Chapter Three
Hal
I hit my snooze four times before finally rolling out of bed. The exhaustion of the past few days hit me hard. It didn’t help that the night before, I kept thinking about the daddy I ran into when I had a flat.
I probably shouldn’t be referring to him as “the daddy,” but I never got his name.
He knew my name because I said it during my babbling story time when I let no detail of my recent struggles go unspoken.
I even told him how I wished I could one day have a cat.
It was pretty embarrassing in hindsight, but at the time, it took such a weight off my shoulders.
It wasn’t until I drove away that I realized I didn’t have his name. What would I do with it, anyway? If his name were Bob, I’d look up Bob on the Internet and see the forty-two million people out there with the same name. I’d be in no better position than I was now.
Maybe it was better this way. I’d built him up so much in my head, there was no way he’d live up to those expectations. No man could.
After the world’s quickest shower, I bolted out the door and toward my bus, stopping long enough to grab what ended up being crappy coffee from a cart next to the stop. Buses weren’t my favorite, but if I could avoid driving in the city, I was going to.
Despite its bitterness, I drank it all, needing the caffeine as I counted the stops to my office. The commute wasn’t bad and was shorter than to my old office. The noise and crowds were going to take some getting used to, though. I strolled into work with time to spare.
I didn’t know very many people yet but gave slight waves as I wandered to my cubicle and started my day. Most of my coworkers waved back. The culture of this office was good like that.
Because I was a transfer, everybody expected me to know how to do everything.
And I did, for my old position, but the new one had a learning curve.
I spent the first couple of hours going through documentation left to me by the last person who held my position, before a message popped up from my department head.
The message informed me that Mr. Jones needed me for a meeting and shared the office number.
A second message popped up, apologizing for forgetting to tell me that morning.
I had two whole minutes to get there. Not knowing what the appointment was about, or who this man even was, I grabbed my laptop, a sticky-note pad, and a pen, figuring that would cover most bases, and speed-walked there.
None of my direct bosses had an office. They had larger spaces than me, but we were all in cubicle land. This person had walls and a door. He was pretty high up. I knocked and tried to steady my breath. A voice from inside told me to come in.
Two steps in, my pen decided it was the perfect time to fall off my laptop and onto the floor. I got down to pick it up as it rolled under a chair. Rich laughter filling the room. Great, what a perfect first impression.
I heard the man walking toward me, stopping just as I reached my pen.
“Last time I saw you, you dropped something. This time, it looks like you found it.” It was the daddy from the night before, except I shouldn’t be thinking of him as “the daddy.” He was my boss, or possibly boss-adjacent.
He held out a hand to me, and I froze, not sure if I should take it or not.
“Thank you…the tire…home safe, I mean, you helped me,” I stammered.
He wiggled his fingers, and I took his hand, and that was when I saw my bracelet, the one I’d slipped into his jacket pocket.
I righted myself and attempted to put on my best office persona. “I got a message you need to see me.”
“Yes,” he said. “I just got back from a work trip, and I’m checking in with all the transferred employees to see how they’re adjusting to the new office.”
“It’s fine,” I managed, my eyes glued to his wrist.
He caught me staring. “You should take this back. I think you dropped it when I fixed your tire situation.”
“I didn’t drop it.” And he knew it. No one accidentally drops something into someone’s pocket they have no business being near.
“You gave it to me?”
I nodded. “As my thank-you.”
“I can’t accept this. It feels like it’s important.”
I was still stuck on the fact that he was wearing it. It was one thing to keep it, like it even. But to be in a fancy office wearing a suit, in a position of power and wearing my bracelet complete with a unicorn charm? There had to be a reason, right?
“But you saved me,” I said. “You wouldn’t take any money.”
“That’s right, I won’t.” He was firm.
I recognized that tone. Changing my mind wasn’t going to happen. “And you wouldn’t let me buy you a meal.”
“It was the middle of the night, and you were soaking wet.”
Did that mean he would’ve accepted otherwise? No, he was probably just being polite.
“So, you’d let me buy you dinner now?” As soon as I asked, I knew I’d made a mistake. This was work, not a bar or club. You didn’t ask your boss out to dinner on the first day. He was my boss. I still wasn’t clear what he did for work.
“Is that the only way you’ll take the bracelet back?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Then absolutely, I would love for you to buy me dinner.” He put the bracelet on my laptop, walked around to his desk chair, and took a seat, a small smile on his face.
“Okay. Is there anything else?”
I wasn’t sure if I’d be this nervous around him anywhere else, but him being my boss, being called into his office, and being so new… I needed to regroup.
“No, that was all,” he said. “I wanted to make sure you were settling in well.”
“I am.” I all but ran out of there.
When I returned to my desk, I reopened the document I had been reading before the interruption, but the words seemed to have no meaning. All I could think about was what had just happened.
Mr. Jones said he would buy me dinner, but we didn’t make plans. He didn’t even tell me his first name yet. Did he mean he just wanted free food? Probably. This was work.
I shouldn’t have asked him to cross a line.
He definitely wanted a free dinner.
I pulled up a local delivery app, and, after scrolling, I found what I thought was the perfect restaurant and ordered him dinner, to be delivered to his office later that day.
“And that takes care of that.” I looked down at my bracelet. “I’m glad you’re back.” Despite loving how it looked on the daddy’s wrist.