Twenty-Six | Eva
Twenty-Six
Eva
My hands were shaking as I made it back to my desk and sat down. I was trying to pick an emotion and stick with it, but it felt impossible when there was a constant battle between anger and humiliation pulsing through me simultaneously. I unlocked my computer and opened my email, trying to force myself to focus and forget about everything that had just happened.
A few seconds later, a chat box popped up and flashed in the lower corner of the screen. I glanced across the hall to see if Ethan was looking at me, but he seemed rather focused on whatever he was reading on his computer. I moved the mouse and clicked on it, relieved to see that it was from Regina and not Ethan.
Regina: When you have a chance, please forward me your sister's contact information. I will reach out to her as soon as possible.
I felt the tension release from my shoulders as I typed my response back to her, thanking her for considering my sister for the position. I knew that Regina would still need to interview other candidates as well and that there was a good chance that they wouldn’t pick Lucy for the position, but I still had to try.
Lucy had been working for the hospital for eight years. While they were flexible with her when she first had Jackson, they’d recently started giving her a hard time about her requested shifts. Instead of letting her work during the week, they would assign her the weekend shifts or the graveyard shifts. Both of these would make it impossible for her to work as a single mother. I knew this would be something that Lance would use against her to prove that she wasn’t able to provide a stable environment for Jackson. I wasn’t about to let that happen if there was anything that I could do about it.
I sent a quick email to Regina with her information and then sent Lucy a text to let her know what was going on. I felt excited that maybe something good would happen for once, and Lucy would get the job. After the bullshit that happened today, I needed something good. I felt bad for not talking to Ethan about bringing Lucy on before I mentioned it to Regina, but in all fairness, it wasn’t like there was a position to consider her for until now. There was an opportunity, and I took it.
Was he right that we wouldn’t be able to work together without letting our personal lives get in the way? Maybe. Honestly, I didn’t know. I was five years older than her, and that seemed to work well for us growing up because we were never into the same things at the same time. But, on the flip side, she had also complained a lot that I was more like a second mother than a sister, so there was that.
The day dragged on, and I was ready for it to be over so that I could go home and drink some wine before sulking in my apartment all weekend. My phone vibrated on the desk, alerting me to a new text message. I picked it up and swiped it open to find a group message between Lucy, Gabi, Brittany, and myself.
Gabi: Are we still meeting for dinner and drinks tonight?
I decided to respond as quickly as I could before anyone could get the bright idea to make this happen tonight. I wasn’t in the mood for it and desperately just wanted some alone time.
Me: Brittany told me it was canceled last night. I already made other plans. Sorry.
Brittany: I said that so you would go to dinner with your sexy fuck buddy and his friends. Those better be your plans. If not, dinner with us is still on.
Gabi: Agreed. Go to dinner with your fuck buddy, and let’s do brunch in the morning?
I exhaled heavily and pulled my shoulders back. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with this.
Me: We had dinner last night instead after Brit ducked out and stood me up. I have other plans tonight. We’ll catch up later this weekend. K?
Lucy: What’s going on? Why don’t you want to meet up with us?
Gabi: Maybe she’s tired from all of her friends with benefits action?
Brittany: He is DELICIOUS. I'm just saying I would be tired after a night with him, too. You can bet that I would be buying an ALL-DAY pass for that ride...
Me: Alright, well, you ladies enjoy dinner. I’ll talk to you later.
I put my phone down and closed my eyes as I rubbed the back of my neck. Today was turning out to be more of a disaster than I thought. I prayed that they would sense my bitter attitude in the group text message and stop asking to meet up tonight.
My phone continued to vibrate on my desk as they continued to send messages. I didn’t bother to check them as I held out hope that they would just leave me alone.
By five o’clock, I was ready to go home and fall into bed. My stomach growled loudly, reminding me that I had missed lunch. But I was in such a bad mood that I had no desire to do anything about it. I grabbed my purse and turned my computer off, making sure to check the screen to confirm it was really off this time. I felt stupid for being so foolish to have left it unlocked, to begin with. Had I been smarter, all of this might have been avoided, and I wouldn’t have to worry about the entire office knowing that I was fucking my boss.
I flipped the light switch to turn off the lights as I stepped into the hallway and pulled the door closed behind me. Ethan’s office was already empty, his door closed, and lights turned off. I didn’t remember seeing him leave, but I also tried my hardest to avoid him as much as I could today.
As I turned to walk down the hall, I felt a body as I collided against it. My hand flew to my chest as I took a step back.
“Lucy!” I shrieked, my eyes wide with surprise. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“I came down to meet with Regina. We just finished a few minutes ago. I thought I would come see if you were still here and drag you out to dinner if your other plans fell through.” She winked as if she knew my secret and locked her arm in mine as she led me down the hall.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming to meet with her?” I asked, trying to get my heart rate back down. I decided to ignore the last part about going to dinner. If I pretended not to hear her, then she couldn’t get mad when I refused to go... right?
