Page 48 of Stowaway Whirlwind
I find Russell leaning over his laptop on the gray Formica countertop in the warehouse’s breakroom. He’s muttering to himself as he researches what appears to be the average cost of endometriosis surgery without health insurance.
“I knew it,” I say with a snap of my fingers, making Russell damn near jump out of his skin and slam the laptop shut.
“Knew what?” he barks out, spinning around to face me.
“Knew she was your woman,” I say, grabbing a Styrofoam cup from the cabinet above the counter and pouring myself a cup of steaming hot coffee from the small pot next to the ancient microwave. “You’re trying to figure out how to pay for Layla’s surgery so she doesn’t have to keep working so many extra jobs, yeah?” I gulp half my coffee and almost spit it out at the bitter taste. I dump the rest down the tiny sink.
“Shut the fuck up.” Russell hikes his jeans up with his thumbs in the belt loops, looking away from my shit-eating grin. “I was not.”
“Sure you weren’t, boss.” I laugh when he grits his teeth and discards his untouched cup of coffee as well.
“I wasn’t. And stop calling her my woman. She’s young enough to be my daughter. I don’t think about her that way.”
“Sure you don’t.” After that quick exchange, my humor fades. “Listen, I need to talk to you.”
Russell nods once and clears his throat. “Let’s take this to my office.” He grabs his laptop and swerves around me, leading me to the front left of the warehouse to the side entrance of his heated office.
I close the door behind me and settle onto the metal folding chair opposite his disorganized desk, overflowing with stacks of invoices, manila folders, and sticky notes. “I want to start by saying thank you for everything you’ve done for me regarding my dad. Truly. And because of that, I hate what I have to do on such short notice, but…I can’t go back out on the road next week. I was thinking, maybe I can—”
Russell leans forward with his elbows on the desk. “You’re fired.”
I rock back in my seat, feeling like I’ve taken a kick to my ribs. “Well, shit, Russell. You’re not even gonna let me explain myself? What happened to not letting me quit?”
He shrugs his shoulders. “You can’t do your job? Fine. You’re fired.”
“Goddamn, man. So that’s it? Twelve years at BT, and you won’t even think about letting me go local again until I find something else?” I slap my ball cap on my thigh and shove a hand through my hair. “I’ve got a family to take care of now.”
Russell grins and leans back in his large office chair, and my blood boils, my head pounding with the need to jump overthe desk and clock him in the face. No doubt I’d end up in jail alongside Mrs. Fitzroy and wouldn’t get a good job reference out of him if I did that, though.
“I knew you were a cranky bastard, but I didn’t know you were such an asshole,” I say, fisting my hands on my thighs.
Russell laughs, and I see red. I’m halfway out of my seat, thinking jail might be worth it, until he says, “Sit the fuck down, Davis. Goddamn, you’re so easy to rile up. I needed that.”
I dig my nails into my palms as I lower my ass back onto the seat. “The fuck are you talking about?”
“Payback for all the teasing and grief you’ve been giving me about Layla.”
After taking a deep breath to calm myself, I ask, “So…I’m not fired?”
He shakes his head. “Oh no, you’re definitely fired.”
“What the fuck, man?”
“But I’m hiring you on as my warehouse manager.”
I tip my head toward the large Plexiglas window that looks out into the warehouse just as Jared walks by, his dark hair cut close to the scalp as always despite being out of the Marine Corps for more than a decade. “You planning on firing Jared and giving me his job? He’s got a kid on the way, and you know how much he and Violet have spent on IVF. That’d be fucking cruel. I may not want to be fired, but I sure as shit don’t want to take his position out from under him.”
Russell folds his hands over his stomach. “You done with your lecture yet?”
I throw my hands up like Goldie would do when exasperated. “Yes?”
“You’ve been out on the road too long and out of the loop. Violet’s wedding planning business has taken off. Jared’s leaving to run the admin side of things full-time. He’s the one who suggested you take over his position.”
I blow out a massive sigh and cross my ankle over my knee, my foot bouncing with agitation. “You could have led with that instead of making my asshole clench. I’m sweating bullets here.”
“Like I said, that’s what you get, but I got a way to make it up to you.” He flashes me his teeth with a wide grin.
“Oh yeah? How’s that?”
