Page 12 of Rich Girl
“Good deal. I appreciate it.”
“I’m assuming you’re gonna need a ride, too?” I ask. “Or is Evie coming to get you?”
“Evie’s hanging out with Carrie today. I guess they got a lot to gossip about.”
I listen to him talk while I type a message to my guy that’s out in the city.
“So you do need a ride back?” I double check with Cal. “If so, you gotta help me with this fucking app, man. I’m losing my damn mind.”
We hang up when my desk phone rings. After that, it’s chaos. There’s an accident on the ramp three exits over and they need the vehicles to be towed away, stat. Since we are short handed at the shop, I do that run, and it ends up taking the next few hours, easy.
By the time I am back with the truck, I notice Cal Prentice hanging out by the reception desk. The girl who works it is married to one of my mechanics.
“Why are you harassing my staff?” I bark at him as soon as I walk in. “Don’t you have your own employees to go stress out?”
Cal made a mint when he invested in the same business ventures as I did. But at heart, he is an artist. And while he runs multiple business and makes money hand over fist, his first love is tattooing people. He has a fancy shop in a hippy neighborhood in the city, and women flock that way, sometimes just to see him.
“Evie’s on her way to pick me up,” he grins at me.
“I don’t mind chatting with Cal.” My receptionist bats her eyelashes at the both of us, but I know it’s all in good fun.
“I’m sure you don’t,” I shake my head at her in mocking disbelief. “But your husband might. You,” I point to Cal. “Come with me.”
I turn and head over toward where my office is. But first, I detour by the restroom that’s located next to it.
“I gotta wash my hands and the grime off my face,” I tell Cal. “Make yourself comfortable in there. There’s cold water in the fridge.”
Without saying a word, he gives me a two-finger salute and lets me do my thing. I stare at myself in the small mirror in the bathroom, wondering how nobody ran away screaming at the sight of me. My face is full of dirt that’s smeared down my cheeks, with some splatters of motor oil in between. My dark hair is slicked back, and all you can see is the glow of my eyeballs.
“Jesus,” I mutter when I keep on scrubbing at my hands but they still look dirty. Cleaning my face is a little easier. That’s followed by me taking my T-shirt off and grabbing a clean one off the small shelving unit I have in here. Once I feel like a human again, I walk back to my office.
Cal Prentice has made himself comfortable in there. He is sitting in the only visitor chair I have across from my desk, legs sprawled out, guzzling on a bottle of water.
“I figured you wanted to talk about the app deal.” His eyebrows go up and down, which only serves to make him look like a clown.
“Yeah, man, thanks for that.”
I drop in my chair and let out a long sigh. I feel tired and in need of a nap. Today cannot end soon enough.
“How in the hell did you end up on that shit?” I question him. “Better yet, how did Evie end up on it?”
He shrugs at me, barely able to contain the large smile taking over his face.
“She went on there because she wanted to make me jealous. I went on there to get her.”
I don’t get anything of what he just said.
“How did I land myself in the middle of it?”
Cal waves me off. “I don’t know why you’re this stressed out about this. What’s the worst that could happen? You going on a date with a hot chick?” he questions. “That really sounds like such a chore.”
“Dude,” I stare at him in disbelief. “I got bombarded with all these messages. I can’t keep up. I need to cancel it. It’s ridiculous. How were you on there while also holding a job?”
“It can’t be that bad,” Cal dismisses my complaints.
Without saying another word, I pick up my electronic tablet off the side table where I keep it. I log into my email account before turning it over for him to see. I currently show four hundred and seventy-two new emails. Ninety percent of them are from theHolidatesapp.
Cal hesitates for a second before taking the tablet from me. He starts scrolling down, with each movement of his finger, his eyebrows climbing higher on his forehead.
