Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Katherine
I’ve never been an athlete, so I’ve never known what it was like to come first in a race or have people cheering for me at a finish line. But as I walk into the office on Monday morning, I feel like I’ve just come first place in the New York Marathon or the hundred-meter sprint at the Olympics.
“She’s here! Our savior is here!” Marina explains dramatically as she, Cora and Xander rush toward me, smiles of gratitude on their faces as they approach me in glee. Xander is holding a bouquet of red fragrant roses, and Cora is holding a big box of chocolates with a purple velvet bow.
“Are these for me?” I feel choked up at the sight of the gifts.
“What can I say, darling?” Cora grabs my hands like I’m her long-lost granddaughter and beams at me as she brings me in for a strong hug.
I let her envelop me and hold me close. The feeling is nice.
Makes me feel cocooned for a few moments.
She grabs my arms and smiles warmly at me.
“You saved us. You are a martyr. You died on the sword for us.”
“I would go that far,” I say, shaking my head.
I am grateful they are appreciative but it’s not like I went to war for them.
“Thank you for the roses and the chocolates and for being so sweet, but obviously I’m still alive, so I didn’t die.
I’m not a martyr. And while I took one for the team, I know any one of you guys would’ve done it if it had been for me.
” I say the words graciously, even though we all know that’s not true, because none of them had said anything to Jack when he threatened to fire me.
“Anyway, I’m just still unsure as to what happened.
” I look at him. “How did those files end up playing for the world to see?”
“It was my fault,” Cora says, looking ashamed and all of her sixty or seventy years.
“I thought I had deleted the files, but I accidentally attached them to the email that was sent to the IT department to put up for the PowerPoint presentation. I think I must’ve just been so tired and well…
” She shakes her head. “I’m a little bit old, and it gets confusing when you’re sending multiple emails and whatnot. ”
I stare at her for a couple of seconds and nod slowly. “I get it. I mean, we all partook in writing the fake profiles, so really we all should have made sure that it was deleted instead of leaving it to you.”
“Oh, Katherine, you know who you remind me of?” Marina says, her eyes bright as she gazes at me like I’m some sort of movie star.
“Katharine Hepburn. Dignified, gracious, beautiful. She was an actress back in the day. She starred in this movie with Humphrey Bogart, I think it was called The African Queen and some other movies. Let me check IMDb. But she was one of my favorite actresses. I loved all her movies.”
“She’s one of your favorite actresses and you only remember the name of one of her movies?” Xander asks.
“Well, I have many favorite movies,” she says. “I can’t remember the names of all of them.”
“But then they wouldn’t be your favorite, would they?” Xander wrinkles his nose. “Also, how can you have multiple favorite movies? That’s kind of like when people say they have multiple best friends. It doesn’t make sense. Best means best—like the only one.”
“It’s fine, don’t get excited Xander,” Cora says, looking at him and then Marina. “Keep your voices down. We don’t want to attract everyone in the building to see what’s going on here.”
“Exactly,” I say, having a seat. “So, how was everyone’s weekend?”I ask because I don’t need to hear Xander and Marina arguing about nonsensical stuff as they do every day. Not when I just want to relax and get to work.
“Well, we got some new hotel projects,” Marina says, heading over to Cora’s desk.
“A bunch of different files for different hotels have been sent to us, and we’re to do research to see which hotels look like they’ll be the most profitable and the easiest to market.
Then we’re to send a ranked list up to the directors, because I guess they’re investing in the hotel business and want more research done as to how we’d market them. ”
“Awesome,” I say, feeling excited. “I think that’s why I was hired. I used to work in a bed and breakfast.”
“Oh, I didn’t know that,” Cora says. “Where did you work?”
“In Whispering Haven, where I grew up. My best friends and I ran the Whispering Haven bed and breakfast. I mean, we didn’t own it or anything.
My best friend Willow, well, her cousin and aunt owned it.
” I wrinkle my nose at the thought of those witches.
“Anyway, that doesn’t really matter right now.
But at one point in time, the three of us thought we would invest in our own bed and breakfast, and we were saving up to do so.
It just hasn’t worked out yet.” I sigh deeply because I don’t know if it’s ever going to work out.
I don’t know if we’ll ever get our bed and breakfast. All of us have said it’s still the plan, but every time I speak to Willow, she seems to be less and less interested.
