Page 66 of Kiss and Tell
“Don’t think too hard on it,” I said with an encouraging smile. “Just whatever comes to mind.”
He looked back to Connor, looking a little less nervous.
“Well, once I screwed up by typing an extra zero at the end of a product order,” he said. “They ended up shipping us ten times as much as we needed.”
The guy stopped. There was silence.
“And how was this resolved?” Connor said, sounding oddly impatient.
“Oh!” The guy started, as if he’d forgotten that part. “I, um, I came up with a weekly special with those ingredients and used up the extra.”
“I see.” Connor made a note on the paper in front of him. “That will be all, Mr. Grassley. Thank you for your time.”
The guy popped up from the chair, nearly knocking it over in his haste to leave.
“Are you okay?” I asked Connor when the guy was gone.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” he asked, sounding perfectly calm.
“You’ve been kind of a hard ass all day,” I said. “I thought you were going to be the friendly one.”
“It’s important to make sure these people can handle difficult customers,” he explained. “If they can’t handle being in the hot seat for an interview, how will they be able to deal with drunk, belligerent customers?”
I never would have expected Connor to have so much foresight.
“If that’s the way you want to play it, I’m fine being the nice one,” I told him. “As long as you don’t make anyone run out of here crying.”
“I’ll keep the tears to the minimum,” he said.
After the last interview was over and the final candidate had left, I sat back in the metal folding chair and let out a breath of relief.
“It wasn’t that bad, was it?” Connor asked.
“Not bad, just draining,” I replied. “I'm glad you were the mean, angry one today. I don’t think I would have had the energy.”
“I wasn’t being mean and angry,” Connor replied. “I was being difficult and antagonistic to test the character of our potential employees. It took a great deal of acting on my part.” Connor tipped his chin up smugly. “I did great, didn’t I? Maybe I should have been an actor. I bet I’d win all the awards.”
“You think so, do you?” I couldn’t keep the indulgent smile from my lips.
“You were great, too,” he said. “You really put them at ease.”
“That’s a change,” I said. “Usually I’m the one who’s too intense and put people on edge.”
“You’re passionate about the things you care about,” Connor replied. “If people can’t handle it, that’s their problem.”
I stared at him as I thought about it. Connor really was one of the few people who wasn’t put off by me. One of the few people I got along well with — even aside from the physical attraction.
I liked bantering with him. I liked the back and forth, the push and pull.
I liked hearing his voice go low and quiet when he talked to me about his life as a musician. I liked looking into his dark eyes, soft and distant as he recalled his past.
I liked that he listened to me when I told him of my troubles, and I liked that his immediate response was to try and help.
It wasn’t just physical.
I liked Connor Moore.
And in spite of all the reasons why I knew I shouldn’t, I wanted to be with him.
