Page 49 of Dirty Money
“Not great!” she said as she was astounded that anyone thought they could throw so much on her without even asking her what she wanted to do. “I don’t want that at all!”
“It’s more money,” he said as he wore a stunned expression. “I hear you complaining about money all the time, Aullie. So, now you won’t have any reason to complain. The salary is nearly what I make.”
“This isn’t my career. Ask Brittany to do it. This is what she wants to do with her life. Not me. I’m an artist,” she said as she tapped her chest. “This isn’t all there is for me. For her, it is.”
“Excuse me?” came Britt’s voice from behind her. “Are you talking about me?”
“She is,” Eric said with a sniveling, little, ratty voice. “I handed her a job and she wants to hand it to you. What she doesn’t seem to understand is corporate decided who got that job. I can’t hand it over to anyone but her.”
Brittany stomped her foot and made a huge huffing sound then turned around and walked away. Aullie looked at Eric. “I don’t want that job. Let corporate know that.” Then she spun around and left his office too, leaving him with a gaping jaw and no assistant at all.
The night was busy for the middle of the week and when a woman walked through the door, Aullie nearly dropped her tray of drinks. When the woman was seated in her section, she found her nerves were on edge. It was Weston’s cousin, Hayley.
She’d not been introduced to her yet. She didn’t know if she should do that herself or not. So, she thought to herself that Weston must’ve surely told his favorite cousin about her. When she told the gorgeous woman her name surely, she’d know who she was then and the awkwardness she was feeling would go away.
Placing a coaster on the table in front of her, she said, “Hello, my name is Aulora and I’ll be taking care of you tonight. What can I get for you?”
“Aulora?” the woman asked, making Aullie think she did know who she was. Then she pointed to her name tag. “That says something different.”
Aullie fingered the name tag. “Oh, yeah. That’s my nickname. It’s pronounced, Ollie.”
“Anyway, Aullie, I’d like a Gin and tonic and something to eat. What’s good here?”
“Um, chicken wings and nachos. But with a Gin and tonic, I’d suggest maybe our fried veggie basket, instead.” She held her pen to the pad and waited for her to decide, feeling as inadequate as she’d ever felt, in the gorgeous woman’s presence.
“Yuk,” she said with an air of disgust. “On second thought, I’ll wait until I get to Los Angeles.”
The thought that she was headed to Los Angeles too was too much for her and she asked, “Oh. When are you heading out of here?”
“Soon,” she said then tapped her long and expensive nails on the table. “I’m waiting for my boyfriend to get off work, so we can head out.”
The word, boyfriend, made her wonder who the hell that would be. The woman just lost her husband after all. She phrased her next question very carefully, “Oh yeah? I suppose you’re meeting him at the airport that’s fifteen minutes away from here?”
“Yes.” She leaned in and said in a hushed voice, “He comes in here a lot. I was wondering why and the truth is I can’t see it. He’s wealthy and quite frankly, above this place. I’ve been trying to figure out what he’s been up to when he’s not with me. And when I found out he was spending so much time here, it made me curious.”
“If he’s your boyfriend, why don’t you know more about why he comes in here? I mean, how close are you two, really?” Aullie found herself asking a question which was none of her business.
The way Hayley eyed her had her getting nervous again. “I don’t usually talk about my private life but you just have this kind of wise air about yourself. Like you’ve been through some shit, yourself. Do you have a minute to spare a fellow female to give a bit of advice? I don’t have many friends who’ll tell me the truth if it will hurt me.”
“Give me a sec and I’ll grab your drink and be right back.” Aullie hauled ass to turn in the drink order and get someone to cover for her, so she could see what the woman was going to say. When Britt came up to turn in an order, she asked, “Britt, I know you’re mad at me. That woman who just came in is Weston’s cousin. She doesn’t realize I’m the girl he’s with. She wants to talk and I desperately want to listen to her. Could you cover for me while I talk to her? I’ll give you a break for as long as you want afterward.”
She looked at her for a moment then said, “Sure.”
“Thanks,” Aullie said then picked up the drink and went back to the table where Hayley was waiting for her. She placed the drink in front of her then slid into the opposite side of the small booth. “Okay, I’m covered. So, bend my ear, miss?”
“Oh, how rude.” She extended her hand across the table. “My name’s Hayley Stiller.”
“Hi, Hayley, it’s nice to meet you. Now, what do you need to talk about?”
“Okay, first, thanks for taking time for me. It’s not often you find someone who’ll do that for a person they don’t know. But I’m kind of desperate.”
“Not a problem. Bars are a natural place to talk without fear of persecution. So, tell me what has you upset or worried.”
“My husband of ten years was killed a few weeks ago. And that was a real tragedy.”
“Yet, you have a boyfriend,” Aullie brought up.
“Okay, about him. He’s not really my boyfriend. I want him to be but for now, he’s just a man from my past who’s helping me to find out who killed my husband.”
