"Just to say welcome?" Sandra yelled.
After I left his office, I grabbed Sandra, waved an awkward goodbye to the secretary, and took a taxi home. I explained everything to her, leaving no stone unturned.
"Do you think there's more?" I asked as we stepped out of the taxi. I waited for Sandra to pay as usual but she glared at me. "What?"
She scoffed "I'm not paying your bills anymore with that amount sitting in your account."
I ignored her and handed a $200 note to the driver. "I'm not spending any of that money. What if he asks for it? just like his jacket."
"Good point but until he does, enjoy your welcome bonus." She winked.
Sandra was not taking the problem seriously. She seemed to enjoy it in a way. We stopped at the ice cream shop to help Robert out. He had called over a hundred times complaining of customers picking on him.
When we stepped in, several customers were standing in the waiting line, some preschoolers singing nursery rhymes at the far right end of the shop, and a couple of other customers scattered around.
Sandra's store stood in the middle of town. It was before now, a private library. After she bought it, she didn't get rid of the library. She let it sit by the corner for those interested, and this gained the love of bookworms and ice cream lovers alike.
"Can we talk about this later?" Sandra asked as she handed me an apron. "You can help make the waiting line shorter."
I dropped my bag in the kitchen and moved to the counter hanging the apron over my cleanly ironed shirt. "How may I help you?" I began with a smile.
By evening, the store was filled with families. Fathers who had probably been dragged all the way here to buy what they had promised in the morning. There was no waiting line thanks to yours truly.
I was about to pick up my phone and scroll through social media a bit when I heard a tiny voice call out "One vanilla ice cream pwesss" I knew that person who couldn't pronounce the word 'please'.
It was Zara, Josh's niece. I looked up and saw Josh standing behind her. His hands were deep in his pockets. He looked around for some time as though trying to figure out how to start a conversation "Hey." He shrugged.
"Not necessary." I stopped him "One vanilla ice cream and some crushed Oreo topping coming right up." That was her usual order which I introduced to her.
I could see Sandra and Robert glaring at him from the window. When I walked in to get the order, Robert was the first to speak up "You want me to get rid of him?"
"No. I'm good. They're just here for ice cream." I replied as I stuffed the cone.
Sandra dropped the Oreo cookie without crushing it "You're not crushing that in my kitchen."
"She's just a child," I said wondering when they got this bad.
"A child who would grow up to be just like her uncle." Robert finished. I could fight Sandra but not both of them, simultaneously.
As I left the kitchen I heard Sandra yell "Make sure to return it after taking their money if they reject it."
"I'm sorry Zara, our crushing machine is spoiled," I said sadly but somewhere deep inside it felt good.
"There's a crushing machine?" Josh queried. Just how dumb are you?
I ignored the question and handed the ice cream to Zara who eagerly took a big lick from the ice cream. "How have you been?" Josh started as soon as Zara was settled.
"I'm good. How about you?" I replied and pretended to be busy. Wiping an already clean table.
He lowered his head, stayed silent for some time, and then looked up before he said "I missed you. I haven't stopped thinking about you."
I waited for him to continue to cause something in me just wanted to hear more of the trash he had to say. "It hasn't been the same without you. I'm sorry I treated you badly. That was wrong and undeserving."
"You think?" I asked this time staring right at him.
"I know... Hey Zara, don't eat that." He warned Zara who was trying to lick the ice cream off the paper.
"But they taste so good." Came her reply.
"Just don't, please." Josh acted like he was being interrogated. His palms were sweating and he got mad at poor Zara for nothing. "Maybe we should finish our discussion over breakfast tomorrow?"
Say no Amy, my head begged "Yeah. I love breakfast." Did I just say I love breakfast? We talked about this heart, you can't be falling like this. Cooperate!!! I warned myself. But it was too late, Josh had already kissed the back of my hand and said his goodbye.
Sandra and Robert shook their heads in disappointment. But guess who didn't give two spoons?
The next morning, Josh sent a good morning text with hugs and kisses. I found myself reading the message over and over again. We scheduled a meeting at our favorite spot; a veggie burger store close to Zara's house. That way, he could watch her as well.
By 9 am, I was all washed up, I dried my hair and tied it into a messy bun just like he liked it letting two long strands fall on each side of my face. I did my brows since I didn't have the time to go to the salon, then stole Sandra's makeup purse to add finishing touches.
I was dressed in my red block neck gown which I paired with black heels. The gown was a gift from Josh for our 100-day anniversary. It was knee length with a sharp slit going up to the thigh on the right leg and long sleeves. It fits like a glove. Hugging every part of my body and doing justice to my cleavage.
Yeah, they were popped. Way more than that of Violet in season 1 of Bridgerton; The Duke and I. For the final touch, I coated my lips with red lipstick. "It's a chore to be this pretty," I told myself.
Since Josh was picking me, I thought it'd be a good idea to let him see all the beauty I had so I wore my jacket. "Are you going to work dressed like a slut from the 19th century?" Sandra asked as soon as she saw me step out of my room.
"No. I told you I'm not workings there. I'm going to meet Josh. We're having breakfast." I felt embarrassed saying it.
"At a five-star hotel?" She continued.
"No. JJ Burgers."
Sandra narrowed her eyes at me before opening them and she started laughing. "You're dressed like this to go to JJ Burgers? Please go back up and wear sweatpants."
Robert who just stood at the kitchen entrance with his tea finally spoke up "You look great Mi amore."
"Thank you, Robert." I smiled and grabbed my jacket and with one last glance at my figure, I walked out of the apartment.
There was a car parked outside the house, it didn't belong to Josh, but I was eager to please, so I believed. He could have borrowed it.
When I approached the car, the window came down and a familiar voice called out,
"You dress this way and tell me not to do inappropriate things, now you're just playing dirty momma," Jesse spoke from the car. "Cause I'd do them."