Brielle’s already freaking out about her job with Levi, and I’m not even sure why.
I wonder if she has a crush on him. He is really cute, but if she does, she’s certainly not sharing that information.
“Hey, you look like you just spaced out,” Xander says as he grabs the box of chocolates.
“Sounds like running that place was a lot of work.” I watch as he casually opens my box of chocolates like they are his, but I don’t say anything.
All I can do is laugh. Who gives someone a box of chocolates and then opens it up themselves?
“I was just thinking about my best friends and our plan,” I say.
“We had hoped to pitch an idea to a group of investors. I mean, we kind of did a pitch, but they didn’t think we had enough experience to make it profitable.
That’s why we’re all working jobs related to being business owners.
So we can figure out how to be successful proprietors of a bed and breakfast. But we’ll see if that happens.
As life goes on, the dream seems further and further away. ”
“Wow, that sounds absolutely fabulous,” Marina says, grabbing a chocolate from the box as Xander hands it to her. “Like something Katharine Hepburn would do.” She gasps as she takes a bite into the creamy looking morsel. “Guys, I forgot to tell you my good news. I got an audition for a play.”
“No way,” Xander says, shock in his eyes and voice. “Not on Broadway.” His jaw drops and he looks astounded, like aliens have just entered the room. I look away so as not to laugh. The theatrics between Xander and Marina are absolutely hilarious.
“What do you mean, not on Broadway?” She stares at him with wide accusatory eyes. “Do you think I can’t get an audition on Broadway?”
“I mean, yay if it’s on Broadway, but I wanna know who’s casting for Broadway shows? If you got an audition did you have to sleep with someone?”
“You’re such a jerk, Xander.”
“I’m one of your best friends, and I’m just being honest.” He shrugs. “I don’t think you’re ready yet.”
“Well, to be clear, it’s not on Broadway. It’s an off-Broadway show, and it’s called IKEA: Furniture for the People.” Marina says proudly.
Xander looks at me and makes a face. “That sounds like an interesting play. What’s it about?”
“Well,” Marina says and then she starts singing, “it’s about a girl that works in IKEA, and she builds furniture for the people.
” Her voice cracks when she hits a high note, and Cora starts coughing.
I look down at the ground because I can’t make eye contact with Marina right now.
She seems to be taking this whole thing so seriously, and I really don’t know if she knows that she can’t sing.
“IKEA doesn’t make furniture for people,” Xander says. “You hire someone to make it if you buy IKEA furniture.”
“No, silly,” she says. “She works in IKEA, and she builds furniture in the store so people can see what it looks like. Anyway, her name is Isla Peta.”
Xander starts laughing. “What a shitty-ass name. Isla Peta, like who is called Isla Pete?”
“I didn’t write the script,” Marina says, jutting her chin out defiantly. “Anyway, it’s unique. If I get the part, I’ll be Petrolia Gasoline.”
I stare at Cora and then Xander. All of our eyes are wide. I can tell that if Marina continues, we’re all going to burst out laughing.
“Anyway,” Marina says, and starts tap dancing, “I’m trying to practice my moves because I feel like I could seriously get a role, if not as Petrolia, then as her assistant Exonnia.”
I stare at her. “Seriously. Is it April 1st or something?”
“No. Why would you say that?”
“You’re trying out for a part called Petrolia or the assistant Exonnia, like Exxon, the gas station?”
“Yeah and so what? I’m practicing my lines today,” she belts out. “Because I think I’m going to get the part, and then you will all be jealous.”
“Jealous of what?” Xander asks.
“Cos you’ll see me at the Tonys, and maybe I’ll be marrying Liam Hemsworth.” She suddenly stops. “Can you imagine? I would totally die if Liam Hemsworth came to the show and saw me and proposed.”
“It’s not going to happen,” Xander says bluntly.
“One, if you get the part of Petrolia, I don’t think the show’s going to last long.
But two, if you get the part, and the show lasts long, and Liam Hemsworth comes to see it and proposes to you—well, girl, buy a lottery ticket, because your time has come. ”
“Xander, don’t make me laugh,” I say, trying hard not to giggle.
“Why not?” He grabs another chocolate and then finally offers me the box. I grab it and debate between a strawberry creme and dark chocolate filled with caramel.
“No reason. Anyway we should get to work, because I don’t know if I can stop us all from getting fired for not doing any actual work.”