Epilogue
Justin
“You know, it was a year ago today that I kicked your ass,” I said to Tyler. I was trying to provoke him. I knew what I was getting myself into. I wanted to get him fired up.
He cocked his head to one side, “Careful what you say, Justin,” he said.
“Or what?” I said, testing him.
“Or you’re going to regret it.” he said, with a smirk on his face.
Tyler hit me. He was tougher and faster now. It was almost hard for me to keep up with him. I went to block his next hit, and in an instant, he had me on the mat in a rear naked choke. I tapped the mat next to him.
We both got up off the mat and made our way out of the ring. I nodded and smiled at Tyler. I was proud of the progress he’d made in the last year.
“Great work, man; I told you if you can get someone to submit you’ll have every fight in the bag,” I said to him as we took a break.
“You were right. They are easy to use. Too bad you don’t fight anymore,” he said.
“Being a coach is a lot more fitting for me,” I said with a laugh. “And watch the cockiness. It’s gonna get you in trouble.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever, man,” he said.
I removed my protective sparring gear and let Tyler know he was good for the day before heading into my office to get some of the more mundane tasks done. I sat down to fill out some paperwork when I noticed Artie passing by.
“Hey, Artie, what do you think about Tyler’s new moves?” I called out to him.
“They’re great. You’re turning him into a beast. Now that he knows all the big submission holds, no one is gonna stand a chance against him. You were a great fighter, but you’re an even better coach, Justin,” he said.
“That’s because I’ve had the best mentor in the game,” I said.
“Flattery won’t get you another raise,” Artie laughed. “Make sure Tyler gets his cocky attitude under control.”
“I’m trying,” I said.
I had been working as a coach alongside Artie for the last nine months. Fighting was always a big part of my life, and even though I didn’t want to do it anymore, I still found that I wanted to be around it, and Tyler had signed up as my first client.
“Do you mind if I dip out of here early today? I’m picking Margie up early from school for the surprise.”
“Is that today?” he asked.
“Yeah. She’s pretty excited.”
“Yeah, go ahead. It’s an important day for both of you,” he said.
“Thanks, Artie,” I said.
Artie went back to what he had been doing, and I finished filing away some papers on a possible new client. He was tough and fast but had a lot of trouble focusing. He reminded me of myself, and I wanted to coach him for just that reason. There was more paperwork and less action being a coach, but my life was a lot less stressful. I had more time to spend with Margie, which was what I’d always wanted.
I still had two more hours before I could leave to get Margie and they were ticking by so slowly. After I filed the paperwork, I went into the open gym and helped a few people out with their forms. I noticed a lot more women had signed up to train at the gym since I became a coach. It was a little amusing to me.
They always wanted my help, but I tried to avoid the ones that directly asked for my help because they weren’t there to actually learn or train. Their form seemed to get sloppier as time went on. It was clear to me they were only there to see me, and I didn’t have the time for that sort of thing.
I grabbed my phone and car keys out of desk drawer and headed for the door.
“Hey man!” Joe called from inside the ring where he was sparring with another person. “Good luck today!”
“Thanks. I could use it,” I said with a small laugh.
I left before anyone else could talk to me. I had promised Margie I would pick her up thirty minutes early from school today for a surprise we had planned.
As I walked to my car, I noticed that the sky seemed a little bluer than usual and the birds seemed to sing a little louder. I figured maybe it was just my excitement for what was to come.
I got in my car and drove to the other side of town to Margie’s school. It was crazy to think she was already finished with kindergarten. She had taken a test at the beginning of the year to see if she was ready for it, and she passed with flying colors. I couldn’t be prouder of her.
She had no trouble in kindergarten and was going to be starting first grade in the fall. It was a little bit hard to take in when I thought about it. She was growing up so fast.
I pulled up to her school, got out, and walked through the front doors. I went into the office.
“Hello, Justin. Are you here to pick up Margie?” The front office ladies knew me by name because of the number of hours I volunteered at the school. Unfortunately, I couldn’t remember their names. I just knew them as the blonde haired one and the brunette one.
“Yeah. I’ve got a surprise planned out,” I said as I signed the sign-out sheet.
“She told us this morning,” the blonde-haired lady said.
“She did?” I asked, not at all surprised.
“Yes. She was so excited. She came running in here before the first bell to tell us that she would be leaving early today,” the brunette said.
I laughed. “She’s a crazy kid.”
The blonde picked up the black phone on her desk, typed in a number, and waited.
“Mrs. Schwarts, can you send Margie to the office with her things? Her dad is here to pick her up.”
