8. Samantha
Chapter eight
Samantha
Today is the first day of my new job. A job that I didn’t want but needed. I walk into the office with Stan, the smell of mildew hitting me.
“How is this an office?” I ask with a scowl. “I think I see mold on the walls.”
He scoffs. “Hey, it’s not that bad.”
“Agree to disagree.”
Based on the state of this office, I don’t regret my decision to tone down my usual work attire. My blazer is dusty rose, paired with a plain white tee, baggy boyfriend jeans, and suede beige boots, complete with chunky heels. The better to kick Stan’s ass with.
It’s difficult not to stare at Stan and notice how good he looks just standing there in his tight black jeans and button-down shirt. I still remember how it felt yesterday to be underneath him. Thank God Lucas and Selena interrupted us. Going any further would’ve been a mistake. A mistake part of me wanted, but still a mistake.
The phone rings, and Stan disappears into the other room, motioning for me to follow. He takes one desk and points to the one opposite him. Those weren’t here yesterday. When the hell did he move them in?
“Sit,” he mouths to me as he picks up the phone.
Of course, my first instinct is to disobey. Movie Boy does not tell me what to do. But I comply, stomping to my desk so he can hear. Stan doesn’t look up, just continues his conversation with whoever called him. I scoff, looking at the contents of the desk.
There’s a notebook, a pen, and a sticky note with the password to the Wi-Fi on it. Stan has set up everything. I have to give him credit, he was prepared for me to work with him. Then I notice a familiar pendant sitting on the far end of the desk.
I pick it up by the chain, staring at it closely. Oh my God, it’s my pendant. I lost it while playing with Stan my last summer here. My mom gave it to me as a gift, and I felt terrible for losing it. I turn to face Stan, the pendant in my hand.
He looks at me, eyebrows shooting up. “Let me know when everything’s ready,” he says to the phone before ending the call. “Problem?” he asks me.
I point to the pendant in my hand. “Where did you even find this? I thought it was lost forever.”
“I could only find the pendant. The chain was broken,” he says as if that answers my question.
“Why?”
“Huh?”
“Why did you find it?” I’m not upset, I just want to know. I can’t fathom why he would bother to look for it. We’ve barely spoken to each other since I left Rose Haven for college. Yet, he cared enough to look for it. That had to mean something.
He looks at his hands, just like the Stan I remember from years ago.
I bawl my eyes out as I search the grass desperately. “I can’t find it.”
“I’m sorry,” Stan says uneasily as he stands up. His hands are even dirtier than mine.
We were play-fighting earlier, and the pendant must have fallen off. Once we noticed it was almost curfew, I realized I wasn’t wearing it. Stan started the fight, so he says he’s responsible. Seeing him so miserable makes my tears stop.
“It’s fine. We should have been more careful. I’ll tell my mom.” I force a smile.
But Stan follows me home and begs my parents to not be mad at me.
“It’s my fault she lost it. I’m so sorry,” Stan repeats for the fifth time, causing my parents to lose the energy to be angry.
The memory comes rushing back at me all at once. It was one of the many moments my heart swelled for him, despite how much he grated on me. And now, it’s swelling again.
“Don’t get me wrong, I just found it by chance,” he says, dismissing the topic.
He’s lying. I didn’t return to the area again, deeming the pendant lost forever. Knowing him, he must have spent days combing the area. This pendant, a heart-shaped one with my initials engraved on it, was a piece of my girlhood. And now it found its way back to me, through him.
I let out a sigh and put it on. “Why didn’t you give this to Lucas, or my parents?”
“I was going to return it to you, and then I forgot as the years went by.”
Forgot?
Stan. Never. Forgets.
“What if I never came back to Rose Haven? You’d still forget to give it back?” I point out.
He doesn’t give a response, and that’s fine. His silence is enough of an answer.
“You could have still given it back to them,” I say softly as I touch the pendant now on my neck. I didn’t miss the pendant that much, but for some reason, it feels warm. Like him.
“Sorry. I should have,” he says softly. “But I’ve done nothing wrong by wanting to hand it over to you in person.”
I smile. “You’re a sweetheart, you know that? When you’re not being a jerk.”
“I’ll take that as a thank you,” he says as he relaxes into his chair and gets back to work. He’s looking at his laptop, but I can see the satisfied smile spreading across his lips.
