Chapter 27
twenty-seven
go easy on the dingus
D ana and Peter Wright arrived home a little before lunch, intent on teaching their youngest child a valuable lesson. The expression they wore had often been pointed at Ami and Leo, but rarely at Elissa. Today looked like a rare day.
“What happened?” Mom asked. “Why weren’t you here?”
“I met a friend after work. Leo’s seventeen, old enough to manage his own treatment.”
“But he wasn’t. How did you let this happen in only four days? I’d expect this of Ami, but you, Elissa, you’re better than this.”
“It’s not her fault!” Leo said from his perch on the barstool.
“Leo, honey…” It was never good when their mom used “honey.”
“You need to take your meds,” her father said. “And last night is a perfect example of why. If you don’t take your long-term medications, you will have attacks.”
Her brother’s face shut down. He’d already tuned them out, and their parents might as well be talking to a wall. Elissa intervened, though her gut roiled at standing up to her parents.
“He knows all this. Telling him again won’t motivate him to take his meds.”
She instantly regretted it. Her mother’s laser gaze focused right on her, her color high. The fear she must’ve been marinating in all morning came pouring out in anger.
“ You were supposed to look out for him,” she said.
Leo stood and moved between the two women. “They’re my meds. I chose not to take them. Elissa couldn’t make me. You can’t make me. I hate how you watch me take them each night, like I can’t be trusted.”
“Well, obviously…” their dad said.
Like prairie dogs following a potential predator, three heads turned toward him, irritation plain on three faces. Peter held up his hands and backed away.
“I wanted to see what would happen if I didn’t take the medications for a bit. I’ve been so much better, maybe I could go without. I was wrong, but Elissa was there to bail me out.”
Weird having Leo defend her. But she appreciated it, more than she’d ever tell him. She rarely defended herself.
“She shouldn’t have to,” Mom said. “That’s the point. You have to take your medications, and if you won’t do it on your own, I’ll be there to observe.”
“Mom—” Elissa tried to intercede for her brother. This wouldn’t end well.
“Enough, Elissa. This is between us and your brother. Why don’t you go to work? Thank your boss for us, please.”
Leo’s blue eyes pleaded for her to stay.
“I’ll go, but go easy on the dingus, okay? He’s a teenager and they’re supposed to push boundaries.”
“We don’t need you to tell us how to raise a teenager. This isn’t our first rodeo!”
“Dana,” her dad said. “She’s not wrong. Elissa was the easy one, but this is how normal teenagers act. Leo has learned an important lesson, and we’ll talk to him, but calmly.”
“But—”
“You’re scared and it’s coming out as anger, love. Take a breath, and we’ll sort this out.”
Her mom looked like she’d argue for a moment, but she stalked over to the fridge and poured herself a glass of water.
“I think we’re good, Lissa. Thank you. You did well.” Her dad hugged her.
“Yeah, thanks. But did you have to call me a dingus?” Leo said, but he let her hug him.
“Yes, because you were. I still love you.” And she planted a kiss on his cheek.
“Ugh, sister germs!” He made a show of wiping off his cheek as she grabbed her purse.
“You’ll probably be grounded, but I’ll take you out for lunch on your next day off, K?”
He gave her a thumbs up and she left.
They had all spent so much effort over the last seventeen years making sure Leo was okay, from the day he was born five weeks early to his first diagnosis to today.
Now that he was old enough to manage his asthma on his own, they were all having a hard time letting go.
Her parents could try to hover over him, but it would only push him away. She didn’t envy her brother.
Elissa wandered into the office after lunch. She stopped by Karina’s desk.
“Thanks, Karina,” she said.
“No problem, Elissa. How’s your brother?”
“Okay. He wasn’t taking his meds. Mom and Dad are trying to convince him not to do it again. Loudly.”
“It’s rough being a teen with a chronic illness. My oldest has diabetes, and she went through something similar at that age. He should outgrow it.”
“I hope you’re right,” Elissa said. Because the alternative was horrible.
