10. Ten
Ten
L eslie’s fingers tingled with adrenaline as she used her phone app to punch out, then slipped down the corridor from the restaurant’s break room to Brent’s office. She tapped on the open door, and he looked up, unaware of her until she knocked.
“Hey, what’s up?” He was grinning, because he had no idea what she was about to say.
“Um, we need to talk, if that’s okay.” Shoot. Must be more forceful.
“Sure.”
Life was so much simpler when she didn’t push too hard, when she let day-to-day routines carry her along like a leaf in a mountain creek. But instead here she was, digging into the creek bottom with both heels and forcing the water to part around her.
When she shut the office door, Brent’s eyebrows arched. “Everything okay?”
“I think so.” Depending on how this conversation went. He motioned her to the chair across from his desk, and she tried to adopt a relaxed posture as she sat. “So…about my request for time off.”
“Oh, that.” His signature grin slipped a little. “Of course I’d love to say yes, Leslie, but you know how busy we are halfway into August.”
“Right. And I know how busy we are halfway into every other month of the year, too.”
His face froze. He didn’t blink.
“I’m always here, Brent. I don’t get sick. I take shifts the others don’t want. I’m a really good head waitress, and you know it. And I’m asking that you please approve my request for time off that I have earned.”
The words she’d recited on and off all day. They’d all come out of her mouth in the right order without a single stammer. She’d tried to push herself to this confrontation after Ryker’s encouragement, but instead weeks had gone by while she continued to use the timeclock app to request a long weekend…and Brent continued to ignore the requests. Then, yesterday at dinner with her parents, they’d weighed in too.
“Is that the only reason you haven’t gone to see him yet?” Mom had said with genuine shock.
Dad had shaken his head and said the thing that finally pushed her all the way to this moment, sitting in Brent’s uncomfortable office chair and delivering her speech. “Les, I know sometimes it goes against your grain to make waves, but at this point you’re letting your boss take advantage of you.”
Brent’s face slowly thawed, though his eyes remained a little frosty. “You know I’m not obligated to let you cash out your PTO.”
“No worries,” she said. “Going forward I’ll be taking mine the same way everybody else takes theirs.”
A blink, a frown. In the silence, Leslie’s body began to prickle with suppressed energy, but she kept still and waited him out. A muscle twitched in his jaw. Brent hated silence.
“I was doing you a favor,” he said.
“Having the extra check was nice.” She had to admit that much. “But ultimately you were doing yourself a favor. Being here with my work ethic is worth more to you than the extra check.”
He gave a stiff nod. “I guess you can apply for time off, and if it doesn’t conflict with anyone else’s…”
“I already checked with the other servers, and it doesn’t. And I already applied for it. I applied three times in the last three weeks. You keep letting my request do that auto-expire thing that happens if a supervisor doesn’t see it in time.”
He shrugged. “Must’ve fallen through the cracks.”
“Okay. I’ll apply one more time. Please don’t miss it this time.”
“Sure, Leslie. No problem. Was that all?”
“Yep.”
She flashed a grin and allowed the baring of her teeth to last a fraction of a second longer than she needed to. Brent tried to cover his flinch with a clearing of his throat.
“Thanks for your time, Brent. I’ll see you in the morning.”
She maintained her brave posture until she sat behind the wheel in her car. Then her hands began to tremble. She’d done it. She sent Mom a text and got a reply in less than a minute.
You can tell Dad I managed to be confrontational today. Going to see Ryker next month!
Mom: Good for you. Still not thrilled how your boss handled it but proud of you for rocking the boat!
She sent Mom a thumbs-up emoji, then dialed her boyfriend, who picked up after a single ring.
“Hey,” was all he said, but the single word held a depth of warmth that made her close her eyes and finally, fully relax. Her breathing deepened, and her shoulders loosened. All from hearing his lovely voice and the smile in it…for her.
“Guess who just got confrontational with her boss,” she said.
“Whoa. And?”
“And in three weeks, I’ll be the one grabbing a flight for a long weekend.”
“Yes!”
“Better plan your tour stops.”
“I’ve had a tour planned since our first weekend together,” he said. “I know it probably stressed you out, but I’m glad you finally asked. That guy owes you.”
“He knows that now. Well—no, let me rephrase. He knows I know that now.”
“Good. He sounds like a jerk.”
Was Brent a jerk? Hmm. She couldn’t rule it out. They didn’t stay long on the phone, and when she hung up, another text had come through from Mom.
Mom: Dad says “Good job.”
Leslie texted back, shaking her head but unable to hold in a smile.
It shouldn’t have been a big deal. I let my boss get away with too much, like Dad said. Until today. Now to plan a weekend seeing all Ryker’s favorite vampire-friendly spots!
Mom sent a thumbs-up, but nothing else as the next few minutes ticked by. Leslie sent a final text before starting the drive home.
Hey, have you ever been to a blood bar?
This time, she’d been home for almost an hour before Mom texted back.
Mom: I don’t remember.
The words were a heavy curtain dropped between them, opaque and smothering. Leslie should have known not to ask.
She wandered around her house, for some reason needing to pace. Then she sank into her favorite stuffed chair in the den, a plum-colored beauty she’d found at a local furniture store. She worked to unclench her jaw. She didn’t get to be mad at Mom for once again shutting down a conversation about vampires. Mom had her reasons. But for once Leslie let herself say out loud everything she wished she could say to Mom’s face.
“We talk all the time. Woman to woman, mother to daughter, friend to friend. Why can’t we talk vampire to vampire? Why, Mom?”