Baggage

Blaire was late for work. Getting home late from her mother’s the night before had caused her to forget to put the alarm.

The receptionist, the biggest gossip in the office, was nowhere to be seen. She made a dash for her office, and made an annoyed sound when she realized her intercom was already buzzing.

Once she could breathe without sounding like a pervert over the phone, she pressed the intercom. “Yes?”

”Blaire, where the hell have you been?” her boss exclaimed in a furious whisper.

“I’m at most ten minutes late, it’s that-”

“I don’t want to hear your excuses!” she cut in. “The boss is here, and he’s making personal interviews with everyone. Even the receptionist!”

Blaire could feel the blood draining out of her face. She was done for, being late was not a good first impression.

“Your interview began ten minutes ago. It’s in conference room three.”

“Thank you, I’ll be there in a second,” Blaire replied, turning to face her flushed appearance. She pulled her hair back, quickly forming a French braid and made sure her usual business shirt and pencil skirt were buttoned.

That done, she hauled ass down the corridor, and hung a left. She caught her breath, knocked, and opened the door.

The same man from yesterday sat at the table, a pair of sunglasses perched on his nose, as well as the fedora on his head. Sitting next to him was another man, his eyes were a vibrant green, his hair was a shaggy Mohawk, two rings adorned his lower lip as well as one in his nose. He had the same arrogant, cocky demeanor that Mr. Haner carried. His full pink lips curved to the side in a smirk, and she felt the usual tremble of terror go down her spine.

They both wore band shirts, with the sleeves ripped off, showing off their biceps.

Just like her ex-husband.

She pulled herself together, once again hating the fear that came alive every time a man came near. Spine rigid, she walked toward them, a fake smile on her lips. “Good morning, sorry that I’m late.”

Her boss indicated to the seat in front of them. “Sit.”

She sat, ignoring the eyes that she knew were on her.

“This is my buddy Zacky Baker, he has his own clothing line, and he’s going to help me choose who stays and who goes.”

“Okay, sounds great.”

Zacky observed Blaire for a minute before speaking. “Being late is not a good first impression.”

Mr. Haner looked at the folder in front of him. “So, Ms. Montgomery, what do you do here exactly?”

“It’s Matthews,” she replied sharply, causing the both of them to look up at her. Well, she could imagine that her Boss was staring at her, since he had his sunglasses on. “I apologize, I requested for my name to be changed in the file, and it apparently has not.”

“Okay, I’ll take care of that,” Mr. Haner replied, crossing something out in the file before writing something else. “Back to the question. Your job here?”

“Officially, I am the head designer. I approve and or reject styles as well as making my own. I used to go with Michelle to all of the fashion shows, we would choose the models, the music, the outfits, everything basically, together, but now I just approve the ads since we don’t do shows that often. Maybe once a year now, I think,” her voice cracked when she spoke briefly of Michelle. “Anyway, I also approve materials and anything that has to do with what’s going to be on the outfit, for example, I even have to approve the buttons. I’m in charge of approving and or rejecting anything that goes on our website.”

“Is there anything you don’t do?” Zacky asked.

Blaire thought for a second before replying. “Plan the staff parties?”

That caused the both of them to crack a smile, and while it didn’t completely ease her tension, her spine wasn’t as rigid.

“Alright then, there are a few changes I’ve decided to make concerning the company, and you’re one of them.”

Blaire’s heart dropped to her knees. She couldn’t get fired, she had to support both herself and Lucy.

“With all of the things you’re in charge of, I know you must be stressed out,” Mr. Haner continued.

“I don’t mind all of the work!”

“We know you have a daughter. Getting here at eight o’clock in the morning and putting in twelve to thirteen hour days has to cut into your time with her.”

“She’s the reason I can’t get fired, I need to support her!”

“What are you talking about?” he asked, confused. “I’m not going to fire you, just change your duties and hours.”

Almost passing out from the relief, she let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding.

“God, you scared me.” Letting her head fall into her hands, she let out a shaky laugh.

“Sorry, I should have probably said that differently.”

Blaire straightened in her seat. “That would probably have been for the best. Now what exactly are my new duties?”

