How The Other Half Lives

“Mike?” I heard Josh and Nick speak at the same time, the only difference was that Nick was actually excited to hear Mike’s name, where Josh wasn’t too impressed at all.

“Who’s Mike?” Josh wanted to know.

“Ummm,” I turned away from the guys, hoping to hear Josh better. “Mike is Jordan and Nick’s older brother,” I told him. “You remember, he was at my brother’s New Year’s Party.”

“I don’t remember meeting him,” Josh said slowly, as if he was thinking as he was speaking. “Are you sure I met him?”

“Well I thought you did,” I told him, I wasn’t so sure about it now. “He came with Jordan that night,” I thought that would help him remember.

It did. “You mean the guy who spun you before kissing you?” He sounded upset. “That was Jordan’s brother? The guy you are going to see right now?”

“Yeah, that was Mike,” I chuckled. “I had forgotten about that.”

Josh asked me if he was my ex as Jordan tried to get my attention. “We are going to leave you here if you don’t hurry up!”

“Just hold on a minute,” I snapped at Jordan. “Yes Josh, I guess you could say that.”

“Could say that? What is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing, I just meant that –”

“Just tell me,” he cut in. “Why do you not think this would bother me?” I asked him what and he said, “You leaving me without a moments notice to go see one of your exs! Anna I can’t believe that you would do that.”

“Wait a minute,” I jumped in as soon as he stopped talking. “Mike is Jordan’s brother, I’ve known him all my life, and he’s a friend…”

“Of course he is, they…”

“And he’s gay!” I shouted over the phone.

“I don’t care if he’s…wait, what?”

I sighed as the guys started to walk towards Mike’s building. “Josh, Mike is gay. That’s why I said you could say he was one of my exs; I don’t really count him because he wasn’t really dating me as much as he was just hanging out, if you really look at it.”

“Oh,” Josh seemed a little lost for words.

“Yeah,” I sighed. “I’m sorry, I thought you knew all about Mike; his boyfriend was even with him that night, I thought you seen that.”

There was silence on the line for a moment, I was about to ask him if everything was ok when he spoke. “God I feel so stupid now,” he told me. “I told myself I wouldn’t be that guy.”

“What guy Josh?”

“You know,” he groaned, “The crazy jealous guy who can’t even hear his girlfriend mention another guy’s name without thinking that she would do something with him if she had the chance.”

“Honey I’m sorry that –”

“No Anna, it isn’t you, it’s me. I’m being stupid,” he told me. “I don’t know what it is but I keep thinking that one day you’ll meet someone younger who’ll totally get you and I’ll be…Well I don’t know where that would leave me.”

“Josh don’t you think I think about that? About you meeting someone else who’ll be the perfect woman for you? And where that would leave me?” I closed my eyes, smiling a little. “When I think about that though, I remember that until that woman shows up, you are with me and I believe that we are pretty happy –”

“Very happy,” he stated. “I couldn’t be happier.”

“That’s good,” I told him. “And I must confess, if that woman ever does show up, I’ll be ready to rip her pretty little face off because I’ve waited a long time for you and I’m not letting go without a fight!”

“You are something else,” Josh laughed. “I love you Anna.”

“I love you too Josh.”

Jordan came over and started to pull on my arm. “I’m being pulled away,” I told Josh. “Jordan and Nick are impatient; they want to go see their brother.”

“Ok,” Josh sounded like he was smiling still. “Have fun today Beautiful. Call me later, if you have a moment, to let me know if I should expect you tonight or not.”

I told him I would call him and then told him I loved him again before hanging up. The second I flipped my phone closed, Jordan and Nick both grabbed me by the arm, dragging me towards the building.

While we were waiting for the elevator, I turned to Jordan. “So are you going to tell us why it was so important for us to come here today? Or are you going to wait until we see Mike?”

Jordan glanced at me, then at Nick before looking around the lobby of the apartment building. “Ok fine,” he motioned towards a couple chairs that were close to the entrance for residents who were waiting in the lobby for a cab or something. “Let’s sit down.”

Once we were settled into three of the five chairs, Jordan started to speak. “Eric called me last night,” Nick raised a brow. “What? Eric can’t call me?”

“I didn’t know Eric called anyone in our family.”

“Of course he does,” Jordan snapped. “He calls mom sometimes when he needs to find out something. Anyway,” he shook his head in frustration. “That’s not the point. Eric called me, he was asking me about our plans for today; what we were doing? Where we were going and if it was really going to be the three of us? I told him that we weren’t sure what we were doing because we hadn’t really made any plans.”

