The Job (5 page)

He
laughs. “That sounds pretty dreary,” he says.

“Oh,
it was,” I answer. “Nothing but black plastic glasses as far as the eye could
see. I’m pretty sure that most of them didn’t have prescriptions in them.”

“So
what made you decide to go into women’s clothing?” he asks.

It’s
an obvious question that should have an obvious answer, but I find myself
grasping for anything with which to respond.

“I
don’t know,” I tell him. “I guess I’ve always said that I wanted to provide
women of all sizes an option in clothing where they could still get designer
clothes without the designer price tag, but really, I think it comes down to
the fact that I don’t really know how to run any other kind of store.”

It’s
small talk, sure, but it’s kind of nice seeing a side of him that’s not such an
asshat
.

“What
about you?” I ask. “What got you into contracting?”

“It’s
a family business,” he says. “My grandfather started this company about fifty
years ago. My father worked here, all my brothers worked here. It was just kind
of inevitable, I guess.”

“How
many brothers?” I ask.

“Four,”
he says.

I
can’t help but cringe. “I’m sorry,” I tell him.

“Yeah,”
he laughs, “me too. Hey, I didn’t think of this, but does this Carver’s place
have a dress code? I don’t think what I’m wearing really qualifies as
formalwear.”

“No,
it’s just a bistro,” I tell him. “I’ve seen people show up looking almost as
grungy as you, so I think it’ll be fine.”

“Gee,
thanks,” he says. “Like I was telling you,” he goes on, “I really do apologize
for the way I’ve been acting. I let my personal life bleed into my work, and I
want you to know that’s not how I usually do business, and I just wanted to let
you know that I’m glad to be working with you, and I think we’re going to end
up with something really great.”

“About
that,” I start, and I can already see his muscles tensing. I know that means
resistance is probably on its way, but it’s not a bad perk.

“Yeah?”

“I
was wondering if there was any way we could extend the window a little bit
farther than we talked. I know you guys have already cut out the frame for what
we’d already discussed, but as I was walking in today, it really struck me that
people coming from that direction on the sidewalk could see what we have so
much easier if the window went just a little bit farther.”

“How
much farther are you thinking?” he asks.

“Only
like three, four feet or so,” I answer.

He
takes a deep breath to calm himself.

“If
it’s going to be a problem—”

“It
shouldn’t be a problem,” he says. “It’s just that we’ve already got everything
set up for what we had initially talked about, you know, what we decided on
after what we decided on during the initial discussion.”

He’s
a bit curt, but
it’s
dialed way back from what it has
been, so I let it slide.

“I
know,” I tell him, “but I really think it would add something unique to our
store and could really help bring in the foot traffic.”

“You’re
the boss,” he says. “That’s going to push our timetable back a little bit,
though. We’ll have to cut out more of that wall and make sure everything’s
reinforced, after that, we have to do the moldings and—”

“I’m
sorry. Could you excuse me for a minute?” I ask and pull the vibrating phone
out of my pocket. “Hello?”

“Jessica,
it’s
Mom. How are you doing?”

“I’m
doing great, Mom,” I answer with my usual false cheer. “How are you?”

“Listen,
are you busy right now? There’s something that I need to talk to you about.”

“What’s
that?” I ask.

“This
isn’t really something I want to tell you on the phone,” she says. “Is there
any way you could come see me after you’re off work today?”

“I’m
pretty busy with everything. What’s going on?” I ask.

“I
really think it would be best if we talked in person, dear,” she says and I’m
starting to get a little nervous.

“Is
it Dad?” I ask. “I’ve been telling him that he needs to listen to the doctor
and start exercising more, but he won’t listen to me about it.”

“It’s
not your father, sweetheart,” she says and now I’m really worried. Mom only
drops the word “sweetheart” when something really bad has happened.

“What’s
going on?” I ask again.

“Why
don’t you come up here for dinner?” she asks. “I’d say we’d come see you, but
your sister’s got the car right now, and I don’t think she’ll be back with it
until later tonight.”

“Mom,
she has her own car,” I tell her. “She just wants to use yours because she
knows you’ll fill the tank.”

“Dear,
it’s really important.”

“Just
tell me what’s going on,” I start. “I have a lot going on right now, and I
don’t know if I can conceivably—”

“I
just got back from the doctor, sweetheart,” she says. “I have chondrosarcoma.”

“I
don’t know what the first part means, but sarcoma is a kind of—”

“Cancer,”
she says. “Yes, dear.”

I
stop walking. I’m shaking and I can’t breathe.

“What
did the doctor say?” I ask. “Is it treatable?”

“It’s
a treatable cancer,” she says, “but I’ve had it for a while. About
eighty-percent of patients live five years or longer with it, but they’ve got
to do some more tests to see exactly how advanced it is and how far it’s
spread.”

“I’m
on my way,” I tell her and hang up the phone. “Eric, I’m sorry, but—”

“Whatever
it is,” he says, “it sounds like you need to go. Just go. We can do this
another time.”

“Thank
you,” I tell him and I start running.

Chapter Four

Blowing
off Steam

Eric

“I
hope she’s going to be okay,” Linda, the cashier from Lady Bits, says. “Did she
tell you what was going on?”

“No,”
I tell her. “Whatever it was, though, it sounded pretty bad.”

“I
bet it’s something to do with her father,” Linda says. “He had a heart attack a
couple of years ago, and from what Jessica says, he hasn’t really been taking
care of himself.”

