Charlie Foxtrot (Book 2 of Love is War Series)

Chapter 4

His fingers tapped a staccato rhythm against his desk. Jim had been staring at the same email for the past twenty minutes, not taking any of the words in. He couldn’t have even told you who had written him, to be completely honest.

It was January 2nd, and he’d started the day out by meeting with Clay before giving Auden Fenn her tour of CBC’s building. Clay had warned him again about not flirting with the newcomer, and he had spent much of his time trying not to stare at the woman’s assets. For someone like him, it was a difficult struggle against himself. He wasn’t used to giving special consideration to any one employee, because he had a reputation amongst the workforce at CBC. Whether or not he was more comfortable with his role as resident scoundrel who flirted with anyone who came across him because he was the boss’ friend or just how he was, he wasn’t sure. He'd been this way for too long and had worked the same job since the start of his professional career. Had he been given a pink slip and kicked to the curb, he wasn’t sure he would be able to behave properly in a new environment.

He sighed and started to reread the email. It surprised him that his sister had decided to email his work email instead of his personal. Well, maybe he shouldn’t have been, because outside of work, he was a horrible correspondent.

Jim,

I tried to reach you through your personal email, but you either don’t check it enough or have decided to ignore me. Being the sweet, doting sister and mother to your dear niece, I decided to reach out to you here. Sorry not sorry.

If you have forgotten, your favorite—and only—niece will be turning 2 years old on January 12th. In order to save the trees or whatever, I sent an invitation to your personal email. An invitation that everyone other than my dear brother has responded to. The RSVP date was December 27th, by the way.

I also tried to contact you by cell phone and work phone, but haven’t received a call back. Did you die and decide not to come haunt me like you used to threaten when we were younger? I suppose with all the Hooters and female locker rooms in the Sunshine State, we Wetzels rank low on your bucket list of places to haunt, not that I can blame you.

Bridgette might be young, but I think that missing her 2nd birthday would be remiss as a brother because she is your niece. Please let me know ASAP if you are coming or not.

And for f**k’s sake, try and remember her birthday from now on. She might not realize it now, but she’ll see photos in the future and wonder where her Uncle Jim was and why he wasn’t there. I won’t lie to her about it, and I won’t let you live it down if you miss it.

What else won’t I do? Keep typing up this letter when you might still ignore it or decide to delete without responding.

Bye, Jim

Your sister,

Kate

Sighing, he leaned in and wondered how he could have forgotten his niece’s birthday. He felt bad about that, but he was horrible when it came to checking his personal email. He even had the app on his phone, but he had muted the notifications so he wouldn’t be constantly distracted during meetings or woken while he slept. He typed out a quick response, telling her he was going to visit with Clay about taking time off to go see them for a week and that he’d gotten distracted with the holidays.

Sending it off with a few decisive clicks and a flick of his wrist, he got up from his desk and walked down the hall. Clay’s office door was closed, but there was no sound inside, so he assumed he was probably reading his own emails from over the weekend. Usually, he let his secretary or Jim take care of the majority of them, but if they passed one on to him for further inquiry, he usually took a look. Neither of the two employees scanning them would dare waste his time with frivolous or ridiculous ideas.

Still, he knocked slightly on the door and listened for any movement or sounds from inside. A few seconds later, Clay was opening the door and gesturing him inside so they could talk. When they were both seated, Jim opened his mouth immediately.

“My sister is pissed at me.”

Clay blinked at him and sat back, steepling his hands over his trim belly. “And this has to do with CBC because…”

Jim sighed and rested his chin onto his balled-up fist. “I was supposed to ask for time off for my niece’s birthday. She turns 2 years old on the 12th of this month.”

With his lips twitching, Clay licked over his dry lower lip and spoke. “And you want to take a full week off to visit them to make up for your lack of checking in with your family?” He didn’t even wait for an answer and powered on. “Take off a week. Hell, take off two if you want; just let me know the dates. I can get Sandra to come up and help if I have to, or maybe Jess, if she’s not busy. You aren’t the only one who can do your job, and since it’s the beginning of the year and most of the filing is being taken care of downstairs on the first floor, there’s not as much to do except hold meetings on a few new accounts and break ground on the Lansdale Ave. project. The company can still function just fine without you. Just let me know when you need to leave. Muse and I would like to send our regards and want you to bring the little girl a gift from us as well.”

Jim wasn’t surprised at Clay’s words—at least not anymore. If there was ever a man that was improved by newly found love and deeper connection, it was Clay. Anything would have been an improvement over his surly and disagreeable personality a mere year before, and his new wife had only been a blessing to them all, even Jim, who hadn’t been very keen on her at first. He’d thought she was using his friend for money just as much as his friend was using her for control of the company. Being primarily concerned about Clay, he kept his eyes on Muse, even after he was nearly certain that she wasn’t just another social-climber.

He nodded and started to chat about something else before Clay was interrupted by a call from his secretary. He put a finger up to Jim to be quiet as he answered it, and when he determined that it was going to take a while, Jim left the room and went back to his office where he deleted a few more emails and then decided to have an early lunch. Management didn’t have a set time to take their lunch hour, but the clerks and other admin staff were always alternated, starting at 11:30 AM to 1 PM.

