In Her Way (3 page)

"I think your brothers are super hot and I want to kiss them." Em shrugs.

"Eww!" I throw an H12 screw at her and we get back to work.

3

Certainly Uncertain

When Kaylee comes in the next day, she's bubbly and pleasant. The paperwork goes smoothly and her background check comes out squeaky clean. We ask her to start on Friday so she can get acclimated. Neve and Sarah start that day, too, so it'll be nice to have everyone together (especially since that'll be about a week before our grand opening). The furniture guys won't be in to install our front desk and dental chairs until Wednesday, anyway, so that gives Em and me time to get paperwork in order and grasp onto the last few quiet days with just the two of us in the office.

On Thursday, while we're working on putting together the last few pieces of furniture for the waiting room (I'm officially an expert on putting side tables and chairs together now, BTW), my phone rings. Em stops what she's doing and stares at me with a huge grin on her face.

I check the number, see that it's not one I already have programmed, and pull in a deep breath. It could be any number of people calling about the practice or deliveries or it could be the bank or even --

"Hello?" I stop myself by answering.

"Jules?" It's a guy. And as much as I don't want to admit it, I still remember his melty deep voice from the other day in the coffee shop.

"Um, yeah. And who is this?"

Em rolls her eyes at me and goes back to work.

"Andrew. We met at the coffee --"

"Oh, yeah! Andrew. Right." I hate myself.

He laughs. "I was thinking of getting a coffee, heading over to the park to soak up some of this sun, and I'd really like to check in and see how Kaylee's interview went. Care to join me?"

My chest aches with un-sure-ness. Of course I shouldn't. He was cute, nice, I had a great time talking to him the other day, and he has "delicious distraction" written all over his suited body. The wobbly part of my stomach returns from my texting conversation with Joel the other day, reminding me I can't be letting myself get distracted right now. My mama always says,
A squirrel with too many acorns in his arms is bound to drop 'em all at once
. Opening a business at twenty-eight is a big deal. I got here because I was focused, sometimes too focused for boyfriends (ask some of my exes). And I really don't want to overload myself with acorns this time around.

But on the other hand, meeting with him might give me the chance to learn some more about Kaylee, another thing twisting my gut in uncomfortable ways. Even though everything checked out, the girl is still a veritable mystery to me and if we're going to put her as the face of our business, I owe it to myself to do as much research as I can.

I realize I have been silent for much too long. "Oh. Today. Um..." I stall while I try to decide. "Sure," I say, finally.

"I'll meet you there in ten." He hangs up after I say okay.

My stomach settles instantly. He's meeting me there, not picking me up. Good. This definitely isn't a date, then. He simply wants to check in about his client -- totally business related.

I fill Em in, ignore the are-you-sure-it's-not-a-date? face she makes, take down her order for coffee, plant a kiss on my hand and stick it on the top of her head in thanks for letting me escape the madness of tedious Ikea furniture building.

Andrew was right; it's a beautiful day out. Just walking the few blocks down the street makes me feel so much happier. Honestly, Em and I were worried moving here that we might not like living in such a small place, but the more I'm out and about in town, the more I'm liking it. It reminds me of one of those towns from old TV sitcoms where everything is lovely and nothing bad ever happens, which is great because that's exactly what I need to happen with this business.

I pull at my tank top and push my hair out of my face before walking into the coffee shop. Andrew's not here yet, but I order and have a seat while I wait for my chai. The sun streams through the window and feels warm on my face, so I rock back in the rickety chair and close my eyes. For a few seconds I breathe in the lovely coffee smells and listen to the making-latte sounds banging around behind me.

"Hey there."

I crack an eye open and scrunch my nose as I try to get a look at the guy standing in front of me. Suited up again, but this time in a classic looking navy blue tone, Andrew's hands are shoved into his pockets and he's smiling down at me.

"Oh, hey!" I sit up and almost stand, but then I wonder if I should shake his hand or give him a quick hug. Both feel awkward, so I decide on nothing, drop my butt the inch back down into the chair, and pull my shoulders up to my ears, unsure of what to do next.

"Sixteen ounce Chai," the barista calls.

Having just awkwardly sat, I stand up all the way, smile at Andrew, and go grab my cup. I wait with him while he orders an Americano. After he pays, we stay close to the counter and our eyes meet.

"So." I rock back and forth on the balls of my feet.

