13. Enable Them
13
ENABLE THEM
“ H ow are you feeling about things?” Raina asked her two weeks later.
“Good,” she said. “Things are great at work now that I’ve got my staff full and trained. It’s always nuts at the beginning of the school year getting schedules met and curriculum set up with the needs of the school districts. We seem to have more each year too.”
“That’s wonderful,” Raina said. “I’m sure a big part of it is your hustle getting the services out there. But that isn’t what I meant.”
Tori figured as much but hoped that maybe she could avoid or nudge the conversation to what she’d rather talk about.
“Not surprised,” she said. “What is it you want to know? I told you how things ended.”
“Did you want them to end?” Raina asked.
“It was one date,” she argued. “I told you, he brings the worst out of me and if everything you’ve said about him is true, then I do the same to him.”
If not the worst, then what he was previously and was trying to change.
No way she was going to hinder someone’s growth or enable them to be something they didn’t want to be.
Just like she didn’t need someone bringing something out of her she didn’t even know existed in her life.
Did she want to be this way toward her mother and maybe others in her life?
Sure.
Who didn’t want to tell someone off or get something off their chest?
But she never wanted to be that person to make someone feel worse either.
Even if it meant she was the one absorbing all the negative energy in the room.
“That could mean a lot of things though,” Raina said.
“Yeah, it can mean we aren’t compatible and we are mature enough to acknowledge it and move on. I don’t want things to be awkward and they aren’t. I’m not giving up my time with my bestie because of it either.”
Raina lifted her eyebrow. “Mature, huh?”
She almost choked on her chip. “What does that mean?” she asked.
“Nothing,” Raina said.
She didn’t like the smirk on her friend’s face. “I get it. Maybe I haven’t been that mature when it came to him. Which is why it’s best we just remain as friends. Loose ones at that. I mean, not even friends. Just friends in common, how is that?”
“That have kissed,” Raina said, laughing softly.
She turned her head to make sure the door was closed. “It was a quick kiss.”
But it was nice.
Perfect.
As if Hyde knew exactly what he was doing.
His soft lips applied the right amount of pressure to hers that made her lean in for more letting him know what she wanted.
There was nothing more than a touch of their lips and she went home fantasizing about what more was to come.
Nothing.
That was what was going to come! Sure the hell not her coming.
Holy cow. She’d never thought things like that either.
Yep, bringing the worst out of her.
Behaviors that weren’t like her.
“Why are you blushing?” Raina asked.
“I’m not,” she said.
“Since I’m looking at you, I’d say you are.”
Not much she could argue about. “Maybe I was thinking of that kiss.”
“You want another, don’t you?”
She sighed. “Am I a horrible person to think that? I mean, we know it’d never work, but sometimes the physical is still there. Doesn’t mean you act on it.”
“Not you,” Raina said. “But many other women do.”
“And have with Hyde. He admitted he had a reputation in the day.”
“Anyone that has hung around with Ryder probably did,” Raina said. “But Ryder has completely reformed himself.”
“I know,” she said.
What more could she say? Hyde admitted he wanted what his best friend had, but it didn’t work when he tried.
That he even felt the guilt for it now.
She didn’t need to add to that by being a reminder of someone who made comments about his past when she was annoyed.
She’d like to think she was the least judgmental person she knew, but yet she lost sight of that around a pair of bedroom blue eyes and a panty-wetting smile.
Her phone rang and she wanted to ignore it, but it could be work, so she just pulled it out quickly to glance, silenced it, and put it back.
“By the look on your face, I’m thinking that was your mother.”
“Right on the first try,” she said.
“Everything okay?” Raina asked. “Or would you rather not talk about it?”
“The same as it always is, but I’ve been avoiding talking to her. Maybe I’ll just leave now and call her in my office. I’ll just say I’ve got twenty minutes left to my lunch and then I’ve got a time limit on it.”
Raina laughed. “Do you know what it’s about?”