Taking his lunchbox down to the atrium with him, he whistled quietly and listened to it echo when he got to the entrance and the room opened up in sunny brilliance. With high ceilings and an open floor plan, he was able to check out the room and see who was lunching there with him today. He felt that the proper company made for the most pleasant lunch hour, but he couldn’t see any of his usual lunchmates. What he did see was Auden sitting on the opposite side of the room and one other mousy little clerk who practically ran every time she saw Jim coming her way. He’d figured she wouldn’t have the sense of humor that would find his flirting anything but an excuse to report him for s****l harassment, even though he didn’t mean any harm.

In all his time at CBC, Jim had never dated an employee of Clay’s, and he wasn’t about to start. Still, he was a social creature, and he hated to eat alone.

Walking over to the far end of the atrium, he mustered up what he thought was his most winning smile and cleared his throat as soon as he was within five feet of Auden’s table. She glanced up quickly, all wide green eyes and long lashes. Jim’s throat locked up for a moment. Auden was beautiful—gorgeous, in fact. She was medium height at five-foot-four inches with an enviable hourglass figure, long black hair like her Aunt Marietta, and plush lips that were only made fuller when she nervously nibbled on them. He could tell she had wonderful breasts even through her loose blouse, but from the way she had tugged on her clothing during the tour earlier, he thought she felt a little uneasy in the skin-tight skirt.

“Mind if I sit here with you? I abhor eating alone. It’s like going to lunch in a restaurant by myself. I find pleasant conversation to help with the digestion as well. It’s like a smile or laughter. It’s good for you all the way down to your bones.” He smiled, and was greeted with a small upward tilt of her lips before she nodded timidly a couple of times.

“Sure, I’m almost done, anyway. I don’t really eat much for lunch. My breakfasts are usually bigger, so I just have something light in the middle of the day. Otherwise, I feel lethargic and sleepy in the afternoon.”

Nodding, Jim set his lunchbox down on the table and pulled the chair out with a scrape. He pulled it in after him as he sat down and started to unzip the bag. Taking out a cold bottle of water and his sandwich, he set aside the box and unwrapped the sandwich.

“I don’t suffer from that, probably due to a deep appreciation for caffeine. Tea, coffee, soda—any form of it and I’m happy.” He took a bite of his food and chewed slowly, taking brief glances at her as she added more vinaigrette to her salad. “How’s your first day so far?”

Looking up, she smiled a little brittlely. “Well, you know. All first days are a little stressful, but the people here seem nice. Even you.” She took a quick bite of her food, probably realizing that she’d said too much.

Jim didn’t seem to mind, even smiling at her refreshing candidness. “Did you think I would be some huge asshole to you?” He snorted and took another bite while he thought of something that would reassure her. Swallowing, he twirled his finger in the air as if hurrying his chewing up. “I’ve always been the way I am—consummate flirt, though I keep it under control when I sense someone is uncomfortable with my…style. Hell, I don’t just flirt with the women, you know. I’ll flirt with clients to the company if I’ve known them long enough, the men—even the staff that barely speak any English. It’s how I handle nerves, happiness, anger, sadness, etc. I don’t think it’s the best way to go through life, but it’s me and it makes me comfortable in any situation. Maybe that’s odd, but I’ve never claimed to be normal.”

Auden had watched him speak, barely chewing her lunch. Jim was a complete surprise, especially since he hadn’t once tried to hit on her. Having been warned about him by her Aunt Marietta, she’d expected nothing less and assumed that someone had warned him off her because he lived in the same home as her aunt and the owner of the business. It only made sense. “So you have to be comfortable and they would have be okay with it too?”

“Well, yes. Some of it is getting the person acclimated with the way you are as a person. So many people out there are more open than they think, but their personalities are stunted. Make a few jokes, and they see they don’t have to be so formal with me. It works for me because even though Clay is a lot more approachable nowadays, they still prefer to come to me because they know I am a lot more gregarious and welcoming. I’m the buffer, so it works well that they know I can joke around with them. If Clay is the king, you could call me the flirty court jester.”

Auden canted her head as if reflecting on that. Honestly, she could see the logic in that. If you could laugh easily with someone, the tension between you was less palpable over time.

“Flirty court jester?” Hiding a smile, she took another bite of her salad.

“Mmhmm,” he conceded. “Seems a strange turn of phrase, but—” He looked down as his phone notification went off. Opening the locked screen, he frowned down at it. “s**t. My sister is pissed. She never lurks on her email like this.”

Taking a sip of her water, Auden swallowed. “Oh, what did you do?”

He gave her a look. “Why does everyone assume I did something? I mean, maybe she’s the one overreacting?”

She didn’t say anything but rose her one eyebrow at him skeptically. Jim had to laugh. For a quiet woman, she’d showed a little feistiness in her interactions with him so far. No, Auden Fenn was no dummy, and she didn’t seem afraid to call him on his s**t.

“Fine, fine. I’ll tell you, but only one other person besides my sister knows what a s**t uncle I am.”

He leaned in and began to explain to her about his niece’s 2nd birthday as she nodded, quietly listening to him.

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