“I
don’t think it was him,” I answer. “She asked about that, but it didn’t seem
like that’s what was going on.”

“What
do you think we should do?” she asks.

“I
don’t know,” I tell her. “Me and the guys can keep working whether she’s in the
store or not, but I don’t know how her absence affects the rest of you.”

“I
think we should close up,” Linda says. “Nobody’s coming in anyway, and I don’t
think I can really focus on what I’m doing right now.”

“Who
runs the shop when she’s not here?” I ask.

“That’s
a really good question,” Linda says. “The only time she ever leaves during
business hours are for the occasional lunch, and then it’s only for like
fifteen minutes and while she’s gone, we all just kind of take care of our own
stuff.”

“Maybe
you should stay open until you hear from her,” I say. “I wouldn’t want you and
your coworkers to get in any trouble.”

Linda’s
been giving me the juicy eye since I came in to place a bid and, from the way
she’s looking at me now and the way her fingers are running through the ends of
her dark hair, I’d say she has something specific planned for her prospective
early day.

Still,
I’m not so sure I want to rock the boat when Jessica and I are just barely
trying to make some inroads.

“You
know,” Linda says, leaning forward over the counter, her elbows in just the
right position to press her breasts together as the front of her shirt falls
open a little, “I don’t think I can be alone right now.”

Really,
I’m not sure that Jessica and I are ever really going to see eye to eye. Maybe
it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to cut out a little early. Still, the rational
part of my mind is just edging out a small lead.

“I
don’t know,” I tell her. “If it’s something serious and she comes back to find
everyone’s abandoned the store, she’s probably not going to be too happy about
it.”

“I’ll
tell you what,” Linda says. “Let me give her a call and see what she thinks we
should do. That way, everyone’s covered.”

That’s
perfectly reasonable.

“Even
if it does mean I have to stand over here all by myself, trying to occupy
myself with whatever comes to mind, being completely unable to do anything
about it.”

My
rational mind takes a body blow, but it’s still technically in control.

“Let’s
just see what she says,” I tell her, and I go back to work.

“Everything
cool, boss?” Ian asks.

“I
have no idea,” I tell them. “Oh, and it looks like we’re going to have another
change to our plans.”

José’s
the only one that doesn’t groan. Even the new guy, Derek or Dylan or whatever
his name is, rolls his eyes.

“We’re
never going to get this thing done if she keeps changing everything on us,”
Alec says. “Maybe you should have a talk to her about it.”

“I’ve
talked to her about it pretty much every day since we started,” I tell him. “I
think we just need to realize that this is her store and what she says goes.
She’s been good about bumping up the payment cap whenever we need to make a
change, so it’s not that big of a deal.”

“Yeah,
but do you know how this looks to people on the outside?” Ian asks. “They see
us come in here for a quick remodel and we’re already here almost a month,
hardly closer to finishing than when we started.”

“Everyone’s
had a client who changes their mind,” I tell him. “Besides, maybe we should
stop thinking about what potential clients think and start worrying more about
what our actual client—our
only
actual client, I might add—thinks.”

“You’re
getting soft, boss,” Alec jeers.

“Not
too soft, I hope,” Linda says from somewhere behind me. “I just got off the
phone with Jessica,” she says. “She said that we can all take the rest of the
day. I don’t know what you guys want to do, but I’m going to close up.”

“What
do you think?” I ask my crew.

“I’ll
stay,” José says quickly, putting a lot of pressure on the rest of the guys.
Unfortunately, it’s not quite enough.

“I
think we should probably go when they go,” Alec says.

“Yeah,”
Ian assents and Drake—that’s his name—nods, too.

“All
right,” I tell them. “You guys can take the rest of the day, but I want
everyone here an hour early tomorrow, and I do mean everyone.”

José
shakes his head a bit. When I decide to give up the company, it’s definitely
going to him. He is, by far, the best worker in the crew; he never complains,
he’s always early, and always hardworking. If he was at all approachable
regarding anything other than work, I think he and I would probably be better
friends than Alec and me.

The
guys put their tools up and cover the work area, making sure to put up the
grating that we’re using to keep the store secure while we’re working on the
windows. I help where I can, but they’ve pretty much got it taken care of.

“So,”
Linda says, “you
wanna
get out of here?”

“Did
you really call Jessica?” I ask.

She
seems offended. “Of course I did,” she says. “I wouldn’t just capitalize on my
boss’s life problems. She said that there wasn’t any point keeping the store
open when people aren’t coming in as it is. To be honest, I’m starting to
wonder why we’re open at all while you guys are doing your work.

“When
a project takes this long,” I tell her, “closing down shop ends up costing a
lot of money.”

“Sure,
but why doesn’t she just have you come in at night?” Linda asks, but waves off
her own question. “It doesn’t matter,” she says. “Do you drive?”

“Yeah,”
I tell her. “It’s a company truck, but it’s not so bad.”

“Great,”
Linda says. “Let me grab my things.”

An
hour later, we’re at her place and I’m hardly through the door when her hands
grip my shirt and pull me toward her.

“You
know,” she says, kicking the door closed and kissing me on the lips, “I find
you very attractive.”

I’d
love to respond, but she puts what feels like her entire tongue in my mouth.
Talking’s not really an option at the moment.

“That
said,”
she
breathes a few seconds later, “I think you
should probably take a shower.”

“Care
to join me?” I ask.

“No,”
she says. “That means I’d have to redo all my makeup and my hair—it’s just a
hassle. I promise I’ll wait for you, though.”