“You can’t use the equipment in that. It’s not safe.”
She rolled her eyes. “I know. That’s why I was exercising on the ball instead.”
Both my brows shot up. “Exercising? Is that what you call sitting on the ball and bouncing while eating candy?”
Her hands went to her hips. “I just finished exercising, and I was taking a break.”
“To eat Twizzlers . . .”
“I bet if you look at the product information on a package of Twizzlers compared to a bottle of Gatorade, it’s not all that different.”
“Gatorade provides hydration and has electrolytes and potassium. Twizzlers are straight-up sugar.”
She scowled at me. “God, you’re so annoying.”
Apparently we were done talking again because she opened the door and walked out without another word.It looked like shit, but it ran. The mechanic had managed to secure my cracked bumper that had hung down and rubbed against my tire, but the car would need to go into the dealership for bodywork when we got back to the city.
I was just about to merge onto the expressway at the spot where Squirrelgeddon had happened yesterday. Shaking my head at the memory, I asked my passenger, “Is the coast clear? I wouldn’t want a field mouse to run across the road so that I wind up with another ten grand’s worth of damage.”
She glared at me. “Today a field mouse or a squirrel, tomorrow I’ll be reading about your plowing into an old lady crossing the road.”
I hid my smirk. “You have a vivid imagination. Tell me, Charlotte, did you speak to your old boss this way? No wonder you were unemployed.”
I side-glanced and saw her face drop. Shit. I’d been joking around, but it looked like my snide comment had hit a sensitive spot. She stared out the window as she answered.
“My boss at Roth Department Stores was a pig. He deserved way worse than a little teasing.”
I felt a knot tighten in my chest. My eyes flashed to Charlotte and then back to the road. “He harassed you?”
“No. Not really. Not in the way you think, anyway. Although I did catch his secretary bobbing for apples one night under his desk, and it wasn’t even Halloween.”
“You walked in on him getting a blowjob?”
She continued to stare out the window. “Yep.”
“Crap. What did you do?”
She sighed. “I threw my engagement ring in his face.”
It took a few seconds to realize what she’d said. “Your boss was your fiancé?”
“Well, he wasn’t my direct boss. But he was my boss’s boss.”
“Shit. Sorry.”
She shrugged. “Better to find out before the wedding than after.”
That I knew firsthand to be true. “What kind of work did you do before this?”
“I was an assistant buyer at Roth’s in the women’s department. My ex-fiancé is Todd Roth. His family owns the chain.”
“Did you quit, or did the asshole have the nerve to fire you?”
She smiled at my term of endearment. “I quit. I couldn’t work for him and his family after I broke off the engagement. Plus, I honestly never intended to do that type of work to begin with, so it wasn’t like I was working at my dream job anyway. Although in hindsight, I probably should have lined up another job before quitting. I wound up taking crappy temp jobs for months, and it killed me financially.”
“His loss,” I said.
She smiled sadly. “Thanks.”
I wasn’t the best at expressing empathy, even though I could relate to Charlotte’s situation. You don’t just lose a partner; you realize you never had one to begin with. I was relieved when Charlotte’s phone buzzed and diverted her attention. She spent a few minutes typing before speaking again.
“The Wootens have an offer on their Florida property. Neil Capshaw said it’s an all-cash deal with a quick close. I also set you up with a call for Friday morning with Mr. Wooten and moved your appointment with Iris like you requested.”
I glanced at the time on the dashboard. It wasn’t even eleven yet, and she’d gotten everything done even though I’d given her the list of things to do yesterday afternoon right before the accident. “Great. Thank you.”
She put her phone back in her purse. “Are we going straight to the office?”
“I wasn’t planning on it. We should be back in the city by one. I don’t have anything on my calendar until three, so I thought I’d go home to shower and change. But you can take the rest of the afternoon off. Yesterday was a long-enough day.”
“No, I’d rather not take any time off. But thank you for offering. Iris gave me some things to do when I get back, and I want to get started. Although I’d love to run home and shower quickly, too, before heading back in.”
“Okay. I’ll drop you wherever you want and then see you back at the office later.”
She was quiet for a moment. “Would you mind dropping me at my apartment? I’m not too far from the office, but they’re doing midday work on the A train that slows everything down, and I want to get back to the office quickly to get started.”