Chapter 8 #2
She bit her lip. “Peggy told me what happened at your other jobs. I don’t want that to happen here.”
“Well, here, I am doing something that I didn’t do at my other jobs.”
“What’s that?”
“I’m sleeping with my boss.”
She laughed. “Hell yeah, you are.”
He took her hand. “Ready?”
She nodded. “Let’s do this.”
They walked down the stairs together. Despite that they were coming out as a couple, neither had any desire to rub it in the employees’ faces. So, before opening the door to the first floor, Cayden kissed the back of the hand he held and then let it fall.
Cayden could immediately feel the difference in the atmosphere today versus Monday’s and Tuesday’s meetings. Maybe it was just him, but the air didn’t feel as tense.
Unlike every other meeting before this that he’d attended, Cayden followed Trixie to the front of the room. She didn’t take a seat on the table like she usually did either. Instead, they stood side by side to face her employees.
She held up a fifty-dollar bill and put it in the collection jar.
“I owe everyone an apology,” she started out saying as soon as everyone was settled.
“I have treated everyone unfairly the past week. To answer the obvious question, yes, Cayden and I are romantically involved, and yes, it was the source of my, uh, aggravation this week.” At some of the looks shot Cayden’s way, Trixie quickly added, “It wasn’t his doing and I won’t have anyone blame him.
There were circumstances outside of his control and I reacted to it badly. ”
Cayden wanted to touch her but refrained from doing so in front of everyone. They needed to show that they could keep their personal and professional lives separate.
“What happened last week with the cops?” Trinity in sales asked.
“As some of you are aware, last Thursday, a former acquaintance of Cayden’s brought a stolen vehicle to our bay door. This forced us to call the police. The situation was handled appropriately and was of no fault of our own.”
Drew in marketing asked, “Was Cayden arrested?”
“No,” Trixie said quickly. When she looked over at him questioningly, he nodded, giving her permission to continue.
“Cayden started working here through a work program under the terms of his parole.” Cayden stood tall and met the accusatory looks head-on.
He was not ashamed of his past. “I was aware of his circumstances at the time of his hire. I felt it was not something that needed to be shared—”
“He’s a convict!”
“Is he dangerous?”
“We had a right to know!”
“Enough!” Trixie called over the protests.
“You didn’t have a right to know, nor is there a rule that states you do.
I choose who works here and I chose Cayden.
Has he not helped out every one of you in some way?
Has he not upgraded our security? Has he not worked just as hard as any of you?
” She paused, meeting everyone’s eyes before she continued.
“My personal relationship with him aside, he is as valued an employee as the rest of you.”
Seeing the fight still on many of their faces, Cayden stepped forward.
“I was arrested for car theft. I was sentenced three years but only served thirty months and was released on good behavior. I am serving the remainder of my sentence on parole. I asked Trixie not to tell anyone my history when she hired me. This is my fourth job since my release. I am sorry for any personal grief I have caused you. I hope you won’t hold my past against me as I want nothing more than to move forward and be a better man.
” He shot Trixie a look over his shoulder.
“A worthy man.” Turning back to the rest of them, he added, “I’m a gearhead at heart, just like the rest of you. ”
The first Saturday of August, Cayden and Trixie found themselves lying lazily in her bathtub surrounded by mountains of bubbles.
They were each in their own thoughts, which was fine with Trixie.
She was loving the feel of him lounging behind her.
Cayden had already unexpectedly washed her hair.
It surprised her how intimate the act was, and yet so simple.
No one had washed her hair for her since she was a little girl.
It shouldn’t have been arousing or erotic, but it had been. And sensual and sweet.
There was no doubt in her mind that she was in love with Cayden Russo, her Cocky Biker.
The week had been interesting. Following their announcement of their romantic involvement and Cayden’s history, the employees seemed to have split into two factions.
Those who didn’t seem to care and those who cared a little too much.
Jeff, Joey, and her other managers were doing their best to keep things calm and running smoothly.
Cayden continued to work just as hard and efficiently as he had before his reveal.
