Which Way the Wind Blows

Chapter 18

Chris looked over the new sketches glumly, nodding to himself over the changes Joe made. Monique was at a meeting for another client so he and Joe sat alone at his desk. The drawings looked perfect as far as he was concerned, but his failure to muster a smile seemed to be confusing the man sitting across the desk from him.

“Did I get something wrong?” Joe asked.

“No, not at all,” Chris offered up a wan smile. “These look great to me.”

“Why are frowning then?”

“Oh, I didn’t know I was. Sorry.” He put the drawings down and sat back in his chair. “I’m sure Monique will be happy with them, too.”

“She might be,” Joe grinned. “But she’ll never admit that to me.”

Chris shrugged.

“I know we only met a week ago,” Joe said uncertainly. “But I get the feeling something’s off with you today. Everything all right?”

“Sure,” he replied softly. “Just trying to settle in.”

“To the company?”

“That … and a new city,” Chris sighed. “It’s just been … difficult. That’s all.”

Joe gave the smaller man a skeptical look. He knew difficult and he knew difficult. And it seemed to him the man had been dealt a hefty serving of the latter. No stranger to conflict, especially since he’d spent the last few weeks sitting on edge waiting for his boyfriend Kee to tell him whether or not they still had a chance (which, happily for him, they did and now they were shopping for a condo together), Joe knew inner turmoil when he saw it. And Chris seemed to be drowning in it.

Moreover, Joe could guess the man didn’t have too many friends in the New York City area yet. He’d only moved there a bit over a month before and had only just started working for the company. Monique had mentioned the strange conversation she’d had with him during his interview, so Joe knew that he’d just come out of a long relationship with his boyfriend and was living with a former girlfriend. It all sounded complicated to him, but his own past, complete with an ex-fiancée, sounded similar, so who was he to judge? It just seemed to him that Chris needed a friend. And since Joe had just ousted his own former friend, curiously enough also named Chris, he seemed to have an opening.

“Look, you can always tell me if this is none of my business,” he said slowly, noting Chris’ inquisitive expression. “But it just seems to me like you could use a friend.”

Chris’ gaze became guarded and he sat up stiffly in his chair. “I’m um … not looking for anyone … if that’s what you mean.”

“Oh, God, no!” Joe laughed. “Neither am I!” Chris gave him a hurt look, which made him back-pedal quickly. “Not that you’re not attractive! It’s just that I have a boyfriend, and to make a long story short, I prefer to have both my balls where they are, thanks,” At Chris now shocked look, he added with a smirk. “There’s no defending myself against an enraged Kee. Trust me on that one. And after working so hard to get him into a relationship and agree to stay in it, I wouldn’t think of doing something to jeopardize that.”

Chris nodded at the man with a genuine smile of his own. “You’re a lucky guy.”

“I agree. Now … about that friendship …”

Chris shrugged. “I guess I could use one.”

“Lunch then?”

Chris nodded then looked like he just realized something. “So, you’re gay then?”

Joe’s jaw dropped before he let out a loud bark of laughter. “Uh, yeah. Not so quick on the uptake today, huh?”

“I’ve been told I never have been,” Chris snorted.

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Victoria was peeling her orange in the break room when Elaine stormed in and glowered at her. She spared the angry looking woman a brief glance then turned her attention back to her fruit. She had the contents of her lunch bag set on the table before her, but she always preferred to start with her fruit snack.

“You have some nerve,” Elaine hissed at her.

“What’d I do now?” Victoria asked offhandedly. “Besides breathe in the same air, that is.”

“Watch it!”

“Watch what?” Victoria hissed back, finally losing her patience with the woman. She sat straight up in her seat and pinned the malevolent woman with an icy stare.

It had been just under a week since she and Chris had encountered Warren, and he and his sister, who Victoria never even knew existed, were going out of their way to make her and Chris feel uncomfortable in the building. And Elaine was doing her damnedest to create the same hostile environment at work. How much was she expected to take in order to appease them for being born who she was?

“Your attitude isn’t winning you any friends around here,” Elaine spat.

“You’re the only one making any complaints!”

Elaine fumed as she pulled back a chair at Victoria’s small table and plopped down into it. She crossed her arms and sat, glaring daggers at the regal looking princess. All her life she’d dealt with the same kind of people, and all her life they made sure she knew they were better than her. Not anymore, she vowed to herself.

“You can’t just come in here and expect to get all of the opportunities,” she growled.