“Why did Eric want to know?” Nick wondered. “And how did he know we were hanging out anyway? Are you that close to Eric too?” He started to smile, “Are you cutting in on Mike’s man?”

“Hell no!” Jordan exclaimed, “I was talking to Mike last week, he asked me how you guys were doing so I told him we were all hanging out today.”

“Just checking,” Nick laughed.

Jordan just shook his head, “Anyway! According to Eric, Mike has been really moody for a while saying that he wanted to go home, move back that kind of stuff. I guess when I told Mike that we were hanging out, he went on and on to Eric about how cool it would be if we were to come down to see him –”

“Why the hell can’t he come see us?” Nick cut in. “He hasn’t seen Jenna yet, Amy’s about to blow and he hasn’t been around for any of that and…” Nick glanced at me. “Well Anna damn near has a step son!” He threw his hands up in the air. “Mike hasn’t been around for a long time but he expects us to drop everything to come see him? Screw that!” He jumped up, “He can damn well come out and see us!”

“Nick!” Jordan jumped up, grabbing him by the shirt. “Don’t be a dick! Don’t you think Mike wants to come see us?” Nick just glared at Jordan. “If you even spoke to Mike lately you would know that things aren’t going that great for him! Did you know he lost his office job? That he had to take two crap jobs just to pay his share of the bills? Up until today, Mike hasn’t had a single day off in almost three months and he’s only taking today off because Eric threatened to leave him if he didn’t. He’s tired, grumpy and Eric said he wasn’t eating or sleeping that much anymore!” He shoved Nick, “Did you know that Mike spent his birthday working from 5 am until 12am at his regular jobs? And then he went to their favorite bar and did some bartending until the bar closed at 3am!”

Nick shook his head, “No, I didn’t know that.”

“I didn’t think so!”

Seconds turned into minutes as they stood face to face, staring at each other, waiting for the other to make a move. I couldn’t stand it; I needed to break the silence. “Does Mike know we are coming?”

Jordan reluctantly broke away from his staring contest with Nick, “No he doesn’t. Eric asked me last night if it was possible for us to visit Mike, to get him out of the apartment for anything, as long as it wasn’t to go to work.” When I didn’t say anything, Jordan continued. “He begged me Anna! Eric actually got there and begged me to visit Mike; he said that he didn’t know how to deal with Mike anymore.” Sighing, he told us that he thought we could really help Mike out. "I don't know about you guys but I needed to get out of our town for a while."

I glanced at Nick; he was looking over his shoulder at the elevators. “Nick?”

“Let’s go,” he said without looking back at us.

Arriving At Gate 7

“Where are we going?” I turned to Jordan after we had been on the road for a half hour. “And why did we have to leave so early? Why didn’t you tell us it would be this early before today?” I stopped but he didn’t say anything. “Jordan!” I hit his arm as it lay resting on the arm rest. “Where are we going?”

Jordan sighed, “Anna look, I didn’t know until late last night that I would even be contemplating doing this right now but I had too,” he glanced at me. “We all need to do this, it’s very important.”

“Why is it important? Why won’t you tell us anything? Maybe if you let us in on what’s going on, we would be more agreeable.”

“Well,” he glanced in the rearview mirror and shook his head. “I don’t think Nick could be any more agreeable than he is right now,” he said with a laugh as I turned to see Nick passed out in Jordan’s back seat. “Why don’t you join Nick in dreamland Anna? I’ll wake both of you when we get there.”

I stared at him for a while, he would glance at me and smile until I finally gave in. “I don’t know why you have to be so secretive,” I pouted, doing everything I could to get him to tell me; pouting usually worked.

Except for this time, it didn’t make him tell me anything, he just laughed and told me to close my eyes and it would all be over soon enough.

“Fine!” I stuck out my tongue at him; yes, that’s right, I’m very mature. “I didn’t want to know anyway,” I stated as I turned my head towards the shoulder of the road and closed my eyes.

“Good,” Jordan laughed, “I wasn’t about to tell you.”

I kept my eyes closed, pretending to sleep but I was really ticked off that he wouldn’t tell me what was going on. As we drove, I tried to figure out where we could possibly be going but I couldn’t think of one place we would need to go in the middle of the week, right out of the blue like that.