“It was so last minute I didn’t have time. I got Jackson to Mom’s house and rushed right over.”
“So, how did it go?” I could feel the hope radiating through me as I reached out and pressed the button for the elevator.
She pulled in a deep breath and waited for the doors to open before she jumped in and turned to face me.
“I got the job!” she squeaked excitedly, doing some awkward cheerleader pose as I laughed and joined her in the elevator. I pressed the button for the lobby before reaching over to hug her.
“That’s amazing, Lucy. I’m so happy for you!”
“Thank you for recommending me for the job,” she said as her cheeks continued to split with her grin. “Now, I can finally quit the hospital and work a real job with real hours.”
The elevator jerked before it stopped, and the doors slid open to the empty lobby. We got off and walked arm in arm to the front of the building, where a security guard was waiting by the door. I smiled and nodded hello as he opened the door and held it for us.
“Thank you. Have a great weekend,” I said to him as we left the building and walked down the sidewalk. “You have a real job. It has just recently turned into a sucky one.”
“Yeah, but it’s been the same thing for years. I started there with little office experience, so it was a great way to learn. But after eight years, I haven’t been promoted or moved up. It’s time for a change. I can’t just stay because I’m comfortable.”
“I get it,” I replied softly as we walked down the street. “It’s hard to want change when you’re used to doing things a certain way.” I stopped and opened my arms for a hug goodbye so I could go on my way back to my apartment while she went wherever she was going. Either way, I knew she wasn’t taking the same train as me.
“What are you doing?” she asked as she folded her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes at me.
“This is where I leave you.” I sighed playfully, raising my brows and opening my arms wider for her to get the not-so-subtle message.
“This is the train you take to your apartment,” she said dryly. “Which means that you don’t have plans after all.”
I waited for a moment and took a deep breath. If I could pull in enough of whatever positive energy I had left in me, maybe I could muster the older sister vibe that usually worked with her.
“I do have plans. I’m taking time for myself tonight. Self-care. I have a date that’s long overdue and includes pampering and relaxation.”
“I don’t think so. You’re going to dinner with us. Even if I have to throw you over my shoulder and carry you like a four-year-old having a tantrum,” she warned sternly.
“Are you comparing me to your child?” I pulled my head back and eyed her suspiciously.
“You’re the one acting like him...” She tapped her foot impatiently on the concrete in front of her.
“Why can’t I just go home and enjoy my night by myself? It’s been a long week, and I really don’t feel like being social,” I whined.
When that didn’t work, I stuck out my bottom lip and pouted.
“Because Eva, you know as well as I do that you’re not going to go home and do anything productive. You’re going to attempt to make dinner but then realize that you don’t have any groceries. Then you’ll try to make toast and catch your apartment on fire. While you’re eating your burnt dinner, you’ll try to convince yourself that you’re going to watch something happy and uplifting. Instead, you’ll sit and binge-watch true crime shows while making lists of everyone that might be trying to kill you.”
I rolled my eyes and blew out a breath. She was right, and she knew it. The only thing that she had wrong was that I would make toast, and that was only because that was my attempt at dinner last night. The joke was on her because tonight, I had a full menu planned with multiple courses involving Ben and Jerry’s.
“I really don’t want to go.” I quirked a brow and challenged her to a stare-down.
“Yeah, and I really don’t want to go home when we’re done and fight with Jackson about why he can’t take his pet goldfish to bed. We all do things we don’t want to Eva. But at least this leads to you having real food and some girl talk to get all of that stress off your shoulders.” She stepped closer and reached her hands out to hold mine. “Is it really that bad that your sisters and best friend want to spend time with you and make sure you’re okay?”
I rolled my eyes and shook my head. She was good.
“Fine,” I said through clenched teeth. “I will go. But I’m having a margarita. Or two.”
She laughed and jumped excitedly before looping her arm in mine again as she dragged me down the sidewalk.
“You can have as many as you want. Tonight, we are celebrating new beginnings! And Lord knows I need one.”
“Things haven’t been that bad for you, have they? I mean, aside from Lance,” I said his name warily, a taste of hatred heavy on my tongue.
“No, they haven’t been bad, per se. But I realized that by staying complacent, I wasn’t living my life. I wasn’t happy. With my marriage. With my job. It was time to make changes and live a life that I actually want to live.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at her.
“No, nothing like that,” she said dismissively and waved her hand at me. “I’m not talking about being suicidal or anything. I just meant that I’ve been so unhappy for so long that I didn’t even realize I wasn’t happy. That’s not fair to me or Jackson. He deserves a mom who can teach him how to enjoy life, and I wasn’t doing that.”
I reached down and squeezed her hand.
“Everything is going to be alright,” I assured her.
“I know,” she whispered with a smile.
A few train stops later, we were seated in the back of Tia Rosa’s Cantina. I tried to keep my frustration under control when I saw Gabi and Brittany already at the table, drinking margaritas and eating chips and salsa.
