Page 17 of As a Last Resort
I got a call in the middle of the night from a rando saying he was with my mom, but she couldn’t remember where she lived.I told him I’d meet him to come get her, and when I pulled up, my old gym teacher was waiting for me.That’s when I found out my mother had a thing for dating my old instructors.He still looked exactly the same, wearing neon-yellow gym shorts with a slit up the side and a dry-fit sleeveless shirt.It scooped just a little too low in the armpits so that if he leaned forward at all, you had a clear shot of his side nipple and dusting of hair around his areola.He was an extra straight out of a Richard Simmons workout video.
I took a deep breath.“I’m really slammed with work.I don’t think I’m going to make it this year.”
“It’s over a month away.And you haven’t been home in over two years,” she snapped.“If you just don’t want to come home, you should say that.”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.The mixed smell of peonies and freshly baked bread filled my nose and dulled the daggers threatening to spill out of my mouth.“I’ll see how it looks closer to the date.I’ll try though, I promise.”
My eyes scanned over the tops of the sky-reaching sunflowers in the market and landed on the back of a familiar head.Averyfamiliar head.
Oh God.
Jack.
He was turning around.
Okay, perfect.This was good.I could talk to him in person, apologize for being a jerk, and we’d go to Angelo’s for lunch like we always did every Sunday afternoon.
I took a deep breath, took a step in his direction, and that’s when the really pretty blonde holding the biggest sunflower I’d ever seen turned around.
Okay.Maybe a friend.
She threw her head back and laughed, Pantene-commercial style, then he kissed her on the cheek.
Okay.Maybe not a friend.
Then I did what any other self-respecting woman would do.
I ducked.
“Sunshine!”Italian Marco’s booming voice pierced the air.“What are you doing on your hands and knees?Here, let me help you up.”
“No, it’s okay.Really.I just dropped something down here.”I hugged the ground.
Cue the rom-com movie montage of unexpected and humiliatingevents becausethat’s my life.I crawled away from them under the flower stand, bumping my head on the wooden cradle nestled with buckets of brightly colored tulips that tipped over in slow motion.That, of course, knocked into the three-year-old standing next to it and spilled her strawberry smoothie down the front of her cream-colored linen jumper that her mother most definitely overpaid for.I clearly ruined the perfect photo op from the next Mommy Influencer and she wasnothappy.I continued to crawl on all fours past the colorful mound of petals, dragging my knees through the strawberry and milk mixture that smelled glorious, and stood up holding the garden roses to fully block my face from view, only to then run into a man eating a Magnolia Bakery red velvet cupcake that smashed into his nose before I bolted away from the market.
“You have to pay for those!”I heard Italian Marco yelling as I sprinted down the crowded sidewalk.
I ran for three blocks, turned twice, and leaned back against a brick wall, still carrying the stolen flowers in my hand.
I was a thief.Or a fugitive.I guess technically both.
And Jack was with someone else.
I walked into the office Monday morning to a sticky note that read,Glenn’s office, ASAP.He didn’t even look up from his desk when I walked in.
“Go home and pack.You’re catching a flight to Florida in less than three hours.”
The wall clock read 8:03 a.m.Three minutes into my day and already we’ve hit a land mine.“I’m sorry, what?”
Glenn glared at me over his glasses and pointed toward the door.“Go home.Pack.Robby got appendicitis and has been in the hospital since Saturday.He was trying to leave against the doctor’sorders and they called his emergency contact, which apparently is me, for some godforsaken reason.”
“Is he okay?”
“If he keeps his hind end in the hospital he will be.He’ll be sedated for a few days from the sound of it.”Glenn shuffled around a few papers, then put them back in the exact same spot.“Game time substitute.Funding got pulled on the Oakstone project, so it’s perfect timing.You can start the due diligence down there for the first week or so.We’ll swap you out once he’s feeling up to par.I pushed the intro meeting with the seller to tomorrow morning, which should give you plenty of time if you prep on the plane.”
All the air was knocked out of my lungs.
“You’re from down there anyway, right?”
