Lisa
The machines whir as I walk by them, inspecting them like soldiers in a row. Gleaming massive, silver canisters, my pride and joy, churning my latest brain children.
"How you doing today, Betty?" I lay a hand on the second machine, rubbing it like a genie's lamp.
"You know they can't actually hear you, right?" The snarky voice comes from the doorway.
Leaning against it is Rosé, my business partner slash sommelier slash therapist slash savior. When I decided to forge out on my own and start a business, much to the dismay of my family, I'd bumped into the tattooed, tough-talking woman in front of me, and we'd hit it off. She'd haunted the DC foodie scene for years, working in bars and eateries. She knew her shit, knew the ins and outs of what tasted good, what marketing sold, what we needed to do to get our business out to the masses. With my business degree, good-girl attitude and determination, we made quite a team.
I take in her hair, a shade of deep purple this week, and smirk. "It's the secret to our success, so don't knock it."
"And here I was, thinking I was the special sauce to this business. Hey, the new pinots are in from California, and they're fucking delicious." She cracks her knuckles, her nose piercing glinting as she walks into what we call 'the kitchen.'
Our office is a small building on the outskirts of the city, nice enough that it doesn't get broken in to, but cheap enough that it takes me forty-five minutes to get out here in traffic. The perimeter is fenced under a key code so we can keep the trucks here overnight, and all of our operations are handled under one roof.
"Taste test tonight, then? Tell Jisoo and we'll set up the conference room."
Taste test was code word for "let's drink all of the new stock to quote unquote, see how it would fit into recipes we'd been dreaming up." It was key for business, but it also gave us an excuse to kick back a little as an office. Along with Rosé, we had a part time receptionist and bookkeeper, Jisoo, and two college students turned drivers who were with us most of the year, Chan and June. Other than the five of us, we had rotating temp drivers that I'd come to trust and worked with a time or two if we were in a jam.
"Got it, how did the drive go? Sorry you had to drive the truck, Manny just couldn't fill in today." Rosé walks into the hall and I follow, bypassing the three office doors until I reach the large conference room at the end of the building.
"Eh, it's no big deal. Plus, I got a girl's number." I give her a charming smile; the one I know she'll roll her eyes at.
She smiles that shit-eating grin, the one that makes me nervous. "I got a girl's number too, and I bet mine's hotter than yours."
As well as being a kickass business partner, Rosé is also a player. She's one of the only people, man or woman, I know that has a rotating schedule of sexy, single women climbing in and out of her bed. I'd almost admire her if she hadn't stolen girls right out from under my nose numerous times.
"I don't think so, this one … she's gorgeous." I think of Jennie's face, the mystery lurking beneath the mommy facade.
"Don't you remember what happened the last time you got a girl's number in the truck?" She raises a dark eyebrow at me.
I cringe at the blond who'd keyed one of the trucks after I did her in it and never called her again. My conscience shudders and guilt roils in my gut. "Well, this one is a little different."
"Are you blushing? Wowwwww. Who is she?" Rosé pushes my shoulder.
I set up the conference table for a tasting, with the mini-wine glasses, spit buckets, plates for fudge and cheese. "She's a woman, a grown-ass woman. And that's all you need to know for now."
Rosé stops, like a frozen caricature of herself. "Who are you and what have you done with Lisa Manoban? Damn, I think I need to meet her."
I laugh, brushing her off. But in all honesty, since I saw Jennie this afternoon in that cul-de-sac, all I've been thinking about is using the number that she gave me. And typically, I'm not the type to chase a girl. Sure, I've picked up my fair share, more than, and we have a fling and it's sexy and fun … but that's usually it. If any of them had ever introduced me to their kid, I'd have hightailed it the other way. If a woman snubbed me years ago, only to not act too interested, or not even know my name, when I saw her again … I would have turned and hooked the closest ten with a mini-skirt on. And that sounds shallow, but I've never felt like pursuing anyone.
Until now, I guess. I hadn't gone after her at college all those years ago, and I was not dumb enough to ignore fate knocking on my door. That sounded so cliché, but then again, I'd admitted that I liked flowering trees not too long ago so I was surprising myself in all kinds of ways these day.
"Let's get to it." Jisoo came in rubbing her hands together. "I've got two hours before I have to go home and play wife and mom, and I plan to do that with at least a great buzz, so show me the money."
