Five Evelyn #2
“You better be keeping your job. I may come down in the next month give or take unannounced to make sure.” Her voice carried that falsely casual tone people use when they’ve already decided something.
Wonderful.
“I’m pretty busy lately,” I said carefully, already feeling tension gathering between my shoulders.
“Well I need to make sure and I’m your mother so I will use your apartment as a place to stay whenever I want to visit Seattle.
” She didn’t wait for a reply before continuing her spiel.
“And I already mentioned it to Aunt Jenna and a few family friends and you wouldn’t want people thinking you’re shutting your own mother out now that you’ve finally become successful, would you? ”
There it was. Not cruel enough to sound unreasonable. Not gentle enough to feel kind.
“I’m at work,” I said flatly. “Can we not do this right now?”
“Oh, don’t be dramatic. I’m not asking for your kidney.” Her raspy laugh scraped through the speaker. “It’d probably only be a week. Or maybe I’ll just surprise you for a weekend one day.”
She knew I hated surprises changing the routines I needed just to function.
“I’d rather you didn’t,” I said instantly.
“You always were rigid about plans,” she replied, amusement slipping into irritation. “I’m your mother, not a home intruder.”
I stayed silent.
Her tone sharpened slightly. “ It would be nice for you to act like you actually want your family involved in your life.”
My fists clenched, she had no right to act like some mother figure she had never been.
“I have to go,” I said, a steady knock at my door making me hang up instantly.
“Evelyn, may I come in?”
The unyielding voice was unmistakable. After such a tense moment, it was almost consoling to hear.
“Of course.” I attempted to smooth down the pieces of hair I’d been playing with as she sauntered into the room. “Sorry, I just finished a call,” I tried to justify my disheveled state with a partially truthful excuse—it was partly the call, but partly my insecurity around her.
Today she wore a dark red V-neck with black flare-cut pants. The heeled boots she wore complimented her long legs, matching her leather belt. Her hair was in a neat half-up style that showed how full her long auburn locks were.
At work, I could at least look forward to seeing how she chose to present herself each day.
“Oh, did I catch you at a bad time?” she asked, stopping a foot away from my desk with a light-colored iced coffee in hand, similar to the type I ordered.
I shook my head profusely. "No, of course not." I peered up at her, particularly intimidated with her standing above me.
She seemed to notice. After a brief glance around the room, she pulled over a rolling chair and sat across from me, bringing herself down to eye level without missing a beat.
"I'm assuming Adam informed you of Jane's forced departure from this establishment and my plans to give you some authority in the hiring process?"
I nodded, unsure whether to thank her or not.
She rolled her eyes at my silence, her formal cadence softening into something coaxing. "I thought we were past you being nervous around me. Why the sudden change?" She tilted her head, examining me diligently.
Was this a rhetorical question or not? I could feel myself heating up, unsure what to do other than stare back at her.
She rested her head against her hand, her elbow propped on my desk. Our close proximity only amplified my nervous reaction.
For the first time, I noticed her perfume. It smelled faintly of vanilla, but not the overly sweet artificial kind. It was richer than that, with warm, expensive notes that suited her perfectly.
It made me want to lean in closer.
But there was something else I was feeling, completely unrelated to the scent and most definitely related to the fact that it was past 4 p.m., and I still hadn’t eaten or drank anything besides water today.
Lightheaded, I instinctively laid my head on my desk, hoping the feeling would fade while trying to hide the fact I felt about to pass out.
"Evelyn, tell me what you need," her voice was direct, curt—different from the tone she used for work purposes. She knew I needed help and wasn’t going to waste time asking if I was okay.
"Sugar—lightheaded," I said, too drained to put together a full sentence.
Without missing a beat, she pushed her coffee toward the arm my head wasn’t resting on. "Drink this. Now."
Slowly lifting my heavy head, I brought the straw to my lips, sucking slowly.
She stayed quiet, as if giving me privacy, understanding the need for calm.
"Thank you," I muttered after some time, the sugar from the pumpkin-flavored beverage hitting me.
I couldn’t help but smile, thinking about how her perfect lips had also been wrapped around the straw.
"It’s no problem. They messed up my order, so it was far too sweet for my liking—I specifically said no sugar and I'm fairly certain half the bag ended up in my cup."
I giggled, glad she’d lightened the mood.
"Honestly, if you'd asked me, I would've guessed you drank it black and forgotten the milk.”
She ignored my comment.
"I don’t recall you being diabetic. Does that happen often?" she asked gently.
I shook my head. "It’s only because today—" I stopped, realizing I didn’t want her to see me as even more irresponsible than she already did.
"Today you what?" she repeated insistently, her expression shifting.
I should have kept my mouth shut.
"I forgot to eat," I mumbled casually, bracing myself for her disapproval.
"God, Evelyn, how do you 'forget to eat'? You can't do that, sweetheart, it's dangerous," she started harshly, but by the end, her voice had softened.
"I know, this was the first time. I just forgot to set my alarm, so I didn't have time—" I was about to ramble, but she cut me off.
"Evelyn, I don't care nearly as much if you're late as I do when you're putting yourself in harm's way. If you couldn't grab something before coming here, you could have come to me. I could have ordered you something. I really wouldn't have minded, given I order breakfast most mornings anyway."
I nodded like an idiot. Why was I so stupid?
"I know, I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry for making you deal with this," I mumbled, staring down at the water droplets dripping down the side of her cup, trying to focus on the drink instead. I disagreed with her assessment of it—it was perfect, clearly better off sweet.
"I don't mind, truly. Just please take care of yourself."
Wonderful, now she thought I wasn't even capable of managing my body's basic needs.
"I do, really, I will."
She looked convinced enough—or maybe she just decided to drop it since she’d made her point, and I’d clearly learned my lesson.
"Good. Now, are you still up for talking about marketing related topics?"
I nodded. I didn’t want her to leave. Not yet, and not now.
“I actually have a quick question, am I invited to the gala, if not that's okay, but if so I’d enjoy the opportunity to represent the company.”
She smiled, as if having been hoping I’d ask.
“Yes, and I’m confident our network would benefit from hearing your perspective,” she replied with an unusual sincerity, seemingly oblivious as I stole a few more sips of her coffee.
“If you have any questions about it, please let me know. Otherwise, I was actually hoping you could help me understand something related to search engine optimization.”
After I seemingly was actually of use to her, helping her understand some data about search rankings, keyword performance, and the data behind why certain pages were outperforming others, she headed out leaving her coffee on my desk.
I knew she knew she left it, but also I knew she wanted me to think it was an accident. I sucked on it happily, finishing it before leaving.