“Well, you would be more like just designing and approving designs and becoming more involved with the production and any and all future fashion shows. You can see this as a semi-promotion because you will be my right hand in all of this. I’m hoping you’ll see it as having the same exact job you had before Michelle died.”

Brian watched the emotions run through Blaire’s eyes. Excitement, sadness, caution, suspicion, and joy were among them. He’d heard a lot about her amazing sense of fashion and dedication from Michelle and knew she was the last person he would fire.

As he watched her, his eyes couldn’t help but drift all over her gorgeous attributes. From her full pink lips to her long blond hair and endless curves, she was pure perfection. She was beautiful. Michelle had often said Blaire had the most amazing hazel eyes, and although Brian agreed, he thought her curves were her best feature—as superficial as that fact was. Most women were too thin and unhealthy, but Blaire, Blaire was perfect and natural.

He knew that Zacky kept glancing at him, wondering what the fuck he was doing. He was supposed to be telling her she was going to keep her job, and things were going to run, on her part, as they always had. After having described her job, Brian was curious to know what exactly Judy did.

“Okay, that sounds great,” Blaire said, looking and sounding confused as to the job proposal. “I guess I’ll talk to you guys later?”

Zacky turned his chair to face Brian the moment she left. “What the fuck was that?”

Brian shrugged. “I have no idea. I want to do exactly what Michelle was doing and Blaire was a part of that. Michelle would come home ranting about how fucking amazing her skill was.”

“You just gave Judy’s job to Blaire. What are you going to do with Judy?”

“Probably fire her; maybe keep her around on a trial basis. The woman does nothing! If she was given Blaire’s job, she wouldn’t survive very long.”

“Oh, man, she is not going to like that downgrade, especially after having power for so long.”

“Too bad for her; if she doesn’t like it, she can go get another fucking job.”

Zacky laughed, tapping his pen against his yellow legal pad. “I say you have the hots for Blaire.”

Brian glared at Zacky, pissed because he knew it was true. “What are we, in high school?”

“You couldn’t take your eyes off of her!”

“How would you know?” Brian retorted. “I’ve had my sunglasses on the entire time!”

“I could tell you were checking her out.”

“If I was checking her out, it was only for one-night stand purposes. Which wouldn’t be smart because I expect to be working closely with her and wouldn’t that be fucking awkward?”

“Why only a one-night stand? Is it because she has a kid?”

“No, because Michelle’s only been dead for three years; I’m not ready for any kind of relationship.”

“Michelle would have wanted you to move on.”

“Michelle would not have wanted to be dead. See how well that worked out for her?” Picking up the phone, he ignored Zacky and told the receptionist to bring in the next interviewee.

“Very mature,” Zacky muttered with a disgusted snort at Brian’s behavior.

Blaire felt like doing a happy little dance as she walked back to her office. Getting her old duties back was a dream come true, and so was having a regular schedule so that she could spend more time with Lucy.

Besides maybe having a few meetings run late and runway shows, she would now have a typical 9-5 job. Her grin grew wider; she would actually be able to see Lucy while she was awake.

“So, how did it go?” Judy asked, peering at her from her open office doorway.

“Amazing,” Blaire replied, filling Judy in on the good news. Instead of a ‘congrats’, Blaire got the door slammed in her face as Judy stormed away, face filled with rage.

Confused, but too ecstatic to care about her reaction, Blaire picked up her cellphone and called her dad, ready to share the news.

Because of the staff changes, Blaire got the next week off, and she took advantage of it. She and Lucy spent every waking moment together, mostly having movie marathons or going out to the few beaches that were scattered around the city. But tonight was different, it was finally Friday and they were packing their bags, ready to get to Blaire’s father’s house as soon as possible.

“Mommy!” hearing the whiny tone laced with impatience, Blaire braced herself for her daughter’s hissy fit. It had only been a few weeks ago that Lucy had turned three and she was most definitely still in her ‘Terrible Two’s’ stage.

“Yes, Lucy?”

“I want my blue dress!” she exclaimed, red-faced, her bottom lip quivering. “Where is my blue dress?”