“You could use a quiet day. Why don’t you go through the files from our clients? I’ll send you checklists for each, and you can ensure we have everything we need. I want to start with the DeMarco account next week. They’re long-time clients and have a lot of different subsidiaries to sort through.”
That sounded exactly like her speed today.
After the adrenaline rush of last night, coupled with the lack of sleep, she needed an easy job, but one that would keep her busy enough to avoid the messy emotions until she had a moment to deal with them.
Elissa stopped in the office kitchen to grab a cup of tea on her way to her desk.
It was almost an afternoon for coffee, but after the wild ride she’d had last night, she refused to risk the caffeine overload.
She printed off the checklists and went to their file room. In her precise fashion, she attached the appropriate checklist to each box of papers she’d spent the week collecting from some of their largest accounts. Once that was accomplished, she pulled over the DeMarco boxes and went through it.
It was a long process. Every time she read the name DeMarco, she couldn’t help her thoughts turning to Ryan, with his brown eyes crinkled in laughter from yesterday.
How his hair kept flopping over one eye.
The way his shirt stretched across his well-defined shoulders.
The heat rose as she focused on his physical attributes.
She tried distracting herself with the checklist in front of her.
A simple task to match the name of the document in the box with the name on the list. Except today it wasn’t simple.
Her brain couldn’t seem to handle anything requiring thought.
She went through the boxes twice and still couldn’t find all the documents. Was she not seeing them, or had the documents been omitted? Or was something else going on? A headache formed at the back of her skull.
None of the people she’d met at DPM had seemed the sort to hide anything on purpose. So, where were the documents? Karina wanted to get started, Elissa wanted to get started, and the godforsaken paperwork wasn’t where it was supposed to be.
Elissa rubbed her temples, closed her eyes, and counted to ten. Occam’s Razor. The simplest explanation was the most likely explanation. In the chaos of a long-time employee leaving an inexperienced replacement in charge of the project, some documents had been forgotten or misplaced.
Or she simply wasn’t seeing them in the box because she was so fucking tired.
Dammit. Swear jar.
She put the box to the side and worked through a few others. None of those had missing documents.
Just before five, Karina poked her head in.
“How’s it going?”
Elissa waved a hand at the boxes. “I’ve gone through about half of them. Most of those are fine, but I can’t find some of the paperwork for the DeMarco account. I don’t know if I’m not seeing it, or it’s not there.”
“It can wait until Monday. Go home and rest this weekend and try again on Monday. If the papers aren’t there, I’m sure they’re at the DPM office. Give the cute new office manager a call if you still can’t find them.”
She winked and the heat rose up Elissa’s chest.
“You noticed?”
“That he’s cute, yes. That you couldn’t keep your eyes off him? What do the kids say these days? Also yes. It’s fine, it doesn’t hurt to look. But if anything else happens, let me know so we can handle things professionally. Have a good weekend, Elissa.”
“Thanks, Karina. You too.”
How many dates counted as “anything else”? She’d need to talk to Karina soon, but after she rested and thought about what to say.
Elissa stayed a little late to finish the box in front of her. This one was fine, too. Well, no use worrying about it until Monday. Elissa locked the file room, checked the messages on her desk phone, made a couple of notes for next week, and left by 5:30.
She walked into her apartment, and Jules enveloped her in a hug.
“Hey, bitty babe. How’s Leo?”
And Elissa broke. Sobs too big for her petite body came pouring from her, along with a healthy dose of tears and snot. Jules shushed her and wrangled the two of them over to the couch, grabbing a box of tissues along the way. She had no idea how her friend managed it.
When she calmed, Elissa finally told Jules everything that had happened with Leo. She’d been so busy holding it together for her brother, her parents, and her work she’d forgotten to let it out. Trust Jules to be the first to remind her.
“That sucks.” Her friend summed up in two words exactly how Elissa felt.
“Stupid teenage boy.”
“You know it. Let’s order an insane amount of pizza and watch a movie that requires exactly zero brain cells. Pitch Perfect or Easy A ?”