The Green Ticket (27 page)

I barreled into Blissful just before two o’clock. Tiffany was behind the desk, wiping down the counters with a dust rag. I gave her a wave and continued towards the office. The floor was pretty slow, with only Lindsey cutting a woman’s hair and Carolyn sitting on her chair reading a magazine. She straightened when she saw me and put the glossy down, attempting to appear busy cleaning her area. I didn’t even bother to reprimand her. I requested that stylists go in the break room when they didn’t have clients. I thought it was tacky for them to be lounging in their chairs where everyone could see them. Carolyn was lucky I had bigger issues to deal with.

I made it to the back office and swung open the heavy door. Kevin and Dani were both there, Dani sitting in the computer chair and Kevin hovering over the printer. Documents were spitting out, and he had his cell phone pressed against his ear.

“These numbers are not acceptable, Tony. We need to open three more stores in the next nine months. Three stores, nine months. That’s what we want. You need to figure out how to help us achieve that.”

He hung up and turned to face me, a big smile on his face. I wanted to puke all over his shiny black shoes. “Alex, hello! Did you have a good New Year’s?” he asked, his bushy brows pulling together like he was actually concerned about my holiday.

“I did, Kevin, thank you,” I managed between clenched teeth. “And yours?” I tried to sound as polite as possible.

“Oh, we had a terrific time,” Dani piped in, swiveling her chair away from the computer. “We stayed in and had family time with movies and Wii games, and then on Monday we took the kids to Blair’s Mountain to go snow sledding and tubing. Well, baby Cam just watched of course, but the other girls had so much fun.”

The sick feeling in my stomach churned some more. Happy family time. Right. I forced a smile. “That sounds wonderful. Oh, Dani, you might be happy to hear that Henry officially asked me out. I am off the market,” I informed her. At least that was a happy thought.

Dani stood and hugged me, her giant boobs pressing into me. I wanted to cry. I really liked her. I hated Kevin. I hated Blissful. I was so confused. “Good for you, honey! Are you going to invite him to your birthday party?”

My birthday party. I had almost forgotten. Dani had offered to throw me a party at Tango, one of the hottest restaurant/bars in town. The bottom floor was a fancy restaurant and the top was a happening dance club. The two would seem to clash, but it actually worked. The reservation book was full for months, but Kevin knew somebody who knew somebody who knew the owner and had reserved the twenty-third, a Saturday, for my twenty-first birthday blowout bash.

“Yep, I’ll be sure to invite him. He’ll probably bring some friends too, if you don’t mind. His friend Peter is dating my friend Hannah. And he lives with two other guys.”

“Bring them all! The more the merrier for your special day. I remember my twenty-first birthday.” Dani’s eyes turned wistful as she thought back a whole seven years.

“Really? Most people don’t remember their twenty-firsts,” I joked, thinking about how hungover Lila was the day after hers.

“Oh, I was pregnant with Brianna when I was twenty-one. No alcohol for me on that birthday. I was about seven months along and in full-on nesting mode already. Kevin and I ordered, what was it, four large pizzas and boxes of breadsticks and after all that, I still made him drive to the store to buy me a gallon of ice cream. I was a walking cliché of pregnancy.” Dani laughed and squeezed Kevin’s hand. Tears poked behind my eyes. I hated Kevin. “Anyway, I need to get going. I have to pick up Bri from school in a half-hour.” She kissed Kevin good-bye and gathered her things, floating out the office door.

Kevin and I stood alone in the office, the first time we were face-to-face since I caught him with Allie. I was speechless. And really wanted to be anywhere but in a small office with him.

“Well, Alex, let me start off by saying that I am so sorry you witnessed what happened between me and Allie. I don’t know what came over us, but I can assure you it won’t happen again.” His words sounded fake, phony, scripted.

“That was the first time you’d ever been with her?” I didn’t believe that for a minute.

“It was. And the last. I had come here from drinking with some of my buddies and I guess I had my guard down. I had been holding off Allie’s advances for some time now, but that night she just proved too much for me. I’m devastated about it.” He hung his head, but I still didn’t believe a word he said. A man that was smacking another woman’s ass while she rode him didn’t seem like he had tried too hard to hold off her “advances.” But was it Allie that did come onto him? Or was it mutual? My head was spinning.

