Page 29 of Gross Misconduct

“But—”

He shut me up with a kiss. A damn hot kiss that I melted into, and that ended all too soon.

“I did that to distract you. Did it work?”

I was still registering the kiss and staring up into his blue eyes, the same eyes that told me the kiss wasn’t just to shut me up. “Yeah, I think so,” I managed to get out.

“Great. So don’t worry about who you think you are, because you’re not. Do you want to take a few more deep breaths and get back into the car? I don’t want us to be late.”

“Right. Yes.”

I got back into the car and kept thinking about the kiss. I mean, I know why he did it. He wanted to get my attention off my meltdown, but damn, that kiss was hot, and now my focus was on that, right up until he pulled into the Mainland Pantry parking lot.

“You okay now?” he asked, patting my leg. The action felt like fire, shooting through every part of my body.

“I am. Sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry about it. As long as you think you’re up for this.”

“I totally am.”

We went inside and found our group in one of the waiting rooms. Ethan and Tangi were there, along with Ryan and his girlfriend, Jackie. I had just finished meeting Ryan and Jackie when the other two couples came in. One was Sam and Caitlan and the last pair were Connor, and his wife Melanie. I had so many names to keep track of.

We were all getting acquainted when Mizrah, our team leader, came in. She had to be five foot nothing and seemed so small compared to all the hulking hockey players. She had her black dreadlocks pulled into a ponytail and didn’t seem at all interested in any of the guys or their celebrity. I liked her already.

“Hello, everyone,” she said, her voice betraying her size. She quickly had our attention. “My name is Mizrah, and I will be your leader today. I’m going to show you a short video before we go through our quick orientation. Any questions so far?”

No one had a question, so she switched on the safety video, and when it was done, asked us to follow her. She handed out safety vests that barely fit Ryan, but he managed to get it on his bulky frame. Next, we moved through the massive warehouse past pallets of food. The operation was huge.

“We have you sorting today, and since we have some larger gentleman present, we’re going to ask you to move some of the heavier boxes.” Mizrah then showed us how to sort through the food by date and if the canned food was damaged. She had the ladies doing that while the men did the heavy lifting. Mizrah paired us off at stations, and I tried to get paired with Tangi, but got put with Melanie instead.

Ethan passed us our first box to sort. Melanie took charge and suggested we empty the contents, go through the expiry dates and damages, then sort them accordingly. All food that passed our inspection went back into the box, and everything else was discarded. I liked that she took the initiative to get us started. It was nice to not be in charge.

As we worked through our first box, I stole some glances at Jeremy. He was moving bags of potatoes while Ryan was working on massive fifty-pound bags of flour. They were into their job and listening to everything Mizrah told them to do. It was adorable watching them take direction from little Mizrah.

“How long have you and Jeremy been dating?” Melanie asked.

She asked the question casually, more out of curiosity than anything else. I didn’t know her at all, and Jeremy had never mentioned Melanie or Connor, so I figured I’d just go with what we’d decided to tell people.

“Not long. Actually, right around the whole scandal. It certainly put a test to our new relationship.”

“I’m guessing you met him through Tangi?”

“Yeah. Tangi and I are best friends.”

“Don’t get me wrong, Jeremy is a great guy, but he did something really stupid. I hope that he’s smartened up. What he did messed with the team.”

She really was no-nonsense, and I heeded her warning. “I know. He has many regrets.”

We finished our first box, Ethan took it away, and Connor brought us another one to sort. Melanie and I had a good rhythm, and I enjoyed working with her. I’d have to ask Tangi for more info about her. As we worked, Melanie told me that she’d been married to Connor for about a year and was a dentist. She said she couldn’t stand sitting around all day doing nothing. I wasn’t sure what that meant, but I didn’t press.

“I told Connor when I married him that I wasn’t going to be a babymaker who stayed home and looked pretty in pictures. It’s not me, and it never will be. And he accepted that.”

“How did you meet?”

“We met in high school. He thought he was the cat’s meow, but I put him in his place. He fell in love and so did I. I’m not a wallflower, and I don’t think you are either. And that’s what Jeremy needs. He’s been acting like a frat boy for long enough. It’s time for him to grow up.”

The next three hours flew by. The photographer Mainland Pantry had hired was taking great pictures of all of us, and when it was over, I insisted that Mizrah be in the pictures as well. She thanked us enthusiastically, and we all promised to come back. What I didn’t know was that all the guys had made donations, and Mizrah thanked them profusely. Only then did I learn that Mainland Pantry was all volunteer-run. I’d have to talk to the Kodiaks about making a more substantial donationand see if we could partner with them in the future for a food drive.

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