Page 33 of A Lesson for Laurel

“I could have easily kept things light for a few weeks, then gone back home. You would have seen Abe and realized what was going on, but I’m not that person. What were my parting words to you last night?”

She played it back or tried to. All she could think of was the kiss he’d given her.

Then she remembered. He wanted her to think of the kiss later and not the conversation.

He was giving her a hint already. Or planting a seed.

“I get it,” she said.

“I know you’re ticked. If me having a different career than you thought is a deal breaker, then let me know now and I’ll go back to what I was before last week.”

“Just like that?” she asked, snapping her finger. “Without another care?”

He put his hands on her arms and yanked her close to his face, their mouths just a whisper apart. “If it was that easy I wouldn’t have come here to confess.”

“Confess means you lied,” she said.

“No,” he said. “It means to tell or make known. That is what I just did. But you’re the one who found me guilty without even knowing the facts.”

He let go of her arms and she wished he hadn’t. She would have liked that he stayed close with their lips a whisper apart.

“Where do we go from here?” she asked.

“That’s up to you,” he said. “I’ve been down the road before where a woman can only accept half of me. I’ll never let it happen again.”

He turned and grabbed his jacket that she’d put on the banister and then walked out the door.

Well, guess she blew that.

12

SWALLOW MY PRIDE

“Idon’t care that you can’t work this weekend,” Denise said to one of the staff. Laurel couldn’t see who it was with her employee’s back turned. She was just too busy listening to Denise talk down to the staff again. “You’re scheduled and if you want it off, you need to cover that shift.”

“I can’t. My mother is having surgery on Friday. I just found out this weekend. I need to go home for it. I’m off on Friday but would like to stay over if she needs help. I’ve got vacation time. I don’t understand why I can’t use it.”

It was Ariel who was speaking. She was pretty sure Ariel had only been here a year and was a good worker. Didn’t miss much or use her time unexpectedly.

“Because you need to give more notice than that,” Denise said. “You know the rules. We’ve got production to keep up on.”

Laurel walked over. “Hi,” she said. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Denise said. “I’ve got it. You don’t need to get involved in my job.”

Ariel turned to her, her eyes filled with tears. “I need Saturday off. My mother is having surgery on Friday and I need to watch her Saturday for my father. Or help him.”

“I heard that,” she said. “I’m sorry. We can work something out. Emergencies happen. Denise, is there staff from another department that can cover a shift? Most are cross-trained for this reason.”

Denise ground her teeth. “I don’t have time to find someone to do it. I’ve got to inspect the big order that is due this week and train three new staff on top of it.”

“I’ll find someone,” Ariel said. “I’m sure I can.”

“Then we are going to have overtime,” Denise said. “We have budgets we have to stick to. I could have rearranged schedules if you were going to be off.”

Laurel was ready to grind her teeth and snap but wasn’t going to. It would only make more enemies and that wasn’t what she was after.

She’d already put her foot in her mouth with Easton this weekend and didn’t get any sleep because of it.

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