Page 88 of Stuck With You
Frankie drops a handful of noodles on the floor for Grover, but Ollie’s question has my stomach joining them.
“The water should be back on tomorrow, so it’s time for us to go home.”
“Aww.” Ollie whines. “Can S-swade read to me tonight?”
Sarah’s attention turns back to me. “I don’t know.Grumpy Monkeymight be triggering for this guy.”
I rest back in my chair as she rolls her lips together.
“He’s J-j-jim Panzee,” Ollie laughs. “He doesn’t know why he’s grumpy. Can you read it?” His eyes beg.
“Sure,” I say, glaring at Sarah and her pure amusement.
Her eyebrow hitches upward. “You’ve got to make all the voices.”
Well shit. Absolutely nothing will return to normal. I am totally fucked.
Chapter 20
SARAH
MILES: I have a meeting in NY the week after Thanksgiving. I’ll fly in on my way back. I only have the afternoon.
______
Garlic. Sour, old garlic mixed with death. It’s all I smell, and it’s so strong I want to reach for my purse and shove tampons up my nose.
“Why is that in there?” Cory breathes, and I lean away as he scrutinizes the Louis agreement. “Custody has not been resolved.”
With that tone and the stench that might infect my brain, I want to ram my chair backward, hopefully catching his toes.
From what Kat has told me, this couple has been fighting over the cat for the last six months. One using it as leverage over the other. Only this week, Mrs. Louis finally agreed to rescind her rights to the eighteen-year-old feline in exchange for the vacation home in Florida.
“Mrs. Louis has turned over custody of the cat,” I state, then hold my breath.
Cory makes some kind of throat-clearing noise. I might gag. I want to give him a bottle of peroxide and have him swish for an hour.
“Do you have correspondence of that agreement?”
This joker and his Dracula breath are about to find out what a three-inch heel feels like shoved up his micromanaging ass.
After Miles’s inconsiderate message this morning, I’m in no mood to deal with Cory’s patronizing attitude.
I twist in my chair, causing him to back up. “Listen, I know I’m relatively new here, and I have a lot to learn. But my ears work perfectly fine, and I can read. I will pull the correspondence Kat emailed me, but this will be the last time you hover over me and question my competence.”
His jaw flexes, but at least his mouth is now closed.
“I’ve been patient with your condescending tone and complete lack of respect for my ability to do this job. If I make a mistake, I will own it. You did not hire me, and nowhere in my job description does it say I am to report to you.” I lean forward in my chair a little. “So, from now on, if you come into my office, it better be because you actuallyneedsomething.”
I hear snickering in the hallway as I watch his neck and face flush.
“Would you still like to see the email?” I ask, turning back to my computer and not giving his skinny, arrogant ass one second more of my attention.
I hear him exhale. Ugh. I’ll have to borrow the can of air freshener from the bathroom to extinguish the smell.
Without a word, he turns and leaves.
Two seconds later, Marcie appears in my doorway, her hand hiding her grin.