While I was lost in my thoughts, I must have let the sandman catch up with me. I jumped; I think it was the sudden absence of movement that made me do it. At first I didn’t know where I was or what was happening I went to call out for Josh but something told me that he wasn’t there, which actually freaked me out even more for some reason.

“Hey sleepyhead.”

I turned my head in the direction of the voice and peeked out. “You aren’t Josh,” I whined, hugging myself because I was feeling a little cold. “Where’s Josh?”

Jordan frowned, “Josh is probably at work,” he told me.

I glanced at the clock on his dash, it read 8:20. “Hmmm,” I nodded. “Josh at work.”

He chuckled, “I’ll give you a minute to wake up.” Again, I nodded, and then closed my eyes again. I felt him moving beside me but I was too tired to really care what he was doing.

I felt his hand brush my shoulder and I woke up really fast, “What the hell are you….?” I trailed off as I turned and his hip was all that was in my line off vision. “Jordy don’t!” I tried to stop him but it was too late, he grabbed Nick’s hand and yelled, “Get up!”

Nick jumped, his eyes widened until they were the size of two saucers and his free hand lashed out, striking Jordan in the jaw. “WHAT THE FUCK?” Nick screamed, looking around frantically.

“Son of a –” Jordan dropped Nick’s hand and sank back in the seat. “That hurt!” He snapped as he rubbed his jaw while glaring at Nick.

“Serves you right!” Nick snapped back.

And that’s when I decided to get out of the truck and try Josh’s cell.

I wasn’t sure he would answer his phone since I didn’t know if he would be busy with the kids at that time or not, it was harder to know the closer it came to exam time, if there would be kids hanging out in the gym. When the third ring went through, I thought he wasn’t going to answer but just when I was about to pull my phone from my ear, I heard his voice.

“Hello sexy man,” I purred when he said ‘hello’.

He rewarded me with a chuckle and asked how I was doing. “How is everything going?”

I took a moment to look into Jordan’s truck where both guys were still snapping at each other. “Well, the guys are arguing because Jordan scared the crap out of Nick when he went to wake him up and I’m standing outside so I can talk to you without them screaming in my ear.”

“Sounds like a lot of fun,” Josh said sarcastically. “So where are –”

“I don’t care if you are my brother,” Nick shoved the back passenger side door open, almost hitting me with it. “You’re a jerk and sometimes I wish I didn’t even know you!” He hopped down and muttered ‘sorry’ to me.

“I’m sorry,” I said to Josh. “I didn’t hear what you just asked me; could you repeat it?”

“Sure, I asked if you were –”

“Oh quit being a baby!” Jordan slammed his door closed and stomped around the front of the truck, locking the doors as he did so. “All I did was wake you up because we are here!” He motioned to the building behind me, “I thought you might want to be awake for this!”

Nick spun around, looking confused. “And where the hell is this? I don’t know this place! Why would I care to come here?”

When I had gotten out of the truck, I didn’t pay too much attention to where we had pulled in but now that both of the guys were staring up at the building behind me, I turned around to see where we were.

I gasped.

“Where are you?” Josh asked, clearly curious.

“What?” Nick shot me a confused look before he focus at the building again, he had never been there before, so he didn't know what I knew.

I turned to Jordan, “You brought us to see Mike?”

We're On Our Way

“Can I talk to you?” Josh whispered in my ear, his hand gently grasped my elbow. “Alone?”

I knew he would want to talk to me about Jordan and Nick showing up at his place, I just wasn’t sure if he would be pissed off or fine with it. “Sure,” I glanced towards the guys to tell them that we would be a minute but Nick was already back to trying to sleep and Jordan had just picked up one of Jesse’s books from his table near the couch.

“Berenstain Bears! Cool! I haven’t read about those guys in a long time!” He exclaimed as he flipped through the book before starting at the beginning again, this time reading it.

“Come on,” Josh nudged me gently, leading me down the hallway towards his room. “What’s going on Anna?” He asked me the moment he closed the door.

I shrugged, “You know just as much as I do Josh; for some reason, Jordan has taken it upon himself to ask Nick and I to do something today but didn’t tell us the time he mentioned was in the morning!”

“When did Jordan ask you about today? I thought we were going out tonight?”

Shaking my head, I told him that Jordan asked me last week about today. “He was all grumpy, saying that Nick and I never hang out with him anymore at the same time. He said he missed those times, he wanted to do something today, just the three of us.” Josh was staring at me blankly. “Honey, I told you about this last week.”

