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“Me pretending we just met. My HR manager is kind of a stickler for nepotism. I thought it best if we just act like we just met.”
She laughs a little and sets her hand on top of her cell phone that she’d placed on the table right after she sat down. “Aren’t you the owner? You can do what you want.”
“There are federal laws... so she says... and it’s just easier this way. I don’t want to be accused of favoritism in the workplace.” I pause, measuring my next words carefully. “And I know you, Taryn. I know you can be professional. You’re smart and a hard worker. Jeff is going to absolutely love you.”
She grins. “I already like Jeff. He seems super sweet and easygoing. Most computer people are weird or high-strung.”
I chuckle. “Not us at Lockwood Tech. The only uptight person is Lisa. But I think that’s part of her job, and I don’t mind.”
“Here you are.” Maria sets her wine in front of her. “Sure you don’t want a food menu? We’ve got BOGO wings right now. Twenty for the price of ten.”
Damn, wings do sound good. I glance at one of the many televisions mounted on the wall and see the game still isn’t over. Nuggets are beating the Lakers by a lot. They’re for sure going to the playoffs.
“Yeah, let’s get some wings,” I say, answering for Taryn.
She smiles. “Wings do sound amazing.”
“What kind?” Maria asks. “We have buffalo, mild, spicy, parmesan...”
“Whatever’s most popular and not super spicy,” Taryn answers.
I can live with that.
Maria winks. “You got it, darlin’.”
I laugh. I’ve been here plenty but the only person I’ve heard call people darlin’ was the old manager who isn’t here anymore. She must have rubbed off on her.
“So when do you want me to start?” Taryn asks me with excitement dancing in her pretty eyes.
I shrug. “Whenever you want. How’s Monday?”
“That would be perfect. I’m still cleaning out my mom’s house. It’s been slow going with no help.” She makes a face I can’t quite decipher. Something between sadness and anger.
“That has to be tough,” I say honestly, feeling bad for her. “Can you hire help?”
I immediately realize my mistake at the suggestion, since she’s just lost her job and probably doesn’t have a lot of money.
She flops a hand. “Nah, I’d rather do it myself. I don’t need some careless junk hauler throwing away something by accident that I’d like to keep. I do plan to hire a junk removal company to get a lot of the stuff, but I’m packing it myself.”
I want to offer to help, but it feels like overstepping. I stare at the sadness in her eyes and feel like an asshole again.
I reach over and grab her hand. She looks up at me, staring at me with those eyes. “Look, Taryn, I’m sorry about your mom. She was like a second mother to me and I was devastated to hear she’d passed. I’m sorry I wasn’t there. I sent a card, I hope you got it.”
She nods but lets me hold her hand. “I did. Thanks.”
“Her death was sudden. Was it an accident?” I cringe internally. This is a heavy topic but my curiosity has been eating at me. I’d just heard she’d died when Eric sent me an email from prison. He didn’t go into specifics and I didn’t ask.
She looks at me a little stunned. “You don’t know?”
I shake my head. “I only found out from Eric. I didn’t want to pry, I just told him I was sorry when he called me after.”
“I...” She pauses. “I hadn’t heard from her in a few days. We usually talk or text daily. I grew concerned when my texts went unanswered. When her calls went straight to voicemail. I left work early and headed to her house. She was on the kitchen floor, and...” Her voice squeaks and tears spring to her eyes.
Dammit. I’m such an asshole.
I immediately leave my chair and go around to wrap her in a hug. “I’m sorry, Taryn. Fuck. I apologize for bringing this up.”
She welcomes my comfort and nods into my chest. “It’s okay. I need to talk about it.”
