My partner, John, comes walking in. “Hey,” he says while he makes his way to the chair in front of my desk, throwing himself down in it. “Just saw your new temp.” He whistles. “If I weren’t married, I think she might be worth bending the rules for.” John has been married to his wife, Dani, for twelve years now. ‘College sweethearts till the end’ is their motto. She works at a big marketing firm downtown. We often use her when promoting our brand.
I shake my head at him and say, “Dani would skin you alive and leave you with nothing but your two balls hanging all the way to the floor. Right before she sets you on fire.” I know full well she would do that and so much more.
He laughs out, folding one leg over the other. “She pretty much would leave me with maybe the hair on my head. Other than that, it will all be gone.”
“If you’re lucky. How was Vegas?” He just got back from Vegas. He went to see if he thought branching out there was doable for us. I’m still unsure about it.
“It was what you expected. It’s hard to get your foot in the door anywhere. They all ‘have their own people.’ Dani and I checked around, but I’m leaning more toward shelving this for a later date.” I nod, agreeing with everything he is saying.
We spend about thirty minutes talking about the projects we have going on. He has four restaurants that are opening up in the next three months. All different cuisines and atmospheres, so he’s excited for what is to come. We discuss the nightclub/restaurant project that I have taken on. It’s more of a challenge, because everything has to work for both purposes.
After that, he tells me he’s leaving. I look at the clock, seeing it’s only six thirty. I haven’t been out of the office this early in forever. I decide I’m going to hit up the gym.
I close up everything, making my way outside. I walk by Lauren’s desk, where her scent of berries lingers lightly. I see that she has Post-it’s all over her computer screen.
I walk over and can’t stop myself from moving a few around. It’s childish, I know, but I can’t help it. This is what she does to me.
Chapter 6
Lauren
He asked me to stay late—as if. I was very specific about that when I filled out the form. I pick up the phone right before I head out, dialing Kaleigh. I’m surprised when I hear Rachel’s voice “Hiya, Mommasita.” I smile just thinking of her standing there in the kitchen with her curls bouncing.
I walk out to the car telling them I’ll be home in twenty minutes. I pull into my driveway, put the car in park, and I rest my head on the steering wheel, clearing the stress of the day away by drawing in a few breaths and letting them out. I think it’s the first time all day that I finally breathe normally.
I don’t have much time to myself before I hear Gabe running out of the house. “Mom, you have to come in quick.” The tone of his voice snaps me back to reality.
I sling my seatbelt off, getting ready to run inside “What’s the matter?” I look at him.
“Aunt Kay is making supper.” He looks at me nervously, his big, brown eyes open wide in dismay.
“Oh crap,” I say, and quickly head into the house. The last time she attempted cooking us dinner, we ate sticky peanut cauliflower wings. There was nothing good about that concoction. Hell, it was barely edible. I won’t even talk about the aftertaste it left in my mouth, either.
I hurry in the door just as I hear the smoke detector go off. “Oh, dear Christ, Kay, what the hell are you doing?” I grab a broom out of the closet and position myself beneath the smoke detector, using the broom to fan the smoke away. “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,” I chant while looking over to the kitchen in time to see Kayleigh pulling a tray of charred, smoking cauliflower out of the oven.
“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! I’m so sorry! We went outside to do some kid yoga, and I totally forgot,” she explains while she walks with the pan to the sink, turns on the water, and soaks the smoking remains of what was once cauliflower. The sizzling sound of water hitting a hot metal pan fills the quiet room, along with a burnt, smelly, steamy smoke that has the potential to set off the now silent smoke detector again. I do the only thing I really can do, which is to continue fanning.
“Oh, Auntie Kay, what are we going to eat now?” Rachel asks. She would have been the only one of us to attempt to eat one of Kayleigh’s creations.
Kayleigh slaps her hands together. “Oh! I have some tofu we can cut up and…” Before she can even finish that sentence, Gabe and I both yell a combined firm yet panicky, “No!”
I look over the mess that is my kitchen and begin a mental count to ten. “Okay, I’m going to change. Gabe, start your homework. Rachel, go start studying your spelling words. You”—I point at my sister—“clean up this mess. I’ll find something to throw together for pasta.”
She groans. “I don’t have any gluten-free pasta here.”
I look at her. “Okay, so you’ll be going home. Got it.” I point to the kitchen. “Clean this mess up before you leave.”
I head upstairs and change out of my work clothes, throwing on some yoga pants and a sweat shirt. I’m in mom mode now. I get back downstairs and see that Gabe is sitting at the table doing his homework, while Rachel is in the living room writing her words, and Kaleigh is putting things in the dishwasher. “Oh, good news,” she informs me. “I found some