“What happens next?” I wanted to know. Did I have to fire Allie? Would he tell Dani and she would fire Allie?

“I’m going to keep this little discretion from Dani. She’s not in the right state of mind to deal with something like this. You see, we’re trying for another baby, and she might even be pregnant right now. The timing just doesn’t work.”

I sucked in a breath, horrified. Dani might be pregnant with her fourth baby with this cheating, slimy bastard. “And Allie?”

“I spoke with Allie already and let her know that she is to never try something like that again. She apologized immensely and agreed that she was in the wrong. I agreed to let her keep her job for now. But one more slipup and she will be terminated.”

I wanted to laugh. And throw up. None of this made any sense. Dani wasn’t to find out, Allie got to keep her job. And what about me? I was just going to have to live with this secret? It was eating away at me.

“As for you, Alex, you’ve been doing a tremendous job as manager. Morale is up, our numbers are better from last year, and you’ve shown that you can successfully handle all the challenges being a manager has thrown your way.”
Like seeing my boss bone one of my top employees.
“I spoke with Dani, and we wanted to give you a little bonus for it.”

“But you just gave me a Christmas bonus,” I said. A five thousand dollar check with
Merry Christmas–– you’re a star!
written in the memo.

“That was just a Christmas present to you. We give bonuses to all the employees,” Kevin said with a wave of his hand. “This is an employee-deserved bonus. You’ve done a great job.”

Kevin handed me an envelope and walked out of the office. I stood still for a moment, dreading opening it. This wasn’t an
I’m doing so great my bosses want to thank me
check. It was a cover-up. A buyout. Hush money. I opened the envelope and took the check out. A ten thousand dollar hush check.

Chapter 16

The following Saturday was date night between me and Henry. Peter was out dining Hannah and Max and Kyle were both out of town. With Lila in LA and Emma and Carmen both at parties, I was off to Henry’s so he could cook me a fantastic dinner of spaghetti and meatballs–– his specialty.

I showed up just before six, dressed in black leggings and an oversized white men’s dress shirt. I wore only ballet flats that made navigating through the melting snow a bit difficult, bright red lips, and my hair in waves. I had to dress, apply makeup, and style my hair all on my own with the girls being so busy. I wasn’t sure how I felt about my abilities to achieve greatness with my looks.

The door was open so I stepped right into the house, slipping my flats off at the door. “Hello? Henry!” I shouted, walking through the living room and into the kitchen. My boyfriend was standing at the stove, a pot of bubbling water on one burner and thawing meat on another. Henry had a spatula in one hand and was dressed in dark jeans and a navy sweater. His hair looked a little damp and when I went to hug him, the fresh scent of body soap enveloped me. Delightful.

“Hey, babe. You look gorgeous.” Henry greeted me with a kiss on the lips, instantly putting my fear of not looking good to rest. “I hope you’re hungry because I am making a boat load of food.”

“Smells delicious. And I am starving. I played catch-up on homework all day and barely ate a thing.”

“Did you get slammed with assignments too after winter break? I thought it was just my instructors that did that.”

“Nope, same here. It’s awful. And with term ending in February, all our finals are coming up and I am stressing out over it.” I sighed. “But let’s not talk about school. Can I help with anything?”

“You can help by keeping me company while I finish up and drinking that glass of wine I poured for you minutes ago. It should still be cold.” Henry pointed to the kitchen table, where a wine glass was waiting.

I smiled at him and kissed his cheek. “You’re spectacular. Anyone ever tell you that?”

“Only the women I pour wine for.” He smiled back, stirring the noodles without taking his gaze off me.

I scampered over to the kitchen table and took a seat, drawing my legs up on the stool. The wine was delicious –– fruity and bubbly and cold. “Are you a wine drinker, Henry?” I asked.

“Not so much. I can try a glass every now and again, but I much prefer beer. Though beer doesn’t really go with pasta, so I might try a glass of the wine.”

“It sounds weird, but I love to drink milk when I eat pasta. But I don’t like milk any other time, except in my cereal of course. Is that weird?” I took another sip and savored the taste.

“Um, yeah, that’s a little weird. But everyone has those odd preferences.”

“What are some of your odd preferences?” I wanted to know.

