Chapter Fifteen
C hrista was wrong. It was a big deal. A big fucking deal, apparently.
“How could you let this happen, Perry?”
It was early Sunday morning, Dre was standing in my kitchen, Christa was still in her bedroom, and I was scattered in all different directions.
“I asked you to watch her for me, so what the hell happened? Why does my truck smell like a fucking outhouse?”
He was holding it together. Barely. I could see the veins starting to pop out of his forehead. He was both pissing me off and making me feel guilty.
“What did you think, Dre? That I would set up a tent and camp out there?”
He tugged at his hair and paced around. “Look, I’m sorry that I had to cancel our weekend, but all I asked was that you keep an eye on her, keep her safe. When I got dropped off here this morning, I never expected anything like this.”
Ugh. First of all, it was an it , not a fucking her . Second…. “Who did drop you off, anyway?”
“Joey. What does that matter?”
“It matters because I want to know who you stood me up for. Is that also who you were with all weekend?”
His shoulders dropped. “Yeah, it was. I said I was sorry for that. I just…. You know what? Don’t worry about the truck. I’m sure a mouse just crawled into the exhaust or something. You couldn’t have prevented that. I’ll just get her cleaned up.”
I nodded. I couldn’t exactly explain to Dre that instead of a mouse, it was a deer, and that the stench wasn’t caused by a crawling animal but by a concentrated brew of eau de piss . It was curious, though…. I would’ve thought the smell would have dissipated by now, and if it had messed with the paint, I sure as hell would’ve heard about it.
“Can I use your car? I’m already late and need to get over to the gym. I’ll call someone to come out and get her taken care of today.”
“It’s that bad that you can’t even drive it?”
He raked his hand over his head. “Whatever happened permeated everything. I can’t even open the door without retching. There’s no way I can sit in there, much less drive twenty miles.”
“Oh okay.” I handed him my keys. I’d assumed that just the outside was affected. Now I was leaning more towards guilty.
“Thanks, babe.” He gave me a quick peck on the cheek. “I’ll have these back to you tonight.”
As soon as he left, I was knocking on Christa’s door.
“Come in.” I pushed it open to see her sitting at the edge of her bed, stretching. “Hey, Perry. Good morning.” She yawned. “Man, what a difference a day makes. I can’t believe I’m the same person as yesterday.”
“Dre was just here to pick up his truck. ”
“Okay.”
“He ended up taking my car instead. His smelled like shit. Or rather piss.”
“Don’t worry about it, Perry. He just needs to give it a good scrub down. If you ask me, he got off easy.”
“He said he can’t even drive it.”
She put her hands on my shoulders. “Again, don’t worry about it.” She smiled before walking to the closet. “I’m jumping in the shower, then going to the mall. I need to return that dress I bought last week. Want to come along?”
“No, thanks. I have tons of laundry to do.”
“Okay.” She blew me a kiss. “I’m craving pizza. Let’s order one tonight, okay?”
“Sure.”
After Christa left, I kept myself busy doing shit around the house, and before I knew it, the afternoon was almost over. I was folding a load of towels when my phone rang. It was Dre.
I hit speaker. “Hi. Are you bringing back my car now?” I’d noticed the auto service van out there earlier. I wasn’t sure how long they’d stayed, but I assumed everything was good to go.
“No. Here’s the thing—I’m going to need it for another several days yet. Will it be a problem for you to gets rides to and from work?”
I picked up the phone. “What? Why?”
“They can’t find where the smell is coming from. They gave it a thorough wash inside and out but it’s still noticeable. Someone will be by soon to tow it to their shop and hopefully they can check it out better there.”
Fuck . “I’m sorry, Dre.”
“Tell me about it. It fucking sucks, but what can I do? And Regg is out on vacay so I need to make sure I’m at the gym from open till close all week.”
“Shit.” My mouth tasted rancid .
“If there’s a problem keeping your car—”
“No, no that’s fine. It’s just… I hope they’re able to figure it out soon.”
“Yeah, you and me both. Hey, I gotta go. Something needs my attention. I’ll call you later, all right?”
