Page 9 of His Curvy Temptation

History,he would snort.What a useless thing to study. What can you even do with a degree like that?

Angel Spa is lonely without Deepti. She was my closest friend at work, and without her, there are only the new trainees and Tricia.

Tricia is great and all, but she’s so dang serious all the time. Since Nick finally promoted her, she’s nervous all the time and humorless, constantly overworked and exhausted.

Even though she can be pretty uptight and never misses the chance to lecture me about the proper way to roll our spa towels, I love Tricia.

I know that one day, if I ever open a spa of my own, she’ll be the first person I hire. And she won’t have to work her way up to a management job either; she’ll be given it automatically, because she deserves it.

“Hey Trish,” I say breezily as I enter the back room of the spa. She’s hunched over the appointment book, a deep furrow between her brows.

“That posture is awful for you, you know,” I say to her.

She straightens and sets the appointment book aside, yawning as she stretches her arms to the ceiling.

“I’m so tired,” she says through another giant yawn. “Nick had me here until three in the morning polishing the floors.”

“Are you serious?” I ask, dumbfounded. “Why? We have a building maintenance crew for that!”

“He says the maintenance crew always misses the corners and the nook by the cabinets,” she shrugs.

“That’s such BS!” I exclaim. “Seriously, floor polishing? Why did you have to be the one to do it? Didn’t you work all day yesterday, as well?”

She nods and wipes the inner corner of her eye with her knuckles.

“Yeah,” she says. “But it’s fine. He paid me for it.”

“Pay for work is customary, yes,” I say dryly. “But that doesn’t make it right. And now you’re here this morning, too. When’s the last day you took a day off, Trish?”

“A few weeks ago,” she says. “For my son’s doctor appointment.”

“That’s not exactly a day off,” I reply. “I mean like a break.”

She shrugs.

“It’s fine, Andy,” she says. “Really.”

There’s a tone of finality in her voice and I know better than to press her. I know that Tricia needs this job even more than I do, being a young single mother with a nine year old boy to take care of. So while I might be fed up with Nick’s crap, Tricia isn’t in a position to tell Nick no.

Kind of like how I’m not in a position to be like Deepti, and run off with a man I just met to Disney World, leaving reality behind.

Sometimes I wish I could. But then I remember that things will be easier after exams, and that my hard work will be worth it.

“Travel appointment today,” Tricia says. “So don’t get too comfortable.”

“What? Again?” I blink at her. “Don’t tell me it’s that Elijah guy. I told you, let the new girl handle the travel appointment. Especially for that guy.”

“What’s the deal?” Tricia frowns. “Was he rude to you or something?”

“No,” I say, shaking my head. “It’s not a big deal, I guess. He just, he didn’t tip me. I don’t think he likes me. And…”

I don’t complete my sentence. I’m about to tell Tricia about how the man also overheard my rant about him and his rich ways, but I doubt she needs the added stress of worrying that I offended an important client.

“Well,” Tricia says. “I’m not sure why he didn’t tip you, but he certainly seems to have liked your service because he called here this morning to make sure you would be the one to show up for his appointment today.”

“That’s…surprising.”

“Maybe he’s not much of a tipping person,” she says. “You know how people are. It’s like a culture thing or whatever.”

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