“When you’re done staring, get to work,” he says without looking at me. “Oh, and give me your resume so I can officially review it. Wouldn’t want to hire someone with no work experience. ”
And just like that, I’m glad I pushed him into the lake. In fact, I want to do it again.
It’s time for pickup.
Stan told me that I didn’t really need to pick up Ruth from school and he could handle it by himself. But the truth is, this daily excursion gives me the break I need from feeling the weight of his gaze on me while I work. And I like Ruth. I enjoy her company. She makes me laugh, even when I don’t feel like it. Picking her up feels like a treat, not a task. And I have the perfect pickup idea for her.
As she exits the school doors, it’s time to put my plan into action. I lift the cardboard sign I’m holding that says “Ruth Holt’s Ride.”
The other kids turn to look at her and start to giggle. At first, I’m worried that she’s being bullied and almost regret my actions. But when she glares daggers at them, they immediately stop laughing, almost like they’re scared of her.
“Your ride’s here, ma’am,” I say, bowing and handing her a slushie.
“I was about to reprimand you for humiliating me, but the slushie has saved you,” she says as she takes the treat and gets into the car.
“You’re too kind, ma’am.”
“I’ll tell Father to raise your wages,” she says, feigning a haughty voice. She puts a hand over her mouth and erupts into giggles.
“Thank you, your eminence,” I say in a raspy voice, rubbing my hands together. We burst out into laughter at our silly character impressions while I get my seatbelt on.
“School was actually good, though?” I ask. “Are you making some friends? I hope I didn’t ruin things with my sign. ”
She shrugs. “Yeah, school’s okay. And don’t worry, if by tomorrow my reputation is ruined, I can ask Stan to change schools.”
Okay, we’re bonding. I guess? It’s hard to tell with her. She may be humoring me, or just telling me enough for me not to pry.
“And how about things with Stan?” I ask.
Speaking of which, he annoyed me today. I thought we were having a moment, a little heart-to-heart over my pendant, but then he shut down. And when I gave him my resume, he scrutinized it thoroughly. Brows drawn low, red pen in hand as he tapped it against his lips as I watched him from my desk.
Okay, I glared at him from my desk.
After what seemed like forever, he wrote “HIRED” on the top, walked over to me, and dropped it on my desk with an obnoxious smirk.
Ruth shrugs. “He’s okay, I guess.”
“Yeah?” I can’t keep the amusement from my voice. I love that she sees him that way. So many people never did. He was too awkward, too quirky. People labeled him a lot of things in this small town, but “okay” was not one of them.
Although I would have never said it, I always thought he was more than just okay.
“Yeah,” she says. “We don’t talk much, he and I. He’s busy, I guess. I love his YouTube channel. I’ve watched every video he’s made. And I plan on watching some movies he helped produce.”
She doesn’t say it, but it’s clear that she’s trying to find a way for them to bond. It’s awfully cute, and she sounds very much like Stan whenever he talks about trying to bond with her. Knowing him, he’s probably spent hours reading articles about raising stubborn teenagers. The two are really father and daughter.
“That’s cool,” I reply. “Does he know all this?”
She bats a hand through the air like she’s swatting at a fly. “Nah. He mostly just stares at me like I terrify him.”
At that, I feel a twinge of sympathy for Stan. He truly is unprepared for this .
“I don’t want to make his life harder, though, so I don’t push my luck,” Ruth continues. “He’s busy and important.”
Now I feel a sharp pang of sympathy for Ruth. She already had a family before this, and it probably feels like she’s starting from square one all over again. It’s kind of the same for me, too. Leaving my job, city, and emotionally unavailable boyfriend to start afresh in a small town, working for a man I’ve always had mixed feelings for.
“Stan isn’t as strange or aloof as he comes off sometimes,” I tell her gently. “You can’t take him at face value. And while I know it’s not easy, you need to look beyond what you see. Even though I’ve known him for years and he can drive me up the wall, I can say confidently that he is a good guy and just trying to figure out how to best handle this situation. I suspect you’re doing the same.”
She nods, and we fall into a comfortable silence. As I turn up the radio for the short drive back to Holt’s office, I shake my head with a small smile on my lips. He looks at her like she terrifies him, and she looks at him with stars in her eyes. But they’re both too much alike to say a single word to each other.
It’s adorable.