“Okay. Bye.”
Shit. Shit shit shit . The sound of the front door opening had me bolting from my room.
“I was gone longer than I thought and I’m starving.” Christa placed some bags down on the counter. “You want to get that pizza early?”
“Can you explain how squirting a little pee on the outside of a truck can cause so many problems?”
“Not following.”
“Dre just called and said they weren’t able to get the smell out. They need to tow it in.”
“So?”
“So, going back to my original question—how could a little pee cause so many problems?”
“I never said a little.”
“Christa! What the hell did we do?”
“So, some of it got injected inside too, through the door. They’ll get it out. At least I didn’t get fox urine. That’s supposed to be nastier.”
I threw up my hands. “Unbelievable.”
“What is the matter with you? You don’t think it’s worth a little inconvenience to him after what he did to you?”
“We don’t know for sure that he even did anything. He said he was with Joey all weekend.”
“Whatever.”
At that point, I almost wished he’d gone away with another woman. Then maybe I wouldn’t have such a sickening sensation. I knew how much he loved that truck. I still couldn’t believe that I’d done something like that. I’d always been more on the impulsive side, but all my fuckups had mainly just affected me. And besides that one incident with the ceiling fan, my tendencies had never gatewayed me into property destruction.
“I have to tell him. That way maybe they’ll have a better idea how to get it out.”
“Are you insane? Why would you do that?”
“I just told you why.”
“You have to promise me that you won’t say anything. No good will come from telling him.”
“He put so much money into that damn thing, and he can’t even drive it, Christa. He has to keep using my car while it’s sitting in the shop for who knows how long.”
“It’ll be good as new in no time. Fuck, don’t worry about it so much. It’s just a stupid truck. In the meantime, I’ll be your ride, at least for tomorrow. Why can’t Dre drive you at all? He’s not even at the gym every day.”
“His partner’s on vacation all week. He needs to put in extra.”
Christa snorted. “But you know who will be there all week, right? I bet he can’t wait to put in extra, and he’s going to put it right into—”
“God, just stop it already.”
“You should go down there and demand that he fires her if he wants to continue being with you.”
“Sure. I’ll do that right now. I’ll hop in my car and—oh wait. I don’t have one because Dre is using it. And why is he using it? Because we ruined his .”
She sighed. “Let it go, Perry. We didn’t ruin it, and it’ll be fine. Just let it all play out. If you go and tell him what we did, you’ll just make things worse. Promise me you won’t. I’m your best friend—do it for me.”
“Fine. I’ll do it for you. I promise. Now let’s just order that damn pizza. ”
Maybe it’d fill that deep pit forming in my stomach.
We were pulling into the main parking lot when Christa’s eyes expanded. Adam was at the bottom of the stairs, jogging up, and hadn’t noticed us. She watched him get up to the door and badge inside.
“Who is that ?”
“Adam. He’s a friend of mine.”
She rubbed her lips. “Oh really. Another one? Maybe I should get a job here.”
“Just a straight-up friend, Christa.”
“So you’re not interested?”
“Of course not. In fact… do you want to come out with us Thursday night? He’ll be there.”
“Hmm.” She drummed her fingers. “I wouldn’t mind meeting him. Does he look just as good naked?”
“How the hell would I know?”
“I don’t know what you do in that room all day. Based on the company’s name, it’s something to do with technology. You could be making closed captioned sex tapes.”
“Yes, Christa. That’s exactly right.” I grabbed my purse and opened the door. “Thanks for the ride. You’re still picking me up, right?”
“Yep. Should I come a little early in case you need an extra?”
I laughed. “Shut up. I’ll see you at five.”
I blew her a kiss and went up to the door. I fumbled around in my bag, wondering where my badge had suddenly disappeared to when I heard someone coming up behind me .
I stepped aside so I could keep searching without blocking the way. Then he was beside me and I knew. I didn’t have to use my eyes because I could feel who it was. This effect on me had to stop. I had to get desensitized to the point where we could be naked and touching and I wouldn’t feel a thing.
