“Great.”
“I will make the arrangements for Wednesday at seven.” She grinned at me. “Was there anything else you needed?”
I shook my head. “No, I think that will be good.”
“Very well.” She stood up and walked over to me and then handed me the eye mask again. “I will lead you back down.” I grabbed it and started to put it back on, but she grabbed my hand to stop me. “I apologize for the inconvenience, Mr. Williams. I promise, your second date will be nothing like your first.”
6
Parker
A weekend had not been nearly enough time to recover from my terrible date with Andrew. I felt like we were ten seconds away from him asking me if I knew who his father was. Years of working for my cousin Teru had taught me that anyone who inherited their fortune were typically just spoiled brats. Andrew didn’t appear to be an exception, lording his money over me, acting as if my position was less worthy than his. What a jerk. I felt like I needed to go to a bar and just find anything I could drag home for the night, just to get him out of my head.
“Morning!” I glared over the top of my desk at Callum, who was strolling in with a backpack slung over his shoulder like the sun itself. “I see you’re chipper as usual.”
Callum was the person I was closest with at work. We were pretty close in age, though he was a senior project manager. He was also the worst kind of person, a morning person. “You know better than to talk to me this early in the morning.”
He laughed. “You really should try running or something in the morning. It would help wake you up and give you energy for the day.”
“I’m sorry.” I put my hands on my temples. “Did you just suggest I run in the morning? What are you, the devil?”
He started past the front desk, but then backtracked. “Oh, hey! Didn’t you have that date on Friday with the rich guy?”
Andrew’s smug face skidded across my brain and I nearly broke the pencil in my hand. “Yes.”
Callum winced. “Ooh, that bad, huh?”
“I knew I hated rich people.”
He pulled over a chair and sat down. “What happened?”
“He was an ass! He was all, ‘Oh, order anything you want on the menu. I’m so rich’.”
Callum tilted his head at the mocking accent I used. “He was British?”
“What? No!”
Callum held up his hands. “Hey! You were the one who went British, not me. Is that really all that happened, though? That’s not bad. You should have expected he might be like that. Even if he’s a little snooty about money, it doesn’t mean he’s an all-round bad guy.”
He used the phrase, “‘You’re just a receptionist’.” I held up two fingers on my hand. “Twice.”
“Oooh. Yeah, I’m sorry, I can’t defend you anymore, mystery rich guy.” He crossed his arms. “Was he ugly at least so you can be like ‘He was ugly anyway’? That always makes me feel better.”
“No, he wasn’t,” I barked back. “He was gorgeous! I didn’t really think I had a type, but if I did, it’d be him. Why did he have to be a brat living off daddy’s money?”
Callum patted the top of my head like I was a dog. “Aw. It’s okay. I’m sure something better will come along.”
“Easy for you to say. You wake up in the morning with a lovely woman.” I swatted his hand away. “I hate all good-looking, well-off men.”
Callum shook his head. “Well, that just isn’t good sense.”
It was so frustrating. The first date I go out on in months and it turned out to be a major disaster. People who barely had to lift a finger and got everything they wanted pissed me off. It didn’t bother me so much when I was a kid, I thought some people just got lucky, but I watched my parents work their asses off for very little payoff. When they finally were getting somewhere in their lives and were about to claw our family out of the gutter, they walked into a bank to get a loan, and some idiot decided to rob that same bank. Eleven people died, two of whom were my parents. That was when I learned you’re either born with luck or you’re not. Hard work has very little to do with it, it’s about what the universe has decided to give out. I could blame that core tenet for my lack of work ethic. Why try if it wasn’t going to pay off, regardless. I just wasn’t one of those lucky, “order anything you want on the menu,” kind of people.
“There’s someone good out there for you, Parker,” Callum soothed. “Don’t let this isolated incident keep you from looking.”
“Whatever,” I grumbled. “I’m probably better off just focusing on myself and Peyton anyway.”
“Does that mean you’re inviting him to live with you?” a male voice said from out of nowhere.
Callum and I looked over and my cousin, Teru, was walking over from the elevator. He was another guy I was less than crazy about. He was good-looking and rich, just like Andrew, although I’d at least seen him work his ass off starting his business. He had long black hair that he kept tied back in the proverbial “man bun” and had those defining Japanese features of my aunt, but my uncle’s strong caucasian jawline. He’d been featured in thirty under thirty last year, and was just a generally charming guy. My mood never really improved after my parents died, so while I was losing all of my friends from isolating myself, he was always surrounded. It irritated me. Still, I couldn’t blame his work ethic, and when I graduated, he did offer me my job. I was grateful, even if we weren’t as close as two cousins could be.
“I’m not,” I responded. “You know as well as I do that he’s better off with your parents.”
“You say that, but he seems pretty miserable with them.” He reached the desk and leaned over the part of my desk that was raised for customers to lean/work against if need be. “I had dinner with them last night, and all he could talk about was his days with you this week and hoping you’d let him come for more. He really wants to live with you. If it’s a matter of money, I’ll front you what you need to get a bigger place.”
“I don’t need your money,” I replied quickly, “and I don’t need a bigger place. I’m not cut out to be a parent. I know that Peyton wants to live with me, but it’s not what’s best for him.”
“You know, doing what’s best for kids is like parenting 101,” Callum added. I glared over at him and he quickly got up from his chair. “See ya’.”
I turned my attention back to Teru. “Peyton will thank me one day. Trust me.”
“Okay…” Instead of continuing on his way, he started to drum his fingers against my desk.
“Can I do something for you?” I asked.
“Well.” He leaned over my desk. “You remember my friend Greg?”
I grabbed some folders I’d been meaning to file away and stood up. “Ugh, no!”
Teru had been trying to set me up with a friend of his from his line of work, Greg. He’d come in a few times, and was attractive enough, but he had that stuffy, rich-guy aroma that turned me off. It didn’t help that every time he came in, he hung around and laid it on way too thick. I’d turned down Teru’s offer to be set up multiple times before, but he was relentless. Greg had done Teru a huge favor early in Teru’s career, and it was just my luck that the only thing Greg asked for in return was a date with his cousin.