Give It a Try

Monday morning, as I was getting ready to go to work with my mom, Deidre knocked on my door.

“Good morning,” I smiled. She was dressed in a pair of black slacks and a black blouse. “You look nice.”

She rubbed her neck. “Well, I… I thought… maybe I could see where you work? I have the day off so I don’t really have anything to do. Mom has to work a double shift,” she added with a sad sigh.

I hesitated but nodded. “Let me finish getting ready. I’ll meet you downstairs.”

“Great,” she breathed, obviously relieved.

I pulled on a white wife beater and white button up shirt. I hurried into the bathroom to put on some deodorant and run my comb through my hair. I couldn’t find my deodorant so, reluctantly, I opened the bottom of the sink. Keeping my eyes from the black box to my right, I found the deodorant in the back. Unfortunately, I glanced over and saw a wrapper in the small trash can.

I jogged down the stairs.

“What’s wrong?” my mom asked. “You’re really red. Do you have a fever?”

“It’s nothing,” I said quickly.

They both looked concerned so I cleared my throat and picked up my keys. I drove us to work, Deidre sitting in the back. I could tell she was nervous about seeing the office but I was glad she wanted to. It had been the first time we were out in public after the media called her a charity case. As I expected, though, the media was starting to get bored.

When we got to the office, people started staring at her. I groaned quietly. Did they not check their emails? We only made it half way to the elevator when one of our marketing employees walked over, her hand extended.

“Hello,” she said pleasantly to Deidre. “I’m the marketing director, Victoria.”

Deidre shook her hand timidly. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m-”

“Oh, I know who you are,” she interrupted. “It’s good to see you, Evelyn. You, too, Artemis.”

“Mr. Kilgore,” I corrected.

She just shrugged and looked back at Deidre. “We should get to know each other some time.”

Deidre smiled genuinely. “That would be really-”

“Of course, it’ll have to be somewhere discreet. I don’t want someone to see me with Artemis’s charity case.”

“First, it’s Mr. Kilgore,” I snapped. “And second, I expect you in my office after lunch.”

“Oh? Whatever for?” she asked innocently.

“You know why,” my mother snapped. “You got the email.”

She just scoffed and went to the front desk. I led the way to the elevator, not sure what to say. I glanced at Deidre. My mom had her arm over her shoulders but Deidre was looking down. Unfortunately, another employee approached us. This one I didn’t recognize at all.

He was grinning at us, though, and I hoped this time it was genuine. I should’ve known better.

“You’re Deidre,” he said and she nodded, shaking his hand once and pulling it away. “I’ve heard… quite a bit about you.”

“Careful,” I warned.

“I’m just being pleasant, Artemis.”

“Mr. Kilgore,” I corrected with a snap in my voice. “I’m sure you have work to do, so please let us leave.”

“But I wanted to see if Deidre would join me for lunch.” He winked at her and she shrank against my mom. “I’d like to get to know how she managed to sneak her way into the Kilgore fortune.”

I balled my hand into a fist but pushed him out of the way. I slammed my finger on the up button. The guy watched us get in, a broad smirk on his face.

“Who was that?” I demanded.

“His name was Timothy Harp,” my mom whispered.

“Add him to the list.”

We already had at least 10 people on the probationary list. At first, the employees didn’t take me seriously. They were now.

“That won’t happen again,” my mom assured Deidre.

She nodded but looked doubtful. She sat in the other chair, working on a puzzle book my mom had given her, occasionally looking up. My mom and I were going over our different clients. I hadn’t realized how many we had which explained the necessity of 10 floors.

“Each floor has its own client base,” my mom explained, pulling up a picture on her computer. It was a profile of the office building, cut in half. She started at the lobby. “The first floor is self-explanatory. People check in, wait for appointments, use our facilities, the usual. The second floor is for the book clients. It’s the smallest so your father wanted them to get their easily.”

She went all the way up to the tenth floor, the executive offices for each branch and, of course, the CEO’s office. At lunch, we all went down again to eat at the Arby’s close by.

That’s when things went to hell in a hand basket.

Deidre was asking my mom for advice on a puzzle she was stuck on while eating a curly fry when someone came up to our table. I looked up and rolled my eyes. It was one of my ex-girlfriends, Julia. Neither of the women had noticed her until she cleared her throat pointedly. Deidre’s eyes lingered on her suggestive outfit before looking out the window.

“It’s so good to see you again, Artemis,” Julia said, leaning against the table.

“Sure,” I said and went back to my sandwich.

“I hear you’re finally getting to run the company,” she said. I didn’t answer and her eyes slid to Deidre. “Who is this?”

“Like you don’t know,” I snapped and Deidre frowned at me. “Just leave us alone, Julia. I’m trying to enjoy lunch with these two lovely ladies.”

“Why when you can enjoy lunch with me?”

“Who says I want to?”

I could tell Deidre was getting uncomfortable. Julia was wearing her old perfume, the one that drew me in. I swallowed thickly as she put her hand on my shoulder. My hands were shaking.

“I’ve missed you,” she said in a low voice.

My mother kicked my shin under the table but I kept my eyes fixed on the piece of roast beef that had fallen on the wrapping.

“The feeling isn’t mutual,” I managed.

“We should go have some fun when you’re done here,” she whispered loud enough for Deidre to hear.

As if moving on its own, my hand rested on top of the hand Julia had placed on the table. My mom aimed another kick. That one hurt and drew me back to reality. I pushed Julia off of me and snatched the keys to my mom’s car. I heard my mom talking to Deidre but she didn’t respond.

The ride back to the office was quiet. I couldn’t tell what Deidre was thinking but I was positive what my mom was. When we were all sitting, my mom slapped a large pile of papers and file folders on the desk in front of me. She was glaring at me. If looks could kill, I’d be six feet under.

“You can do these for the rest of the day,” she snapped.

I huffed but did as I was told. I glanced at Deidre once in a while, trying to find a time to apologize, but she never looked up from her book. As soon as we got home, she went to her room.

“What were you thinking?” my mother yelled.

“I don’t know!” I yelled back. I ran a hand through my hair. “She was wearing that perfume and that shirt…. I wasn’t expecting it!”

“Of course she was! Now that the whole state knows you’re dating and about to take over, they’ll come out from everywhere! You know this! We talked about this, Artemis!”

I threw my head back with a groan. “I fucked up, Mom. Please. Just let me go so I can talk to Deidre.”

“You better,” she seethed. “You have no idea how much you upset her.”

I hurried up the stairs and knocked on Deidre’s door. She didn’t answer. I tried to turn the doorknob but it was locked. I sighed and put my head on the door.

“Please open, Deidre,” I mumbled.

I heard a zipper and frowned, pressing my ear to the door. She was crying; I could hear her sniffling. Then the sound of the window opening made me start shoving on the door.

“Wait!” I yelled. “No. Just wait! Open the door, Deidre! Let me explain!”

She didn’t answer but I heard her grunt.

“Damn it!” I yelled and took the stairs two at a time.

I ran to the door and threw it open, ignoring my mother’s questions. I tried to run after her but Deidre was fast. Before I even got to my car, she was turning out of the neighborhood, a navy blue duffle bag clutched in her hands.