Two employees, Trinity in sales and Gary from the motor pool, came up to Trixie after Wednesday’s meeting to inform her that they were also dating.
They had kept it quiet, not knowing Trixie’s policy on interoffice romances.
Since it would have been hypocritical at that point to ban them, Trixie had had Joey do a little legal research.
She then had Trinity and Gary and then herself and Cayden sign forms that acknowledged they were willing participants in a sexual relationship with a fellow employee and did not feel themselves pressured or coerced by their co-worker.
Cayden had enjoyed having to do this tremendously. He even asked for a copy of her form so he could frame it.
Jeff and Trixie had to address several employees referring to Cayden as ‘the convict’.
She wasn’t sure if Cayden was aware of the name or if he was just being a good sport and ignoring it.
Either way, she did not allow that sort of harassment.
It was still unknown who had replaced Cayden’s coveralls with a black and white prisoner’s Halloween costume.
Since she didn’t have a camera in the breakroom where the employee lockers were, there was no way to prove who did it.
Cayden told her not to punish the employees and not to reprimand them as a collective.
Instead, Cayden donned the costume and passed out candy to the employees and customers like it was Halloween in the summer.
She admired how Cayden was taking everything in stride, but she worried that one too many occurrences would push him too far.
Usually she was very proud to stand behind her Romero employees.
She was finding it harder and harder to do so this week.
Trixie did not like that. She hadn’t figured out yet what she was going to say at Monday’s meeting, but she knew she was going to say something.
No matter how well Cayden took the pranks and nicknames, it was still workplace harassment.
She told herself she wouldn’t allow it of any of her employees and she was not giving Cayden any special treatment because they were involved.
Cayden seemed to have put her reaction to the non-existent marriage proposal—his term—behind them.
Though he had made it a private joke between them, making sure to bend down on one knee to ‘tie his shoe’ just as she walked into a room or would drop a pen that he would have to pick up down on one knee.
She knew what he was doing, trying to get her to find humor in what had happened rather than dwell on it or be embarrassed.
She loved him for it. Still, she knew she owed him a bigger explanation of her actions than ‘rough family history with marriage’.
She was actually surprised he’d allowed her vague reply to go on this long without demanding further explanation.
Truth was, though, Trixie didn’t know where to start.
Explaining her parents wouldn’t be difficult.
She’d grown up with the knowledge that her mom had left them and wasn’t coming back.
It had hurt the most in her teen years, but her family and Peggy had gotten her through.
She knew her hermanos were also affected and openly admitted that it was different for a young girl to be absent a mother than it was a young boy.
They had had their papá and abuelo to get them through their awkward teens.
Trixie cringed, not wanting to imagine what her teens would have been like if she hadn’t had Tìa Peggy to guide her.
To this day, she smiled at the memory of Papá trying to explain how her ‘womanly parts’ worked.
She missed her papá and abuelo something awful. There wasn’t a day that went by where she didn’t think about them or wish they were here. Recently, she’d been wondering what they would think of Cayden.
She knew Abuelo would ask her the simple question of, “are you happy, nieta?” To which she could reply truthfully that she was very happy.
Papá would try to act stern and tell her that he didn’t like him but knew that the moment he saw Cayden take apart a V8 engine he would have been right there beside him.
Anyone who treated cars the way Cayden did was okay in Papá’s book.
He would still make the paternal threats to treat his mija right, but she had no doubt that Cayden and Papá would have gotten along famously.
Her hermanos were a different story. Explaining her hermanos to Cayden would be difficult and she would have to tread carefully.
Biting her lip, she thought perhaps she should get some background from him before she opened up about herself. Then she could determine how to proceed with explaining her family history as well as her reaction to the non-existent marriage proposal.
She picked up his pruning hand and laced their fingers together. “Will you tell me about prison?”
He stiffened. “Why would you want to know about that?”
“Because it’s a part of you.” She couldn’t see his face but envisioned his tense expression at her question. “You spent two and a half years of your life in there and I want to understand.”