Chapter Five #2
Jayvon leaned in beside her, wincing. “I can help you tomorrow if you want. I promised I’d go with Elsie to Walmart in a few minutes.”
Elsie Thompson was Main’s version of Jayvon. She ran a tight ship in Main. Reese forced a smile. “It’s okay. I’m sure I can handle it. I may have to have help moving anything really heavy, though.”
“We’ll help however we can.”
“At least you got the spit bottles out,” commented Jayvon with a shrug.
“Please tell me it’s not what it sounds like,” grimaced Reese.
“Unfortunately, yes. I’ll apologize now if I missed one. As soon as he was gone, I went in and cleared them all out. He didn’t smoke anymore but chewed tobacco nearly constantly.”
Reese shuddered. “Well, I thank you for that.”
“Not a problem. Uh, Jay, did you call about replacing the locks?”
He nodded, drumming his knuckles on the doorframe. “Yeah, someone should be here anytime this afternoon.”
“Perfect. Will you make sure a few copies get made?”
“Yes, ma’am, as long as whichever one of you is here will get the original from maintenance.”
Both counselors nodded.
They stood talking for a few more minutes, then went back to their days.
Staring at the cluttered office in front of her, she closed her eyes for a moment, willing it to all disappear, but when she opened her eyes, it was all still there.
“Ma’am?” a voice sounded behind her.
She turned to find a middle-aged man standing behind her. His name tag, a green one, said Ed. In the upper right corner was Upper Sparrow, in the bottom left was Kerrie’s name and then “house adviser” in the other.
“Oh, hello. I’m Ms. Reese.”
“Yes, ma’am, I’m Ed. It’s nice to meet you.
I’m Upper Sparrow’s house adviser. Well, I guess Upper and Lower, since we don’t have enough clients in the house for two right now.
Anyway, Jayvon walkied me and asked if I would show you where you could find garbage bags and cleaning supplies for your office. ”
She glanced at the bulky yellow walkie-talkie on his hip. “House adviser? I’m sorry. I’m still getting used to all the titles and jobs around here.”
If she could have seen his cheeks from under his wiry beard, then she was sure he would have been blushing by the duck of his head and rub of his neck.
“That’s fine, ma’am. It can get a little confusing.
A house adviser is nominated by the clients in their house as a spokesperson of sorts.
We communicate with the counselors on issues we have as a group, we run morning devotional and evening group and take attendance for both.
We also bring you the clients’ notes for Group and Video. ”
“Wow, that’s a lot of responsibility.”
He puffed up at her words. “Yes, ma’am, it is. It feels good, you know. I feel like it’s getting me back in shape to go back to work. Plus, the guys see enough in me to vote for me. That’s respect and trust right there, and trust is hard to come by here.”
The look of pride in his eye made her momentarily forget the mess waiting for her. “I’m glad you’re finding it beneficial. And thank you for helping me.”
“No problem. If you’ll follow me, I’ll show you where the supplies are.”
He was nice and respectful and made her feel at ease.
Working at an all-male facility could be difficult for female staff.
She was always on alert for issues that might arise.
Once, when she had just graduated from college, she started working for a mental health clinic as a case manager.
She would go into clients’ homes to help improve their daily living.
About a year in, she was at the home of a client she’d known for the whole time she worked there.
He had started to decline despite her making sure he received the monthly shot to treat his psychotic symptoms. Unfortunately, she had let her guard down.
She knew better than to go inside the house instead of staying on the porch.
His mother called, and he went off yelling at her instead.
He blocked the door, and for twenty terrifying minutes, she was stuck in the house of a man twice her size and not in a good headspace.
When he finally calmed down enough, she was able to get him to move.
After that, she vowed never to let her guard down again.
The employee bathroom doubled as a storage area for cleaning supplies. It was organized well. She found trash bags, then thanked him before heading back to her office.
It was no less of a mess despite her internal pleading for a miracle.
The room was probably bigger than it felt.
In its current state, it was as if it were the size of a shoebox.
The desk was covered with papers, old food wrappers, and somewhere underneath was a dusty keyboard, a mouse she would definitely be scrubbing down, and a monitor.
There were also filing cabinets with papers coming out of them and a small table and chairs, but the table was also covered. At least the chairs were clear.
She looked over at the desk. “I guess this is the best place to start.”
Though she didn’t expect her office to be in pristine condition for her when she arrived, she had at least assumed it would be empty, or at least mostly.
It wouldn’t have crossed her mind that it would be in this shape.
It was as if this Wilson man had just walked out.
