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“I know, I know, I’m just letting everybody know I have reinforcements,” Evelyn said, putting the bottle back in the cooler, and placing a hand over her heart. “I’m on my best behavior from here on out. I’m only here for the books.”
“Yes,” Abi said, opening her planner again, “About that. Sho, if you could…”
“If I couldwhat?” Shoshana said, putting the orange juice on the counter. It was starting to sweat. Also, she didn’t like how it reminded her of Baxter. It was a stupid thing to get emotional about and she had too much to do right now to get emotional anyway.
“I talked to Bax, apparently there’s a procedure manual somewhere. We need that.” Abi said, looking like she expected the thing to appear from thin air before her.
“We’re here to help,” Patti said, looking from Abi to Shoshana and back. “We’re pretty sure between us we have the skills you need to at least give you a break for a while. You’re going to run yourself into the ground if you keep up like this.”
“How exactly are you going to help?” Shoshana said. She was answering everything with a question, but all she had were questions at this point. She felt confused and her brain was foggy, and the orange juice was reminding her that she hadn’t eaten breakfast this morning.
“Glad you asked,” Abi said. She had a pencil in her hand and was using the eraser to touch each point she’d written on her list, “Evelyn is going to do your bookkeeping. She’s committed to three times a week but is willing to come in more often if you need her. Patti is a project manager, I stopped by yesterday and saw--whatever that is--”
“You mean my office,” Shoshana said, not liking the way Abi was gesturing to her workspace like it was flaming garbage. “Also, when were you here yesterday?”
“Oh, I don’t know, around four? You were on the phone and it sounded important, so I left. And you know, made some calls. Cause that’s something, Sho. Like you know what it looks like right?”
“Seven kinds of screwball in a corner pocket?” Evelyn suggested helpfully. Becca snorted from somewhere behind them. Evelyn made a complicated gesture under her chin, looking meaningfully at Abi. “Did we ever find someone to take care of, uh--”
“Yes, Kathy volunteered for that one. She’s working off-site.”
“It’s my process,” Shoshana said defensively, because she definitely didn’t want to know what Kathy had volunteered to do. She didn’t wantanyonevolunteering to take care of her. She wasn’t a lost kitten.
“Is your process helping you?” Patti asked, arms crossed over her chest. “Does that post-it wall make it easier for you to think?”
“Be honest, Sho,” Leah said, challenge in her voice.
“I mean--everything is new, I’m still figuring it out,” she hedged. “It’ll be helpful when I figure out what works for me.”
“Right, okay,” Abi said, her look saying she wasn’t going to stand for this for another minute, “So Patti is going to sit down with you and give you a crash course in project management. While that’s happening, Leah and I are going to go through the procedure manual to see what else we can help with. Becca is going to handle the floor.”
“Wait, what?” Shoshana was sure being a salesperson was something the teenager could handle, but that wasn’t the point. “I’m not okay with you ripping apart my procedure manual, I have all kinds of notes in there.”
“That’s okay. Baxter said there was an extra copy behind the desk and another one in his office,” Abi said, pleased with herself.
“I am so angry with you right now,” Shoshana said, but there was no sting in it. The sense of freedom she was experiencing was hard to pin down. The idea that she would suddenly not have to shoulder all of the responsibility for everything, at least for a few hours, was giving her something akin to euphoria.
“Be angry, feel your feelings,” Evelyn said, wheeling the cooler behind her like she was the prow of a very svelte ship as she made her way to the big office, “just let us help.”
“What she said,” Leah said pointedly before considering the sloppy bun Shoshana had pulled her hair into. “Sho, please tell me those aren’t highlighters in there.”
“I--”
“Does anybody mind if I hook my ipod up to this?” Becca asked from behind the counter. She’d already handed the counter’s copy of the Work Bible to Abi, who was flipping through the sections and unceremoniously cannibalizing it. Shoshana made herself look at the teenager. Becca grinned, looking a little sheepish. “I… may have created a playlist already last night. The first song is Monster Mash if that helps?”
The only thing left for Shoshana to do was to go with it, so she did.
* * *
David refused to look up from his computer. That made the fourth or fifth time Kathy hovered in his doorway before retreating back to her office since eight this morning. He had no idea what she wanted to talk to him about, but after the first few times when he’d asked if she needed anything and she’d harrumphed her way back to her desk, he’d given up. He wasn’t sure what was going on, and he didn’t want to know.
He was miserable.
He had been miserable ever since that farkakt call with Shoshana.
The number of times he’d picked up the phone intent on calling her to apologize, or texting to try and start a conversation, or grabbed his keys so he could drive over there, was beyond counting.
You’re gonna have to do more than apologize to make up for that pile of crap,Moshe said in his head, sounding like a disappointed parent. David glared at the blinking cursor on his computer screen. He wasn’t in the mood to have it out with his own subconscious right now.
