Page 29 of Blame It On the Lattes

She rolled her eyes and tossed her envelope on my desk.

“You’re so full of shit that it’s starting to stink in here. I’m going home and will be in early to open in the morning. Fix that, and then I’ll consider accepting it. Give me the same as everyone else, or even less. Doesn’t matter to me. But I’m not taking that large of a bonus unless you do, too.” She nodded to her bonus and then turned to leave.

I pulled the checkbook out of my desk drawer and flipped it open.

“There. Happy?” I asked, lifting it to show her my name written on the payee line with the same amount as what I gave her.

“Sign it and tear it off.”

I rolled my eyes and then finished writing the check before tearing it off and handing it to her.

“Thank you. I’ll drop these off at the bank in the morning along with the deposit.”

“Sounds good,” I said with a heavy sigh, just to let her know how much I didn’t like it.

She grinned and waved as she headed out.

When I got up front, Avery was wiping down the counters, and the supplies were fully restocked for the morning.

“Wow. You work fast,” I said, impressed with how much she got done in such a short time.

“I’m a mom. You learn to get things done quickly when you’re trying to balance keeping a clean house and taking care of a baby. It kinda just sticks with you.”

“Well, I appreciate your help tonight.”

“And I appreciate the bonus.” She stopped and looked at me, her head tilted as if she was trying to figure something out.

“Why do I get the feeling that this new bonus thing is because of me?”

I chewed my lower lip as I tried to figure out what the best approach to this would be.

“It’s not,” I lied.

“Really?”

I nodded, not trusting my words to come out clearly right now.

“People didn’t seem interested in the holiday party this year, so I figured I might as well do something better with the money. Times can get pretty tough this time of year, and it feels good to help out however I can.”

“Yeah, but you’ve never done a bonus until I started working for you.”

“True. But maybe you working for me has helped me see things differently. You can’t fault me for trying to be the good guy who wants to help his employees, Avery.”

“I’m not,” she rushed out quickly with a shake of her head. “But I also can’t help but feel guilty, like I’m the reason you had to shell out all of that cash in Christmas bonuses.”

“I was going to spend that money on the employees one way or another. This just felt like the better way to do it.”

“Well, for what it’s worth, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

We stood there, inches apart for what felt like forever, as she looked down to avoid looking me in the eye.

“So,” I said, trying to break the awkward silence. “Cassidy said she would watch Kenndy overnight tonight. I thought maybe if you wanted to, we could go grab dinner and then do some Christmas shopping.”

“Oh. Umm. I don’t know. I mean, it sounds fun, but I can’t really do that right now.”

Her cheeks flushed crimson, and I hated myself for being so clueless. She hadn’t gotten her first paycheck from me yet because she started at the beginning of a new pay cycle, which meant she couldn’t afford to go out and do fun stuff right now.

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