He started to shake his head.

“Yes I did Josh.”

“I think I would remember if you told me you were hanging out with Jordan at 5 in the morning Anna!”

“I didn’t know it was going to turn out like this; he didn’t say AM!”

“Well he must have Anna; he seemed to think you’ll be ready to go when he got here.” Josh ran a hand through his hair and mumbled, “And you didn’t tell me.”

“Josh!” I was going to argue with him but what was the point, I knew I told him. “Forget about it.”

“I can’t forget about it,” he said. “I have two of your friends out in my living room waiting for you to get ready to go with them.”

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and let it out before opening my eyes again. “Look Josh, I’m sorry that they woke you up, I’m sorry that I didn’t know Jordan would show up here this morning; I really can’t control what he does.”

“I know,” Josh sighed as he sat down on the bed. “I know it’s not your fault, it’s not like you would normally ask ‘am’ or ‘pm’ when you make plans with someone.” He shrugged, “I was just looking forward to spending the morning with you.”

“What do you want me to do Josh?” He didn’t answer. “Do you want me to go tell them that I can’t go?”

“No!” He jumped off the bed and came to stand in front of me. “Of course I don’t want you to do that Anna.”

“Are you sure?” I tilted my head back so I could look up at him. “You aren’t going to be mad all day if I get ready and go with them?”

“Anna,” Josh sighed, his hands curled around my shoulders. “You have barely hung out with your friends in the past couple months, it’s always been with me, my friends or family and your family, so no, I don’t want you to tell them you can’t go; it would be very selfish of me to ask you to do that.”

I raised a brow, “So you are telling me to go?”

“No, I’m not telling you to do anything. If you decide to stay or go, that’s up to you.” Josh smiled, “I would love it if you stayed but you did make plans with them…”

I hesitated, “So…” I was confused, I thought he was mad that I was going but yet he was telling me to do what I wanted, and telling me he wanted me to stay. “…you are ok with me going?”

“Yes,” he said with a nod.

“Great!” I threw my arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. “I’m really curious to know what they have in mind that needed to be started this early in the morning!”

As I ran to the bathroom with my overnight bag, Josh made his way back out to the living room where Jordan was poking Nick, asking him if he was awake. I had closed the door and flipped on the fan so I didn’t get to hear what Nick growled at Jordan when he finally snapped.

A half hour later, I walked out of the bathroom, all ready for the plans they had made. While I was in the bathroom, Josh decided that he was going to go for a run after all, since he was already awake. He walked down to Jordan’s truck with us, “Have fun,” he told me as he helped me into the passenger seat.

“I will,” I kissed him. “Have a good day at work; I’ll see you tonight.”

Josh started to say ‘ok’ but Jordan cut in. “I wouldn’t count on it,” he told Josh. “I’m not sure what time we’ll be back.”

“Ok,” Josh said slowly, turning back to me. “Call me if you get back early.”

With one final kiss, Josh spun around and started down the sidewalk; I turned to Jordan. “Where are we going to be that we won’t be back home tonight?”

Jordan smiled, slipped his truck into drive. “You’ll see,” was the only answer I got from him but when he turned onto the highway a few minutes later, I wondered where the day would lead us.

5AM - Who's At The Door?

Five o’clock the next morning came way too early for us. What made it even worse was the fact that neither one of us had planned on being up anywhere close to that time; Josh had a tendency to forgo his runs on mornings that I was there so that we could make the most out of the few moments we did happen to have together. But that morning, it looked like the universe had other plans for us, well maybe not the universe, just a couple goofballs I grew up with.

I tried to ignore the pounding on the front door; I figured that whoever it was would go away and let me fall back to sleep but it didn’t work that way.

Josh groaned, he had been sleeping through it, I thought but I guess it had finally woke him up. “Please tell me that’s not someone at my door,” he pressed his face into his pillow. “It’s not even 5,” he growled.

The pounding continued.

“Damn it!” Josh flipped over, pushing the sheets off him as he turned. “Whoever it is better be insured because I’m going to hurt them really bad!” He jumped out of bed and headed out the bedroom door.

“Josh,” I pushed back the sheets and took off after him. “Honey wait! Clothes!”

He was half way down the hall when he finally clued in to what I was saying; he was as naked as the day he was born. “I blame you,” he chuckled as he passed me on his way back to his room.