She told the teacher thank you and then hung up the phone. A few minutes passed before Margie walked into the office.
“Daddy! Let’s go!” she said.
The front office ladies laughed.
“See you on Monday, Margie,” the blonde said.
“Okay,” she said and grabbed my hand.
“See you guys later,” I said.
“Bye!” they said together.
“And good luck!” the brunette yelled after us.
I waved at her to let her know I heard her.
Margie had a hold of my hand and was dragging me out of the building. “Come on, Daddy! We have to go!”
I laughed. “Okay, I’m trying.”
We raced out the front doors to my car, and I buckled her in right away.
“Artie was okay with you leaving work?” she asked when I got into the driver’s seat.
“Of course. I don’t see why he wouldn’t be.”
“Okay, good. Because this is very important.”
I shook my head and laughed at her use of the word “important.”
The drive wasn’t long, but it felt like it took hours just to get back across town. I was trying to calm my nerves as I drove, but it was hard. This surprise was going to be huge, and if she hated it, it would be the biggest disappointment of my life.
“Are you all ready for the surprise?” she asked me.
“Yep. I’ve got everything I need,” I responded.
I caught her eye in the mirror as we drove on toward downtown. “I’m so excited for this!” she said, looking at me.
“I am too, baby,” I said.
I had been planning the surprise for almost two months and could hardly believe that the day had finally arrived.
“This is going to be the best day ever,” Margie said. She was now looking out the window, but she still had a bright smile on her face.
“I know. It really will be,” I said.
A few minutes later, we parked in a parking spot. I helped Margie get out of the car, and we started walking down the sidewalk. All the closer spots had been taken already, so we had to walk a bit, but I didn’t mind because it gave me a couple minutes to calm my nerves.
“Are you nervous?” Margie asked me.
“Uh, a little I guess,” I admitted. I was trying to hide the fact that I was extremely nervous, I didn’t want her to catch on. “Are you?”
“No. I’m excited,” she said with a matter-of-fact tone.
We reached the building we needed, and I opened the door for Margie. The front waiting room was empty, and then I heard another door open.
“Margie! Justin! What are you guys doing here?” Anna said as she walked toward us. She was carrying a bag of trash that must have been from the massage room. She set it down next to the front desk.
Margie ran up and hugged her.
“We just stopped by to say ‘hi,’” Margie said.
Anna glanced at her watch. “School’s not even out yet. Are you sick?” she put her hand on Margie’s forehead.
“No,” she said. “I feel great!” she started to giggle. I hoped she could keep it together for a little while longer.
Anna set Margie down and took a step forward to hug me. “Hello, handsome,” she said.
“Hello, gorgeous,” I said and hugged her back. “I’ve been doing some thinking.”
“Oh yeah? What about?”
“Well, about us,” I said.
Anna stopped hugging me and took a step back. She had a funny look on her face. “What about us?” she sounded a little worried.
“You’re amazing, Anna. In every way possible, in every sense of the word. I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for you,” I said and got down on one knee. My heart was racing in my chest.
Anna put a hand to her mouth and tears sprung to her eyes.
“One year ago, today, I won my final fight. More importantly, right before that fight, I confessed my love for you. Anna Marie Winters, will you do me the honor of spending the rest of your life with me?” I pulled out the ring box from my pocket and opened it.
Margie got down on one knee next to me and pulled a box out of her backpack. “Anna, will you be my mommy?”
Anna started crying, but she was nodding her head and holding out her left hand. I slid the one carat, white gold ring onto her hand.
I felt tears in my own eyes and saw that Margie was crying as well.
Anna wiped her tears away, using the back of her right hand and then took the box from Margie. Inside, was a white gold necklace with a heart pendant that said “mom” in the center.
Anna hugged us both, and then I helped her put the necklace on.
“I’m never going to take it off,” she said.
“This is the best day ever!” Margie yelled.
We both laughed.
“I have to call my parents,” Anna said and went around the desk. She grabbed her phone and came back over to us. Margie and I sat down on the waiting room chairs, and Anna sat on my lap. She dialed her mom’s number and put it on speaker phone so we could all hear them.
“Hello, honey,” her mom said.
“Hey, mom, I have you on speaker. Is dad around?” she asked.
“Okay. Yeah, I’ll go get him.”
We waited for a moment as Millie spoke to Tom and then put the phone on speaker.
“Hello, everyone,” Tom said.
“Hi, Papa and Nana!” Margie said into the phone.
“Margie, sweetie! How are you?”
“I’m good! Mommy and daddy are getting married!” she yelled into the phone.
