. Tonight was going to be a bust. “Are these girls even old enough to drink wine?” I’d brought a bottle of Francis Ford Coppola’s Director’s Cut Merlot. It wasn’t my favorite, but it was a great conversation starter. I’d thrown a bow and one of those cute and completely ridiculous sweaters on the bottle to make it festive. Mo and Angie had brought a box of pastries from the new bakery that had opened this week. Mo said she had to stand in line forever just to get them.
“Here you go, loves.” Mo returned with our drinks.
“Here’s to a good party.” Angie raised her glass to cli
nk with ours.
“Meh,” I said and clinked anyway.
“Quit being such a dud.” Mo frowned at me.
“I’m sorry. It was just an overwhelming week for me.”
“Yes, but it ended well. You’re now Team Lead, Melissa got smacked down, and you have a new baby.”
I rolled my eyes. “Kitty will have a new home by next weekend.”
“Mmm-hmm. Sure.” Mo always called me on my bullshit. “And how many flyers have you put out?”
“It was a busy week. I’ll make that my mission this weekend.” My voice was firm even if I wasn’t convinced.
“Ten o’clock,” Mo said.
I knew the code. We all did. I looked to see who’d walked in. I gasped. What the hell was Taylor doing here? “No.”
“What do you mean, no? She’s gorgeous, and just look at those lips.”
“She is beautiful. And she came alone,” Angie said.
“No.”
“Why the hell not?” Mo asked.
“That’s Catmas’s vet.”
Mo threw her head back and laughed. “Are you shitting me right now? The one who’s bumped into you a zillion times?”
“You mean the one who ruined my favorite coat? Yeah, her. Not interested. She’s rude and judgmental, and I just don’t like her.” She did look nice tonight. The tight black sweater paired with her skinny jeans showed off her form. She slipped right into conversation with the bartender and one of the young women Angie and I were just talking about.
“You should go say hi.”
I turned slowly to face Mo. “Are you kidding me? With a drink in her hand, there’s a one-hundred-percent chance she’ll spill it on me. It’s our destiny.”
“Well, get in there and get it over with then. That way we can enjoy the rest of the night instead of listening to you complain and scowl that she’s here,” she said.