The Way I Loved You

“So, you’re coming to the game tonight, right?”

I stared at the phone lying on my bathroom counter. The acoustics of the room only amplified the speakerphone.

My best friend was currently trying to convince me to go to the game tonight. We’ve had this conversation way too many times for me to keep count. As much as I wanted to go, I had an early morning of work the next day.

“I don’t know Jess. You know every time we go to a game we end up drinking like crazy afterwards whether win or lose,” I reasoned as I finished up my hair. “I’m hanging up now. I need to leave for work.”

I made my way down the hall, grabbing my keys and slipped out the front door, making sure to lock it.

“Right. You’re meeting your regional manager today,” Jess stated.

“Ugh. Don’t remind me,” I said as I started my car. “He’s always’ been nice to me, but I just don’t want to deal with him as my boss.”

“See!” she exclaimed. “All the more reason you should come to the game tonight. Our team is here. Our team! Don’t pass this chance up. You know Angela’s gonna get mad at you if you don’t come.”

That she would be. Angela’s my longest friend and roommate. I’ve known her since the first grade, and we’ve been friends ever since. She and I have been season ticket holders with the Winnipeg Jets since their return. Our seats were pretty sweet too. We had three seats right behind the visitor’s bench.

“She can’t get mad at me. She lives in my house,” I said.

“That may be true, but technically, your seat is under her name. She doesn’t have to give you tickets to any of the games. And she knows you want to go to this one. It’s our team – your team. They’re playing. Here. Tonight. In Winnip-“

“Okay, okay! I’ll go!” I exclaimed. There’s no point in fighting her; she was too annoying and persistent. “I’m hanging up for real now. I’m gonna be late because of you!”

“I love you too!”

Shaking my head, I tossed my phone onto the passenger seat, and began my trek to work, already regretting getting out of bed.

---

My palms were sweating. I was slightly nervous, and I didn’t even really care about this job anymore. Yeah, it paid my bills and fed me, but I didn’t particularly enjoy it. I hated retail and I couldn’t wait to get away from it.

“Don’t worry, Gabby. You’ll be fine,” the girl beside me said.

I glared at her and said, “No, Shelly, I won’t be fine!” I was beyond frustrated so I kept going. “Two years of being with this company and what do I get? I get abandoned for nine days without any management to help me. I ran this store by myself. And how to they repay me? They tell me that our regional manager is coming to visit to introduce our new manager, with barely a day’s notice!”

Shelly, one of my closest friends at work, stared at me with sympathy. Thank God there weren’t any customers in the store right now. I needed this little vent session.

“It’s going to be fine,” she said in an attempt to comfort me. “We’re getting a new manager, and Andrew is going to be back in a couple of days. Then you can take a well deserved break from all of this.”

Andrew was our store’s assistant manager. He left me in charge for the nine days that no other management would be there. To say I was upset about this would be an understatement. I was a part-time supervisor. Nowhere in my job description did it state that I would have to be running the store while my managers decided to leave.

I excused myself to retreat to the back room. I couldn’t be out on the sales floor. I didn’t want to risk yelling at a child for not putting a pair of shoes back where they belonged.

I plopped onto a chair and grabbed my phone, checking for any messages. After sending Angela a quick text, letting her know I was for sure going to the game, I walked back onto the sales floor, only to come face to face with a woman who was awfully tanned, and a familiar, balding man behind her.

“Oh,” tanned lady said in surprise. “You must be Gabrielle,” she said with a fake smile gracing her too orange face, hand stretched out to for a handshake. “I’m Vicky, your new manager.”

After a moment of slight hesitation, I shook her hand, applying enough pressure to let her know that just because she was technically my manager, she wouldn’t be able to make me her bitch.

I looked over her head at the man behind her, outstretching my hand that he eagerly shook.

“Gabby,” he greeted with a genuine smile. “Its so nice to see you again. How are your parents?”

“Nice to see you again, Ben,” I replied. “They’re doing great! Soaking up some sun in the Philippines. Thank you for asking.”

Ben may be my regional manager, but he was a nice guy. The only thing intimidating about him was that he took his job seriously, and the power his position held. Other than that, he truly cared about his employees. After two years of working with this company, I was touched that he actually remembered me.

I looked over at Vicky, who looked surprised at how easily I conversed with Ben. The only thing I was nervous about was Ben asking how things went during the time I was in charge, because I didn’t really know the answer. I was so blinded by the stress and overwhelmed with the workload that I don’t even remember what happened the past week.

“Vicky,” he started. “I think there are some customers out here that need some help. I’ll be in the back speaking with Gabby.”

I watched Vicky for her reaction. She seemed shocked by Ben’s request, but quickly covered it with another fake smile and said, “For sure. Let me know if you need me.”

We walked to the back room, and sat at the manager’s desk.

“So Gabby,” he started. “Now that Vicky isn’t here, tell me the truth. How has the past week or so been for you?” He asked with genuine concern. Another great thing about Ben was that he sincerely cared about his employees. I worked myself into his good graces by showing that I was dedicated to my job even if I didn’t always enjoy it. I always put in the effort to improve the store's performance.

After an exasperated sigh, I let it all out. After all, he deserved to know the truth.

How I was upset about being left alone with no managers to help. I told him about everything from working everyday for nine days straight, to being understaffed, to our stock deliveryman being really creepy, and Vicky, who even though I’ve only met her, gave me bad vibes.

“I just want to be completely honest with you Ben, but I don’t think I’ll be able to continue working here with Vicky as my new manager. Just being in her presence for a minute, and I can already tell she’s devising a plan on how she can walk all over me, and then take credit for all the good things that I’ll do.”

The last bit may have sounded cocky, but it was true. As much as I dislike my job, I was good at it. And Ben visited enough to know that. He even had the access to the statistics to prove it.

He looked at me, deep in thought. After a moments silence, he reached into his jacket pocket and handed me one of his business cards.

“I really hope that you choose to stay with this company. You’ve been with this store for its entire existence, and I’d hate to see you go. You know what you’re doing and you’re good at it.”

He pointed at the card I held in my hand. “If you ever decide that you really want to leave and are in need of a job, give me a call. You’re a good kid, and I have a lot of friends all over the place that could give you a job.”

I smiled at him, and expressed my gratitude. “Thank you so much. You don’t know how much this means to me.”

“You’re welcome,” he said.

“Well, Benjamin,” I sighed. “It was nice to see you again. I have a lot of paperwork to do, and its already halfway through my shift, so if there isn’t anything else, I’ll excuse myself.”

He stood up and said, “Don’t worry about it. Vicky can do the paper work. You can go home early, with pay. You deserve a break. No offense but you look like you want to rip your hair out.”

I laughed. “Thanks,” I said with a sarcastic eye roll. I grabbed my things and walked back onto the sales floor.

Ben walked with me to the store’s entrance and said, “Don’t forget what I told you. Just give me a call if you need any help.”

“Thanks again,” I said with a genuine smile. “Enjoy the rest of your day.”

I walked out of the store with a huge weight off my chest. I knew I was due to work tomorrow morning, but I was fine with that because I had a feeling that it would be one of my last days of working there.