All we could hear for two minutes was Millie happily screaming into the phone. “I can’t believe it!” she yelled.
“Congratulations!” Tom said.
“Thank you,” Anna and I said at the same time.
Her parents asked a bunch of questions and congratulated us a few more times before finally hanging up the phone.
“I love you, Anna,” I said to her.
“I love you too, Justin. And I love you, Margie,” she said to us.
“I love you too, mommy,” she said and threw her arms around her. “I can call you mommy now, right?”
Anna nodded her head. “Yes, yes. You can.”
“Let’s go celebrate,” I said to my girls.
“Where at?” Anna asked.
“The Italian restaurant we went to with your parents about a year ago,” I suggested.
Margie jumped up. “Yes! Let’s go there!”
“Okay, let me finish closing up for the day, first,” Anna said.
After fifteen minutes, Anna was finished and had locked up the studio. We walked out to my car where we got inside, and I drove to the restaurant. When we got there, I approached the hostess stand and said, “I have a 4:30 reservation for three under the name Justin.”
The hostess scanned a piece of paper with her eyes and placed her finger on something. “Yep, here it is. Have a seat, and we’ll get your table ready,” she said.
The three of us sat down, and Anna hit me on the arm.
“You already made reservations?” she asked with a smile.
“Yep.”
“And what if I had said no?”
I looked at her. “You wouldn’t have.”
“Oh, is that so? What makes you think that?” she asked with a sly grin.
“Because you love us too much,” Margie said, exaggerating the word “too.”
“That’s true,” Anna said.
Our table was ready within two minutes, and we were seated in a private area.
“You booked a whole room just for us three?” she asked.
I nodded. “Yes, I’ve been planning this for a while.”
“Obviously,” she said, and amazement was evident on her face. “That sure is a big table for just the three of us.”
Just as she was about to sit down, people filed into the room.
“SURPRISE!” they all yelled in unison.
There was my mom, her parents, Ally, and Artie.
Anna’s mouth dropped. “Oh my god,” she said and tears formed in her eyes again.
We took turns hugging people and telling them “thank you” when they congratulated us. The evening was perfect. It was everything I imagined it would be.
“So, you already knew when I called you? Why did you scream like that?” Anna asked her mom as we waited for the check.
“Well, I knew he was going to ask you, but I didn’t know you said yes until you told me,” Millie said.
I leaned into Anna. “I even asked your dad for permission when I first started planning this.”
“Seriously? How did you get his number?” she asked.
“Remember when I told you I took a trip to visit a possible new client?”
Her mouth dropped open. “You went to visit them?”
I nodded my head. “I discussed the whole thing with them. They both gave me their permission and said that my ideas sounded perfect for you.”
Anna leaned over and kissed me.
“Let me see the rock!” Ally said from her seat across from Anna.
Anna held up her hand.
“Holy rock. Good job, Justin,” Ally said.
“Thanks,” I smiled.
When dinner was finished, we made our way back to Anna’s house. We already had plans to move in together at the end of the month when my lease was up, so that was one decision already checked off the list.
“I can’t believe everything you did for me today,” Anna said after we put Margie to bed in her princess bed that Anna bought a few months back.
I gave her a kiss. “I wanted to do so much more, but funds and timing were both a little short.”
“This was perfect, Justin,” she said. “Thank you.”
Anna and I sat down on the couch. She put her head on my shoulder, and I held her left hand. We both stared at her ring.
“I hope you like it,” I said,
“I love it. And the necklace. They’re both perfect,” she said.
“You know, when Tammy passed away, I couldn’t even picture myself ever dating again. And then I started fighting, and I was having problems with my back muscles. I had appointments with three other massage therapists the day I met you,” I said.
“You did?” she sounded surprised.
“Yeah, but I canceled them after I met you. There was something about you that just made me want to get to know you better. Then, I had to make the hard decision of cutting our sessions out. They were too expensive, and I had other priorities. It hurt me to have to walk away from you like that, but then you approached me about your plan to play boyfriend. I couldn’t pass that up. It gave me the opportunity to play the role that I knew I already wanted. And it was then that I knew I was ready to move on, to date again, and possibly even get married again.”
I gave Anna a kiss.
“And now here we are,” she said and held up her hand.
“Yes. Here we are.” I gave her another kiss.
Margie came out of her room. “I can’t sleep,” she said.
“Come here, sweetheart,” Anna said and grabbed a blanket from under her coffee table.
Margie walked over and sat in between us. Anna covered the three of us up with the blanket. It was at that moment that I knew I could spend every single night for the rest of my life just like that.