Once he was dressed in a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt, he headed back down the hall. The pounding had ceased just after I had called out to Josh, it was now just a constant tapping on the door with a little of what sounded like scratching. “What the hell do you want?” Josh growled as he flung the door wide open.

“Don’t beat me, it was his idea!” I heard Nick exclaim as Jordan said, in his ‘British’ accent, “Top of the morning to you governor, would the lady of the manor be accepting visitors on this beautiful morn?”

Josh slowly turned from them to look at me, “It’s for you.” He didn’t step back; he stood against the door and just waited. I didn’t know what he was waiting for but I had a feeling he was hoping they would soon be on their way so he could go back to bed.

I seconded that thought, if it was what he was actually thinking. “What are you guys doing here?”

“Ahhh,” Jordan gazed at me. “Tis the lovely maiden,” he walked pass Josh and took my hand in his, lifting it to his lips, kissing the back of it. “Never have we gazed upon such a beauty! Right brother?” He glanced over his shoulder at Nick, who was leaning against the door frame with his eyes closed. “Brother?”

“Huh?” Nick opened his eyes enough to glance at the three of us. “Oh,” he nodded. “Yeah sure, looking good Anna.”

Jordan rolled his eyes, “You’ll have to forgive my brother,” he told me. “He’s a little slow in the head.”

“You woke me up at 4!” Nick exclaimed, “You are lucky Amy is 8 months pregnant, she wanted to castrate you!”

Josh had been quiet though all this, even when Jordan kissed the back of my hand, he tensed but didn’t say anything, now he choose to speak. “Well I’m not Amy; I will castrate you if you don’t tell me why the hell you guys are here at this hour!”

“It’s quite simple governor,” Jordan stated as he dropped my hand.

“Oh Lord,” Nick groaned. “This is going to take a while,” he looked at Josh. “Can I come in?”

When Josh motioned for Nick to come in, he stepped into the apartment, took off his shoes and made a beeline for the couch where he dropped and covered himself up with the blanket there. “Wake me when it’s time to go,” he muttered.

Jordan shook his head, “My brother,” he sighed. “Poor man he –”

“Oh my God Jordy!” I grabbed his arms. “Drop the accent and tell me why you are here and why Nick is sleeping on Josh’s couch.”

“Well fair maiden –”

“Jordy…”

Jordan sighed, “Ok fine! I was only trying to have a little fun.”

“So you woke Nick up and drug him out of his place at 4 in the morning? And then came over here to…” I frowned, “Why are you here?”

“I’m here to pick you up,” he told me.

“What?” Josh was at my side in a flash. “Anna isn’t going anywhere, yet.”

“But she said she would go with Nick and me at 5!” Jordan protested. “It’s 5 and we are here to pick her up!”

“I didn’t say I would go anywhere with you at 5 in the morning Jordy!” From the couch, Nick started to laugh. “What are you laughing at?” I asked him.

“I didn’t say 4 in the morning either,” he told me. “But he didn’t say 4 in the evening either.” He sat up, “There’s no point in arguing with him, I tried and here I am.”

“That’s right!” Jordan grinned. “Now go get pretty so we can be on our way.” He made his way over to the couch where Nick was sitting. “We’ll be waiting right here.”

The Decision Is Already Made

Lily told me that I had time to think about it, she wasn’t going for her management training for a couple weeks. “They aren’t posting the job for a couple days, I’ll have lots of time to show you things you may not know or answer questions you may have.”

I told her I did need to think about it but in all honesty, I wanted to wait until I got a chance to talk to Josh. I knew when I told him he would support me in whatever decision I made but I also knew that he would be all for me taking the position because it meant that we could actually spend more time together, since I would be working just Monday to Friday, and only until 3:30.

Josh was sleeping when I got to his place that night. Normally I would let him sleep but I was too excited, I managed to get ready for bed before I found myself sitting on his bed, staring down at him, feeling a little nervous, I didn’t want him to be mad that I couldn’t wait for morning.

Darkness had not settled completely, like it never does in the summer months around here. I could see Josh’s sleeping form in the light that made it through the blinds he had up to his window; it wasn’t enough to lit his room but it was enough for me to feel even worse for what I was about to do.

“Josh?” I leaned over him, my hand on his shoulder, shaking him gently. He groaned but didn’t wake, so I tried again, harder this time. “Josh? Honey please? I really need to talk to you.”

