Friend-Zoned (7 page)

With Nat here, I get
inventory done in 2 short hours. Work goes quickly when you’re
gabbing away with an old friend.
After a year apart she still looks the same to me except her hair
is longer and dyed a deep magenta, some would call it violet.
People always ask us if we’re sisters; we have the same eye shape
and green eyes. Except my eyes have a dark rim around them and are
lighter, hers are bright grass green.
I’ve told her all about The White Rabbit and the guys. I’m
surprised when she doesn’t question me about Max and his gun but
I’m glad because I honestly wouldn’t know how to answer her.
I ask her if she can steam some new items and she seems really
excited to be put to work. After showing her how to use a
professional steamer and warning her about steam burns (which I
have had many of), I leave her to it.
The red mailbox on the computer flashes. I find one unread
email.
It’s from Vanessa.
_____
To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Cupcake Recipe :)
Thank you so much, can’t wait to make these for my husband!
Who ever heard of mayonnaise in cake? But whatever work,
right?
Kindest regards,
Vanessa Graves
P.S.
Tell your boyfriend he’s got himself a new sponsor. Doing the
paperwork right now. Should be there Monday.
_____
HOLY CANNOLI!
Yay!
After yesterday’s accidental
meeting with Vanessa, I went back to the store and typed out the
recipe to email to her. I was just about to email it when I read
what business she was from. NT3 Advertising is a
huge
advertising firm in
New York. So, now I understand why this was so important to Nik. If
he succeeded in getting them as a sponsor it would open the door to
him for a lot of other sponsors. NT3, alone, has over ten sub
companies.
I’m so happy for him right now I could dance a jig!
Instead, I forward the email to him and wait for a reply.
My excitement deflates when I don’t get one after ten minutes. I
get back to work.
Rawr
Raaawr
Just as I’m ready to glare at
the damn doorbell, I’m pulled back into something hard.
I look up and there is Nik. Hugging me from behind.
He is so tall and handsome. And I feel safe in his muscular
arms.
This bothers me.
I try to laugh it off saying, “Hey there big man! I see
congratulations are in order!”
He takes my hand and turns me to face him. He takes my face in his
large hands and explains, “They were going to turn me down. You,”
he shoots me a grateful smile and whispers, “you are the reason I
got this. This one’s all on you.” His face turns serious, “Thank
you, sweetheart, you have no idea how much I needed this.”
Wrapping his arms around my shoulders, he picks me up and rocks me
from side to side. My legs are swinging left to right and I can’t
move my arms. I’m sure anyone watching thinks I’m his dolly.
When he’s done, he sets me back on my feet and put his hands on my
shoulders. He orders, “You’re shuttin’ down for an hour. You and
your girls are coming to The White Rabbit for lunch.” Not a
request.
I scrunch my face up and start to refuse, “I really
shouldn’t.”
His face turns serious again and he says firmly, “I’m not taking no
for an answer.”
Ooookay
then.
He tries to persuade me with,
“C’mon. It’s just an hour. We need to celebrate.” He starts
nodding.
This is the first time he’s been in my store and it’s been nice so
far. I look around to see Mimi smirking, Natalie wink, and Lola
wide eyed. I shoot them all a questioning look. Mimi and Nat nod
vigorously, Lola just stares at Nik.
Oh, Lola. I know how you feel.
Shrugging my shoulders I put on my best bored voice, “Well I
guess an hour won’t hurt.”
Nik smiles huge and,
wow
, I’ve never seen him smile like
this before. I’ve only ever seen his smirk. But
this…
This
is a
smile. It’s a masterpiece. A work of art.
It’s a little like Max’s. He has a single dimple which is totally
yummy. And his teeth are so straight and white, I want to lick
him.
But his smile transforms his whole face. Gone is any hardness I
once saw in his face; now whenever I see him I will remember this
beautiful smile. I feel sorry for anyone who hasn’t seen it.
He turns to Mimi and asks, “Can you lock up?”
She nods and walks to the staff room. Keys in hand, she shuffles us
out the door and locks it.
Nik takes my hand, puts it in the crook of his elbow and walks us
across the street, girls in tow.
We arrive at what Nik calls the ‘chill out’ room and there are at
least ten other people there.
Max is the first to spot us arrive. He swoops up to us and picks me
up, hugging me hard.
What the heck is
it with these guys and picking me up?
Max exclaims, “Oh, doll face, you are a sight for sore eyes!”
He looks at my girls and asks, “Have you tried this girl’s
cupcakes?” They all nod and he continues, “They should win awards
or some shit!”
From across the room, an older lady yells out to Max, “You watch
your mouth, young man. You’re not too old for me to spank you, niño
travieso!” She has a slight accent. She is also beautiful. I would
guess she is in her mid to late fifties with salt and pepper hair,
olive skin tone, and dark brown eyes.
