Chapter 14 #3
I glanced at him. He looked upset. I frowned. Before I could say anything, he turned and left me, pulling his phone from his pocket as he went. I waited to close the door until I couldn’t hear the sound of his steps descending the stairs.
I didn’t turn on any lights as I walked to the couch. In the darkness of my apartment, I allowed my mind to wander.
I didn’t understand anything about this guy.
One minute he was pretending he wanted to date me, the next minute he was turning down my very obvious advances, and now he was fabricating a trip in hopes that I wouldn’t bother him. I was so befuddled. If he wanted to give me the brush-off, he didn’t have to make up some fake business trip.
I heard my heinous cell phone chime somewhere in the apartment.
The sound made me growl in frustration, but then, suddenly, I was curious.
It chimed again before I made it to the kitchen counter where that devil’s device was charging.
I glanced at the screen. It was a text from Quinn; actually, there were several:
The first: I am going to put some guards on you, won’t even notice them, sorry about all this.
The second: I will call you when I get to NY on Thursday.
The third: A neutron walks into a bar; he asks the bartender, “How much for a beer?” The bartender looks at him, and says, “For you, no charge.”
I frowned at the phone and the messages.
He might as well have sent me hieroglyphics.
After a long while, I set the phone on the counter and crossed to the couch.
I sat and stared then lay down in sudden exhaustion.
My head was spinning. I didn’t understand men.
They made no sense and behaved erratically.
I knew I was still in my clothes, and I realized I hadn’t brushed my teeth, but I couldn’t bring myself to move. I felt paralyzed by confusion. I decided, as I succumbed to sleep, that men should come with manuals, subtitles, and reset buttons.
I’ve come to rely on my knitting group to be my compass in all things confusing and difficult to comprehend; this usually means relationships and interactions with other humans…
er, people. My ladies have helped me navigate everything from precarious office politics to dealings with my ex’s mother.
And this is why they were supportive and engaged when I explained to them my current situation with Quinn.
It was Tuesday night, and we were gathered in Sandra’s roomy two-bedroom apartment.
Fiona was the only one missing, having to stay home at the last minute because her daughter was sick with the flu.
Most of us had a drink in our hand, and I’d just finished passing the evil cell phone around so they could all read the texts.
I had also just finished giving them a Cliff Notes version of the last week.
They were all silent. Ashley was staring off into space, Marie was frowning at a half-knitted sweater, Sandra was standing at the entrance to her kitchen leaning against the wall as though in heavy contemplation, Kat was watching me with a cloudy mixture of introspection and trepidation, and Elizabeth was still scrolling through Quinn’s texts.
Ashley was the first to pipe up; her thick Tennessee accent made even this sound charming: “I think he was upset about that guy in the park, and that’s why he turned down your hot bod.”
Some of them nodded in agreement; some of them continued to stare unseeingly.
I sighed. “But, how interested could he really be? By the mighty power of Thor—I threw myself at him!”
Elizabeth frowned at me. “Did you really just say ‘by the mighty power of Thor’?”
“I’m trying to cuss less.”
Some of them nodded in agreement; some of them continued to stare unseeingly.
I sighed. “I think I completely messed up. I think he thinks I’m pathetic, and he’s just trying to avoid me by making up some trip so he doesn’t have to talk to me.”
Marie shook her head, her blonde shampoo commercial hair bouncing around her face. “No. That’s not it.” She sounded so certain. “That’s definitely not it.”
Elizabeth nodded in agreement. “I agree with Marie. The boy is hot for you.”
Some of them nodded in agreement, some of them continued to stare unseeingly.
I sighed. “Then why did he turn down my advances?” I couldn’t help the frustration in my voice.
I knew part of my frustration was due to his absence.
I’d been spoiled by seeing him almost every day in the past week, and now I missed him.
Last Saturday, when he surveyed my apartment, I thought he didn’t belong here, in my life.
But now, the absence of him made me feel like I was forever trying to catch my breath.
And it had only been two days.
“Well, hell, girl! He just watched you get manhandled by a creepy neck-tattooed skinhead,” Sandra said as she pushed away from the wall and joined us in the living room. “If he wasn’t interested, then he wouldn’t be stuffing your cell phone inbox with messages. I think he’s worried about you.”
“Also, hon, you may not have been as transparent with your advances as you believe. I’ve seen you; you’re not a skilled flirter. It’s usually hard to watch.” Ashley grimaced.
Kat said quietly, “I don’t understand his reaction to the guy in the park. It sounds like he completely overreacted. Janie, is there anything else? Did the guy threaten you?”
I shook my head. “No. I just bumped into him. He was scary, but other than grab my arms, he didn’t do anything.”
“But didn’t McHotpants say he knew the guy?” Sandra poked me with a carrot before dipping it into a vat of blue cheese dressing and biting into it with a solid crunch.
“It was vague; something like he thought he looked familiar. I don’t know.
” I pressed the heels of my hands into my eye sockets then allowed the back of my head to fall against the tall chair behind me.