He mumbled something I couldn’t make out as he turned over on to his back.

“Wake up Josh,” I shook him harder. “We need to talk. I found out something tonight that has the power to change our lives and I really need to talk to you about it!”

“Wha….” Josh shot up, staring at me from under his half closed eyelids. “Anna….?”

I giggled for some unknown reason, maybe it was the way he sprung up in bed or maybe it was his attempt to look awake even though he was clearly still trying to sleep, either way it made me giggle. “Hey honey,” I gave him a quick kiss on the lips. Or it was meant to be a quick kiss but he had other ideas and I ended up on top of him while he sunk back to the mattress.

It took a while for me to gain my composure enough to try and get a handle on the situation so we could talk. My mind screamed out its displeasure the same time Josh voiced his when I pulled back from him. “Get back here,” his hands grabbed my hips as I tried to move away from him.

“Josh,” I laughed while I held myself steady over him. “As much as I would love to make love to you, we need to talk first.”

“What did you need to talk about?” There was something in his voice that made me think he was a little worried what I would say. “You said something life changing…?”

“That’s right.”

“Should I guess?” He shifted upwards so that his head was resting against his headboard. “Is it something I’ll like?” I went to speak but he continued, “If it’s something bad, I think I would rather not talk about it until morning when I’m a little more awake.”

“Something bad?” I frowned. “What on earth are you thinking? What bad thing could I possibly have to talk about?”

Josh shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t know. When you woke me up wanting to talk about something life changing my first thought, in my sleepy state, was that you were going to tell me that you were pregnant but I would hope that you’d be a little more excited about that.” He paused, studying me. “Is that what you wanted to talk about? Are we having a baby?” Despite what he just said, he seemed hopeful.

I hated to crush that hope but I had too. “No,” I shook my head. “We aren’t having a baby,” he seemed disappointed. “I’m sorry Josh.”

“Don’t be sorry,” he wrapped his arms around me, holding me tight. “We weren’t trying; it was just the first thing that popped into my head because it would change both of our lives.” After pressing a kiss against my forehead, he asked me what it was that I wanted to talk about.

“Well,” I sighed. “It doesn’t seem like it’s such a big deal now.”

Josh let out a frustrated groan. “Anna don’t do that, you know what ever you want to talk about is important. Tell me what’s on your mind, please?”

“Well,” I flashed him a smile before going into my explanation of what happened when I got to work earlier that day. When I told him that Lily said they were thinking of me to slip into the department manager role, he didn’t let me go any further.

“Wow honey!” He exclaimed as he hugged me tight. “That’s awesome! I’m glad they realize just how valuable you are to them! You’ll be the best department manager they’ve ever seen!”

“Really?” I was a little surprised by his reaction. I knew he would be excited for me but I didn’t think he would be that excited until I told him that it would mean we would get to see each other more.

“Yes really!” He smiled down at me. “I’m so proud of you honey, all your hard work and dedication are about to pay off. They made the perfect choice; they won’t regret it and all your customers will be overjoyed to know you are in charge.”

I know it shouldn’t have mattered as much as it did, but hearing Josh go on about how great it thought I would be for the role and how it was about time management realized it, made me really happy. I was determined that the job would be mine, even if I had to go through the interview process and wait to see if it’s really mine.

“You have nothing to worry about,” Josh told me when I mentioned that. “There isn’t another person in that whole store who could take that position away from you.”

“Thank you,” I kissed him. “You have no idea how much it means to hear you say that.” I gave a little laugh and told him that I thought I would have to tell him the hours I would have to work before he would be so gung-ho about me going for the job.

“Oh?” He raised a brow, “What would the hours be?”

“7am to 3:30 pm, Monday to Friday.”

He stared up at me for a moment, and then I saw his lip twitch. “You mean?” He smiled, “I get to see you more?”

“Yes,” I smiled. “No more sleeping while I’m trying to seduce you.”

“I’m sold,” he exclaimed as he flipped me into my back before moving above me. “Now,” he nipped at my neck, “About that last part…”

On The Spot

Lily has been working at my store since it was opened, almost 6 years ago now; she started out as a cashier. It would only take her a few months to slip into the role of CSM when one of our CSM’s at the time was injured in a car accident. After a couple years with the store, she applied for department manager and after being passed over twice, she was finally given the chance to show her stuff. Since that moment, she’s been the department manager of the Infants department where I am most of the time.

