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“Also,” he said before the door fully closed. “Don’t wear your glasses. You obviously don't need them at all.”
The door slid shut, and as always, I reached to push the lenses up my nose but found absolutely nothing there.
“Holy shit!”
I spun around and once again winced at the pain in my neck. By the time this day is over, I am pretty sure that my head is going to completely fall off. But that soon became the least of my worries when I realized that my glasses were nowhere to be found. I thought about this and soon concluded that they had fallen off back in the car when I had been startled awake. And since I truly didn't need them, I hadn’t even noticed that they were gone.
I slapped my hand against my forehead and nearly sunk to the ground.
Not only was I sloppy, but I had also been caught lying and seen naked. All in one day and after six full months without an accident.
I looked around the gorgeous golden hotel and wondered if it was just me or if Thailand hated me?
Sighing, I turned around and began to wander away. I passed by a reflective surface then and stopped to stare at myself. With the briefcase and the oversized, ill-fitting suit jacket and pants, I looked so unremarkable. Almost like a poor kid that was trying to fit in. But this had worked, for the longest time it had worked, so why was everything changing now? He was so predictable, and it had given me a measure of safety and peace. Now that he wasn’t, now that he was suddenly barging into my bathroom, seeing me naked, and saying the strangest things, I felt as though the ground underneath my feet would be pulled out from under me at any time, and this was a disconcerting feeling to say the least.
Sighing, I continued wandering. Pretty soon I found the spa. It looked so luxurious that I couldn't help but consider what he was asking. Still, doing this in the middle of the day when I was supposed to be working was unfathomable to me, so I could only take a seat outside the place and call Emma.
She was as usual at her kitchen table, hard at work on her new business. But she set the phone up in a corner and continued working.
“I just received a new sample,” she said. “You won’t believe how bloody upset I am; they messed up my design, and they used cheaper materials than they showed me. I’m just having the worst day. How’s your neck?”
I watched her and only had one question.
“Can I come work for you? Be your project manager or quality control guy or whatever?”
She gave me her full attention then.
“What’s wrong?”
“I think I just got fired.”
She went silent.
“Um... what?”
I explained what had happened, but to my surprise, she burst out laughing. I watched her, upset, as she held her chest and tried to control herself.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I asked.
“You claim to be able to read people well, Maddy,” she said. “You claim to know your boss really well, but do you know him at all? I think he’s really not as rigid as you think he is. You fell earlier this morning. And you both arrived just last night, and before then you've been practically living in the office for over a week, trying to get materials ready and itineraries booked. He's taking this as a vacation as well, isn't he? You planned it all. You think he didn’t notice? You think he's surprised that you're falling asleep in the car?”
My frown loosened.
“Take his advice, please? Go to the spa, fall asleep on the table there as they massage every inch of your body with oil and perfume. Go to the sauna afterward or something and then get a facial. After that, find a salon, do your hair for once. Get your makeup done, and then go get the most stunning, sexiest dress you can find for this evening. Just like he advised. How does him asking you to do any of this mean that you're going to get fired?”
“You don't know him, Emma,” I said, and she shook her head.
“I'm hanging up. I'm the one with the real problems here. So, you go have your wonderful luxurious day and leave the rest of us struggling through ours alone. He's not going to fire you, and if he does, you can apply to be my personal chef. I'm adding weight from all this takeout I keep buying.”
“Agreed,” I replied and rose to my feet for no reason. “I’ll be on the next flight back now. I’ll cook all the healthy meals you want for you.”
“Rejected. I don’t want to be poisoned, plus my big lawyer salary reserves are depleting with all these roadblocks and destroyed designs. They're draining me like a sink. Soon enough I'll be your roommate, and then I'll need a job from you.”
This made me smile, but I did listen to what she was saying though. And then I sighed. She ended the call, and I looked around. First of all, I took a few pictures and then took a selfie of myself. One look at my reflection and I almost threw up. This was possibly the real reason why he had turned me away. I looked as basic and unremarkable as a concrete wall. Almost lifeless even. Maybe in my quest to be unremarkable physically in his eyes, I had just ended up as embarrassing, and so now more than ever, I was tempted to follow his instructions. Glancing back, I stared at the big bright signage of the spa and the two women walking out of it at that moment with huge smiles on their faces.
I thought a bit more, pulled out his card from my wallet, and then I made the decision. They had the ultimate package: everything Emma had mentioned, and it was incredibly pricey. However, I was aware that this was because we were in such an expensive hotel, but I didn’t want to leave their premises while he was still here. I wanted us to head back together.
I most definitely didn’t want to use his card for this because that was something for him to use against me in the future. Perhaps it would be evidence he could use to say it was the reason why he suddenly fired me when I sued him. ‘She used my personal card without my permission.’
