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I just lift my middle finger because he isn’t necessarily wrong. “I’m headin’ into my office unless you grease monkeys need me to install anything?”
He shakes his head. “Nah, we just have a few paint jobs on the roster today.”
I give him a chin lift. “Later.”
I’m almost at my door before I hear him yell, “Later, Casanova!” This fucker.
I grit my teeth as I unlock my door and turn on all the lights. I slam the door shut behind me and lock it for good measure. No need to be irritated by anyone today. I have a shit ton of invoices to go through and all my guys are currently on install jobs today. Hopefully, I can get all of this shit done in enough time to run one of those home-and-furniture stores or whatever to get everything that Cadie will need.
I turn on my computer before walking over to my coffee maker. I have a feeling I’m going to need an insane amount of caffeine to get me through all of this.
Once I’ve made my coffee, I sit in my chair and go through all of the appropriate folders, sending out invoices and marking which ones have been paid. I look at my books and realize we’ve done really well the past few months, lightening my mood considerably. Not that I’m hurting for money, but growing up with a single mother, I like making sure that my bank account is nicely padded. I don’t plan to ever live paycheck to paycheck again if I can help it.
Which reminds me to go through all of my stocks and different portfolios, double checking that everything is as it should be.
Several Hours Later:
Why the fuck did I think this was a good idea? I am not the usual clientele for a place like this and it fucking shows. While all of the other men here are in slacks and different kinds of dress shirts, I’m in jeans, a T-shirt, boots and my cut. Add in my height, size, tattoos and unfriendly mug, yeah, this place ain’t meant for someone like me. Normally, people giving me wide berth is something I enjoy. However, I can’t find a damn thing I need in this place and the employee’s starts walking in the opposite direction when they see me.
I rub my forehead, getting more annoyed by the second, which is probably not doing me any favors. But for fuck’s sake, can’t someone fucking help me?
“Hello, dear, you look like you could use some help.” I hear a frail voice ask from my left.
I look down and see the epitome of a sweet little old lady standing next me. I mentally snort, the only one with enough balls to come up to me is someone I could snap in half like a twig.
I give her a genuine smile because I sure as hell am not going to scare off this lady. “Yes, ma’am, I do.” I make sure my voice is gentle but loud enough for her to ear.
She’s wearing a name tag that reads Wanda, stating that she works here, giving me hope for the first time since I stepped foot into this place. “Yes, you look a bit miffed. Let me guess, your wife sent you on an errand?” She smiles at me before patting my arm with her tiny wrinkled hand. “Now don’t get me wrong, I love my Andy, but I learned a long time ago that he was useless when it came to any sort of shopping. Men just aren’t equipped for this.” She shakes her head and huffs, “Can you believe that I asked him to get me a tablecloth one day and, he came home with curtains! I swear, you men don’t have the sense God gave you when it comes to reading a darn label.”
“I’m guessing he got an earful about that.” I chuckle and smile down at her.
She puts her hands on her hip and purses her thin lips. “Well, he wouldn’t have if he didn’t insist that we just use the curtains on the table becauseno one will know the difference.I love that man but, some days, I just can’t stand him.” She shakes her head ruefully and yet not a grey hair on her head moves. “He’s the reason I got myself a part-time job here. He was driving me batty just puttering around in his workshop in the garage all day. Coming in and out with dirty tools.” She looks at me with a frown. “You would think after fifty-six years of marriage that he would know better than to do something like that. But no.”
“Well, ma’am, it works out well for me that you’re here. I need some help and no one seemed willing.” I smirk, trying to get her back on track. I have a feeling she could complain about her husband all day if I let her. Though after being married that many years, she probably has every right to.
She rolls her eyes and shakes her head. “Yes, all of the others around here seemed to be a bit scared of you.” She frowns while looking me over.
“But not you.” I chuckle.
“Pssssh.” She waves a fragile hand in the air. “I raised four big boys. And all of them decided to get themselves a bunch of tattoos like you have. Oh, I was so mad I could’ve spit when they all came home after basic training with their first tattoos. I swear those boys tried their hardest to drive me crazy.” She eyes me again. “But no, you don’t scare me in the least dear. I learned a long time ago that most of you big boys are just gentle giants.” I make no attempt to contradict her. It’s true where she’s concerned; others aren’t so lucky. She pats my arm again. “Now, what is it that your lady wanted? Let’s make sure you don’t give her a reason to give you an earful.”
“I appreciate that, ma’am.” I smile. “I wouldn’t want to get on her bad side.” I leave out how I’m still trying to get on her good one.
“Such good manners.” She beams at me. “Youngsters nowadays have such terrible ones.”
“My momma raised me right.” Telling her I’m not that young would be pointless. I have a feeling her boys are older than I am.
She claps her hands together. “Now what is it that you need?” She eyes my hands. “Did she happen to give you a list? We ladies are very particular about what we want.”
I smile and reach into my pocket and pull out my phone. “I recorded what she was saying so that I wouldn’t make a mess of what she wanted.” I press play and put it closer to her ear.
She listens to Cadies excited voice and gives me a warm smile. When the recording is done, she links her arm with mine while patting my forearm with her other. “Such a smart young man. You could teach the rest of your species a thing or two. Let’s walk on over to the baking isle and get you everything she wants.”
I make sure to keep my gait slow to compensate for her slow shuffling walk. I keep my right hand on top of her hand that is holding my arm, making sure she doesn’t lose her balance. It takes us longer than it probably should’ve but, we eventually reach the area she indicated. I take a look around and realize I never would’ve figured out what the hell to get even if I had managed to find this area. This is exactly why I shop primarily online, no way to fuck anything up that way.
We stop in front of a bunch of mixers and, I’m beginning to realize how far from my depth I am. There’s a shit ton of them and in all different colors.
I hear chuckling and look down to see this sweet little angel laughing at me. “Boy, you look like someone just asked you to build a rocket ship. This isn’t complicated. They’re all basically the same except some have better attachments than others.”