If I ever had a problem or concern about something in Infants, she was always willing to listen and together we would find a solution. I respect Lily - we were pretty close while working, I would even call her a friend and I know she thinks of me as one of hers - so when I came in and she was still there, I was really worried that something bad was going to happened, or already did. I don’t think I’ve ever dropped my stuff in the staffroom as quickly in my life as I did that day.

Lily was standing in the horseshoe when I made my way to the floor, she was copying a customer order from the scrape piece of paper she wrote it on, to the ‘special order’ book we keep so everyone who works in Infants can know what we are waiting on, especially the overnight crew who are the first ones to see the product come onto the sales floor.

I was very nervous when I approached her, “Hey Lily.”

She glanced over her shoulder for a brief second, “Just a moment, I have to finish this before I forget.” She turned back to the book, continuing to fill out the form we use. I wasn’t sure what I should do, which was unusual for me, I always had a game plan when I started my shift but Lily’s presence threw me off. I didn’t want to stand around because I felt like a moron so I stepped to the side and started to ‘zone’ the bath products on the end cap next to the horseshoe.

“Ok,” Lily snapped the book, and binder that held the book, closed before turning to me. “I suppose you are wondering why I’m still here?”

I nodded, turning towards her. “Yeah, it’s not like you to be here this late, is everything ok?”

“Oh yes,” she said with a smile. “Everything is great! I just wanted to talk to you before I left today.” She glanced around, seeing there was no one around, she motioned for me to come into the horseshoe with her. Once we were both standing in the small space, leaning up against opposite shelves, she started to speak. “I wanted to tell you this before the rumor mill got hold of it,” she paused and then with a million dollar smile on her face, she exclaimed, “I’m moving on up!”

This statement confused me, I didn’t really know what she was talking about, my first thought was she was moving out of town but when I mentioned that, she shook her head. “No, I found out today that I got the Assistant Manager position I applied for!” She watched me, waiting for a reaction.

I felt my heart drop.

“What?” She frowned, “Anna what’s wrong?”

How do I tell her that I didn’t want her to leave? That working in Infants without her would suck more than anything I could even think of.

“Anna?”

I hated that I wasn’t reaction like she thought I would.

“Are you going to say anything?”

I shook my head to try and clear it, to hopefully shake something positive out of it. “That’s great…” I wasn’t really sure though.

“Come on Anna,” Lily laughed. “This is a great opportunity for me!” She pushed off the shelf she was leaning against and grabbed my arm. “Just think,” she said as she stood beside me, her arm linked through mine while she waved her hand through the air in front of us. “Me, out there, one of the Assistants, actually having more of a say in how things are run. Anna!” She spun around to face me, “Those ideas we talked about for so long, ways to improve the shopping experience for customers, we can probably do them now! We’ll have a voice of sorts.”

I laughed, “That’s great. I am happy for you Lily; I know that you’ve wanted to move up for a while now. I just…”

“You just what? Is something wrong?”

“No,” I shook my head, chuckling at how selfish I was being, I was just thinking about me, and how this change would affect me. “It’s silly,” I told her. “I couldn’t help but feel disappointed that you were leaving me.”

“I’m not leaving you Anna, I’m still going to be in this store, I’ll just be in a different role.”

“I know,” I smiled. “I guess I’m worried about who they’ll give this department too; you know how well I handle change and getting use to working with new people.”

“Yes, I know,” she chuckled. “But that’s something else I wanted to talk to you about.”

“What is? Who they are going to put in here?” She nodded, smiling. “You know who they are thinking about?”

Again she nodded, “Yes but it depends on if that person applies for the job when it’s posted.”

“No,” I groaned, “They aren’t seriously thinking about putting a newbie department manager in here?” I didn’t wait for her to reply. “That’s crazy Lily, this department is demanding, if you don’t have a handle on what you are doing in the beginning, all hell will break loose!”

“I know.”

I sighed.

“Do you want me to tell you who they want to be the new Infant Department Manager when I leave for my Assistant Manager training?”

Groaning, I turned my head to the side and closed my eyes, “Go ahead, tell me the bad news.”

Lily laughed, “You!” She exclaimed, grabbing my arm as she squealed like a school girl instead of the 34 year old woman that she was. “While I was in the meeting with Ian (store manager) about my upcoming training, he told me that he had been watching you for the last couple weeks and he wanted to know if I thought you would be able to handle the role of department manager.” She paused to take a breath, she was talking that fast. “I told him without a doubt! I had every reason to believe that you would excel as department manager.”

