Not So Saint Nick

At The Office - II

Entering the space, she noted it was unusually quiet and frowned at the closed door of her boss’s office. He must have scheduled an early morning meeting which was not work related if he was there already with the door closed. Usually, it was open, and he was growling at her to hurry up and get in there so they could start the day.

She moved to her desk, flung her purse into the bottom drawer, and then turned on her computer. Throwing her coat over the coat rack behind her desk, she undid her scarf and hung it up as well. Standing there though, holding the scarf she suddenly remembered it was one Hazel gave her for Christmas a few years past, she took a long breath and then let it out slowly.

“Are you alright?”

The quiet question nearly had her jumping out of her skin and she gave a squeal and turned around, “what the hell? You scared me to death. Where are you coming from?” She looked past Nick and saw his office door was still closed.

“I was running behind this morning. My sister called to let me know she’s pregnant again and my parents insisted on a group call. They are several hours ahead but, in their exuberance, they forgot the time zone difference.”

“You have sisters and parents?” the question spilled from her lips before she could stop it.

“Two younger sisters, two brothers-in-law, a niece and a nephew and a new one baby on the way.”

“How do I not know this after working for you so long?”

“Santos is a family business, Grier. You know it was created by my family. We’ve been in business for over a hundred years. When my parents retired back to,” he paused, “our hometown in Europe, my sisters went with them. I run everything from here, but they keep busy there.”

“Huh.”

“Back to my question, are you okay? You looked sad there for a minute.”

“Oh. It didn’t dawn on me until I was hanging it up,” she waved the end of the scarf, “Hazel bought me this a few years ago.”

He leaned his hip against the edge of the desk, “you’re going to miss her friendship.”

“I’m so angry at her. I’m not usually an angry person. Life is too short for anger but all I want to do is scream and shout at her. I want to get her back. I want to punish her for being so mean.” She stomped her foot. “She cornered me downstairs as I was coming in. She said all she wanted was to pretend she was me for a bit and live how I live.” She gave a bitter laugh, “what a load of crap, huh?”

“I don’t know.” Nick shrugged. “I can understand where she’s coming from. I mean, not the screwing your boyfriend in your bed thing, but the wanting to be you, thing. I get it.”

“You do?”

“Well yeah. Look at you. You are always well put together. You are stronger than most. You work damn hard and the confidence you exude in your tasks and the way you move tells everyone you are not to be discounted. You’re a hell of a lot prettier than she is which is why I’m stunned Arlo whatever his name is, even wanted to dip his d**k in her when he already had you. You are everything wannabes like her dream of being. She’s jealous of you, your beauty, and your success and so she tries to steal it from you little by little.”

She tried to keep her mouth shut as the boss who once yelled at her for splashing him with her wet umbrella when he walked in her path while she was shaking it out, paid her compliment after compliment. She looked around and then up into the camera in the corner of the room.

“Thank you?” Was she being punked?

“Now, you mentioned she cornered you downstairs. What did she do?”

“She wanted to talk. I declined and when she realized she was no longer invited to come home with me for the holidays and she flaked out and threw herself on the floor. Or” she paused, “it might be because I told her my sister’s new name for her.”

“Your sister’s new name?”

“Before you entered the condo, I heard her telling Arlo to um,” she swallowed as she felt the heat rising in her cheeks, “well basically to fill her with um,” she couldn’t say it in front of him.

“I get it.”

“Well Twila created a new name for her, and I shared it with her. Hazel is devastated to learn my family knows what she did.”

“She deserves it.”

“She seemed to think I shouldn’t have told them because they always welcomed her with open arms.”

“Then she shouldn’t have betrayed the person who introduced her to them,” Nick said with a shrug. “People are good and bad. We all have the ability to be one or the other. She chose to be bad and it’s biting her in the ass. Sucks to suck but she needs to take ownership. What is your sister’s name for her?”

“Cumbucket.” She whispered biting her bottom lip. A long moment passed between them as the dirty word hung there.

For the first time since she’d ever worked for him, Nick Santos smiled. A wide, bright smile with teeth on display, two big dimples in cheeks transformed his features and not even the winter beard he always started growing in October could hide them.

“I have a horrible idea.” He was giddy as he grabbed her by the hand and started pulling her back to the lobby.

“Where are we going?”

“Product and Development.”

Grier was stumbling after her employer who’d never in the last five years she’d worked for him even so much as created the Mona Lisa equivalent of a smile was now beaming. “What is going on?”

“My parents called me this weekend. Actually, they called about ten times over the weekend, and I can ignore Dad’s calls but never the ones from Mom because not only is she the literal queen of our family but she’s so good at the emotional manipulation thing. They were reminding of me of all the pranks and s**t I used to do as kids. I was a bit of a handful.”

She pulled her head back in surprise as the elevators closed, very much aware he still hadn’t released her hand. “Okay?” she drawled the word out.

“One year at Christmas, which is not my favorite holiday by the way because it’s just so god-damned busy and my parents forgot we existed most of the time,” he carried on speaking as if this was normal for them, “I made candy canes which tasted like vomit and snuck them in everyone’s stockings. Everyone.”

“You made candy canes as a kid?”

“Sweetheart, I was pulling taffy when I was old enough to grip shit.” He dragged her through the corridor the minute the doors opened and was pulling her into the research lab. It was empty, most of the staff not coming in until eight and it was still not quite seven. “Dad mentioned the time one of our competitors did the trashcan candy thing and said even that didn’t have anything on my vomit candy canes.”

He grabbed a lab coat, put it on, and then threw one at her.

“What are we doing?”

“Making candy c*m buckets. Instead of coal this year, Miss Cheating Pants Hazel is getting buckets of cum.”