Page 66 of What Remains True
“I think you’ll be happy to hear that I’ve been working.”
That’s it. He’s probably running some kind of get-rich-quick scam and wanting to get me to invest.“Really, and where are you working?”
“I’m working for the Supply Cabinet. They hired me to oversee all location updates to the new brand.”
“What? You don’t have a lick of experience managing projects.” She felt the heat rise inside her. She’d never have let that happen.
“It’s not that hard. There’s a plan and a timeline, and I make sure people do what they are supposed to do on time and not spend too much money.”
Neither of which he handled in his own life. “Who is going to make sure you are doing whatyouare supposed to be doing?”
“It’ll be fine. Come on. Your mom helped me get the job. You should have done this for me years ago.”
Her head pounded. This would be a disaster. One more mess he’d make that she’d have to clean up. “I’ve got to go. You are on the clock. You should get back to work.”
“Speaking like the COO of the company again. Does that mean you’re going to come back and make sure I do my job?”
“Goodbye, Kevin.” She hung up the phone and dialed her mother.
“Hello, Merry Anna.” It was as if she knew she’d be calling. Was it possible Kevin may have called from her parents’ house?
“What have you done? Kevin just told me you put him in the project management position over the store remodels. He can’t do that job.”
“Why not?”
“Because he’s lazy, Mom. Why do you think I never let him work for our company all those years?”
“You’re exaggerating. He had that job over at Chart Brothers. I remember him telling us about all the big projects he worked on there.”
She couldn’t and wouldn’t go into the details of her ex-husband’s lack of motivation but expertise in embellishment and pretending to work.
“Look, you’re on leave,” her mother said. “Decisions have to be made. We’re making them the best we can.”
“Mother, is this your way to get me back home?”
“Well, if you were here, you could certainly make sure things went the way you’d like them to, couldn’t you? And Kevin told me he was going to talk to you about going to the Eastern Shore to celebrate our anniversary. I’m so excited!”
“Mom, Kevin and I are divorced. We won’t be doing things together.”
“Doesn’t mean you can’t still be friends.”
“Yeah, it kind of does. If you want to go with Kevin to the Eastern Shore, enjoy yourself.”
“Oh, Merry Anna. It’s time you came back. He’s gotten rid of that woman. You know she was trying to manipulate him and come between you. It was really her conniving that started that whole wedge between the two of you. I think with just a little work, you could get back what you had.”
“I don’t want what I had. Not Kevin, and you know what? Not being the COO of the family business either.”
“Don’t say that.”
“Well, don’t go teaming up with my ex-husband to sway me. I’ve found a real peace here in this small town. I’m happy. I don’t think I knew what real happiness was before.”
“Relationships take work.”
“Yes ma’am. They do. I can’t argue with you there, and both parties in that relationship have to work equally hard.”
“Seems to me that Kevin is the only one working on it.”
“Mom, if he wanted to fix our marriage, he had plenty oftime to do that before we were divorced. That ship has sailed and is at the bottom of the sea. Shipwrecked.”