“So?” She stared at me. “What do you think? Will you apply for the job when it’s posted?”

I was so shocked, I opened my mouth to speak but all I did was squeak.

Did I want the stress and responsibility of being in charge?

He Saw The Sign

I was crossing the parking lot, heading to work after stopping into Tim Horton’s to grab something for my lunch break. I was running late, Heather was working the register when I went in there and she just kept on talking to me long after she had taken my order.

A couple months ago it would’ve been weird for Heather to speak to me but since Jordan found out about Jenna and had taken a real interest in being her daddy, Heather has soften a little towards me.

Or maybe she just wanted to flash the very expensive looking engagement ring in my face as she exclaimed, “Hank asked me to marry him!!”

Either way, I wasn’t really in a hurry to head to work, I wanted to know exactly how he proposed and when the wedding was going to be – I wasn’t expecting to get invited or anything, I was just curious, her excitement was infectious.

“I don’t know,” she said in a rush. “I wasn’t expecting this at all! We had talked about possibly getting married one day but I didn’t think it would happen this soon, I didn’t think we could afford something like this either.” She waved her hand in front of my face again and sighed happily. “It’s amazing isn’t it?”

Taking her hand, I held it steady so I could take a good look at the ring. “It’s beautiful,” I told her as I admired the heart shaped diamond surround by smaller diamonds and blue sapphires set in the band of the ring. It wasn’t what I would personally pick out but it was very pretty.

“It is,” she beamed at me. “I still can’t believe he got me something as amazing as this! I didn’t even think he was listening when I hinted to what I would like, ring wise! Eehee!” She squealed. “I’m so happy right now!”

I offered her my congratulations and then asked her about the sapphires. “I haven’t seen many engagement rings that have any other gems besides diamonds, was there a special reason for that?”

Heather nodded her head slowly, “It’s my birthstone,” she told me. “Hank knows how much I love jewelry with sapphires and he said when he saw this ring, he knew it was the ‘one’ for me.” She paused long enough to gaze at the ring on her finger, “He said seeing this ring was the sign he was looking for.”

“He was looking for a sign?”

“Yes,” she smiled. “Hank admitted that he was afraid to ask me to marry him, even though he wanted too, because he wasn’t sure it was the right time. I guess he was worried that it was too soon or something,” she laughed. “We’ve been together for two years!”

Heather’s co worker had finished making my sandwich at that point and handed it across the top of the glass enclosure to me. “Well, I should probably be going,” I said to Heather.

“Oh wait,” she turned away from the counter and walked towards the back. I wasn’t sure what she was doing and I was kind of wishing she would hurry because I was already late for work.

A couple minutes later she returned to the counter and held out a small stiff sheet of paper. “My parents are throwing Hank and I a small engagement party, I would like it if you could come.”

“Heather I –”

“You could bring Josh!” She said quickly and then added, “Jordan said he would be there and Nick said if Amy didn’t burst before the party, they would be there.”

“Oh,” I didn’t know what to say to that, I didn’t expect any of us to be invited. I promised her that I would check if I was working that day and make sure Josh didn’t have any plans for us either. “Congratulations once again,” I said as I turned towards the door. “Tell Hank he made a great choice.”

“You can tell him yourself at the party!” Heather called after me before turning to the customer that just walked up to the counter.

As quickly as I could, I walked pass the strip mall in the far left hand corner of the parking lot that it shared with Wal-Mart. I hated being late, it didn’t happen all that much, I always tried to be on the floor at least five minutes before my shift was supposed to start, but still, I hated it.

Walking fast as I could, without running, I made my way through the familiar sliding doors, down the same aisles I always took to the back of the store. Normally I would give Infants a quick glance to see how busy it was but I didn’t take the time as I made a beeline for the swinging doors that lead to the back room.

“Anna!”

An unexpected voice stopped me in my tracks.

“Lily?” I was confused for a few moments, I glanced at my watch, it was 4:10. “What are you doing here still?” In my confused state, I started to walk towards her, wondering if something was wrong.

“I’ll tell you after you clock in and are floor ready,” she said over her shoulder as she turned to answer a customer question.

“Ok,” I said but she wasn’t paying attention to me any longer.

As I walked to the staff room, I wondered what could possibly have kept Lily here pass the end of her shift. I couldn’t help but get the sinking feeling that something was wrong.