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Heat blooms in my chest, as I find myself getting angry. I shouldn’t care. Why does this bother me so much?
Chapter Nine
Mandy
The next morning, when I get into work, there are two pugs — one brown and one black — in my cubical waiting for me. They wiggle and yip excitedly as I approach. Their mushed-noise faces are a welcome sight. Having the pugs here means that Eileen is back in the office. Mr. Pugsly and Ms. Puggle are like Eileen’s children. They go everywhere with her. She even got special permission to bring them to the office. Now they are kind of like the accounting floor’s mascots.
I slump into my chair, lean down, and start to pet Ms. Puggle’s ears. They both keep wiggling excitedly back and forth, rubbing their bristly coats on my legs — not that I mind, at all.
“Hey.”
I look up. Eileen is leaning over the wall of our connected cubicles. It’s easy for her, she is almost six feet tall. She’s like a model.
I give her a big smile. “I’m so glad you are back.” At that point, Mr. Pugsly jumps up into my lap in an effort to get more petting then his fellow pug. I look down at his slightly misshapen face. He was in a car accident or something before Eileen adopted him. My best friend has a good heart. I scratch behind his one good ear, telling him, “I’m happy to see you too!”
“I stopped by your apartment last night, but you weren’t home. Got some new boyfriend or something?” Eileen puts her forearms on the top of the wall and leans on them. She looks extra tall today, must be wearing heels.
When she asks about a boyfriend, a brief glimpse of Christian’s face flashes in my mind. It makes me giggle. There is no way that Christian is ever going to be my boyfriend. What we have between us is just lust. It’s just physical.
“Not at all,” I tell her shaking my head. “My floors are being redone. My upstairs neighbor left the bathtub on, water flowed down and ruined the wood. I heard from my landlord yesterday, it’s going to take about a month or more to get the old wood pulled up and a new floor put in. I’m out in the Bronx at my grandmother’s.”
Eileen lets out a little laugh. “How is Bubby?”
“Odd, as usual. You know that she holds séances every Tuesday night to talk to my dead grandfather?”
Eileen’s honey-colored eyes go wide as she laughs a bit more. “That’s a good marriage, still talking even after he’s dead.”
“Yep.” We both nod.
Someone clears their voice. Eileen and I turn. Christian is standing at the door to my cubical, looking at my furry companions. “I wasn’t aware that employees were allowed to have pets at work.” Ms. Puggle wanders over and sniffs at his expensive shoes. He bends down and scratches the top of her head.
Eileen looks at me quizzically. She probably hasn’t met Christian before, and as always, he looks out of place. In his dark jeans and t-shirt for some rock band I’m not familiar with, he looks more like a delivery guy not one of our bosses.
“This is Mr. Keeley, the new head of research and development. Mr. Keeley, this is Eileen.”
Christian smiles. He picks up Ms. Puggle with one hand and cradles her under his arm as he reaches over with the other to shake Eileen’s hand. I notice that they are about the same height.
“Good morning, Mrs. Silver. Nice to finally meet you. I met your husband briefly before he left.”
At first, the fact that Christian knows anything about Eileen shocks me. But then I think, her husband, Ray, used to be the CFA here, a job that Sloane now has. Sloane must have told her older brother.
“You must be Sloane’s brother,” Eileen says.
Christian grunts. “I suppose I must be, but neither of us likes it.”
Eileen and I both laugh. Sloane has been quite a pill in the past, but she’s learned how to relax…some. Eileen nods her head towards Sloane’s office. “Up here to visit your sister?”
“God, no.” He scratches Ms. Puggle behind the ears and under her collar, a move that makes the pug grunt like a pig. “I’m up here to collect Ms. Burmmell.”
Eileen’s eyebrows shoot up at this. She gives me an amused smile. I’m not sure what to say. Having my best friend meet my…guy I am playing with secretly…has me oddly speechless. As I stand there, dumbly, Eileen’s smile widens.
“I see,” she tells Christian. “And what are you collecting her for?” The way she phrases her question makes it sound dirty. Knowing Christian, my task will be dirty.
“She’s helping me set up my team’s office in the basement.” Christian sets Ms. Puggle down onto the carpet. The disappointed pug immediately starts jumping up at him again. Her little paws claw at the legs of his dark jeans. He leans down to touch her lightly on the nose. “I’ll be back later this week to scratch on you again,” he tells the pup then turns to me. “Ms. Burmmell lets go. I assume you brought a change of clothing this time?”