“Any number of things I’ve heard before, I’m sure.”
She wrapped the rest of her sandwich and put it in the bag, then walked out.
She was on her way down the hall when Diane Fierce turned the corner.
“Tori,” Diane said. “What a lovely surprise seeing you here.”
“Hi, Diane.” Talk about bad timing. Every time she saw one of the elder Fierces they wanted to talk about her dating life.
“Just finishing lunch with Raina, I’m assuming?”
“I am,” she said. “Got to get back to my office to make a call though.”
“That’s fine,” Diane said. “I wanted to see you. We’ve got this friend of the family. They’ve got a son about your age. He’s a civil rights attorney. You two would get along so well. Both out to make the world a better place. Do you think I could give him your name?”
She hated doing these things. “Can I think about it?” she asked. “I’m a little busy right now.”
“No problem,” Diane said, grinning. “You do that and have a great day.”
Tori moved past her and went to the stairs and walked down, trying to delay the call to her mother as long as she could.
When she got to her office, she had fifteen minutes left on her lunch. More than enough time to ruin her day.
“Hi, Mom,” she said when her mother answered right away. “Is this a bad time?”
“No,” her mother said. “I’ve got a bit of time left on my lunch.”
“The same,” she said. “Which is why I called you back now. I was talking to someone when you called a few minutes ago.”
“Not a problem,” her mother said and started to sniffle.
Oh boy, it was going to be one of those calls.
“What’s going on, Mom?”
“I got in trouble at work,” her mother said.
She sighed. Not the first time this happened.
“What happened?”
“I posted something on social media that maybe I shouldn’t have. I vented about my day because I was annoyed.”
She ground her teeth. No matter how much she told people not to do that, they did it anyway.
That was how Lena got terminated.
She thought she was doing a great thing and posted a project she was working on with her students.
It would have been great if she hadn’t had some of her students in the picture without parental consent.
Those were the strict rules.
One of the kids was in a domestic violence shelter with their mother, trying to stay away from their father and in a new school.
It created a huge issue and got the picture taken down immediately.
Thankfully the teacher was aware of the situation and noticed the picture posted within twenty minutes since she was tagged.
Because someone reported Lena, they were forced to terminate her employment to avoid potentially horrendous consequences.
“You shouldn’t do that, Mom.”
“I know,” her mother said. “I didn’t give details. I only vented about an annoying day at work and being around people.”
“But you probably have your employer listed, right?”
Her mother sniffled some more and blew her nose. “I did. I removed that now, but it doesn’t matter. They gave me a written warning. They said I’m free to post what I want but not when it’s a poor reflection on the business and that the next time it happens I’ll be terminated.”
“Are you at work right now?” she asked.
“I’m sitting in my car. This happened yesterday and people know and it’s embarrassing on top of it. I hate being talked about.”
“Then you shouldn’t have done that,” she said sternly.
“I thought you’d be more supportive. If you’d been around more, I could have vented to you, but you’ve been busy and I wasn’t thinking.”
“Mom,” she said. “Don’t blame me for this. You’re an adult who has to take responsibility for your actions.”
“I know,” her mother whined. “Maybe it’s time I look for another job.”
“You’ve only been there six months,” she argued. “It won’t look good if you keep leaving your jobs so quickly.”
“But it will look worse if I get fired,” her mother said.
“Then don’t do anything to get fired,” she said. Why was it so hard to say these things? “Have you had any other problems there? With your work performance?”
“No,” her mother said. “I like my job and they seem happy with what I’m doing. They even told me so, but that doesn’t excuse me doing what I did.”
That was something at least.
“Then you should be fine. Did you apologize for what you did?”
“I did,” her mother said. “I told them I didn’t think it was a big deal. It’s not as if I listed anyone’s name or details.”
“It doesn’t matter,” she said.
“They said that too. And that was the only reason I just got a warning.”
