Page 10 of Lost Little Boy
I crawled over to the shelf and grabbed a few more cars and trucks, hooking one up to the tow truck and making engine sounds until they started doing it too. The two of them studied me intensely to see what I was going to do next, so I abandoned the trucks and went to the clay table where there were plastic knives, scissors, rolling pens, cutouts, and various other art supplies.
The boys walked over to me and stared before Bennie spoke up. “We play?”
“Sure. Let’s make some flowers.” The three of us opened all the cans and began creating our own flower garden. I showed them how to roll the clay and cut out shapes, then take small pieces of another color to make the centers and the stems. We were having a great time.
“Wow. Looks like there’s a lot of fun happening here. Who’re your friends?”
I jumped at the sound of a male’s voice, not having heard the door open. I looked over my shoulder to see Wex Grassley standing just inside the room.
“Hi!” “Hi!” Both boys grinned and waved at Wex. I wondered if he dropped by the center when he was in town. I knew he didn’t live in DC full time because it wascommon knowledge around the office that Wex traveled around the world several times during the year.
“What are you making here?” Wex stepped over to the table and took a seat on the floor across the table from me. He was wearing a nice light gray suit that was never meant to be worn while sitting on the floor.
“These chairs are stronger than they look,” I said as I pulled one out and sat in it.
Wex chuckled. “My knees will be under my chin. What are these? Pigs?”
Bennie giggled. “We makin’ fwowers.”
Wex and I both laughed at the cute way he said it. “Well, can I play, too?”
I rolled out the sheets of clay for the boys to cut out shapes, while Wex made little yellow centers and green stems for all the flowers. They looked so cute and made me think about the pottery classes they offered at the community college. I wondered if I could make similar things in the class and fire them to make little flower sculptures. Though, who would I give them to?
“I need to go to the big boys’ room. I’ll be right back.” Wex stood from the floor and stared right at me. “Don’t you go anywhere before I get back.” He winked and took off through the door. What did that mean?
“Can we count how many flowers we made?” I held up my fingers as they counted. Bertie tried to hold up his fingers as I was doing, but couldn’t quite get the three fingers to stay, so I took his hand and showed him how to do it. His cute laugh made me giggle too.
“I’m here, Miss Daphne. I know I’m late again, but the meeting went long. I’ll pay the…” The voice trailed off.
I turned toward the door to see Richard Jenkins come in. He was an account representative on the export side of Grassley Industries, and he was not a nice man.
His eyes focused sharply on me, making me realize he must be the twins’ father. He was immediately angry as he stalked over to where I was sitting. “Get away from my sons, you fucking pervert.”
My breath caught in my throat, the fear of what the man could do to me was all consuming. I quickly stood from the chair and backed away just as Miss Daphne came out of her office. “Thank you, Perry.” When she was closer to us, she saw Mr. Jenkins moving over to the table, rage evident.
“Mr. Jenkins,stop!There’s nothing untoward happening here. Perry was helping me with the boys because you’re an hour late and I had business to attend to. I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t speak to my friend that way.” She put her hands on her hips, her anger flaring at the man’s snide comment.
“I was only showing Bertie how to hold up three fingers. He was having a hard time as we were counting.” I was ready to get the hell out of there.
“You keep your hands off my sons. I know what kind of person you are. You’re all alike, you fa—” He pointed his finger at me, the anger seeming to build.
“Jenkins, I wouldn’t finish that sentence if I were you.” Wex came through the door and stood behind Mr. Jenkins, seeming to have heard the accusatory tone in the man’s voice.
Mr. Jenkins turned around and took a step back. “Wex, man, I didn’t see you there. The janitor was touching my kid. I’m just protecting my boys. People like him should be put in jail.”
Wex stepped around the large man and walked over to me. “Are you okay, Perry?” He put his hands on my shoulders and stared into my eyes.
I couldn’t keep the tears from coming. It was ridiculous that Jenkins’ words cut me like a knife. Words shouldn’t hurt like that.
“I’m fine, Mr. Grassley.” I headed toward the door and pushed it open, not waiting for anyone to say anything.
So much for trusting people. I remembered from being a kid that trusting people got you nothing but a broken heart.
Chapter Six
Wex
Richard Jenkins was a bottom-feeding asshole. He was also a great account representative, according to my sister, but that wouldn’t save his ass this time. I’d heard rumors about his behavior from some of the other account reps on my side of the business and brought it up to Nance one time at a family dinner. She and my fatherhad suggested that those making the accusations were jealous of his performance record.
