Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 88742 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 444(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88742 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 444(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
“I’m just going to call him,” I mutter, pulling out my phone and dialing his number.
“Brick? Is everything okay?”
“Where are the people who work here? I need to talk to an employee.”
“Is everything okay?”
“Yes! I’m fine. I just need a key to something, but I don’t know how to find these people. I thought you might. Do you?”
“Yeah, yeah,” he chuckles. “I’ll send them your way. Where are you?”
“I’m by the bouncy castle. About ten feet away from it.”
“There should be someone coming to you in ten minutes. Just don’t be grumpy, okay? These are nice people, and I know how you act after being at these things for an hour.”
“Yeah, whatever, thank you.”
Robert laughs while hanging up. I decide to go through my emails, knowing that will help me pass the time. My inbox is consistently full, so I always know I’ll have something to read. It’s more of the same – financials, potentials pitches, and interesting applicants. The work never stops rolling in.
I’m in the middle of reading the projected finance report for a film we’re thinking of producing when I see someone approach me.
“Mr. Barrister?”
“Yes.” A frightened-looking teenage girl comes up to me. Maybe Robert is right, and I am grumpy. I’d rather not be the reason kids are scared.
“Mr. Maple told me you needed help with something.”
“Right, yes. Sorry about being,” I take a pause, “grumpy.” She smiles slightly, which makes me feel better.
“Don’t worry about it. You’re really not that bad.”
“Thank you.”
“Um, so did you want me to open up something? Mr. Maple mentioned a key.”
“I actually need you to do a little something for me.” I point toward Tammy. “Do you see that woman over there? In the white tee and jean shorts?”
“Yes, I see her,” the girl nods.
“What is your name?” I ask, feeling bad for that not being the first question I asked. I’m usually a lot better at treating people who work for me with a certain level of respect and politeness. But being near Tammy has my head spinning.
“Tiffany. My name is Tiffany.”
“Okay, Tiffany. That woman over there – her name is Tammy Thompson. She’s really into flowers and plants, and I thought it would be nice if someone could unlock the greenhouse door for her. You don’t have to be a tour guide or anything. Just let her wander around by herself.” Tiffany looks at Tammy for a few seconds before her eyes come back to mine.
“Is she your girlfriend or something?”
“No,” I shake my head.
“Do you want her to be?”
“I –” I didn’t expect Tiffany to be full of so many questions.
“Sorry, I shouldn’t be so nosy. My mom says it’s going to get me in trouble one of these days. I’ll go talk to her for you.” She starts to walk away, but I don’t want her feeling bad about being curious.
“Tiffany.” She stops walking and looks back at me. “Don’t worry about the questions. Tammy and I just recently got reacquainted. I guess you could say everything is very new, so I’m still figuring it out.”
“Okay,” Tiffany smiles. “I’ll make sure she makes it to the greenhouse.” She heads toward Tammy with a bit of a pep in her step. I wonder if I now have some random teenage girl in my corner. I could use all of the support I can muster, I guess. It’s going to take some convincing to get Tammy to come around to my way of thinking. But I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve. I like to think I can be pretty persuasive when I need to be.
I meander in the opposite direction, getting myself into place. The chips are finally starting to fall into place.
6
Tammy
My parents walked away to go say hi to some of my dad’s coworkers. Thank God. I’m not sure how much longer I could have held out. I’m getting to the end of my rope, and I’m over here just hanging by a thread.
When I came to these events as a kid, I would always just do my own thing. Some of the other employees have children my age, but I never really connected with any of them. It’s not like they were mean to me; we were all just on different pages.
Not much has changed in my older age. The biggest difference is that a lot of those kids – who are now grownups – aren’t here. They’re probably all out in the world being way more successful than me.
I’m glad my parents didn’t expect me to stay with them the whole time we’re at the barbecue. I would not have been able to engage in the chitchat and small talk that happens at these events. Especially having to hear my dad’s coworkers talk about all of the great things their kids have managed to do while here I am working in a flower shop with a boss I hate.