Good Pet

Although he’s being so rough on himself, I can’t help but smile. It’s cute for me to see how much he wants to be dependable and strong for the people under him, even when he’s having a moment like this. I can’t help it. I reach up and touch his hair. I stroke it a little bit, which amazingly, seems to help him calm down even more.

For a few long minutes, I don’t do anything other than stroke his hair. I don’t say anything. I just touch him in this way and wait for him to calm down enough again.

“She’s promised — swore that she will make me hers and that I am hers — come next Monday,” he says as if he’s suddenly run out of emotions about it and is now just quoting facts to me. “I don’t think there’s anything I can do. If I don’t, she’ll send me back down to Cubicle Hell. If I do, I’ll just be what everyone else already accuses me of being: a corporate hoe. And I’m not about to tell anyone about this,” he adds, looking at me as if he’s seen where I might have even attempted to go with this revelation. “I’m not going to. I’m not going to ruin my promotion. Not with this kind of attention.”

I don’t say anything to this. And Tommy doesn’t add anything. Not for a good while. But when he does, an energy starts to fill the car that is intoxicating, masculine, and dominating. “I’m going to take her down. That’s what I’m going to do,” he says. “I’m going to keep a record of her behavior toward me. I’m going to let her think I’m all for this little game, and then get her on all of it. Not just for me. But for every other guy or young kid she’s ever gotten her way with. Ever victimized in this way. Including Huckleberry.”

Inside, I’m starting to feel warm and fuzzy and hot and tingly in other places. Out of all the lawyers I’ve met, I’ve never seen one be so bold and so noble.

He looks at me, looking for some kind of confirmation. So, I give it to him. I nod and say, “If you’re going to get her, be careful. Cover your ass, even if you are going to offer it to her.” I take out my phone, wiggle it at him. “Get as much as you can on audio or video. Something more than just your words, as I have a feeling that unlike you, Ms. Vanacore’s been at this little racket of hers for a long time. She knows how to wiggle out of it, knows how to spin it, so you need to get her on things she can’t retract or twist. Which would be her own words or actions, captured on a phone.”

Tommy nods but gives me this look like maybe I shouldn’t know how to do these kinds of things.

I smile. “I got your tormentors on the legal aid’s floor to leave you alone and be jobless with just such a tactic,” I say. “Just be discreet and clever with how you obtain it.”

I take this moment to start my car, to turn on the air-conditioning.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Melissa

Now Tommy’s looking at me like I’m wonderful, amazing, and surprising.

I just smile and start driving us out of the parking lot. It isn’t until we almost turn onto the main road toward the middle of town, that I realize I hadn’t made any plans to take him with me anywhere. And now I am without a second thought.

I stop, embarrassed by how natural all of this feels. “Oh, my God! I meant to just talk with you a moment, and now here I am driving away with you!” I chuckle, glad when Tommy looks the same way. He’s embarrassed but also oddly relieved. “Now that we’re here, would you like to go to dinner with me?” I lick my lips. “Maybe talk out a few more plans of how to deal with your big, bad boss?”

To my unending delight and secret pleasure, Tommy accepts immediately. “I’d love dinner. After all, it’s been nearly a week since I’ve had a good lunch or dinner, since Vanacore only gives me enough time to get food for her, and my dad eats all the food out of my fridge and cupboards.”

I roar out of the opening to the company’s parking lot, making a decision right then and there. “That’s it! We are going to one of my most favorite places, and I am buying you appetizers and desserts in addition to your main course! And you don’t get to object,” I add, feeling that he’s going to say something about not allowing me to pay or to treat him. “This is my treat.” I soften my tone, making it gentler and less commanding.