A zing shot through me. Fuck, Perry, abort. Abort! I needed to find a different image to replace that one. I immediately thought of the disturbing picture Adam had left me.
“Good morning, Perry.”
“Good morning, Mr… Stephen.”
My badge was suddenly there front and center as if it’d been messing with me. I pulled it out and held it up to the scanner. He did the same and we stepped through the lobby.
“How was the rest of your weekend?” he asked, and I quickly looked around, the weirdness setting in. Paranoid much? He’d said the ‘rest of my weekend’ as opposed to just ‘weekend,’ which implied he at least knew some of it. Well shit. It wasn’t some big secret that we were all at the Brewhouse Friday night and that he’d driven me home. Stephen and I were friends now. Friends . There was nothing wrong with what we were doing, and I had to start acting like it.
“Perry?”
“Oh, fine.”
“Does walking down the hall together make you uncomfortable?”
“No.” I shook my head. This was absurd. I wouldn’t feel this same way with anyone else, even Mr. Krismer. It didn’t matter that I was attracted to him, only the way I handled that attraction.
“Is something wrong with your car?”
“No, why?”
“You were dropped off this morning.”
“Oh, Dre is using it this week.” No need to flesh that out.
“Do you need any rides?”
“Rides? ”
“Yes. It’d be no problem to either pick you up or take you home. Or both. Just let me know.”
“Ah.” Well, I wasn’t expecting that . Christa couldn’t drive the rest of the week. I was planning on asking Kate or Adam, and there was always the bus as a last resort. “I think I’ll be okay, but thanks.”
“You’re welcome. If anything changes, let me know.”
“Okay.”
We walked into the room, him turning towards his office and me beelining for my station. Stephen offered to drive me? Why? Although, I suppose that’s what friends do—they help each other out.
“Morning, Perry,” Kate said when I got closer, then yanked me towards her. “Did you have fun Friday night?”
“You know I did. I was with you.”
“I meant after you left.” She gave a slight nod towards the office. “Did you two kiss and make up?”
“Oh my God, stop it. He gave me a ride home and that’s it.”
“Sorry to hear that.”
I just shook my head and began logging on to my computer while she laughed.
One: Why did everyone seem to disregard the fact that I had a boyfriend? Two: What about the non-dating policy? Considering his position in the company and mine, I wasn’t sure that even being friendly was a good idea.
I clicked open my applications for the day. No, I was being ridiculous. Would the company rather we be enemies? They had gatherings all the time. They wanted people to get along.
Adam Zepecki: Did you have fun this weekend ;) ;)
God, him too? I bet he couldn’t wait for me to bring up chat this morning to start up on me.
Perry Sommers: Your two winks should be forty. All I did was take a bunch of naps in a row.
Adam Zepecki: Sorry to hear that .
Really? Had he and Kate coordinated words this morning? Time to change the subject.
Perry Sommers: I invited Christa out with us on Thursday.
Adam Zepecki: Who’s Christa?
Perry Sommers: My best friend and roommate, remember?
Adam Zepecki: No, because you never told me her name.
Perry Sommers: Yes, I did. But anyway, she saw you this morning when she was dropping me off and she’s interested.
Adam Zepecki: Sweet.
Part of me wondered if getting them together was such a good idea, but another part held out some hope. I knew her stance on dating for longer than a night, but maybe she’d change her mind if she ever met a good guy. Adam was one of those guys, and that’s what I wanted for her.
Perry Sommers: I’ll talk to her again and let you know.
I shut down chat, then glanced behind me. Stephen was staring in my vicinity. I guess some things never changed. His lips curved up into a smile, taking me completely by surprise and forcing my mouth to do the same.
Okay, I guess some things did.
Let the desensitization begin.
I stood on my front porch as I watched his truck pull up. My nerves were firing off all over the place, and I looked forward to a time when seeing him was the equivalent of getting slathered in numbing cream.
Baby steps. I had to start somewhere, and accepting his offer for rides seemed like a good jumping-off point. I’d made the decision towards the end of the previous work day. Sure, why not? Sounds like a great idea.