"Good to see you again."

"You, too."

"So Kaylee worked out okay?"

I nod. "Thanks again." Then I stay silent for a second and narrow my eyes.

"What?"

"Well, what's her story anyway?" I say it carefully and smile, not wanting him to think I'm being unprofessional, but really needing more information.

Andrew shrugs. "She's kind of had a hard time of things, especially lately, but she's got a good heart."

I bite my lip, definitely not wanting to come off catty or unappreciative. "That I could tell." I smile. "Her past employers just raved about her."

He clears his throat and his eyebrows jump up as the barista finishes his drink and hands it to him over the counter. He holds a hand open toward the door. "Shall we?"

I nod and lead the way out onto the sidewalk. After a quick check left and right to make sure the one-car-per-five-minutes that drives by here isn't coming, we walk across the street toward the waterfront park. Heck, maybe it
would
be easy to mistake this place for an island. There sure is a lot of water. We walk slowly along the winding path that follows the bank.

"She interviewed well, then?" Andrew asks after a few moments of silence.

I nod, but then turn it into a side-to-side deal.

He stops. "Okay, what does that mean?"

"Well..." I scrunch my mouth to the side. I don't want to offend him, Kaylee being his client and all, but I guess I would want to know were I in his shoes. "Her resume looked great and all, but she just didn't seem to -- know... much." I squint as I eek out the last, hardest part.

Andrew runs his hand over his chin and nods. "Yeah, I've tried to work on that with her." He shakes his head and looks out at the water. Then he puts his hand out. "I hope once she settles into the position you'll find that your opinion changes."

I nod. "Sure. We totally figured it was nerves."

"I don't want you to think I've saddled you with some nightmare or anything."

"Oh! Not at all." I shake my head vehemently, if not only to cover up the fact that it was exactly what I was worried about. My stomach settles a bit.

"Good." He smiles.

There's a bench to the left of the path and he motions to it, a question written on his face. I nod and watch him, still trying to figure out the purpose of this meeting. Even though I know I'm not interested in a relationship, I still find myself wondering what he's thinking. (You know, so I don't lead him on or anything, of course.) Is this meeting purely Kaylee related? Are we two associates talking about a mutual business interest? He seems focused on that, but then there's also the way he's looking at me, his closeness as he walks next to me, and the way that he puts his hand on my arm as he leads me over to sit with him and look out at the water. I sit rigidly next to him, hoping I'm reading those signs wrong. I really don't want to have to turn him down.

"So have you lived around here long?" Andrew asks, looking over at me.

Okay, now we're into personal questions. I shouldn't get into all of this, but my mama and daddy raised me to be polite, so I think of how to answer that in the most platonic way possible. "No, just moved here a couple months ago, actually, starting this business and all. It's nice, though I always thought if I was going to move, it'd be closer to my family, not farther away."

"Where are they?"

Okay, now he's got me. There's nothing I like better than talking about my family. Especially because I haven't seen them as much since we started working on the practice.

"My parents live about an hour and a half south. My mama is an accountant and my daddy owns his own semi-truck automotive shop. Matt, my oldest brother, lives there, too. He works with my dad and is married with two kids, my nieces Isabella and Jordyn. Next there's Travis. He lives up in Bellingham and works at an outdoors shop most of the year until ski season and then he's a lift operator/ instructor up at Baker. Not married. Yet." I smile. "Having a little too much fun partying and living the good life, I think. He has been with this great girl, Heather, for six months, though, and we're thinking she might be the one. Then there's Joel."

I can't help taking in a deep breath as I talk about my favorite brother. "Joel is a pilot and lives in Seattle with his boyfriend, Nick. They're not married yet, even though it's legal now and all, but I'm excited to see who pops the question first."

Andrew smiles and nods.

"Sorry, I'm babbling." My face grows hot as I realized he only asked where my family lives, a one or two word answer at best that I've turned into a good few minutes.

"Not at all. I can tell they're very important to you."

"Yeah. I try to see them as much as I can." I stop, remembering I know nothing about his family. "Are you close with yours?" I ask. It isn't until after the question comes out that I realize I was trying to avoid being this personal. I scold myself and resolve to keep the rest of this business related, that is, until I see the look on Andrew's face.

