Page 3 of Rainbow Kisses

I picked up my phone and dialed.

“Hey, man. I need help.”

TWO

Rain

“What do you mean,is it supposed to look like a penis? Of course, it’s not supposed to look like a penis.”

“You sure, Rainy? Because it looks like a penis to me. Might’ve been a while since I’ve seen one, but I’m pretty sure I still know what they look like.”

Taking a deep breath, I shook my head then let it rest on my hands, fisted on top of each other on my desk. Monday morning after a game weekend was always quiet. Practice was optional, and a week before Christmas, no one wanted to spend more time here than they had to. Which made it the perfect time to get some work done.

Except everything seemed to be going wrong today.

“Fred.” I tried to hide my sigh but wasn’t completely sure I succeeded. “Do you see the Devils’ logo anywhere on that proof?”

The other end of the line went silent. Fredricka Gaines had taken over her parents’ sporting goods company last January. And while it hadn’t been a disaster, this wasn’t the first hiccup.And it wouldn’t be the last because I wouldn’t even think of using another company unless Fred’s company went under. The Devils were loyal like that.

Some would say to a fault, but… Well, anyway.

“Um, no. No, I don’t.”

“Then I don’t think that’s our proof.”

Silence from the other end of the line. Then, “Shit. I’m sorry. You’re right. Of course, you’re right. Let me look in my email again.

“No problem. Hey, I’m going to send it to you again right now, then we can go over it together.”

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.”

Fred went quiet, and a picture of her popped into my head. Strawberry blonde ringlets to her waist, pixie features, and all of five feet, the woman was a whirlwind of energy, constantly in motion, her brain always working. Brilliant, funny, and the most disorganized person I knew. But she always managed to get whatever she needed to do done. Even if it was down to the wire.

Then Fred sighed, long and loud. “How do you do it, Rain? How do you keep it all together? Somedays I feel like I’m drowning.”

Fred sounded so absolutely forlorn, I wondered for a second if she was going to quit right there and then. And I couldn’t live with myself if that happened.

“You’re doing fine,” I said, my voice calm and collected. “Give yourself a break. I’ve been doing my job for almost five years. You’ve been in yours a year.”

“But you always seem so in control of everything.”

I wanted to laugh, but I didn’t want to seem flippant as I clicked the button to resend the email with the logo. Which I’d sent last week. “Not all the time. Sometimes, I’m just faking it.”

“No way. I don’t believe that.”

It was more true than she’d ever know, or that I’d ever admit, but that was part of the job. Making it look easy and then working my ass off to make it happen.

Sure, I manifested that shit like a boss. But, yeah, my ducks were in a row and no squirrels allowed. When those suckers popped up their heads, I made sure to bop them like I was playing Whack-A-Mole.

“Seriously, sometimes you just gotta believe it’s all going to be okay and then jump into the deep end and hope you don’t drown.”

“Well, I feel like I’m drowning in the shallow end right now.”

“Then snap out of it, because I need you to make sure you got the right proof. Check your email. That’s all you need to do right now. I don’t trust anyone else to do our specialty sweaters.”

Another huge sigh.

“Yep, it’s there.”

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