Page 16 of Lost Little Boy
“Thank you for coming to my defense, but I’m just a janitor, and Mr. Jenkins is an executive. I don’t see Mrs. Grassley-Williams letting him go over something he did to me.” He turned his back and blew his nose.
I wanted to tell him he deserved someone to come to his defense, but as I thought about what he’d told me the previous night, I realized something important. Perry wasn’t used to having anyone in his corner, so he never expected it.
I let out a heavy sigh. “Okay. If that’s how you want it, then I’ll support you.” I kissed his forehead below the widow’s peak.
We returned to the office where everyone was waiting for us. “Mr. Jenkins, I’ll accept your apology, and we can both move on.”
Jenkins stared at me before smirking. “I want an apology from Wex Grassley for all of this when I didn’t do anything worth getting HR here.”
I started to tell him to fuck off and meet me on the sidewalk so I could stomp the shit out ofhim. But before I could finish, my sister stood abruptly, sending her chair crashing into the bookshelf behind her desk. “Richard, I’ll remind you that my brother is my counterpart here at Grassley, and my father owns the company. Either you apologize to Mr. Castle and get out of my office, or I’ll fire you right now.”
I was proud of my sister. She’d always been a fighter, and I was happy to see her fighting for Perry… and me, I guess, though I didn’t need it as much as Perry.
“Understood.” Jenkins turned and stepped in front of Perry. “I apologize for what I said.”
The fucker looked at me and smirked. “I called your sister to tell her you’d put me on administrative leave, and she laughed and said to get into the office because I don’t work for you.” The asshole stepped over to the door.
I was ready to rip Nancy to pieces, but Perry squeezed my arm. I glanced over my shoulder to see him shaking his head before he winked at me. I gave him a nod and turned back to my sister who held up a finger.
“Richard, make no mistake. Any possibility of you getting Rory’s spot is on hold indefinitely, and you’re on administrative leave for the rest of this week and next. You, Miss Cruz, and I will discuss whether your children will be returning to the center after you’re off admin leave. I’ll alert your team that you’ll be out of the office. Donot discuss this situation with anyone outside this room.” Nancy arched that wicked eyebrow at him, and Jenkins nodded.
He walked out of her office with his head down, not saying anything to anyone. When he closed the door, I turned to my sister. “Why the fu—hell would you consider giving him a promotion?”
“Wex, I try to give my employees a path for growth. I judge them based on their job performance… ordinarily. For someone to behave in the fashion Daphne mentioned is appalling. I won’t tell him he’s going to be put on a performance review while he’s on administrative leave. I’m giving Rory’s job to one of his reps.”
I laughed. “Look at you, pulling the rug out from under him. Well, are we done here?” I glanced around the room to see Victoria and Daphne nodding their heads. When I turned to check on Perry, he was standing by the door looking for a quick escape.
“Let me walk you out.” I gave my sister a salute and opened the door for my three companions. When we got to the elevator, Victoria pressed the up button and I pushed the down for Perry, Daphne, and myself.
When we got into the elevator, Daphne stepped in front of the panel while Perry stepped to the right. I stoodbetween them. “Supposed to be warm today,” I said out of the blue.
Daphne glanced at me and smirked. “It’s that time of year.”
We stopped on two and Perry got off. “Thanks to both of you.” The doors closed before I could say a word.
“You know, he comes into the center after everyone leaves and plays with the toys. Mr. Burger offered to talk to him for me, but I said he wasn’t causing any harm. Sometimes, I don’t clean up if I’m running late to get home, and when I come in the next morning, the place is neat as a pin.”
“I wonder if he… well, never mind. It’s nice that you don’t keep him from going in there to wind down at the end of the day.” Things were becoming clearer to me. I just wondered if Perry knew about his proclivities, or if he did and was hiding it.
“If I thought he was interested, I’d get him literature for classes to become a teacher’s aide. Thank you for looking out for him. He’s a special guy. Have a good day, Mr. Grassley.” She unlocked the door and stepped inside. Just as she was about to close the door, I stuck my foot in the gap.
“Something else, Mr. Grassley?” She had a kind smile.
“Say, Miss Daphne. If I were to convince Perry to take you up on the offer of taking classes to be a teacher’s aide, would you be willing to hire him here part-time?” Not that there was anything wrong with being a janitor. Everyone had great things to say about him, but knowing it wasn’t his passion had me wondering if I could help him find it.
I had no savior complex, nor did I look down on Perry for his current profession. If he could find something that made him happy to get up in the morning, I’d support him one thousand percent—not that I thought my support mattered to him. There was something about Perry Castle that was fascinating and made me want to get to know him better. Even if it was only as a friend.
Chapter Nine
Perry
“Hmm… Wonder what this is?”
When I opened the door to the supply closet, there was a box on the desk and the light was on. I’d been greeted with the same scene on Thursday, Friday, and now on Monday morning. There was no note on the desk, but I had an inkling of who wasresponsible.
Thursday’s gift was a lovely compass in a leather case. There was a small card inside the case that had a smile written in pen. When I opened it, the top of the brass compass was engraved.If you ever lose your way, use this to find your way back. It was so sweet that I’d ridden a cloud all day.
Friday morning’s gift was a two-hundred-fifty-dollar gift card to a sporting goods store not far from my apartment. When I went in search of Wex Grassley, he pretended he knew nothing about it, but there was a twinkle in his eye that I didn’t trust.
