Page 97 of I'm Looking for a Man in Finance
“What’s wrong?” I answered, cutting to the chase.
The sound of a taxi honking came through the line. “I have the walk sign, asshole!” Roxie shouted.
James raised a curious brow as he heard the tin of Roxie’s yell.
“What’s wrong?” I tried again.
“Why would you assume something’s wrong?” Roxie asked once I finally grabbed her attention.
“Because you never call me in the middle of the day. You reserve that for emergencies only.”
“We should really fix that, but you’re right,” Roxie replied. “This is one of those times.”
I sucked in a deep breath, steeling myself for what was to come.
“I quit the art gallery.” Roxie must have called me right after she left. I could tell she was on foot, and not even losing her breath as she walked the streets of New York City, most likely in heels.
“You quit?” I asked incredulously.
“Where are you?” Roxie replied, completely ignoring the panic in my voice. “I have so much to tell you. I think I could go for a drink, maybe five. Who’s to say? Wow, I had no idea the kind of weight quitting would lift off my shoulders. I’ve got so much energy and have no idea what to do with it all.”
“I’m at lunch with James,” I told her. “Can we walk it back to when you said you quit?”
“Send me the address. I’ll meet you there.” Then the line went dead. I pulled the phone away from my earand stared at my call log, like I needed proof it had even happened.
“What’s wrong?” James asked. His brow creased with concern, and it was that concernformy friend that made my chest squeeze. Somewhere, in the chaos of this arrangement, we’d started to genuinely embed ourselves in each other’s lives enough to care.
“Roxie just said she quit the art gallery,” I told him.
“She quit?” James echoed, matching my shock. “Did she say why?”
“No, she just asked to meet me here.” I hesitated for a beat. “Is that okay?”
James reached across the table and curled his fingers around mine. “Hal, your people are my people. Of course it’s okay.”
I smiled down at our hands, my heart doing that traitorous little stutter it had started to do lately whenever he said something that made me fall for him all over again.
Roxie was many things and impulsive was definitely one of them. But quitting the art gallery without at leasttalkingto me about it first was the last thing I’d expected from her. She loved her job. The only thing she loved more was when she got to photograph beautiful food.
I ordered something for her when the waiter stopped by. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t hear the end. And thank God I did, because right when the food was being brought out, Roxie walked in like a storm sweeping through town.
“Who chose Greek between the two of you?” she asked. “Because good choice. Oh my gosh, I could eat a whole lamb’s worth of gyros right now.”
I could never understand how Roxie could walkthrough life with no anxiety. Meanwhile, I lay in bed most nights thinking about things I’d said years ago and what the person I’d been talking to that day thought of it.
“Roxie, please. I can’t take it,” I told her. “What the hell happened?”
“Michelle Granger came in today while the gallery owner was in. I was going about my business, walking Michelle through the different pieces we had gotten in since the last time I’d seen her. The owner decided they were going to hijack the show and when Michelle bought a piece, I went to put my name on the sale so I would get my commission. You know, since my salary is pennies and all my money comes from commissions? And guess what? That motherfucker told me I didn’t earn the sale. It was staying with the house because he did all the work. So, I walked out.”
James and I both stared at her, slack jawed. Roxie was a master at letting no one know her next move.
“What are you going to do?” I asked, thinking about our very expensive rent bill that we’d just paid. Which meant Roxie had only a month to figure it out before we would have to pay it again.
“About that,” Roxie said casually as she picked up a fry. “Remember our conversation about coming together to start our own business?”
“Roxie, that could take months for us to do! We have bills and other things to pay now.”
But Roxie swatted my concern away like it was merely an annoying fly. “I know it could take months. I’ll pick up freelance work in the meantime. But why not just take the leap?”
