Page 52 of Win Some Love Some
He had a computer. An old Mac desktop, but I’d bet my entire paycheck that he never used the thing. Six years ago I’d set him up with Quickbooks software to handle his accounting. Whether he was using it as effectively as he should was doubtful.
Knowing this was an invasion of privacy did not stop me.
I wiggled the mouse until the password prompt appeared on screen.
Hmmmm…. was it still…?
I typed in the month, day and year of his official adoption date.
Yep. It was still the same password.
I pulled up his account and groaned. It was woefully behind. The last invoices he’d billed were six months ago. The last payments he’d entered were before that. Did he even know how much money the business was making? How much was left outstanding?
Obviously, he didn’t. But I imagined it stressed him out. This was the part of the business that gave him hives and he’d buried it like he did everything that stressed him out. Like feelings. And I might be a former influencer and a failed waitress, but I wasRoy Barnes’ daughter and I knew how to budget, invoice and pay bills like a boss.
It would feel good to be useful. To help Nick. To fix a problem instead of being right smack dab in the middle of causing one.
It’s not like I had anything else to do.
Nick
I don’t knowhow long I stood there, my cables over my shoulder and the portable battery I’d used to jump one of the food trucks at my feet. I couldn’t have been gone for fifteen minutes, but in that time I’d beeninvaded.
My papers – my invoices and bills had been re-stacked.
I could see the top of my desk.
It even smelled different in my office. Less motor oil and more…flowers?
There was music playing from my computer – did I know it could do that?
And Nora was chair dancing and singing.
In my chair.
In my office.
And Ilovedit. I loved it like I loved cold beer. Or the first sip of coffee in the morning. My bed after a long day. I loved it with relief. With gratitude.
Yes. She’s here.
“All too wellllll.”She sang, extremely off key, and twirled in the office chair like she was in a Taylor Swift music video.
“Nora, what the hell are you doing?”
Startled by my voice, she nearly fell out of her chair.
“Nick! Don’t scare me like that.”
“If you’re going to Goldilocks around in my garage, I think I have the right.”
I was being gruff, but inside, I was so happy to see her. It was like the happier I was, the gruffer I had to be so I could keep some goddamn balance around her.
This never used to be a problem. Why was it suddenly a problem?
She turned down the music on the computer. “Hey, this Goldilocks didn’t eat your porridge, but started to process your invoices so they are up to date. You should be grateful.”
I was. I was so grateful. Not just because she was here, but because I hated that shit. The whole town wanted me to hire someone, but the idea of having someone in my space for a large part of the day was not appealing to me.