“It’s in the dryer, Lucy. Lose the attitude or you aren’t going to Grandpa’s house!” Blaire replied with a serious tone. While Lucy wasn’t prone to hissy fits, she became a little demon when she missed her nap at noon.

“Come here,” Blaire instructed her now crying daughter. “Stop crying, Lucy. Help mommy take the bags to the car. I’ll get your dress later.”

As they grabbed the bags and dragged them outside to the car, Lucy calmed down and they made it to her dad’s house without so much as a sniffle.

“We’re here!” Lucy exclaimed happily, a large grin spread on her face, exposing a set of dimples. The dimples she’d inherited from her father.

Blaire shook the thought out of her head and fumbled with the removal of her seatbelt. Her dad was already removing an excited, and exhausted, Lucy from her car seat.

At the sight of her dad, a similar version of Lucy’s grin spread over Blaire’s face. He held out the arm that wasn’t holding Lucy and Blaire took up his invitation, and hugged him.

“C’mon, in ya’ll go,” he said, grinning. “It’s hot out and I know we have a lot to talk about.”

Before they even sat down to dinner, Lucy had fallen asleep on one of the living room couches.

“So…how is your mom?” Blaire glanced at her father from beneath her eyelashes, curious of the random question. He rarely asked about her mother unless it pertained to money.

“She’s alright, I guess. Same as always really—dramatic and selfish.”

“I’ve told you to not talk about your mother that way,” he scolded as he began to set the table for the two of them.

She rolled her eyes, “Whatever, Dad. We both know what she’s like.”

“Blaire.”

“Okay, sorry. Why do you want to know?”

“Yes, I do. We’re divorced, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care about her.”

“Okay, change of subject, please?”

“Fine, you don’t want to talk about your mom, I get that. How about Carter? Any news on his upcoming parole hearing?”

“Must we speak of such awful things at the dinner table?” Blaire retorted as anger once again filled her. Carter was her ex-husband, Lucy’s father, and he was set to have a parole hearing in January, a mere six months away. He was supposed to be locked up for another five years, but due to perfect behavior, that had been cut short.

Though she didn’t want to ruin her evening by talking about him, she knew she would have to tell her Dad eventually. “It’s in January. Due to model behavior, or some bullshit, he gets out early. That is if the judge, or the jury, I don’t know who makes these asinine decisions, says yes.”

Her dad shook his head, a frown on his usually smiling face. “I’m sorry, honey. I know this is the last thing you wanted.”

“Yeah, well, what can I do?” she replied, looking at her plate with disdain, she’d honestly lost her appetite. “Nothing ever goes my way. God forbid I live the rest of my life peacefully with Lucy. No, they have to release him again, to make my life a living fucking hell.”

“First of all, watch your language. Second, I’m sure he won’t be allowed near you. You can get one of them restraining orders.”

Blaire laughed at her dad. “You talk about restraining orders as if they’re something you can buy at the corner grocery store.”

“Well, hell, I don’t know, you should be able to get one. For you and for Lucy.”

“I doubt I could get one for Lucy,” Blaire replied. “You know, due to his perfect behavior he can actually get supervised visits with Lucy. As if I want to spend my day with him, as if I want to let Lucy spend a day with him. This is such bullshit.”

“Okay, stop stressing about this, Blaire. It’s not good for you, it’s a long time from now, and I won’t have you stressed out and nervous for the next six months. You’re letting him control your life again; you said you wouldn’t let that happen.”

“You’re right, Dad. I’m not going to let him control my life,” Blaire replied, hugging her Dad. He was right; all she could do was keep moving on and hope for the best.

“I know I’m right. I’m always right,” he said, a cocky grin on his face. “Now, c’mon, it’s movie time.”

They put the dishes in the dishwasher in a companionable silence before making their way out to the living room where they popped in a random movie from the large selection they had gathered over the years.

They snuggled into the couch and watched as the FBI warning came onto the screen. Blaire was a daddy’s girl, there was no doubt about it, and she wouldn’t change it for anything in the world. The only regret she had was that Lucy would never have the kind of relationship with her father.