“This was the best day of my whole life,” Margie said, sleepily.
“Mine too,” Anna and I said at the same time. We looked at each other and both smiled. I knew I made the right decision on that fateful day to play her boyfriend. Little did we know, the role would turn into something that would change both of our lives forever.
DADDY BOSS
By Claire Adams
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2018 Claire Adams
Chapter One
James
I was sitting in my office on the second floor above the art gallery. I loved having my office up there. It gave me the ability to think so much more clearly than if it had been right next door to the showroom.
“Hey, man,” Derek, my best friend, said as he walked in.
It drove me crazy that he would just walk into my office whenever he wanted, without even knocking. Every time he did it, I thought again that it was a good thing I didn’t have a girlfriend or a wife. That way he couldn’t just barge in on me while we were doing shit he shouldn’t see.
“Hey,” I said, trying to hide my annoyance.
Derek walked over to the chair on the other side of my desk, pulled it out and sat down. The sound of the chair dragging across the thin carpet made me clench my jaw. He clasped his hands together and leaned into my desk.
“So,” he said, nodding his head. “I had a crazy fucking weekend.”
I shook my head and laughed, “When do you not?”
“This is why you need to come out with me. You’d see how much fun I really can be,” he said.
“I know you can be fun. Too damn much fun. If I spent time with you on the weekends, I’d never get anything done at work,” I laughed.
“You don’t get it, man. I took two chicks home with me. Two!” He held up two fingers when he repeated the word, like I wouldn’t be able to grasp it without the visual assistance.
“That’s awesome.” I guess. I wasn’t really sure what else to say to him. I really wasn’t that interested in his stories anymore. Not since Whitney died two years ago. Nothing had really been the same ever since. It wasn’t Derek’s fault, and I tried hard to still be a good friend to him, but it just wasn’t the same. I wasn’t the same—and I never would be again.
“Dude, you seriously need to come out with me next time,” he said.
My phone beeped on the table, indicating I had an email. I glanced at it and saw it was an email from one of the artists that wanted to book a show. They had said they’d call me this week, but I hadn’t heard from them, so I was surprised when I saw the email. They were asking if I was okay, because they hadn’t heard from me. I was going to have to look into what Janice was up to after Derek left.
“Yeah right. So, Derek, do you remember, Nell. She’s a little girl—about yay high.” I held my hand up, demonstrating her height.
“Yeah, so?”
“She’s my daughter. I can’t just leave and go do whatever I want on the weekends anymore. You know this,” I said.
Derek blew out a deep breath.
“What?” I wanted to know why he was so irritated.
“Nothing.” He was just trying to brush this off. He was clearly upset about something and I wanted to know what it was.
“What? Seriously, just tell me,” I pressed him.
“It’s just that things used to not be like this.”
I gave him a confused look. “Like what?”
“You. You never come out with me anymore. You used to. You and Whitney used to come out with me on the weekends all the time.”
I stared at him for a moment, not sure what to say. He didn’t know what it was like to find the love of your life and then have her ripped from you way too soon. He didn’t know what it was like: not even close. Yet here he was trying to say that I was no longer any fun. I ignored the anger that bubbled deep within me. I knew anger would never get me anywhere, so I always tried to avoid it.
I looked down at my hands and picked at the skin on the side of my nail. “You mean before she died?”
My intent was only to remind him of why I’d been acting the way I had for the last two years. I knew I had changed, but an event like this changes people: it’s just a fact.
“Yeah, but dude, you remember you are still allowed to have a life, right?” For the first time in two years, Derek was looking at me differently. He wasn’t looking at me with pity. He was looking at me like he meant business. It was a little refreshing in a way, but it still stung. No matter how much truth was in his words.
“I know, but it’s hard.” It was all I could say, anything else and I might have fallen apart. I was still working through my emotions, still grieving. Though it wasn’t as bad as the first year. Each day it hurt a little less, and I thought about her and the way it ended a little less. But it was still there. It still seemed like it had just happened sometimes. Everyone else moved on so easily. Even Nell wasn’t upset about her mom’s passing. But she also didn’t remember her much. She was barely just three when it happened.
Derek stood up and started walking to the door of my office. He placed his hand on the doorknob and turned back to look at me.
“It’s been two years, James. It’s time to get out and get on with your life,” he said and stared at me.
I wasn’t sure how to respond to that, so I figured a change of subject was in order.
“I’ll be having another showing for you soon, buddy.” It was all I could think of, and all I wanted to say.
