Page 18 of Zimyra

“Caliente,” Mauricio says, smiling.

Axel grins and responds, “Si. Hot tamale.”

“Stop talking about me like I’m not here,” I belt out.

“My apologies, Zimyra.”

“That’s Ms. St. Claire to you. Let’s keep this professional. Now, here’s what we’re going to do. You and Marco—”

“Mauricio,” he interjects.

I continue, “You andMauricioare going to leave while I perform a background check on both of y’all. Is he legal?”

“I don’t know. Ask him.”

“Youshould’ve asked him. You’re the one who brought him over here.”

Short of rolling my eyes, I look at Mauricio and ask him about his citizenship status the best way I can, considering the language barrier and all. I think he’s trying to tell me he’s legal, but I’m not about to take his word for it. I’ma find out for myself.

I hand him an application and say, “Complete this for me, please.”

“Yes, si. I complete.”

Ugh. Just so much ugh.Okay, Zimyra. Don’t let it defeat you. It could work to your advantage. Or disadvantage...

“Señorita—I complete here?” Mauricio asks, then motions in a way that tells me he needs a pen.

“He needs a pen,” Axel says.

“I know that!” I say, flustered. Then, I look at Mauricia and say, “No, you cannot fill out the application here. I’m on break in twenty minutes. Take it home and fill it out. You can bring it back in the morning.”

Axel turns to Mauricio and says, “Llevea solicitud a casa y complétela.”

My eyes brighten. “You speak Spanish?”

“Fluently.”

“I’ve been struggling for the last ten minutes to understand Mauricio and you speak Spanish?”

“You were too busy biting my head off for me to inform you of that.”

“Okay, whatever. You and your lil’ friend can go now. Bye.”

“We’ll be back before the office closes.”

“Bye,” I say again, shooing them out of my office.

“Make sure you go ahead and review my application and resumé,Ms.St. Claire.”

When they exit, I lock the door. After breathing a sigh of relief, I return to my desk where I unfold the papers Axel gave me. I don’t have time for this today, but I suppose if I had some help around here, I’d have more time to do what I needed to do without getting stressed out. Still, the way he went about it vexes me. Axel has crossed so many lines, and he’s completely unfazed by all of it. I sit at my desk, read over his application, and then pull up a background checker website to run a check on him. It’ll take twenty-four hours for me to know if this dude is a certified psycho, and I’m looking forward to the report with great anticipation. If it comes back with anything questionable, he can go right on back to Bridgeport and bug somebody else because I can’t—Iwon’t—tolerate anyone wrecking my flow. I’ve built a good, solid foundation for myself in this field and at this company. I intend on keeping my foot on the gas when it comes to self-improvement and who has time for speed bumps? Not me.

At the same time, I know I need a new maintenance team, and Axel knows Spanish. He’s bothersome and he irks my nerves, but he could be an asset if he’s legit. Lord knows the only Spanish I know ishola, andbuenos dias. I wonder how he learned enough Spanish to become fluent.

At any rate, I leave his documents on my desk and stand up. After unlocking the bottom drawer on my desk to get my purse, I head out the door to go meet my friend Capri. On Mondays, we always have lunch dates and today, it’s at Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar. After the morning I had, I can’t wait to stuff my face with a fat cheeseburger and have some girl talk.

I walk in and she waves at me so I can see where she’s sitting. She’s in the corner by the window that faces the street. Good. I didn’t want to be sandwiched between tables with nosy people listening to our conversation. A little privacy andfriendtherapy is just what the doctor ordered for the day I’ve endured thus far.

“Hey, girl,” I say, placing my purse in the booth before I sit next to it.

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