Second First Impressions Read online

A chair squeak breaks my train of thought. Teddy’s leaned forward. He wants to know my next words so badly his knuckles are white. “What?” His voice has a dare in it.

  I think about what the word give means and how much I want to take.

  Melanie, the creator of dramatic pauses, can equally be counted on to fill a silence. “Cute twenty-five-year-old professional seeks same.” She hesitates, eyes sparkling, then goes for it. “You must know fifteen ways to make her scream.”

  Dead serious, Teddy says, “I know thirty ways.”

  If Teddy Prescott came into my bedroom and showed me what he knows, it wouldn’t matter how thin our walls are or how much noise I made. He’d be the only one at Providence who’d hear me.

  “I know fifty ways to hide your dead body,” Melanie scolds, tapping Teddy on the top of the head with a ruler. “Ruthie is looking for a soul mate, not a genital mate. Get that through your thick skull.”

  Chapter Nine

  On Day 2 of Teddy’s employment, he walks into the office and sets down the Kleenex box containing TJ on Melanie’s desk. She regards the box with suspicion. “Yuck. I don’t know why you want it, Teddy. Let Ruthie keep it.”

  “That’s my son you’re insulting,” he returns.

  “He’s looking okay, all things considered,” I remark as I watch the tiny creature munch on a dandelion. “I’ll find out when the Reptile Zoo people are coming for him.”

  “I have an invitation for you. It’s got terms and conditions, of course, but don’t worry. The strings are only attached to me.” He reaches under his butt and unearths a warm envelope with my name on it. “Why is everyone waiting for me to quit, by the way? This job isn’t that hard.”

  He’s got a smudge of something black on his cheekbone. There are cobwebs in his hair and his shoulders are powdered gray. He sneezes and says, “I’ve never had such an easy job.”

  “Why are you so dirty?” Melanie asks him as I open the envelope.

  “They made me go up a ladder to tidy the attic.”

  I look up. “The town houses don’t have attics.”

  “Well, duh, that would be too easy. I just pretended the crawl space was an attic full of antiques and dead bodies. They laughed their asses off. I had a power nap on a big cushion of insulation.” He grins at the memory. “I’m going to dream about ghosts tonight.”

  I give the invitation my full attention. It is a square card with a border inked dense with vines and roses. I bet he did it in an absent-minded couple of minutes. He wears his talent like a dirty five-dollar T-shirt.

  “This is pretty enough to be a wedding invitation,” I tell him. He shrugs like it’s nothing but his eyes flare bright with pleasure. “Maybe you could help us with the Christmas party decorations.”

  I read the invitation out loud because Melanie is almost hurting herself craning to see. “Ruthie Midona is formally invited to an all-expenses paid fancy lunch and afternoon of goofing off with the Parlonis, Friday at 12 noon. RVSP yes verbally, immediately, to T. Prescott.” Melanie releases an anguished howl. Her name was nowhere in those words. I’m not that overjoyed myself. I put it aside. “Okay, so it’s not really an invitation. It’s a summons.”

  “Not exactly,” Teddy tries, but he’s unsure of what the afternoon has in store. I’ve known the Parloni sisters for years.

  “It’s fancy jury duty. I’m going to have to sit on a white couch in a boutique and watch Renata try on outfits with Aggie asleep on my shoulder. I’ve got work to do tomorrow.”

  “I should tell you that declining isn’t really an option,” Teddy says apologetically. “Renata said I’ll have to carry you to the car if you say no.”

  Mel says to him, “Seriously? I’m not invited too? I’ll carry you if it means I get out of this place.”

  “I need you to babysit TJ,” Teddy tells her in his special persuasion voice. “I don’t trust anyone but you.” She colors up, pleased and honored. I probably have a face like a toad. He refocuses those charming eyes on me. “Might be fun though, right? Fancy lunch? Just think about it. I’m sorry, Mel, I’m just the messenger.”

  While she abuses him, I sit and think. It takes me a really long time to get my foot off Providence soil some days. I know that’s not exactly normal. And to be in a car that I’m not driving—no control, no way of coming back immediately if I’m needed? I feel like I need to go sit somewhere and take a few deep breaths.

  “Trust me, it’ll be okay,” Teddy says, gathering up his Kleenex box. He holds it so carefully. “I’m gonna be with you. I’ll hold your hand the whole time.”

  And I find myself saying in a doubtful tone, “Okay.”

