Jon held his hand up to stop her. “You’re engaged?”
“For two years, sir,” she said, her voice growing stronger.
“Why am I only now hearing about this? I would have gotten you a gift or whatever they do for this kind of thing.” He waved his hand through the air and grabbed for the phone. “I’ll tell Poppy to pick something up for your wedding then.”
“That’s not necessary,” Jenna rushed out. Jon set his phone down gently and stared at her, waiting for her to continue. “I’ve really loved working here with all of you. It’s been a great learning experience. But I am giving you my notice.”
Jon was not pleased. He was actually pretty irritated, but he tried to keep his emotions under wraps so he wouldn’t scare the poor thing. Already she looked like she might faint from the stress. “Why not take a few weeks off,” he suggested. “Get married, enjoy your honeymoon, and when things settle down, come back. Why quit? You said it yourself, you love working here.”
“I do. I did.” Jenna sighed, as her head dropped down so only the rim of her sophisticated glasses were visible through the curtain of golden brown hair. “Tim is old school, you know? His parents raised him to believe that the wife should stay home with the kids, while he works to take care of them.”
Jon didn’t like the sound of this, and he let her know it. “This is the twenty-first century, Jenna. Women work to help contribute to the household, too. Why go through years of school and training to get where you are today only to give it all up?”
The thin line of her lips and downcast eyes let him know he was getting to her, but whether it was a good or bad thing, he couldn’t be certain. “I appreciate your concern, Mr. Bradshaw, but I’m getting married and I respect my husband’s wishes. I’m sorry you find that difficult to understand, but it is what it is.”
Jon watched her silently for a moment longer, meeting her eyes dead on. No, he didn’t understand it, nor did he ever want to. He was raised in a home where his mother and father both held jobs and pursued their dreams outside of the house and family, with the notion that a person needed to fulfill themselves before they could be truly fulfilled in life. He had never been able to grasp the nineteen fifties housewife ideal.
“So that’s it? You’re leaving me?”
“Yes, sir.”
With a resigned sigh, Jon stood up and extended his hand. “Well then, Ms. Houseman, congratulations on your marriage and good luck.”
“Thank you.”
He walked her to the door, pausing just inside of it. “If you ever need anything, just call.”
Jenna nodded. “Okay.”
“And I trust you can cut your own severance check without robbing me blind?”
“That’s a pretty tall order, but I’ll try.” She smirked.
“Good, and make it double. I don’t want people thinking they’re working for a scrooge.” He closed the door on her shocked face and plopped back down behind his desk. It sucked royal ass that Jenna was leaving. He was just boasting to his parents the other night about how well things were going for him and how much he had planned for the company’s future. Now, he was out an accountant, and a damn fine one at that. If he didn’t get another one soon, he’d be closer to living in that trailer than he’d ever imagined.
2
Patti finally understood the term going stir crazy, because she was one silent moment and two soap operas away from becoming completely bat shit, out of her mind, loony tunes.
She’d finished out her week at Peterson and Wendle yesterday—a day early because she just couldn’t stand being somewhere she wasn’t wanted—and without a single idea of how to move ahead, she felt lost. She knew she needed to start looking for a job and putting in applications, but her heart just wasn’t in it. Maybe it had something to do with the shock of having her livelihood yanked out from under her, or maybe she was just having so much fun sitting at home, alone, with nothing to do but stuff her face with sugary snacks that she’d completely lost her drive to continue being a productive member of society. Okay, so it’d only been a day, and maybe she was being a tad overly dramatic, but she had loved her job. Without it to help keep her occupied, she had nothing to distract her from her memories.
Unwrapping a fresh brownie square, Patti didn’t even bother with the pretense of nibbling. She just dove right in and had it gone in less than four bites. She’d probably put on ten pounds already, but it was difficult to tell for sure since the only thing she’d worn since stepping out of her work attire was a pair of aged sweats, and who cared? It wasn’t as if she had anyone to impress anyway.
She was reaching for the box of half-eaten donuts when her cell phone chimed. It took two tries, but she finally managed to rock herself out of the recliner and grab the phone before it transferred to voice mail. “Hello?”
“Is the pity party of one still on?” Jules asked in an unusually cheerful manner.
“It’s not a pity party,” Patti said in offense. “I’m just basking in my freedom. It’s like a temporary vacation. I never took one before, remember?”
“Only because you’re a workaholic,” Jules reminded her. “And if I had to guess, you’re probably about to crawl out of your skin with all the downtime your logging, am I right?” Patti grumbled. “Excuse me? I didn’t catch that.”
Rolling her eyes, Patti slumped back into her chair and huffed. “I said yeah, you’re right. But what can I do about it? It’s not as if I can jump on a plane to Tahiti. I have bills to pay and no job. I need every penny in my account.”
The whir of city traffic muffled Jules’ voice, and Patti assumed that she was probably headed to her favorite deli while on her lunch break. She used to have lunch breaks. Sometimes she even left her desk to take one, too. Never again, she thought dejectedly.
“I never said you had to go on a vacation, but you do need to get out of the house,” Jules went on.
“I don’t know if I’m in the mood for going out at the moment.”
“Oh, come on. Since when are you not in the mood to go out?” Jules voice rose in disbelief. “I think one day of moping around the house is more than enough. You need to get out, take a breath of fresh air, and remember what it means to have fun. Embrace this time in your life, girl!”
“I don’t know…” Nibbling on her lip, Patti recalled their girls’ nights, the drinks, and the laughs. The men. Then she thought of all the men she’d dated and then broken up with, which spiraled back to Kyle and what she’d walked in on earlier that week. It all left a bad taste in her mouth, and what little interest she might have had, vanished. “You guys should just go without me. I’m no good to anyone right now.”
“That’s the depression talking,” Jules said in her no-nonsense way. “You need to get out so you can shake this thing off before it sucks you down so far we’ll need to hire a crew of naked firemen to dig you out.”
A small smile tugged at Patti’s lips. “And they’d be naked why?”
“Duh,” Jules said, sounding exasperated. “A group of men in uniform coming to your rescue is one thing, but a group of hot men with abs of steel charging to your rescue, their dongs slapping in the breeze? Shit, that would be enough to wake a woman from a coma.”
“You’re an idiot,” Patti said through a fit of giggles.
“Yeah, but you love this idiot,” Jules replied confidently. “Look, I’ve got to go, but before I do, say you’ll come out with us tonight. It’s just dinner and drinks, nothing fancy since Piper isn’t really up for it.”
Piper was integral to their little union, implanted from Alabama a few years ago. Last year, she’d gone to work for some publishing company and ended up working for Satan himself, and then fell head over heels for him. Now she was married with a kid on the way and Patti couldn’t be happier for her. She was living the dream. One that Patti hoped to someday duplicate for herself.