He's squinting his eyes, but not in his smiley way. "It's not that we're not close. My parents separated when we were pretty young and we took turns living at different houses, so we never got used to doing much together. Now we're all kind of in that busy time of our lives and, you know, we're focusing on our careers and stuff. My mom lives in Cali, but Dad's in Oregon. I have an older sister and a younger brother. Caity is a nurse over in Wenatchee. She's married and has a little boy. My younger brother, Greg just graduated from college in California. He does computer design type programming stuff."

I try not to let my face fall. I feel bad for him, but I know other people have different priorities. I also know my family is sort of an anomaly.

"I love when I do see them. It's just a little more sporadic."

I nod. "My family sightings have been a bit sporadic lately, too." There, back to business.

"Right. Opening a dental practice." He smiles.

I shrug. "Yeah, all the kids are doing it." I check the time on my phone. "Speaking of, I should get back. I owe Em a coffee for letting me escape for a bit."

Andrew nods and stands up. "Thanks for keeping me company and letting me check in. My goal is to keep up with Kaylee. I hope that's okay." He watches me.

I stop for a second, but before I let my stomach get all twisted up again about him "keeping up" which will mean sticking around, I notice that Andrew doesn't seem upset that I'm leaving. Actually, any signs that he thinks this might be date-like have washed away. Maybe he really is just in this as a professional. And who's to say I can't have more professional friends?

So I smile and say, "I think that'll be okay."

We walk back across the road and part at the coffee shop, him heading to his car, me heading back inside for Em's drink.

When I get back to the office, Em looks up. Without saying anything, I know her scrunchy face is asking me whether it was a date or not.

I plop next to her triumphantly. "Simply business." I nod and get back to work.

4

Her?

"So this is yours." I lead Kaylee over to her desk, when she comes in on Friday, and motion with my best Vanna hands. "Em will show you how to use the computer system." Em walks over and smiles, ready. "Sarah, Neve, this is Kaylee." I introduce her, as she has not yet met the other girls. "The three of us are going to be working on getting supplies into the cabinets in the back while you and Em do paperwork up here. Okay?"

Kaylee nods, still wide-eyed.

"Okay. Let's get going then!" I feel rather like a cheerleader, but everyone seems motivated if not a bit overwhelmed (mostly Kaylee on that last one), so we get to work.

A few hours later, Em comes back and collapses into one of the dental chairs.

"Paperwork sucks. Numbers suck. Why did I decide I wanted to work here?"

I laugh and throw a free sample of floss at her. "How's Kaylee doing?"

She shrugs. "I should probably go check on her. I've been so wrapped up in my own stuff, I haven't looked in on her since I showed her about the computer system a little while ago."

"We should grab some lunch while we're at sort of a break," Sarah says, looking at her watch since we've yet to install any clocks in this place.

Not needing to be told twice, we all nod and grab our things. When we get to the front desk, Kaylee's nowhere to be seen. Suddenly a lamp turns on and we see her scoot out from under the desk, fixing a few strands that pulled loose from her ponytail, bracelets jangling away. She stands up, puts her hands on her hips, and smiles.

"Gosh am I exhausted! I just couldn’t figure out where to put that thing." She wipes her forehead and adds, "I think this works really well, though."

Em and I look at each other slowly.

"That’s all you did?" Neve snorts out a laugh.

"Did you -- um -- happen to enter any of those patients like I showed you?" Em's voice shakes slightly, a yell pushing the question ahead of it.

Kaylee sighs and shakes her head. "I didn't have time for those, too." She swipes at the air near us as if we're being silly.

Em wobbles slightly. The four of us stand there, silent, sweaty, and buzzed from actually doing hard work this morning. I can, with a lot of confidence, say that I think the words, 'a freaking lamp?' are screaming through all of our minds at the same time.

"We're gonna get something to eat...?" I feel like I've forgotten how to say things.

"Oh great!" Kaylee says, grabbing her purse. "I'm starving." She smiles and prances out the door.

Sarah and Neve shake their heads and follow her. Em and I share a dramatic what-the-hell eye roll before walking out, too. We'll definitely have to talk about
that
later.

We pile into Neve's van (she has three kids) and pop into town for burritos. There's this great little local place where they assemble them in front of you. Lining up, we each go through, getting our individual lunches. I'm second to last, Kaylee bringing up the rear, and as I order the last few things (cheese, sour cream, and guacamole, duh) on my burrito, I can't help but overhearing what's happening behind me.

