Something doesn’t seem right. “How did his wife find out?”
“I told her, okay?” She raises her voice at me. “He said he was going to leave her! I was just giving him a little nudge.”
I let my head fall back and rub the bridge of my nose. “Jesus Christ, Amanda. What the fuck were you thinking? Does Bianca know?”
“Of course not! And you better not tell her. She just knows that I broke up with my boyfriend. Besides, this is a good thing. It was time for me to get out of that town anyway. I didn’t want to spend my entire life living in one place. Now I get to be here with you and Bianca.”
“The keyword there isBianca. We’re not friends, Amanda. Hell, we’re barely acquaintances. The last time we spent any time together at all when our daughter wasn’t around was when she was two. I don’t expect that to change anytime soon.”
She pushes off my desk and crosses her arms over her chest. “Jesus, Dante, you don’t have to be such an asshole all the time.”
“I guess you just bring it out in me. Like I said, I gotta go.” I stand and gesture toward the door so that she’ll exit in front of me. She passes me while muttering under her breath and makes her way out. Not for the first time I wonder what the fuck seventeen-year-old me was thinking but brush it off. Without Amanda I wouldn’t have Bianca, and I’ll be eternally grateful to her for that.
TEN
Violet
By the time Thursday rolls around I feel like I’ve developed a pretty good routine between work and school. Working for Dante hasn’t been nearly as boring as I thought it would be. I mean, sure, it’s not the most thrilling thing in the world but I’m finding a sense of accomplishment in getting everything in order and making sure all the cogs are running smoothly. Dante is listening to me and my suggestions, he’s even decided to implement the new time recording and payroll system I suggested. For one of the first times in my life, I feel like I’m making a difference.
In fact, I’m working on the installation of the new system when I receive a text. I quickly glance at it and see that it’s my group text with Hollie and Bianca. I’m about to turn my phone back over and look at it later when I catch a preview of Hollie’s message.Hollie has a date with Archer? Holy hell.
I almost drop the phone. I mean, we knew she had a crush on him; Bianca even suspected that he returned the sentiment. Not in my wildest dreams did I think she would actually get a date with her billionaire hotel mogul boss. I shouldn’t be surprised, though. Hollie is one of the smartest, kindest, most beautiful human beings that I know, and it looks like she’s calling an all-hands-on-deck meeting to help her get ready tonight. I quickly type out my response letting her know that I’ll be there.
I really am happy for Hollie but I can’t help but be a little jealous as I slide my gaze over to where Dante is on the phone. If there’s hope for her and her boss, maybe there’s hope for me and mine. I don’t kid myself, though. I know our situations are far different. Archer may be older than Hollie but he’s notthatmuch older. Also, he isn’t her best friend’s dad. Not to mention the fact that her mother wouldn’t have an aneurysm if she dated him. Nope, Hollie’s luck is decidedly better than my own.
I pull my eyes away from the object of my affection and focus back on price comparing lumber.Joy.
“What the hell are adult Capri Suns?” Dante’s voice startles me out of my thoughts.
“What are you talking about?” I ask.
“Bianca says she wants adult Capri Suns for her party. Here,” he says, shoving the phone at me, “maybe you can tell me what the hell she’s talking about.”
I look at her text and smile. This is so Bianca. “I think she’s going for the adult kid party vibe. She means she wants pre-made alcoholic drinks in pouches like those old Capri Sun drinks.”
“Where does she think I’m going to find something like that?”
I hand him back his phone and pick up my own. “I can order some online.” A few clicks later I have a hundred pouches being delivered to us via two-day express mail. “There you go, now you just have to get the stuff to fill them.”
“I’m telling you, every time I turn around she has a new request. She’s twenty-three, shouldn’t she be throwing her own parties by now?” I’m pretty sure he’s joking but just in case...
“You should feel good that she still wants you included. I think I’d rather crawl through broken glass than have my parents involved in anything social that I’m doing.”
He rolls his eyes in my direction. “I’m sure they’re not that bad.”
“You’d be wrong. Once, in second grade I met a girl at our local park with my nanny. I wanted to invite her over to play so much that I begged and begged my mother for days to call her mom and invite her over. Finally, she gave in and said she would set something up. I was so excited I could hardly wait. When the day of our playdate finally arrived, I opened the door and some kid I had never met was standing there with her mom. Apparently, Mom thought she was a much more appropriate playmate than the kid I had met at the park.” Even now, years later, I still feel disappointment at the memory. Not just the memory of not getting to play with the child of my choice but the disappointment of my mother’s total disregard of what I wanted. I was too young to know it then, but it would be a reoccurring theme in my life up to this day.
“Yikes,” he says in an attempt to lift some of the sadness that’s seeped in from my pathetic story. I just shrug and turn back to my computer like it’s no big deal. It really shouldn’t be. Those are just the breaks. “You know what,” he says interrupting my thoughts. “Why don’t we get out of here?”
I look at him in surprise. “And go where?”
“I mean, we’re obviously going to need a lot of stuff for this shindig my daughter is determined to throw. Let’s go shopping.”
“Shindig?” I raise my eyebrow.
“If you’re going to make fun of my old-man vocabulary, I’m not inviting you to come with me.” I can’t help but laugh. If he’s an old man, then I don’t know what you’d call someone who was actually old.
“Sure, let’s get out of here. I just processed some receivables; you should be able to afford the small fortune in booze Bianca is going to require.”