Her husband was an ear, nose and throat doctor who worked long hours, and she had two little boys at home who were cute, but a handful. I'd only babysat them once, but after I'd slept for about three days I was so exhausted.
"Are we waiting for the drivers?" I asked, not knowing whether to put out more supplies.
"Screw that." Rosé grabbed the farm fresh cheese and homemade fudge from the fridge. "Those newbs don't even know a Pinot from a pineapple. More wine for us, and plus, I don't need to fraternize with children today."
Jisoo laughs and takes a seat, pouring herself a proper tasting size out of one the bottles lined up on the table. Rosé and I sat down on the other side of the table, taking glasses and pouring for ourselves. We sip in silence for awhile, the sun setting outside the windows.
"Yuck …" Rosé spits into one of the stainless steel containers. "Tastes like moldy vagina."
Jisoo lets out a sharp laugh and her cheeks go pink, our kind of humor a little crude for her still.
"That's the worst kind of vagina." I shake my head in mock dismay.
"No, the worst kind is no kind, and you my friend are in a dry spell. I know it, just by the look in your eyes." Rosé takes a sip of a new wine, and writes down something about the notes.
While she's a vulgar jokester, her mind for alcohol and marketing is whip sharp, and I'm a lucky girl for her to have found me when this idea sparked in my head.
And she's also a mind reader, because I haven't told her about my lack of dates or female company lately. "What are you, the relationship whisperer?"
Jisoo, a little tipsy and not as experienced in holding her liquor, giggles. "It's like she can look into your soul and tell that you haven't gotten laid in a while. Quick Rosé, tell me if my husband is going to give me a real Fifty Shades experience."
"It is decidedly so." Her purple locks shake as she nods her head and moves on to the next bottle.
"The magic eight ball of pussy and dick, everyone." I sigh, leaning back in my chair.
"Just let me know if you'd like me to work my magic. I don't like to see any genital go hungry." She bows her head like she needs to pray for me.
This was the perfect way to end the night, with my feet up drinking good wine and working on my business. The only thing that would make it better is using the number that was burning a hole in my pocket.
But I was going to bide my time, and I needed a clear head when I finally reached out to Jennie.
So for now, I would let my imagination wander into creation land, thinking up flavors and new possibilities.
Jennie
The phone rings just as I'm about to get up from my desk, and I sigh, my shoulders sore and my brain frazzled.
"Jennie Kim, National Parks, how can I help you?" I set my overflowing purse, which more resembles an entire country, on the floor next to me.
It's been a trying, but rewarding, Friday, and all I want to do is get out of here.
"Hi, Jennie, it's Elvin. I just wanted to say thank you for helping with the situation before. I know we were probably clipped with you, but I just wanted to let you know how crucial your help was at the time."
Internally I melt, sometimes needing to hear how good I am at my job. Because I know it, I'm damn good. But in the heat of the moment during the day, with all of the crisis that falls across my desk, I'm rarely thanked. To them, I'm just management, sitting in some corporate office dictating policy and procedure. But some of them know that I've been in the field, that I could handle these tasks with my bare hands if I were left to it.
"Well, that's very nice of you, Elvin, and I'm just doing my job. Just … next time you have a bunch of wild animals break loose, teach your rangers the proper technique to tangle them back up." I laugh, signaling my joke.
But really, I don't know why it got that out of hand that they had to call me in. Men, I swear.
"Will do, you have a great weekend now."
I wish him the same and hang up, practically sprinting from the office before I can get pulled back into one more conversation. In the parking lot, Wendy waves as she gets into her Honda truck, and I wave back at my new friend. Over the past week or so, we've eaten together every day, and she's given me some tips about life in the national office. There is more red tape, also known as bullshit, to deal with. People who I should avoid, and those who I should press my lips against their ass. She's been a good ally, and has rather funny anecdotes to get me through the day sometimes.
I'm just about to start the engine to my little red Camry when my phone pings with a text message. Before Lily, which I refer to as BL because my life changed so much after becoming a parent, I would have checked it while driving. But I'm trying to set a good example, blah blah, and so I put the keys down and pick up the phone before venturing out onto the road.
DK: Thinking about coming out to see you both. Missing the girly. Would that be okay?
I sigh and rest my head back against the seat. You've got to be kidding me. Almost a month has gone by since we left Seattle, and I've barely heard from him. And now, now that we're finally getting settled, he wants to jostle Lily with a visit when I know he won't stay.