  ON FRIDAY MORNING, Teddy arrives at the office, unsure of what to do. The Parlonis gifted him with a gold watch for his hours of faithful service. (Apparently Aggie called their “watch guy” who personally couriered it over. Oh, to be that wealthy.)

  “I tried to make them return it. Is this even allowed?” He holds the box to me and I see what the issue is. A Parloni Checkmate: It is engraved on the back. Unreturnable. Unpawnable.

  The engraving reads: Teddy Prescott, Remarkable Boy.

  “I’ll say,” I say out loud by accident. As his mouth lifts in a delighted smile, I try to remain professional. “I know you didn’t manipulate them into buying this for you. I think you can keep it.” I’ve used a plunger on the Parlonis’ powder room toilet but you don’t see me getting engraved keepsakes. Instead, I get Renata’s cackled jokes about putting me in her will, if I just do this one more thing for her.

  Teddy puts it on his wrist. “I haven’t had a watch since I was a kid.” He’s admiring it as he walks out to return to work.

  The phone rings a while later and Melanie answers it. “It’s Jerry Prescott.”

  I look at the flashing light on my phone and take a deep breath. I pick up and we do pleasantries for about thirty seconds about weather and busyness. Then he gets to it. “Just calling to check in on Teddy. How’s he settled in?”

  “He’s doing fine. You just missed him, actually.”

  Jerry replies, “He’s behaving himself?” I hear a young woman’s voice in the background, talking to Jerry. Something about at night. “And he’s staying on-site at night? Not off partying?”

  “No, he’s been home at night. He’s working really hard, and he has a six A.M. start time. Today is Day Three and everything’s going great.” I sound like I’m bragging a bit.

  Jerry laughs. “Six A.M. I didn’t think he had it in him. Rose, pay up. Twenty bucks.” They bet on whether Teddy was screwing up? How horrible.

  “He’s doing a great job. He’s already gotten involved with some of the endangered tortoise rehab we do here.”

  (There’s no need to mention that his size twelve boot was also the cause.)

  “Don’t let him dazzle you,” Jerry says, tone dry. “He tends to do that.”

  “Dazzle?” My face is surely turning pink. Melanie mouths back at me silently, like a magic incantation: dazzle.

  Jerry continues in my ear, “He dazzles people. I love him, but it’s his personality flaw. He charms his way through life. There is a row of broken hearts stretching back a long, long way.”

  Rose: “Is he messing around with the office girls?”

  I assure Jerry, “That’s absolutely not going to happen.”

  Melanie holds up a notepad: SPEAKERPHONE PLEASE.

  Jerry’s struggling on how to explain this. “I don’t mean to make him sound like a con artist. In his own mind he’s very genuine, but he takes a few liberties with people who are too charitable.”

  In the background, Rose says, “Theodore has never cared about anyone more than himself. The universe orbits around him. He’s the sun. Just like his mother,” she adds with maliciousness.

  “That’s unfair,” I blurt out loud. Then I cover my mouth and shut my eyes. I hear Melanie’s shocked gasp. Oh my God, what is coming over me? Thankfully for me (and possibly my job), Jerry has held the phone against his chest again
.

  Jerry’s back. “Give him an inch, he’ll take a mile, that sort of thing. I wasn’t kidding that he’s run out of couches.”

  I take a moment to consider my own couch. He lay on it last night, complaining and laughing about his day. Renata made him cut up her Big Mac into bite-size bits, and he had to feed her like a baby.

  “I’d hate for him to hurt a nice girl like you. Let’s face it, you’re not his type.” There’s a big laugh from Jerry now. “But I’m sorry to say, it won’t stop him trying it with you and your temp. Making girls adore him is a reflex he just can’t control.”

  “Good to know,” I manage to reply even though it feels like my tongue has swollen from mortification. “I hear what you’re saying and I appreciate your concern.” The next couch I think about is the fold-out sofa bed in my parents’ basement, ready for the next needy soul.

  “He’s a lawsuit waiting to happen,” Rose warns.

  Muffled conversation again. “Yes, I’ll tell her,” Jerry says, then returns to the call. “I mentioned when we met that I’ve got a lot going on at the moment. Let me tell you, Ruthie, that golf course site is no hole in one.”

  I laugh because he pays my bills.

  “Rose has just finished her current project and is now ready to ramp things up and make Providence her new baby.” Jerry says it like I should be delighted. I try to pretend.

  “Will she be coming out to see Providence in person? I’d be glad to have her here, so she can see how special it is.” I will make her fall in love with this place if I have to train a string of tortoises to pull her uphill in a sleigh.

