“Get in the office,” I said to the interns.
I slammed the door after they entered.
“You three worked on that patent case with me,” I said. “Right?”
The three nodded.
“I just got word about the case,” I said.
“Oh, no,” Maria said.
“What do you think happened?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” she said.
“We fucking blew it,” David said.
“Whatever,” Jacob said. “I worked my ass off. If that’s not good enough then fuck it. Fuck this.”
Jacob stood up.
“Are you quitting?” I asked.
“What’s the point?” he asked.
“Wow, you three need to grow some thicker skin,” I said. “We won the case. Everything went in our favor. The powers above us are shitting their pants they’re so happy.”
“Ew,” Maria said.
“Sorry about that,” I said. “You three did good. Really good. I’m actually going to recommend all three of you for a job. Not sure which area in the company though. But I’d hate to see you leave.”
Maria jumped up. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah,” I said. “But there’s still plenty of time for you to fuck it up.”
Maria smiled ear to ear.
David grinned.
Jacob just didn’t care.
“David,” I said. “Get those files off my desk and organize them. Maria, there’s another case pending I want you to go through. Find me five reasons why we can lose the case. Jacob… hang back.”
When I shut the door with Jacob in the office, he looked at me like he wanted to hit me.
“Spill it, kid,” I said.
“Janelle cheated on me.”
“Fuck.”
“She slept with some guy she works with. While wearing my engagement ring.”
“I’m sorry, kid,” I said.
“So you know what I did?”
“What?”
“I tried to fuck Maria,” Jacob said. “She shut me down. Said I was too depressed.”
“Wow,” I said. “That’s a tough one.”
“What do I do? I love her.”
“Maria?”
“No. Janelle.”
“I…” I looked at my desk. At my phone. I thought about Emily. “Love is a wild thing, Jacob. I can’t tell you to forgive her. I can’t tell you to hate her for the rest of your life. What I can tell you is that plans aren’t worth shit half the time. Things change. People fuck up. It’s just… it’s tough. The hardest part is keeping yourself together and being true to yourself. Now, do you really love her? Do you love her enough to give up everything you have here, love her enough to have her leave her job and you two run off and figure out what went wrong and fix it? Or do you just want to go fuck the first woman that will let you fuck her?”
“I already did that,” Jacob said.
“I thought you said Maria…”
“Her roommate,” Jacob said. “She liked my nerdy look.”
“Wow,” I said. “How did it feel?”
“Like hell.”
“Did you tell Janelle?”
“Yeah.”
“Did it crush her?”
“Yeah.”
“And you want to know why she’s allowed to be crushed when she cheated on you.”
Jacob kept nodding.
I walked to my desk and leaned against it. “I don’t know, kid.”
“Do you regret this? The job?”
“You’re asking if I missed out on things in life, right?”
“Yeah.”
“A week ago I would have said yes. Today… what I’m saying is that things work themselves out. We as people have no patience. We know we’re on the clock. Time’s ticking away. Death is closer each morning. All that hippy bullshit, right? But it’s true. We want it all now in case it’s not there again tomorrow.”
“So basically you can’t tell me a thing,” Jacob said.
“I’m not responsible for you, kid. You are. For yourself.”
“Can we get past this?” He asked.
“Only you and Janelle can decide that,” I said.
Jacob stuck his hand out.
I shook it.
“You’re a good kid, Jacob. You’re smart. Capable. You have a long life ahead of you.”
“I know,” he said. “That’s why I’m quitting.”
“Good.”
“Can I tell you you’re a fucking prick and to shove your computer up your ass?”
“If you do that, I’ll knock your teeth down your fucking throat,” I said.
“Then I won’t say it,” Jacob said.
I nodded to him and he ripped his tie off and ran to the door.
As he left the office, I saw him with his phone in his hand.
I hoped only the best for him and Janelle.
Young love was tough.
Any love was tough.
I waited all those years for Emily.
I hoped I never had to do it again.
I walked into Emily’s bakery and made a line right for her.
For some reason I couldn’t stop thinking about Jacob and Janelle.
A goddamn intern and his fiancée or whatever she was by then… stuck in my head.
I thought about what would have happened that night with Emily and I if I hadn’t gotten chased away by the cops. If we had kissed. She would have moved away. Then what? Would we have made it work? Gone to college together? Then what?
So many different paths that could have happened…
Yet we were together now.
I walked behind the counter and touched Emily’s arm.
I looked at a woman placing her order.
“Give me one second, ma’am,” I said to her. “Your order is on me.”
I pulled Emily toward me and kissed her like a woman of her beauty should be kissed all day every day for the rest of their life.
We got a few aww sounds, which I wasn’t going for.
After a few seconds, I stopped kissing her.
“I love you, babe,” I whispered.
“Um, I love you too,” she said. “But I’m running a business.”
I reached into my pocket and slipped Emily some money. “The next few orders are on me.”
I walked away and waited for Lucy to come from the back and help with the register. When she saw me, she winked.
All I could do was laugh.
When Emily finished helping a few more customers, she snuck away and joined me at the small table I sat at.
“What was that kiss about?” she asked.
“Years in the making,” I said. “What are you doing tonight?”
“Tonight… hopefully you.”
I growled in my throat. “Fuck, babe. You know how much the smell of this bakery turns me on.”
“Ember is in the back, so we can’t fuck there.”
“Send her on a long lunch,” I said.
“Oh, is someone feeling up to fooling around longer than a few minutes?”
“You can’t say that with a straight face,” I said.
“I know. It’s just fun to watch you squirm.”