"Oh. Wait." Kaylee puts her hand to her mouth. "Could I change my mind and have black beans instead?" she asks.

The poor man making her burrito has literally just slapped a spoonful of refried beans on top of the rice he already scooped into her tortilla. He looks down at the plate and sighs. By the way he moves the beans around for a second, I can tell he's thinking about whether or not he could scrape them off without -- nope, he dumps the whole thing and starts over again with a tight smile.

Kaylee then proceeds to try saying the toppings she wants in Spanish. However, she's pronouncing everything incorrectly and the burrito-maker-guy is beyond confused, his brow furrowed, leaning forward, trying to point to things before he throws them onto the tortilla. Kaylee is saying things like, "Si -- uh -- no -- nada -- well" while making faces behind the glass shield.

"Ma'am?" The gal who made my burrito waits at the register toward the end with my plate.

"Oh, sorry." I jog down to meet her, having gotten caught up with the ordering drama of my newest employee. I pay and take my plate over to the table where the girls are already seated.

"What was that all about?" Em leans over and whispers in my ear.

"I don't think I could describe it if I tried." I shake my head.

Kaylee sits down a few moments later and we focus on eating. We chat about our to-do-before-opening list.

Suddenly, Em elbows me and says, "So Kaylee. Tell us more about your friend, Andrew."

The girl tightens up like there's a big ole zipper on her spine that someone just pulled up up up. "Andrew? Uh. No. I -- what?" She smiles and shoves a huge bite in her mouth.

"He's not really her friend, guys," I say, looking over at Kaylee for confirmation.

Kaylee shakes her head in the overly dramatic way my five-year-old niece does when she's hiding something. "No, oh, we just know each other -- he helps me -- work..." More word-salad-sandwich sputters out, her shoulders deflating forward after the effort.

I wave my hand. "Oh, it's alright, Kaylee, Andrew told me all about how he's helping you. I get it." I smile at her from across the table, feeling bad for putting her on the spot. I hate having to see anyone look so damn nervous.

Kaylee sits up straighter and the lost smile returns to her face. "He did? Oh, that's great?" Yeah, she definitely says the last part as a question.

Shit, maybe I wasn't supposed to know that she's getting help from a coach. Wait, scratch that. I'm her employer, of course I'm going to know that, but maybe she's just embarrassed that she needed the help.

I give her a "don't worry" wink, but the girl doesn't seem to need it because she says, "Well, I'm surprised, but I'm actually glad he talked to you. That makes everything a lot easier." Any tension in her body seems to disappear and she sits back, a blissful smile spreading across her face and her eyes fluttering happily as she picks at her special burrito.

I'm completely lost. I purse my lips and narrow my eyes at this nervous, confused and confusing, doe-eyed and dewy girl we've hired and wonder what we've gotten ourselves into.

When we get back to the office, everyone gets back to work, but Em grabs my arm and pulls me into the back room.

"What are we going to do?” she asks.

I sigh. “Our hiring window is super small. Should we fire her right now so we can start looking for someone else?"

Em shakes her head. “We can’t just fire her. There are laws about that, procedures we have to follow.”

I nod, super glad Em’s had some office managing experience under her belt so she knows this kind of stuff.

“We have to let her know our concerns and give her time to change. Then we can fire her.”

I bite my lip and remember what Andrew said about her having a hard go of it lately. Gosh, I do feel bad for people who have crap lives, but I don't think sacrificing my not-even-opened-yet business to help her is a good plan either.

"How do you explain to someone that three hours on positioning a lamp is too much?" I ask, feeling like that definitely falls into the things-regular-people-know category.

Em shrugs. “We have to try.”

"Okay, okay.”

Em and I take in deep breaths and push our shoulders back. Then we walk up to the front of the office, but Kaylee's gone. We narrow our eyes at one another and look under her desk just in case she found it necessary to move her lamp, again. She's not under there either, but as we're stretched out across the desk, I spot her outside, talking with a woman and a little girl.

"Hey..." I say as we walk outside, my eyes darting around, trying to figure out what's going on here. Kaylee's now squatting down by the little girl who is laughing at something she just said.

"Oh! And here they are." Kaylee stands up and motions to us with her hands. "Meet Dr. Maddox and Mrs. Hansen, the owners."

The woman smiles at us and holds out her hand. We shake it and Kaylee says, "Patty wanted to bring her daughter by. They heard about the new business and wanted to see what it was like."

