Why was that such a hard task?”
“Ma’am, this card’s been declined, too,” the male attendant said to the rude woman.
“Are you kidding me?!” she asked.
I looked over at the frazzled woman with the head of brown hair and shook my head. Maybe if she stopped spending all her money on those expensive hair treatments and that beautiful coat she had on, she’d be able to afford her own emergencies. It was people like that who made my skin crawl. People who recklessly spent their money and wasted their time and then complained about not having things when they needed them the most.
“Well, Mr. Murphy, you are in luck,” the woman at the desk said. “I thought I recognized you, by the way.”
She winked at me, and it took all I had not to groan in her face.
“And why am I in luck?” I asked.
“Because there is one luxury car left,” she said. “Well, one car left completely after our last customer. It’s a 2017 Porsche Cayenne. Fully loaded with heated seats to get you through this chilly weather. Does that sound acceptable?”
“Sounds just fine,” I said. “I’ll need it for a week.”
“Let me just enter all this information into the computer and—”
“What do you mean there aren’t any cars left?!” the woman beside me yelled.
I whipped my gaze over at her, and her face was now planted into the man’s desk. She looked like she was two ticks away from crying, and it was all I could do not to speak up and say something to her. Did she not realize the bother she was being? The absolute least she could do was own up to her monetary mistakes that got her here and take her hysterics somewhere else where no one would be bothered.
If she wasn’t going to willingly maintain decorum, she didn’t have to subject the rest of us to her antics.
“I’m very sorry, ma’am,” the man said as he handed her back her card.
I felt sorry for him, in all honesty. He looked beyond uncomfortable. There was a grown woman practically melting into his desk, like her world had just ended, and there was nothing he could do about it. I listened as the woman typed up my information into her computer. Then, I signed a few signatures before she handed me the keys.
And just as they hit the palm of my hand, the woman at my side burst into tears.
“Please, there’s gotta be something,” the woman said.
“There’s nothing,” the man said. “Not even in our luxury car department.”
“So, I’m just stuck here?!” she asked.
“Where are you headed, sweetheart?” my clerk asked.
I picked up my things and started to head away from the desk. I needed to get out of this situation and away from that hysterical woman. She was grating on my nerves, with her tears and her cards and her hair that whipped around in everyone’s face. My nose was still burning from where she whacked me with it earlier, and all I wanted was for my ass to hit those heated seats before I settled into the ten-hour drive ahead of me.
But her answer stopped me in my tracks.
“Burnsville, Minnesota,” she said.
I looked over at the woman behind the desk, and she shot me a smile. Oh, no. I knew what she was thinking. All that idiotic Christmas cheer was filling her cheeks. I hated this time of year. I hated how people were guilted into doing nice things for complete strangers for the sake of a holiday. If someone wanted to do something nice for someone else, they had eleven other months in the year to flex their charitable limbs as well.
“Well, with it being Christmas and all, maybe there’s someone here that wouldn’t mind sharing his vehicle,” the woman said.
I wanted to burn a hole between her eyes for the position she was putting me in.
I could feel the woman’s eyes on me. Those big, brown doe eyes that matched her dark brown hair. The man behind the counter was looking at me, his lips curled up into a little hairpin grin. I could tell he recognized me by the way his eyes began to sparkle, and I realized I’d been cornered.
If I refused to help this woman, it would be yet another thing that reflected badly on my company.
Holy hell, I hated the holidays.
“Hi,” the woman said, sniffling. “I’m Abby.”
“Colin Murphy,” I said.
“Are you going in the direction of Minnesota, by any chance?”
Her voice was light and breathy, and I wasn’t sure if it was intentional or not. It sounded innocent, but I had no idea if it was a ruse she was trying to put on. The last thing I needed was to be dragging someone along with me who couldn’t even financially keep themselves afloat. What was I supposed to do? Feed her and change her diaper as well?
“I am,” I said, sighing.
“Would it be possible for me to catch a ride with you?” she asked.
Everything inside of me screamed “No.” The kiosk clerks’ eyes were on me, and the woman was staring with her massive brown eyes, and all I wanted to do was turn around and get in my car. All of this talking and doing nice things for completely incompetent strangers was delaying my ability to get ahead of the storm, and if I didn’t leave soon, I would be caught in it.
But if I told this woman no, my Grinch-like nature would be front page news, and the meeting wouldn’t mean a damn thing.
No one wanted to do business with someone who hated people on the holidays, and that was exactly how