“Well, speaking of cereal, I won’t eat any cereal that turns my milk a different color. You know, like those chocolate cereals when you have chocolate milk by the time you’re done. That freaks me out.”

I laughed. “That’s a good one. Thanks for sharing.”

We continued to talk about odd preferences, then morphed into favorite foods and then favorite movies. Twenty minutes later, Henry declared dinner complete and we feasted on spaghetti and meatballs, cheesy garlic bread, and yummy caesar salad.

“You are an amazing cook,” I said, my mouth full of lettuce.

Henry laughed. “None of this stuff was too difficult to whip up. It’s mostly just time consuming.”

I nodded, taking a sip of wine. I wasn’t a wine connoisseur, but the fruity taste seemed to pair well enough with my meal. “Well, I think it’s great. Lila and I don’t eat the best at home. We barely ever cook.”

“When will she be back?”

“She’ll get in tomorrow night. I can’t wait to hear how everything went.”

“What if she tells you she’s moving to LA permanently?”

I looked down at my plate. My best friend moving away from me? “Um, I haven’t really thought that far ahead yet. It’s just too...bizarre. I can’t imagine not having Lila here.”

Henry gazed at me, and I forced myself to meet his stare. “It’s okay to be sad about it, Alex. I can’t imagine Lila leaving either. But on a different hand, I can.”

“And which hand is that?” I questioned, pulling another piece of garlic bread away from the rest.

“The hand that sees Lila is bored. I’ve only hung out with her a few times, but she’s fairly easy to read. She’s always talking about what the celebrities are wearing or doing or filming or screwing. She talks like she knows them already. I think she would probably fit in really well out there.”

Henry had realized all of that from just talking to Lila a few times? Why hadn’t I picked up on that? Oh, right–– I didn’t want to. I didn’t want Lila to leave.

“I don’t want Lila to leave,” I blurted out.

“Of course you don’t,” Henry said, matter of fact. “She’s your best friend.”

“But I want my best friend to be happy,” I said slowly.

“Of course you do.”

“So I’m just going to be happy for her either way. If she gets the opportunity, then great. If she doesn’t, I’ll just push for her to keep trying.” I looked at Henry for confirmation.

“That’s right. That’s what you’ll do, because you’re a good friend.”

I chewed silently for a moment. “My boss is sleeping with another employee.”

Henry froze with his fork halfway to his mouth. “I’m sorry?”

“My boss. Kevin. He’s cheating on his wife. With a lot of different people.” Why was I spilling these secrets to Henry now? Not even Lila knew what was going on at Blissful–– to the full extent anyway.

“Okay. Um, I think you might have to give me the full story here, Alex. Start from the beginning.”

So I told Henry. I went through all the sordid details of Kevin and how he treated the employees and how I had caught him with several other women. About Kamille and my note to make her quit. And the money I was making on the side to cover it up. By the time I was finished, my wine glass was empty and dinner was gone.

“Wow. That’s a pretty rough situation. What are you going to do?” Henry looked stunned by all my bombshells. Poor guy. He thought he was just getting a nice date with a normal girl tonight.

“I have no idea. I haven’t cashed my latest check. How the hell do I explain a $10,000 check? My sister has access to my bank accounts; what if she looks one day and questions me? How I am supposed to explain myself, my ethics, my morals? I’m helping a married man carry on with his affairs. All for what? To keep my job? I hate my job! I hate Kevin! I don’t get the respect from him that I deserve. I’m treated like some lowly assistant rather than a manager. The employees are great, except for Kamille and her backstabbing ways, but now she’s gone and I love running the place. But the no time off is killing me and my grades and my social life and the whole place just makes me feel...icky. I feel icky, Henry, every time I walk in that place.”

“Icky isn’t good. Your job–– or really, your career–– shouldn’t make you feel this way. Do you consider Blissful and being a manager your career? Is that where you want to stay, or at least do with your life?”

I stood and helped Henry carry our dishes over to the sink. He started rinsing them and loading the dishwasher while I thought over his question. “I really love what I do at Blissful. I’ve always been interested in the spa business, and running the place makes me happy and I feel important. It’s so empowering to make decisions on when to run sales and how to advertise and think of good marketing deals for the holidays. I would love to open my own spa one day and really run it the way I envision it.”