Nik walks me over to her. He introduces me to her. “Mom, this is
Tina.” He looks proud to introduce me. I melt a little.
She looks at me curiously and questions, “So this is your
new
friend
?” She
says friend in a teasing way. I don’t know what to make of
it.
I clear my throat and respond, “It’s lovely to meet you…”
She takes my hand in hers and introduces herself with a kind voice.
“Cecilia. But you girls can call me Mama.” She winks at me then
goes to get my friends names.
Trick approaches with three other girls. They are all smiling big
as Trick introduces them. “Tina, these are Max and Nik’s sisters.
Leticia, Maria, and Isabel.”
Leticia looks the oldest. Not quite as old as Max or Nik but she is
the oldest sister. She looks a lot like her Mom. As does Maria. She
says, “Please call me Leti.”
I take her hand and shake it. I say with an awe-filled voice, “Wow,
you’re all so beautiful. You must have great genes.”
Maria takes my hand next and responds, “We get told that a bit but
it’s hard to see that in yourself.” She is humble and sweet. She
looks about my age.
Isabel is the youngest. And I mean
young
. She is maybe eighteen. Nik
has to be at least twelve years older than her. She looks a little
like her sisters but shares the same eye color as Nik and Max. She
gently takes my hand and shoots me a shy smile, “Call me
Isa.”
Leti asks me about Safira’s. I tell them I’m the manager and which
brands we currently stock. I also invite them to come see the store
sometime. They all listen intently and seem genuinely interested. I
like them instantly.
Ghost appears in the doorway carrying platters upon platters of
sushi.
Oh dear lord, I’m in sushi
heaven!
I freakin’
love
sushi! I don’t love the raw fish bits but give me Teriyaki
and Satay chicken any day. Ooh, and spicy tuna rolls. And spring
rolls. And maybe the edamame beans.
Okay, so I love a lot of Japanese food items.
Nik comes up behind me and
catches me staring with wide eyes at the platters. He smiles, I get
the dimple again, and he says teasingly, “I promised you sushi,
right?”
I nod up at him and he tells me, “Go eat then, sweetheart.” He
gives me a little shove to move me along.
Looking around the room I see everyone chatting and laughing.
Cecilia and Trick in one corner. Nat, Lola, and Max on the lounge,
Ghost sitting on the arm of the sofa listening in. Mimi is chatting
away to the sisters. Everyone seems to be having a good time and
I’m glad we came. It seemed to be important to Nik.
I make a move to the table with the now open platters when a voice
startles me.
“Daddy?”
Such a sweet little voice that my heart clenches.
I look up to see a young girl in a wheelchair blocking the doorway.
I recognize her from the photo in Nik’s office.
She is around nine or ten years old and she has pale skin (like me)
and auburn hair which is cut to her shoulders. Her eyes are the
same color as Nik’s. The tooth that was missing in the photo has
almost completely grown back.
This little Angel must be Nik’s daughter.
I’m a little shocked when Max walks over to the girl and kneels by
her chair. He asks, “What is it, baby?”
She holds up a handheld game console and frowns. She whispers
loudly, “I can’t get my game to work.”
He takes the game console from her, kisses her hand and says, “Hmm,
let me see what I can do.”
The little girl rolls her chair into the room and right up to Nik
and me. She looks up at him questioningly, “Hey uncle Nik, is this
your girlfriend?”
He chokes down a laugh and explains, “No, Cricket. This is my
friend Tina. Tina this is my niece Ceecee. She’s named after Mom
but this is easier for us.”
I smile and take her small hand in mine and say, “It’s nice to meet
you, Ceecee.”
Ceecee smiles back at me. She frowns suddenly and declares, “I’m
hungry.”
I kneel beside her and ask, “Would you like for me to make you up a
plate, sweetie?”
She nods and follows me over to the table. I ask, “What would you
like?”
Her face scrunches up in disgust when she sees the Sashimi; she
says with certainty, “I don’t want the fish.”
A bubble of laughter catches in my throat. I tell her, “That’s
okay. I don’t like the raw fish either.” I take a look around the
platters and say, “There’s chicken, egg, and cucumber. Which
ones?”
Her face brightens and she replies, “One of each, please.”
I put some sushi on a plate for her and pop it in her lap. I notice
her legs aren’t muscular at all; in fact they look quite small for
her body. I take a guess that she is possibly a paraplegic.
Max comes back into the room and walks over to us. He sees the
plate on her lap and his eyes go wide. He asks her, “Did you get
that on your own, baby?”
With a mouth full of sushi, she replies, “Nuh uh. Tina got it for
me.” She looks to her father and says, “Don’t you think Tina’s
pretty, daddy?”
Max and I look at each other and laugh. He nods genuinely and tells
her, “Yeah, baby, I think she’s very pretty.”
Ceecee surmises, “I think she looks like a princess.”
Max smiles and claims, “Maybe she is a princess.”