I told him when I left, our argument awkward and not heated like it should have been for a woman and man who were splitting up after eight years, that I would never keep him from his daughter. And I meant it.
But I also knew DK, and I knew that this idea was probably spur of the moment, and would pass within the hour.
Me: Sure, that would be fine. She would love to see you. Just let me know your plans and/or dates.
Jesus, help me. I hadn't seen my bearded, mountain man of an ex in almost a month, and surprisingly, I hadn't been hurting all that much. Our relationship had gone downhill after Lily was born. And by downhill, I meant that DK just seemed to vanish. It was like his inability to be a good father completely turned me off to him as a boyfriend.
Sure enough, three minutes later and still no response. Not even any little bubbles indicating that he was typing, or thinking of a plan. I knew right then that he wasn't serious about flying across the country to see his daughter. And while that was sad, I was also kind of selfishly happy.
Buckling my seatbelt and heading for the highway home, I was surprised when my cell began to ring through the Bluetooth. With the delay of the car, stupid technology, I wasn't able to read the name who was calling on the dashboard, and I just picked it up thinking it was either my mom. Or less likely, DK, wanting to talk about a visit.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Jennie, it's Lisa. How was your week?"
Instantly my heart drops and beads of sweat gather at the back of my neck, and I feel like I should pull over to the side of the road because no way can I have this conversation while driving.
But I'm in bumper to bumper and there is no way I can leave the babysitter with Lily any longer. My daughter might have eaten her whole as it is.
"Li … Lisa, nice to hear from you." Was it? Since I'd given her my number, I'd thought about her calling until I was shaking my legs in bed like a fifteen-year-old girl. "My week was … well it was hectic to be honest, but I'm happy it's Friday. How was yours?"
It felt strange having this conversation with a woman, a very sexy woman, while a pair of my daughter's underpants sat on the passenger seat along with a half empty canister of animal crackers and a stack full of grocery store coupons. If that didn't depict my life right there, nothing did.
"It was pretty good, but I wanted to make it even better. Would you go out with me tomorrow night?"
"Damn, you cut right to the chase, don't you?"
I slap a hand over my mouth, completely appalled that I just said that out loud.
A husky laugh comes through my Bluetooth. "In fact I do, but normally people like that quality."
She was kind of right. "I am so sorry, now I've shown just how rusty I am at this whole conversation, not to mention dating, thing."
"So that's a yes, then? You'll go on a date with me?" I can practically see her smug, charming smile at the other end of the phone.
Thumbing through the mom-calendar in my head, I determined that I had nothing planned for Saturday night. And why not go? I mean, she wasn't a total stranger, which eliminated the awkward "Is she a serial killer?" debate that one sometimes had when trying to date again. And she was cute. Had a job. Seemed relatively down-to-earth. If my correspondence with DK was any clue, I no longer had feelings for my ex. Who said a single mother couldn't also find love?
Well, almost every ounce of time on the clock and a petulant three-year-old, but that was beside the point.
"If I can get a sitter, sure I will." I slipped in the part about Lily because I wanted this girl to know now, my daughter came first.
"Why don't you bring her along? We can do something PG." The way she said it implied that she wanted to do non-PG things with me, and it made my thighs tingle.
But my heart also fluttered, in a way it hadn't in a long time. Not that I'd had much experience other than DK, but the fact that a woman, who wasn't my daughter's father, wanted to include her in a date … well, the significance wasn't lost on me.
"That would be … really nice, thanks. Should I give you some ideas or—"
"No need, I have some up my sleeve." Her voice was mysterious and boyish, and suddenly, I didn't know who would enjoy this date more, Lily or me.
"All right, just nothing with slime or Jell-O, I'm not trying to clean up a mess."
"You're telling this to a girl who makes ice cream for a living. I practically live mess. But okay, I'll abide by your rules. I'll pick you two up, now that you have my number, text me your address."
Alarm bells went off. A stranger having my address, Lily's car seat in someone else's car, was she even a good driver? Mentally, I slapped myself. I had to stop this. I'd promised myself when I moved here that the mania and worrying would lessen. That I'd give life a chance to surprise me more, and take me where I was supposed to go.
"Sounds like a date." I try to use my flirtiest tone possible, and I think I kind of achieve it.
We hang up, my heart still doing that two step it had picked up ever since Lisa's voice came through the car stereo.
And then I went into full on panic mode again. Because Jesus, what the hell was I going to wear?