Splat. That was the sound of my jaw hitting the cement when he got out and opened the door for me. I’d thoroughly enjoyed watching him do it, and it had set off a whole new reaction in me. Maybe this wasn’t the best plan. Dammit. I couldn’t even go back and blame my poor reasoning on drinking a few too many daiquiris.
“Good morning,” he said.
“Morning.”
I tried to act natural as I slid inside, but my heart was hammering. This was not like me. At all. I focused on his truck. I wasn’t some motor nut, but it sure looked similar to Dre’s. I ran my hand over the dash. I wondered if Stephen treated it like his beloved firstborn too. Since he hadn’t freaked when I’d talked about puking in it, I was leaning more towards no.
“This isn’t the type of thing I pictured you driving,” I said when he sat back in the driver seat. I knew I’d mentioned that before, but it was just small talk bubbling out of my mouth. Better that than blurting out something embarrassing.
“Were you expecting me to travel by lightning bolt?”
He grinned and I faced frontwards. “Don’t flatter yourself.”
“I’m not the one who compared me to a god. And even though the original Thor had red hair, I’m still honored all the same.”
“Oops, did I say Thor? I meant a troll.”
He laughed hard. “Here.” He handed me a bag. “Did you have breakfast yet?” I shook my head, then opened it to find a huge chocolate donut with lots of frosting and sprinkles. “And I brought you either a coffee or a Sprite to go with it.”
“Um, thanks.” I was a little taken aback.
He gave me the Sprite, which sounded perfect right then. “You seem in a soda mood this morning, but the coffee’s yours if you want it too. I won’t be drinking it. It’s too sweet for me. ”
I cracked open the bottle cap and took a long swig, eyeing him. “Soda mood?”
“I only see you drink coffee when you’re really tired. You look pretty awake today.”
“Yeah.” My head was whirling. I wanted to make some crack about him being a stalker, but I just couldn’t. It felt too… nice. He was paying attention to the little things in a way that Dre didn’t. I suppose that was the difference between a friend and a boyfriend.
I munched on my donut while he drove us to work. I even took a few sips of coffee because I felt bad about wasting it. Extra sweet.
“So, did your memory ever come back?”
“Hmm?”
“Your memory of what happened after I dropped you off Friday. You’re required to report any felonies to the company.”
“What?” My mouth opened, no doubt showing him a wad of chewed dough. For the first time, it’d occurred to me that we had messed with his truck in a public lot where anyone could’ve seen and called in suspicious behavior. Stupid.
“I’m kidding, Perry.”
“Oh.” I crumpled up the bag. “And yes, it came back.” Most of it .
He didn’t ask anything about it, not that I would’ve told him anyway. We drove the rest of the way in silence, and when we pulled in, I felt that donut starting to rise back up.
“Is it going to look bad if anyone sees us getting out of the car together?” I said.
“Why would it?”
“Well, you know, policies and all that. I don’t want someone jumping to conclusions.”
“I’m just giving you a ride to work, that’s all. Perfectly innocent.”
“Right.”
Perfectly innocent.
The following day we stopped at Starbucks, and the day after that I invited him inside for coffee before heading to work. Christa had already left or I wouldn’t have considered it. I would have never heard the end of it. It didn’t matter how perfectly innocent our behavior was; she would have called it a load of bullshit, and I didn’t want to deal with it.
He sat at my kitchen table, sipping black coffee while I packed my lunch. I wouldn’t have felt comfortable doing any of this even two days earlier. Kooky how things work out that way.
I was beginning to think I was onto something here. The more time we spent together, the easier it became.
“Any word on when you’re getting your car back?”
I shook my head. Now that he mentioned it, I hadn’t heard much at all from Dre that week. I knew he was busy, but still, it was already Thursday. Was it too much to ask for a simple phone call? And did I even have a right to say anything about it when I hadn’t even noticed until Stephen brought it up?
“I’m sure it’ll be soon,” I said. “You shouldn’t be stuck with me much longer. I can also ask Kate or—” I turned around and my throat closed up. He was standing right there .