“There better be chips and salsa left for us,” I warned somewhat playfully before I plopped down in the decorative metal chair and hung my purse off the back of it. At that moment, a waiter came by and set a new basket of chips and salsa on the table in front of me. I smiled and looked up to order a margarita when someone caught my eye.
I leaned forward and looked past the waiter, unable to process what I was seeing. I could hear the girls talking around me, but everything sounded muted as the blood rushed through my head. There was no fucking way this was happening. I grabbed my phone and opened the camera, taking as many pictures as I could, praying that at least one of them would be in focus.
Sitting on the other side of the restaurant was Cora, cuddled up in a booth with Kate. They were completely oblivious to me being there as Cora pulled her in closer to her and planted a long kiss on her lips. I switched the camera to video, knowing that this would be concrete evidence to pass along to Regina and our legal team.
After our meeting this morning, I had a gut feeling that there was more to the story than what we had been told. It didn’t make sense how or why Kate would randomly end up in my office after what we had done. I had spent the day trying to figure out what had given us away and why she would think of snooping around my office the second I walked out.
“Ma’am?” a man’s deep voice interrupted my thoughts. I lowered my phone and looked up to see the waiter standing beside me, impatiently tapping his foot as his hand hovered over the notepad he was using to collect our orders.
“I’m sorry. What?” I croaked; my throat suddenly dry.
“May I have your drink order, ma’am?”
“Oh, yes. I’ll have a house margarita. Please.”
I felt like a blubbering idiot, unable to focus on anything other than Kate and Cora sitting snuggled up close together across the room. He walked away and my attention went back to getting more video as the girls talked around me as if I wasn’t there. Which, to be honest, I wasn’t.
I pinched my fingers on the screen of my phone, zooming it in as far as it would go without distorting the image. Kate said something that got Cora laughing, her blonde hair spilling down her back as she tilted her head back to laugh. They were both young, beautiful women, and I was stumped trying to figure out why they would go after Ethan for sexual harassment when obviously neither of them were interested in him. Any onlooker could easily see how obsessed they were with each other as they leaned in for another kiss, not giving a damn about anyone else in the room.
I took a few more pictures, then lowered my phone before someone caught me and turned me in for being a creeper. Part of me wanted to forward the pictures and video immediately to Ethan, but the other part of me was still upset over everything that had happened today. I knew that I didn’t have any reason to be mad or upset with him, but that didn’t stop me from avoiding him like the plague.
I was embarrassed about getting caught and having to admit that I had broken a handful of rules that could have easily cost me my job. Even though don’t fuck your boss in his office wasn’t explicitly written in the handbook, I’m sure it was assumed that it didn’t need to be said. I had officially become one of those people who were responsible for the absurd and ridiculous rules that were added in because common sense was lacking.
“So, what do you think?” Gabi asked, staring at me with such intensity that I was sure she could read my mind at that moment.
“I’m sorry. About what?” I leaned back as the waiter slid my margarita in front of me and walked away. Perfect timing.
“Lucy and your fuck buddy,” Gabi said as she sighed. “What do you think of them together?”
I frowned as I took a sip, trying to figure out what the hell she was talking about.
“Stop calling him that. It grosses me out,” Lucy complained, smacking Gabi’s arm. “I don’t want to think about him that way when I start my first day on Monday.”
“I wouldn’t mind thinking about him that way.” Brittany giggled. “He. Is. HOTTT!”
I rolled my eyes playfully and took another drink, allowing the alcohol to crawl through my veins and bring me the numbness that I needed.
“I haven’t seen him yet. Or met him.” Lucy’s eyes widened as she continued. “Oh my God, what if he hates me? What if he fires me on my first day?”
“He’s not going to fire you. Calm down.” I laughed as I rested my hand on her arm and tried to reassure her while the alcohol played with my head. I looked across the restaurant, keeping an eye on Cora and Kate to make sure they hadn’t spotted me. “Just stay focused and do your job. You’ll be fine.”
“Yeah, and maybe don’t sleep with him like your sister did?” Brittany joked, earning a kick under the table from me.
“Ouch!” Gabi yelped and lowered her hand under the table to rub her leg.
“Sorry.” I pulled my lips into a tight smile and shrugged. “I was aiming for Brit.”
“I’m not going to sleep with him. I’m not that kind of girl, and you know that.” Lucy shook her head and frowned.
I felt the heat flush across my face with embarrassment as they all turned to look at me.
“Sorry,” she said quickly. “I didn’t mean anything by that—”
“It’s fine,” I said, putting my hand up to stop her. “But if it’s all the same, can we please talk about something other than Ethan? ANYTHING other than Ethan.”
Brittany changed the subject to her trip to Miami and all of the gorgeously tanned guys that she had met. The waiter came to take our orders, putting a halt to her overly risqué story about the one-night stand she had before she left. I tried to focus and pay attention, but I was still distracted by everything that had happened. When I looked over at Kate and Cora’s table, they were gone. With a deep breath, I opened my phone and sent a text message to Ethan, asking if we could talk.