The lack of professionalism in that just astounded her.
The stack of papers that needed shredding due to confidential information was quickly turning into a mountain. She was forced to start filling a trash bag with them just to contain them. She looked around but could not find a shredder. “Surely an office has a shredder.”
“Talking to yourself?”
Reese jerked up from being hunched over a drawer in one of the filing cabinets.
Unfortunately, she hadn’t realized that she didn’t shut the top drawer all the way until her head made contact with the corner of it.
A jolt of pain radiated from the back of her head, causing her to close her eyes while grabbing the spot.
She wavered back and forth as the pain made her woozy. “Fuck!”
She felt hands grab her head, pushing her own away. “Damn, you hit that hard. Are you bleeding?”
Fingers separated her hair, searching for the spot of impact, but all she wanted was for the pain to stop and the stranger to get off her. Anger quickly overtook her senses. She shoved at the person. “Get off me.”
“I’m just trying to help.”
“Try knocking next time,” she spat, rubbing her head.
It was then that she turned to see who the intruder was.
Her heart stopped as she recognized the tight T-shirt and blue jeans.
She had thought about this woman more than a few times since the day she first saw her.
Too bad her temper was still flaring in her gut. All she could do was glare.
“Are you always rude when you meet people?” The soft smirk and quirk of her eyebrow were both hot and infuriating.
“Only when they barge into my office.”
“I didn’t barge in.”
Reese motioned to where she was standing. “You’re standing in the middle of my office. I didn’t invite you. I think that counts as barging in.”
She had no idea where her attitude was coming from. It was like her mouth had a mind of its own.
The woman tilted her head, then turned, walking back to the threshold.
She lifted her hand and rapped her knuckles against the door once, paused for a moment, then knocked again.
How she had managed to make the act come off sarcastically could only be described as talent. She cleared her throat. “Knock, knock.”
Reese’s left eye twitched as her lips pressed into a thin line.
“This,” she said, holding up a box, “is your new doorknob. I need to change them out.”
“What is your name?” asked Reese. Her eyes quickly took in the woman. She tried not to lick her lips at the sight of the tool belt hugging her hips. She was a sucker for a working woman. She barely noticed the name badge clipped to it. It was turned around where she couldn’t see the name.
“Matty, Matty Crew.”
“Well, Matty, I’m Reese Lloyd, and I’m very busy. Could you come back later?”
“I could, but then you’ll have to go to the end of the list, which could take a couple days to get back here.” Matty leaned casually against the doorframe. Reese tried to ignore the pop of her hip and those soft brown eyes that seemed to be challenging her.
She sighed, rubbing the sore spot on her head again.
A dull ache had already started there. She didn’t want to deal with this.
Actually, she didn’t want to deal with any of it.
Once again, she was cleaning up someone else’s mess.
She’d clean this office, then go home to her mother’s hoard. It wasn’t fair.
“Fine. Just do what you have to do.”
“Right. Well, it shouldn’t take long.”
“Uh huh.”
Reese turned to her desk, pulling her purse out from where she had hidden it under there. She rummaged around for the bottle of Tylenol she usually kept in it but couldn’t find it, then she remembered. “Dammit,” she mumbled.
“Something wrong?” asked Matty. She was on her knees, unscrewing the silver screws from the doorknob.
Reese wanted to tell her it was none of her business, but she knew that was just frustration and pain talking. Matty was the only one around to unleash it on, and that wouldn’t be fair to the dark-haired woman. “I thought I had Tylenol in my purse, but I think I left it at home.”
“Hmm,” she hummed dismissively.
They worked in silence for the better part of thirty minutes.
Reese concentrated on filling more bags and deciphering what should stay or go.
There were a lot of miscellaneous things in the desk and on top of the cabinets.
Every time she bent down, the pounding behind her eyes worsened.
There was a decent-sized knot where she had hit it.
Before too long, Matty disappeared, only to reappear again.
Then she shut the door and opened it, making sure to try the lock.
“Well, that’s got you all set. Here’s the keys.
” She laid two silver keys on the desk, then two purple pills beside them.
“And for your head. All I had was Pamprin in my backpack, but it’ll fix you right up. ”
Reese’s mouth dropped open. She looked from the pills to Matty and back again as guilt washed over her. She had been such an asshole to her. “Oh, uh, thank you.”
“Not a problem. If you have any problems with the door, then dial 112 on your desk phone, and it’ll call the maintenance desk. One of us will come back.”
And with that, Matty left, leaving Reese with an odd mix of gratitude, annoyance, and curiosity. What a weird day.