“I’m not asking for them,” Victoria calmly informed her. “All I wanted was a job so I can pay my rent. Same as you.”

“What? Daddy wants you to prove yourself?” Elaine smiled unkindly.

“I don’t give a rat’s ass what daddy wants anymore,” Victoria scoffed. “He doesn’t dictate my life to me. And I won’t let anyone do it ever again.”

Elaine raised an eyebrow in doubt and watched Victoria delicately peel off sections of orange skin from her fruit. She had a small sandwich, a small plastic bag of carrots and a bottle of spring water set out on the table, all of which she’d apparently brought from home. What was her game? Why would a rich snob like her need to brown bag it?

“We’re not all alike, you know,” Victoria sighed as she set the now peeled orange down. “Although I can’t say I’ve never been a snob, I haven’t been one for a long time now.”

“Really?”

“Really. I left Seattle to get away from all of that.”

“And now you’re here, trying to eke out a living like the rest of us slobs?”

“Something like that,” the woman grinned. “All I want is the opportunity to learn PR so that I can work with nonprofits and make a difference.”

“Oh, yeah. Like I’m going to believe that.”

“Believe what you will,” Victoria shrugged. “The only person I have something to prove to is myself.” She picked up the fruit and began to break it down into sections, offering half to Elaine. “Orange?”

Elaine looked from the fruit to Victoria’s face, warily accepting it. “Why do you bring your lunch?” she asked as she picked off a section. “I know an assistant’s job doesn’t pay as well as a full rep’s, but I heard you had a roommate. Unless you’re living in an expensive building?” she asked as she looked for confirmation. A rich girl like Victoria probably lived near Park Avenue, or some highbrow neighborhood like that.

“Nope. Chelsea.” Victoria popped a piece of orange in her mouth and chewed it while she let that information sink in and Elaine nearly choked on her own mouthful. “And I’m saving money for a reason.”

“Oh yeah? Why’s that?”

Victoria gave her a bright smile that reached her eyes. “I’m helping to organize a lunch at the Y next month for women on welfare who are looking for jobs.”

“Huh?” Elaine nearly fell out of her chair.

“Yeah, I’m going to pay for the food myself as part of my contribution. We’re going to have volunteers meet with the women, too, and give advice on finding jobs.” Then she stopped and gave Elaine a hopeful look. “Would you be willing to come?”

“Uh …”

“Oh, please? Rita originally thought she might but had to cancel because of a business trip.”

“Rita was going?”

“Yeah! I wanted to have as many working women there as I could to help these ladies see that there are lots of successful women out there.”

“You think I’m a good example?” Elaine asked incredulous at the idea.

“Why not?” Victoria asked. “You’re a PR rep, and you’re younger than I am. You have to have good advice for someone looking for a job.”

Elaine gaped at her while she spoke wondering when she fell into the proverbial rabbit hole.

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“Are you kidding me?” Jake exclaimed as he and Warren ate lunch in the other man’s office. “He’s still living there?”

He’d been floored last week when Warren told him his ex-boyfriend had moved into his building with the woman he’d been cheating on Warren with in the first place. Not one for letting his curiosity fester, he’d even gone to Warren’s to see what the guy who broke his friend’s heart looked like. Chris was a lean man with furtive blue eyes. He’d bumped into Jake on his way into the building, and Jake instantly knew who he was, but said nothing, regarding him coolly. Chris murmured a polite ‘excuse me’ and scurried out quickly, like the rat Jake believed him to be.

Warren, of course, was still fuming over his ex’s living arrangements and close proximity. And Mindy was livid as well. She’d told Jake she’d gone as far as to trip Victoria, the woman Chris was living with, as she was on her way out to work. She’d played it off as an accident, but Jake believed the woman was wiser than she appeared to be. He’d encountered her on his way into the building as well. She gave him a speculative look as he knocked on Warren’s apartment door, so he’d made sure he kissed his friend’s cheek on the way in for good measure. Both of these people seemed like bad news.

“He’s had one or two people over to look at the place,” Warren sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “But no takers yet. He says the management company won’t let him out of the lease unless he can find a tenant to take the place.”

“How hard is he looking?” the blonde demanded. “You live in a prime building!”

Warren shrugged. “I don’t like talking to him, so who knows?”

Jake shook his head in pity. “Well, let me know if he hasn’t moved soon,” he said. “I’ll help him look if I have to.”

“Thanks, man.”

“Any time.”