Harrison gave him a hard look, but he didn’t deny it. Which was always the tell with Harrison. If he didn’t immediately deny something, it had at least a kernel of truth.
And then the door to the breakroom opened, and Jayda walked inside.
She was surprised to see that the man they referred to as the boss, and the one she referred to as the perv, was in the breakroom too. And the way he was sitting at that little table made him look even more imposing than he did in the restaurant, or in front of that office building. Why would he be in their breakroom? “My manager said you wanted to see me?”
Harrison was floored when that rush of emotions overtook him again as soon as she walked into that room. It floored him so that he didn’t even hear her question.
But Carter heard it. “Why did you turn down the job? It pays very well.”
“But what am I being paid to do?” asked Jayda. “I’m not participating in any nonsense.”
Carter was offended. “Neither are we! What’s with you people? It’s a dinner party. Didn’t your boss tell you that?”
Now Jayda wasn’t as surefooted, given how offended the shorter man seemed. “Well, yes, he told me that. But . . .”
“But what? Where is this fear coming from?”
Harrison could feel her distress, and oddly enough it distressed him. He decided to help her. “I wish to offer an advance to assure you that I won’t stiff you, or abuse you, or allow you to be abused, in any way.”
Jayda knew that abuse part was coming from what Raymond had told him, but it still felt reassuring to her. “I’m not saying that I thought that you’d do something like that,” she felt a need to say.
“That’s not entirely true,” Harrison said to her. Then he looked at her. “Now is it?”
Jayda felt exposed, but rightly so. “No. Not entirely.”
Harrison stared at her. There was an honorableness about her that fascinated him. And that made him even more certain that he just might have stumbled upon the absolute right one for the job.
He pulled out his checkbook, wrote a check, and then tore it out and handed it to her.
Although he left thepay to the order ofline blank, he did sign it. But it was the amount of the check that had Jayda’s full attention. She looked at that amount, and then looked at him. “Four-thousand dollars?”
Even Carter was shocked by that figure.
“It’s an advance,” said Harrison, closing his checkbook. “You’ll get at least double that amount at the end of the evening.” Then he stood up and extended his hand. “Do we have a deal, young lady?”
It was more than enough to cover her rent next month. Her entire rent, not just Kenny’s half!
She knew she should question it. Were rich people that frivolous with money that he would pay a server that much for one evening? Or was it more to it than that? She knew she should question it.
But as she looked into the eyes of the man that had given her that check, she saw a softness there, a kindness, that made her feel as if he would never harm her. Although she knew it could be the money that had her feeling that way, money she so desperately needed, she still felt that way. But regardless of where that feeling was coming from, she was nobody’s fool. No way was she giving back a bird in the hand!
That was why she shook his massive-size hand.
When they touched, both of them felt a jolt. So much so that Jayda looked into Harrison’s eyes to see if he felt it too. He seemed so different than he did in front of that office building. He came across as a mean, intimidating sort of person when they first met. But he didn’t come across that way to her in that breakroom. He seemed kind and considerate: a caring person standing in front of her. She didn’t know why she felt that way, but that how she felt.
They held each other’s hand longer than everybody in that room knew was necessary, but then Harrison released her hand so abruptly that she didn’t get a chance to register why she was suddenly feeling so definitive about him. Maybe that was money-driven too. But it was money she couldn’t refuse because it was in her possession now. It stood between her and homelessness next month. She was keeping that cash.
“You have a deal,” she said to him, “but on one condition.”
Carter and Vincent glanced at each other with thatcheck her outlook on their faces.
Harrison should have been irritated with her, too, but he was too intrigued. “What condition?”
“You have to promise me that no clothes will come off at your party.”
Carter couldn’t believe this girl. Vincent either. And although Harrison wasn’t exactly smiling either, Jayda could see a kind of relief wash over him too. As if he really wanted her to serve at his party. As if he really wanted her in that capacity. Which still baffled her. “No clothes will come off,” he said to her and in that moment he meant it. “On that I promise you.”
Jayda smiled. And they shook hands again. But this time very briefly. And then Harrison gave her a slight nod of his head, which was reassuring too, and left the break room. Vincent hurried behind him.