“I’m not complaining, Perry.” He reached around me and set his cup in the sink.
“Okay, then.” I cleared my throat and stepped aside. “We should probably get going.”
“Yes, we wouldn’t want to be late. I heard the new boss is a real stickler for rules.”
“Smartass. ”
He smirked, leaning against the counter like he belonged there. My phone dinged in my purse. Then it dinged again. And again.
“Aren’t you going to check that?”
“I will on the way.”
As soon as we were on the road, I checked my texts. The first one was from Stu, and it made me smile.
Morning, gorgeous. Kenny changed his answer last night to maybe. Is it too soon to bust out the champagne? P.S. Patience sucks (but he’s worth it).
Yay! That’s wonderful! Get that champagne ready, sweetie. You’re going to get that yes answer soon, I can feel it. P.S. Good things come to those who wait (and agreed—he’s worth it).
Preaching him on the virtues of patience was the whole pot/kettle thing again. I wasn’t the ideal role model for that, but I felt I’d done my best encouraging Stu to keep the faith after Kenny’s first rejection. I’d convinced him that he wasn’t so much as saying no as saying he just needed more time and wasn’t ready yet.
“You look happy,” Stephen said.
“I am. A friend of mine is getting closer to something he really wants.”
“Lucky friend.”
The next two were from Dre. I thought it was coincidental timing, considering.
Bad news, babe. They’re replacing the upholstery and carpet. Whatever got in there fucked it up too bad to surface clean. I’ll need to hold on to your car a little longer.
What? What? My gut turned inside out. I couldn’t even imagine how much that cost. The nausea was billowing up big-time.
“Perry?”
I brought up his second text: Sorry I’ve been out of touch lately. Just have a lot going on. We’ll talk soon, babe.
“Perry?” he said again. He touched my hand and I jolted. “Sorry.” He withdrew it. “I just wanted to make sure you’re all right. You did a one-eighty in a matter of seconds. Bad news?”
I almost laughed. According to Dre it was. I was a shitty person and an even shittier girlfriend.
“Yeah, you could say that,” I said.
“Anything I can do to help?”
You already are . “I appreciate the rides. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
We were quiet after that. He didn’t push and I really liked that a lot. When we were almost to work, I said, “Let’s say you spilled something really bad on these seats.” I ran my hand over the leather. “And it wouldn’t come out, so you had to get the seats replaced. How much do you think that would cost?”
“Just the covers or completely reupholstered?”
“Um, I’m guessing completely. Oh, and the carpet too.”
“Well, this is a question I don’t get asked every day.” He glanced at me and I nodded. “Not sure exactly. I’ve never priced out something like that, but probably several thousand.”
I felt carsick so I cracked open the window. I kept hoping that he was cheating on me so my conscience would be alleviated. How very, very wrong was that?
“Is that why Dre’s using your car, because something spilled in his?”
“Something like that.”
He pulled into the lot and parked, then turned towards me. “Your down mood right now… are you the one who spilled it?”
One corner of my mouth lifted and my eyes felt all watery. “You could say that.” I was suddenly all emotional, my PMS finding an excuse to come out and wreak havoc. My period had started two days before, and usually I was even-keeled by now, but obviously, that wasn’t the case.
His features flashed a look akin to anger, and I felt even worse. Stephen didn’t seem obsessive, but he was still a guy with a truck. I was sure he could understand the hassle and expense involved with getting all this work done.
“Is he making you feel responsible?”
“Well, considering I am—”
“He’s making you feel this way over a fucking seat cover?”
I flinched a bit, his reaction throwing me. “Not just a cover, remember? And a carpet too.” I smiled, trying to boost it up.
“I don’t care what the fuck you spilled, Perry, or where you spilled it. He shouldn’t make you feel like this.”
“Stephen, you don’t understand.” He made a face and I shook my head. “Can we just go in now?”
A deep sound left his lips before he opened his door. I was out before he could come around to my side. I joined him and we walked up together. By the time we made it to our room, I was still reeling over how easily he’d sprung to my defense. If only he knew.
He wouldn’t be so quick to offer me rides anymore.