Derek nodded at me; he knew what I was doing. He left just as abruptly as he entered, and once again I was alone in my office. I turned my attention back to the email I’d received from the artist, asking if I was okay. I wrote back and told them all was good here and asked if they had tried to call. After that, I turned my attention back to my schedule planning.
I had four shows coming up that I needed to plan and fit into the month of September. I’d been getting busier and busier lately, and it was refreshing to have a lot of work to focus on. Nell had just started kindergarten, and that was a pretty big ‘first’ that her mom was missing. She was fine, but I found it difficult to cope with. I had been trying to proactively protect myself from certain events, but Nell’s first day of kindergarten was unavoidable, and one of the hardest. It had definitely gotten to me.
I heard the ping of my email and saw it was a reply from the same artist, saying three messages had been left for me. I was shocked. This meant Janice wasn’t doing her job at all. How the hell was my business going to thrive when my assistant was so awful? This wasn’t the first thing she had done that could cost me artists, reputation, and money.
I sent them back a quick email letting them know that I was very sorry for the delayed response and that my assistant was in charge of calls, but that it was partially my fault for not checking up on things more. I let them know she would be fired by the end of the day. Then I gave them my personal cell phone number.
I got up from my desk and walked downstairs. I couldn’t believe that she had done this. I couldn’t believe I had let things get so fucking bad.
“Janice,” I said, as I walked over to her desk. I noticed her hair was starting to grey some and the wrinkles on her face were starting to show more. Maybe she was just forgetting more easily. But probably not. She’d worked for me for a year, and I’d had nothing but problems with her.
“Yeah?” She was chewing a piece of gum and popping it. Something I hated more than anything. It was my biggest pet peeve, and I knew she was aware of it.
“Have I had any calls?” I asked, in my normal, everything-is-just-peachy voice.
She smiled at me, “Yeah, you’ve had a few.”
“Why didn’t you come tell me about them?” I asked her.
She shrugged, which I didn’t really understand. Seems like trying to explain why she wasn’t actually doing her job would require more than a shrug. I was trying hard not to get too upset with her as I didn’t need some crazy ass lawsuit to come out of nowhere. But it was fucking hard.
I cocked my head to the side and crossed my arms. I wanted to give her a chance to redeem herself and possibly save her job.
“I don’t know. You were busy, and then I just forgot. People forget.”
“All week? Janice, come on, all week? Three messages from one artist and God only knows what else. And you just forgot?” I was starting to lose my temper.
“It wasn’t anything that important; calm down.”
The fact that she was telling me to calm down pissed me off even more, but the cherry on top was how nonchalant she was about the whole thing. Like it was okay to just forget things when it came to your job. Like nothing was important here.
I was seriously tired of untrustworthy people. I had been through a pretty tragic event and had found that I had zero patience for bullshit. I didn’t want anything to do with this sort of bullshit.
“You know why I hired you, right?” I asked her.
“Because you needed an assistant?” she asked. Her voice sounded bored, disinterested even.
“Yep. And that means you come upstairs and let me know when I receive messages from clients. I have an artist that just emailed me asking if I was okay because they hadn’t heard from me and after making several calls this week. Do you know how embarrassing that is? How do you think that reflects on me and on the reputation of my business?”
She shrugged.
“Janice, I was trying to be nice and hopefully give you the benefit of the doubt. But I can’t do this anymore. This is not okay. You’re done,” I said, and watched her mouth fall open.
“You can’t fire me,” she said.
“Why is that?” I shot back.
“Because you need me.”
“No, I need someone who can be my assistant. Someone who will actually do the job and do it effectively. That’s not you.”
“Whatever, I was about to quit anyway,” she said and stood up, knocking over her chair. She didn’t bother to pick it up. Instead, she grabbed her purse from the desk drawer, swung it over her shoulder, and flipped me off.
I nodded my head at her. “Yep, pretty sure I made a good decision,” I said.
She flipped me off again, called me an asshole and walked out of the building. I shook my head and sat down at her desk. Right there on a little sticky note were several names. No messages, no phone numbers. Just names and the number of times they called.
What I couldn’t figure out was how I had waited so long to fire her. I had kept her around and let her keep on working when she couldn’t even deliver a simple message to me. She could have just called me and let me know. She didn’t even have to walk up the stairs to my office if she didn’t want to.
Taking a deep breath, I started thinking about my options. I really needed to get a new assistant in here, and I needed to do it quickly, so I could get help fixing what Janice had fucked up.
I hoped that I hadn’t lost any artists from her inept handling of my business.
Walking back upstairs, I went into my office. When I got to my computer, I posted an ad online for a new assistant. Then I sat just back and waited.