“I mean, if you think about it, the first time I spoke to Quinn was only four weeks ago. I don’t really know him at all.
Maybe the guy in the park actually freaked him out and I’m wrong.
Maybe he’s just not into me and I’m right.
Maybe Quinn is an alien and is finished with his study of humankind and no longer has use for me as a specimen. ”
Marie shook her head. “Four weeks is long enough. People have fallen head over heels in less time than that.”
“Did he actually put guards on you?” Ashley pointed the question to me, but her eyes were on Elizabeth.
“Yes. He did.” I frowned at that. The first time I saw them was Monday morning as I was leaving for work.
They’d approached me outside my building, both dressed casually in jeans and T-shirts and looking like regular guys, and told me that they worked for Infinite Systems. Mr. Sullivan, it seemed, put in an order for two twenty-four-hour protection teams. They promised I wouldn’t notice them.
They were right; over the last two days, I’d forgotten about them.
“The guards are likely outside now. We should bring them some coffee or something.” Elizabeth looked up from the cell phone and handed it back to me. “The friendship one about peeing is funny. I think I’m going to use that.”
I accepted the hateful phone from Elizabeth and stared at the last two messages. Quinn, true to his word, continued to send me jokes every day, which only served to confuse me further.
Marie started knitting again. “Time will tell. I say just wait and see; if he calls you on Thursday, see what he says.”
I stood and stretched. “You’re right! I’m done thinking about this. Done, done, done!” I swished my hand in a circle and snapped three times then walked to the bathroom, wanting to excuse myself in hopes that my absence would change the subject.
I wasn’t in the bathroom long, just enough time to wash my hands, when I heard a knock on the door.
“Just a minute; I’m almost done,” I called absentmindedly.
“Janie, it’s Kat. Can I come in?”
“Yeah, I’m almost done.”
“No…” Kat’s voice dropped to a whisper. I could tell she had her lips close to the crack in the door. “I mean, can I come in and join you? I need to tell you something.”
I opened the door then turned to search for a towel. “What’s up? Are you ok?”
Kat’s voice was heavy with hesitation. “I found…something…out.” The soft click of the door closing surprised me so I turned to face her, mopping up the dampness of my hands with an amazingly fluffy and absorbent towel. I made a mental note to ask Sandra where she purchased her towels.
When Kat didn’t continue, I lifted my eyebrows. “About what?”
She looked entirely too serious, like my dad did the day he told me Santa Claus wasn’t real. I was fifteen.
“It’s about your job.” She hesitated again, tucking her brown wavy hair behind her ears while she collected her thoughts. “I found out why they let you go.”
“Oh.” I gripped the towel; it was so squishy. I’d forgotten that Kat had agreed to try to find out why I was let go. At present, I didn’t particularly care.
“Janie…”
She said my name in a way that is usually followed with something along the lines of Where were you the night of the murder? or You’re going to want to sit down for this. I increased my grip on the towel.
“It was Mr. Holsome.”
I blinked. Silence stretched. Kat’s eyes continued to watch me with wide-rimmed caution.
“Mr. Holsome?” I repeated, confused. “You mean, Jon’s dad? My Jon’s dad? That Mr. Holsome?”
Kat nodded and leaned against the closed door. She sighed.
“I don’t…” I blinked at her again and sat down on the toilet seat lid. “I don’t understand. Why would Jon’s dad want me to lose my job?”
She looked miserable. “I don’t know the why, but I can tell you I’m one hundred percent certain he was responsible. He threatened to pull out of the South Side project if they didn’t let you go, and he was insistent that it had to be that day.”
That day.
That day I found out Jon had cheated on me. That day I broke up with him before I left for work that morning.
Kat must’ve seen the wheels turning in my rickety brain because she said, “Do you think Jon asked him to do it?”
I shook my head. I could only huff a response. “I don’t know; I can’t…” My words trailed off. I thought about the accusation Kat voiced, and that I’d been thinking.
It didn’t seem likely, but I was disturbed to realize it seemed plausible.
Jon had said on more than one occasion, when we were together and since we’d broken up, that he wanted me to rely on him, that he wanted to take care of me, that I needed him.
I didn’t feel that way; I wondered why he did.
Maybe it was because he felt it was true.
Maybe it was because his father had been able to end my employment with a phone call.
“What are you going to do?” Kat was twisting her hands in front of her, nervous and anxious on my behalf.
“I don’t know.” I shook my head then said it again. “I don’t know.”
It didn’t seem fair that Jon should be able to, on a petulant whim, decide to make a call that made me lose my job; a job, mind you, that I was quite skilled at but that I didn’t miss.
I honestly didn’t know what I was going to do.
Part of me wondered if it even mattered.
Jon couldn’t do anything to me now; I wasn’t dating him anymore.
He and his father had no influence with my current employer.
I breathed a sigh of relief at the realization.
I felt secure at my new job. I felt confident and safe.
Maybe Jon had done me a favor.