Patty nods. "Kaylee here has been amazing." She leans toward us and whispers, "Hilary is painfully shy, that's why I thought I could take the edge off some of her fears by coming over here. She normally doesn't talk with anyone unless she's known them for weeks, but this...." The woman just shakes her head as she watches her daughter latch onto Kaylee's leg with a giggle.

Em and I should say things like, "Oh, yes!" and "She's wonderful." But we just stare, mouths open.

Patty doesn't seem to mind, she adds, "We'll definitely be switching dentists if Kaylee's here. Well, see you guys later. I'll be sure to spread the word. Thanks, Kaylee." She waves and takes her daughter's hand as they walk away.

Kaylee smiles at us, shrugs, and heads back inside.

"Ummm..."

"So..."

Em looks me in the eyes. Hers widen even more and she presses her lips together. "She's some sort of people magnet."

"People who aren't us." My voice comes out in a whisper.

Em nods. "Customer people."

"Patients." Another whisper.

Em and I look out to where Patty and Hilary drive away in their car. We wave goodbye.

"I suppose I can spare some time showing her how to email and schedule and probably turn on her computer."

I give Em a cringe-y look. "You said it yourself that you can't do it all. What's the use in paying someone if you're going to be doing her work?"

Em chews on her lip for a moment and then sighs. "I get it, but maybe she'll learn fast. Plus, um....” More chewing.

"Spit it out, lady."

"Look, I love you. You know that. But, it's just -- I think sometime your Mrs. Focus side can make you come off a little -- harsh." Em flinches and watches me take in her words.

It's not just
her
words, though. My family's get mixed in there, too.
Minty, honey, there's more than one way to be successful. Don't forget all of the other important things in life
. (That one's from Mama.)
  Where'd that little girl I love go?
(That's what Daddy says whenever I start getting too intense.)
Don't get all Judge Julesy on us.
(That's what my brother, Joel calls me when I get judgmental.)

My lack of friends-other-than-Em gets tossed onto the pile of evidence and then there's the fact that a few of my professors in college told me I might want to pull it back a little bit. Okay, so I'm a little intense.

I take in a slow breath and force myself to nod. "I'm listening."

"Well, we're in a service business. People need to want to come here. There needs to be a kind face they're looking forward to seeing. I think that might be Kaylee. Plus, maybe we can rub off on Kaylee a bit and she can rub off on you." Em scratches her nose.

She has a point. "Fine. It's your time. If you want to pick up the slack while she learns the tech, that's up to you. In the meantime, I'll try to pick up some tips on how to thaw this out a bit." I move my hand in circles, motioning to myself.

Em smiles at me. "I really think this might be good."

I stop myself from shaking my head as we go back inside.
Em works her way around Kaylee's desk and I hear her say, "Okay, let's go over some of these programs" as I go into the back and start working.

A few hours later, my phone buzzes in my pocket. I pull it out, looking for an excuse to take a break. It's a text from my brother.

Joel: I never thought it would happen, but it has.

My heart quickens, a smile slaps me in the face, and my shoulders pull up high in excitement. It's happened! Nick must've proposed. He beat Joel to it, the sneaky bastard.

Me: Yeeeeeeee! How? When?

Joel: It's been four whole days since I've heard from my baby sister. Not a peep. No funny movie lines, no whiny complaints, not even a lousy emoji. =(

I roll my eyes. Ugh. No wedding, just good ole familial guilt.

Me: Haha... I just happen to be opening a business, sir. Yeesh, give me a break. Also, now I'm mad at you forever for making me think Nick proposed.

Joel: Don't even remind me of all that. Anyway, what are you doing currently?

Me: Currently?

Joel: Yes, currently?

Me: Working, duh. Aren't you?

Joel: Nope. Standing outside of this fucking adorable dental office in some nowhere town, hoping a cute girl will take me in for the weekend.

My heart jumps into my throat. I squeal (I know, I'm sorry, but it's my brother), run to the front door, and throw it open. A man in his mid thirties, with long-ass legs just like mine turns toward me and smiles. He's wearing dark blue pants, a perfect, light-blue gingham button up, and brown wing tips that are to-die-for and match his belt. He pushes his sunglasses up onto the top of his head and holds his arms out. I run, flat out, and smack into him, wrapping my arms so-tight around his thin frame.