“No worries, you texted. Are you going to be able to get it taken care of?” I ask her, knowing full well her live-in boyfriend is a worthless piece of crap. A few times he’s taken her car, leaving her stranded with no way to get to and from work. Kate just keeps chugging along, she somehow still managed to get to work with minutes to spare, even if it meant walking the two miles here. She did it. “Oh, yeah. I called my dad this time. He’s coming to take a look at it. Though, this is my last straw. When I get home, he’s gone, this is the final straw. I’ve really tried, Kins, I swear I have, especially when he’s just sits on his rump while I work my tail off.” Kate says while she’s tying her apron on.
I see the weariness in her eyes, I’m concerned when telling her, “If you need me there to help, let me know. We can go after work.” I can see her emotions are starting to come out, I do the one thing I know she needs, a hug.
“Thank you, Kins, I’ll let you know, my dad said he’d be there with my car, so I think I’ll do it then,” Kate dries the tears that have gathered at the corner of her eyes.
“I’m glad your dad is there for you, but know I’m here for too,” I say, and then we both get back to work.
After a couple of more hours helping with the morning crowd, I excuse myself to the back office, to do the part I loathe doing, but it’s a necessary evil.
4
Luke
I get into my office, only having a few sips of my coffee. My pace is fast, and I don’t like to leave a client waiting, even when they are a pain in my ass.
“Good morning, Michelle. Give me two minutes and I’ll meet Nathaniel in the conference room,” I state.
“Good morning Mr. Bennett, I’ll let him know,” Michelle has been with me since the beginning, I give her a nod in acknowledgement.
“It’s going to be one of those days, I can feel it,” I murmur into my quiet office. I walk around to my desk, throw my phone on it, start up my computer, and take a healthy swig of my coffee, knowing if I don’t finish it now, it’ll be cold by the time I’m done with Nathaniel. With that kind of name, you know he’s going to be a needy little shit.
When my coffee is finally finished, I go to throw my cup away in the trashcan placed beside my desk, but I’m stopped in my tracks. There’ in cursive with loops, and swirls is a note, it’s a simple good morning with a heart and a flower.
It makes me wonder if Kinsley has been doing this all along and I was stuck in my own world the whole time. I make a mental note to see what happens tomorrow.
Returning to my task at hand, I see that Michelle put Nathaniel’s file on my desk. Grabbing it, I make my way back out of my office and to the conference room.
“He’s all set, he asked for a cup of coffee. Don’t let him tell you I didn’t warn him. He insisted though,” she has a sly smile on her face.
“He deserves it, pulling this shit so early in the morning without an appointment. If I’m not out of there within fifteen minutes, please come in. Make something up, a meeting, a proctological exam, freaking anything,” I sigh out.
I leave Michelle laughing. I’m sure she’ll love to say, “Sorry Luke, I’m sorry Nathaniel, but Luke has an appointment to get his rectum checked,” she’d love that.
“Luke,” Nathaniel stands and shakes my hand, he’s in a suit of his own.
“Nathaniel, what can I do for you?” I ask him.
“This contract, it’s complete bull shit. It needs to be taken care of as soon as possible” he demands.
“We won’t be going over negotiations for some time, based on your requests, but if you give me this week to look over it, I’ll see if I have an appointment closer to your original date,” I stand up, shutting this shit down. He could have let Michelle deal with this, instead he wanted to push his weight around. Nathaniel’s lucky I’m not sending him to another colleague. In fact, if my father hadn’t pulled this favor, I wouldn’t have touched this case.
“That’ll work, talk soon.” We shake hands, I walk him out, and then immediately head back into my office. It’s not even Monday, and shit is going sideways.
5
Kinsley
Every day this week Luke has come in, even today, on a Saturday. He’s never come in on the weekends, only during the week. Of course, today he lingers longer too. Luke orders his signature black coffee from Kate, grabs a sit, opens his laptop, and makes himself at home.