Her awe filled eyes meet Max’s and she questions, “Do you think
she’s a real princess like in my book?”
With a small shrug, he responds, “I don’t know, babe. Why don’t you
ask her?”
She turns her face to me and in a completely serious voice asks,
“Tina, are you a princess from my book?”
Oh, my…You are too cute.
Shaking my head slightly, I tuck her hair behind her ear. I
tell her, “No sweetie.” Her shoulders slump, so I continue, “But
sometimes when I dress up really nice I feel like one.”
Her eye widen and she whispers, “Me, too. Can we be princesses one
day?”
Without hesitation I answer, “Absolutely.” This is important to her
for some reason.
Eyes still wide, she looks to the floor and whispers slowly,
“Cool.”
She is so small and sweet. I want to hug her. So I do.
I wrap her small frame in my arms and hug her. I lean down to her
ear and whisper, “You don’t have to be a real princess to feel like
one. I’ll show you someday.”
She returns my hug briefly, takes the game console from Max, and
wheels herself out of the room.
I turn to Max, grab hold of his hand and state, “I
love
her.”
Max pats my hand holding his and smiles as he boasts, “She has that
effect on people.”
“You must be so proud,” I say. My voice is a little thick.
His face turns serious but answers with a soft voice, “I am, doll.
I really am.”
***

Tina holds onto Max’s hand
and I feel a swell of emotion in my chest.
Max has been through a lot over the past nine years. He was in love
with a good woman. We don’t see Maddy anymore. Actually, we haven’t
seen her since Ceecee was about one and a half.
Ceecee was born an extremely healthy little girl. She wasn’t
planned but Max loved Maddy so much that he would’ve done anything
to make her happy. They eventually both fell in love with the idea
of a baby. Max was twenty four and strutting like a peacock when
Maddy wound up pregnant. He liked the idea of being a dad.
When Maddy brought Ceecee home from the hospital she was soon after
diagnosed with postpartum depression. She wasn’t bonding with
Ceecee and would sometimes leave her in her crib for hours without
a feed or changing of her diaper.
Mom stepped in and they moved into the family home. Mom gave Maddy
an ultimatum. Either she would go to counselling or Mom would call
child services on her. Yep, Mom pulled out the big guns.
Months passed and Maddy was getting better. She was making more of
an effort, playing with Ceecee, bathing her and putting her to bed
at night. Mom was over the moon.
Ceecee was fourteen months old when the accident happened.
Mom was now confident enough to leave Maddy with Ceecee so she left
them both at home to go to the grocery store for an hour. What Mom
returned to would change us forever.
Ceecee was crying so hard on the kitchen floor she was blue in the
face. Maddy was cowering in a corner with her hands pulling at her
hair. Mom called an ambulance and was told by the phone operator
not to touch Ceecee. Mom was hysterically crying when she went to
take a closer look at Ceecee. There was no blood but her little
body was twisted at an awkward angle.
It turns out Maddy was getting lunch ready for Ceecee and put her
up on the kitchen counter. Maddy turned to the refrigerator for
just a second.
Ceecee fell back off the counter and severed her spine when she hit
a stool on the way down.
Can you imagine the pain that little girl was in?
We don’t talk about Maddy. Ceecee has asked about her a lot. She
knows her Mom’s name and that her Dad doesn’t like to talk about
her. That’s it.
Max refuses to talk about her but about a year ago he came to me
for name of a top private investigator. He wanted to find out where
Maddy was.
We found out that Maddy had turned herself in to the police before
being placed in a rehabilitation facility. She was never charged
with neglect and child endangerment because the courts found she
was mentally ill. Maddy lives in Arizona with a husband and their
two children, both boys. When Max heard this last bit of
information, he went gonzo. He was a wreck for a long time after
Maddy left.
I never held Maddy responsible for what happened to Ceecee. As far
as we all knew, it really was a horrible accident. And one she will
be living with for the rest of her life. I’m sure she left Max out
of guilt.
What kind of person wouldn’t have guilt? After all, she almost
killed her daughter.
I love Ceecee like she was my own. I would do anything to keep my
Cricket happy.
Something tugs at my lapel. Tina is standing before me and looking
up at me with an uneasy face. She’s so close to me we’re toe to toe
and her face is at my chest. One small move and we’d be
kissing.
What the
heck?
I start, “Ahh…”
She smiles a sad smile and muses, “When someone wears the face your
wearing they usually need a hug.”
She places one arm around my waist, rests her head on my chest,
with her other hand at the back of my neck stroking the hair
there.
We stand like that for almost a minute and I feel my body relax.
She squeezes my waist, lifts her head and asks, “Better?”
My brow furrows and I look past her shoulder, thinking. I am
feeling better.
I give her a small nod. She smiles, lets go of me and walks back to
Max.
Probably the best forty second
hug I’ve ever had.