“Now you know, and even though you removed your employer, don’t do it again.”
“I won’t,” her mother said. “But sometimes you need to vent. Can I just call you and say it?”
“I’m not always available,” she said. Physically or emotionally.
“But I could text it anyway, right?”
“Sure,” she said. “Just don’t expect me to always reply.”
“That’s fine,” her mother said. “This is nothing more than writing out your feelings like you’ve told me to do before.”
Which meant her mother listened to her. She was surprised.
“You could just draft me an email,” she said. “Then once you’ve vented it out, you can delete it or let it sit in draft until you’ve calmed down. You might feel better after that and not worry about it coming back up if I try to respond.”
“I didn’t think of that,” her mother said. “Thanks, Tori. I’ll try that next time.”
“You do that,” she said. “I’ve got to run now. Do you feel better?”
“A little,” her mother said. “I’m still not happy I’ve got to go to work and everyone is talking about me.”
“Then it will be a reminder not to do something like that again.”
She hung up and put her head on the back of her chair, looked up at the ceiling and silently screamed.
These were lectures she’d done a million times with her mother that would be more appropriate for a teenager or someone in their first job.
But some things were just never going to change.
“Slow down, Diane,” Grant said.
She turned and shut her husband’s door, then opened it back up and ran next door to her brother-in-law’s office and waved him into Grant’s.
“What’s going on?” Garrett asked when she closed the door after him.
“I decided to help you two out with Hyde.”
“What did you do?” Grant asked.
“Improvised. I was coming to see you and noticed Tori walking down the hall. We were just a few feet away from Hyde’s office and I knew he was in there. The door was open. I told Tori I knew a civil rights attorney that would be perfect for her if I could pass on her information.”
“Who is that?” Grant asked.
“I don’t know,” she said, throwing her hands in the air. “I made him up. You know, working on the fly. It’s not like I expected her to say yes. No one ever says yes to it.”
At least she hoped not. She had her fingers crossed that Tori didn’t reach out after she’d thought about it.
After she’d heard about the conversation her husband witnessed between Hyde and Tori, the more she thought of it, the more she realized they’d be perfect for each other.
They just needed to push over the major hump in their lives. Not that she knew what mountain she had to help them climb, but they could do it if they all put their heads together.
“Did she?” Garrett asked.
“She said she’d think about it and let me know.”
“You better hope she doesn’t want to,” Grant said, laughing. “Or you’re in trouble.”
“It’s not going to happen.” She crossed her fingers again. “But what I hope more is that Hyde heard me and maybe he’ll get jealous.”
“That’s a far reach,” Garrett said.
She turned to her brother-in-law. “It’s better than what you two have been doing. Which is nothing.” She held up two big zeroes with her fingers.
Her husband laughed. “You’ve got us there,” Grant said.
“Keep me posted if you hear anything,” she said.
“What are we supposed to hear?” Garrett said. “It’s not as if Hyde talks to us about his personal life. Grant was lucky to hear what he had. Your son’s lips have never been so tight and Raina isn’t going to volunteer anything on her friend.”
Diane pursed her lips. “We’ll see about that.”
She turned to leave and Grant stopped her. “Where are you going?”
“To talk to Raina.”
This was a gigantic risk, she knew it, but she wanted to see what Raina said.
“Hi, Diane. How are you?” Raina was in the hallway and she couldn’t have planned this any better. Luck was on her side.
“Great,” she said. “I was just coming to see you. I ran into Tori not that long ago. Told her I had someone to set her up with.”
She saw Raina pause and then smile after she looked toward Hyde’s office. Actions spoke louder in her mind.
“What did she say?” Raina asked.
“That she’d think about it. Can you let me know if she wants to and pass her information on to me?”
“I can do that,” Raina said, rolling her eyes.
She moved closer, patted Raina’s hand, and winked. “You’re a good friend,” she whispered.
If you want something done, you just need to do it yourself.