Page 39 of Love.V2
Her nose wrinkled when she said it, like she was making a joke at her own expense, but I frowned. “I don’t think anyone who’s met you would say that. Jinx would fall apart without you.”
“Yeah, we’d run out of coffee pods pretty fast. There’d be a revolt.”
“No, I mean it.” I put my muddy hand out to get her attention. I didn’t like the rounded curve of her shoulders. “You aren’t just Eric’s assistant. You keep all the break room snacks and office supplies stocked. You run the office happy hours and onboarding stuff. Aren’t you the one who pays all the company bills? Sounds to me like you’re running office operations and HR and finances.Icouldn’t do that.”
“When you say it like that…but I don’t know. Sometimes I feel like I want to do more, you know? Like, is managing his calendar and the coffee deliveries really what will make me happy?”
“Hmm.” I was surprised. My conversations with Meery mostly revolved around work, or chatting about lunch places to try. I’d assumed she was happy with her life and her role at Jinx. Her unfailingly bubbly personality gave her a bit of a ditzy vibe, and I was instantly ashamed I’d fallen for it. “What do you think you’d do?”
With a snort, she mashed her clay into the table. I realized she was uncomfortable. Self-conscious, even. “It’s not like I can do much. All my friends and coworkers have these impressive degrees and internships.”
“Degrees aren’t everything. You’re very organized, and you’re kind. You have a big heart. That means something.” On my first day at Jinx, I’d planned on eating lunch alone in my office, but Meery had insisted she take me out. When I’d mentioned I wanted to try a workout at R3, but was too nervous, she’d said,“Bump that, let’s go together!”, then showed up at 6 a.m. the next morning.
“A big heart can only get you so far. Sometimes it feels like I started out behind everyone else. We didn’t have a lot of money growing up, not a lot of opportunities.”
“Same.”
Meery whipped around to stare in astonishment. “What?”
“Sure,” I responded, rolling a little pillar of clay for my mug handle. I’d made my peace with my rough upbringing a long time ago. “There were times my family struggled to put food on the table. There were some days that I wasn’t sure where I was going to sleep at night.”
“Wow, Tess, I didn’t realize. I guess you always look so put together and…aloof. Fancy.”
A sound like a scoff mixed with a snort escaped my lips. A few people at the surrounding tables glanced over. “Meery, I’m a mess. I have anxiety up to my eyeballs, and the only reason I’m in Chicago is because I’m running full tilt away from a twelve-year-long relationship.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Yeah, you still never gave me the deets on that.”
“I…we’re not done with you, yet.” Meery was a kind person, and I had written her off as silly. She deserved me taking her seriously. “I’m the only person in my family with a college degree, and the only reason I got that far was because when I was young and stubborn, I found the thing I loved most and refused to settle for anything less. So…tell me. If you could do something else,anything, what would it be?”
Meery pursed her lips and scrunched her nose, like she was physically holding the words in. I glanced up at her every few seconds while I rolled my handle some more, quiet.
“I want to do social media,” she blurted, clay squishing out the sides of her fingers.
“Cool. In what way?” When I didn’t immediately laugh at her, or tell her she was ridiculous, her shoulders lowered a little from her ears.
“Well, I’m on there all the time. I see what’s trending and what’s working. I have a decent following on my personal pages, and I feel like I’d be good at doing that for other people.”
I’d been surprised by the number of followers on Meery’s pages when she’d friended me. Her content was good, and she always did the trends and dances before everyone else caught on.
“You know, Worther’s social department has, like, ten staff members completely devoted to social trendspotting.”
“What?” Her squeak was shrill. “That’s athing?”
“Sure. And you’re right, I feel like you’d be good at that.” I attached my handle, picking up a needle tool to draw some feathered lines across the surface of the mug. “We have a new social campaign we’re doing for that bookstore chain. Maybe you can sit in on some of those meetings. If you want, you could take a first stab at writing some of the copy.”
“Are you shitting me?” Meery’s strangled shriek made more heads turn. We were making quite the impression at beginner’s night.
“Of course. I can put a word in. Eric will probably be cool with it, as long as that’s something you want to try.”
“I want.” I stilled my hand as her fingers wrapped around my wrist. She looked up at me with amazed, slightly glassy eyes. “Tess, you would…do that for me?”
My muddy hand topped hers, mixing and squishing together. It was messy, scary even. I wasn’t used to getting so open and vulnerable with other people. But I shrugged. This felt right. “Like I said, you have a good heart. And a passion. Most of the time, that’s all you need. You deserve to take a chance on yourself, Meery.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” My cheeks heated, and I used the excuse of my mug to look somewhere else.
“Okay, enough about me. Tell me about Mr. Twelve Years. It’s Dylan, isn’t it?”