  Jerry covers the handset and puts this option to Rose. He explains the importance of a site visit, but she cuts him off. Now I hear nothing and my heart is sinking. Rose doesn’t want to see my sparkling lake. She wants this place to remain abstract. Jerry confirms it.

  “She prefers to do her review remotely. It’s better to keep her and Teddy separated. Now remember,” Jerry says with humorous mock-sternness, “don’t get dazzled. Anyway, Rose will call you soon.”

  He’s not wrong. Rose calls four minutes later and briskly tasks me on running so many reports that the ink in my pen goes scratchy. I’m nervous. Sylvia told me before I left that she specifically didn’t want me messing around with the accounts. I don’t want to come back to another Ruthie disaster, she’d said, and I knew exactly what she meant.

  I tell Rose now, “Sylvia checks everything before I send it through to PDC. Everything you have will be right.”

  “I want it all again. Now, what Jerry said is really important,” Rose says in her flat, business-like way. “If you are ever made uncomfortable by Teddy, I want you to call me. He’ll move on to greener pastures soon, but in the meantime just stay professional.”

  I’ve been really, really unprofessional. The absolute certainty of this makes my chest tight. “Of course. I’ll start work on those reports for you. Could you tell me, though, what is the purpose of a site review? I think you’ve got a lot of this from when PDC acquired Providence.”

  “I wasn’t involved in the acquisition and I want to start from the beginning. And before you ask again, I don’t have time to visit. I’m not like my father, traveling coast to coast, wasting time. Everything can be done remotely. I need the login details for the Providence banking accounts, if you can give that to me now.” I think she’s got a pen poised.

  “I don’t have that. Only Sylvia does.”

  “Only one person has access to the accounts?” Rose finds that strange. “How long has that been the arrangement?”

  “Always.” I feel like I’m snitching on Sylvia. I asked her about it early on in my employment, but she told me that she’d tell me when I could be trusted with them.

  Rose interrupts my stressing. “I’ll sort out my own access. I also want an understanding of the hiring practices on-site. Take you, for example. Were you thoroughly vetted? Police check, things like that?”

  “I’m not sure. It was a long time ago.” There’s a file marked R. Midona in Sylvia’s bottom drawer but I’m scared of it. “I knew Sylvia when I was growing up. There was a vacancy, she talked to me on the phone, and here I am, six years later.” I’m meaning to demonstrate that my hiring was a success.

  “Sounds very informal.” Rose does not approve. “I’m going to need to take a look at every policy document you have. Are your systems ISO Quality Accredited? Look, I’ve got another call coming through. My assistant will be in touch with yours.”

  “So what did you find out?” Melanie asks as soon as I put the receiver down.

  “I found out that we need to tread really carefully.”

  I have a meeting reminder pop-up: I am supposed to give Melanie an answer on the Sasaki Method this afternoon. With Rose’s voice still in my ear, the unprofessionalism of this hits me afresh. I click away the reminder and wonder how disappointed Melanie will be when I say no.

  “We’re going to be busy these next few weeks. I’m going to be pulling some long hours. I don’t think I’ll have time to even—” Another reminder pops up. They’re buzzing around me like gnats. This one is about lunch with the Parlonis. “I don’t have time,” I repeat in a hiss.

  Melanie knows what I’m doing, and she’s not having it.

  “You’ll be doing some long hours, but I will be helping you,” she assures me with her dark eyes intent on mine. “We will get all our work done, and what we do in our own time is our own business. And you’re going to the fancy lunch with Teddy and the Parlonis. Call it a client lunch. Case closed.”

  Chapter Ten

  Teddy arrives fifteen minutes prior to the Fancy Lunch, and he’s wearing the chauffeur outfit that I have seen on many Parloni boys. It’s never looked quite like this, though. “That looks hot on you,” Melanie says like she’s struggling with her tongue. She’s only human. “You look like a stripper-gram.”

  He glints the name tag (“Hot Stuff”) at her and I think she’s dazzled by it. “There’s a good reason for that.” He puts his hat and the box containing his tortoise on her desk then looks over at me. “What do you think?”

  Someone so gorgeous doesn’t need a compliment from me. “Say goodbye to TJ,” I say to him. Then to Melanie, “Mark from the Reptile Zoo is coming, he knows where my courtyard is. Sign him in and out. No unauthorized—”

  “I know how you feel about the visitors’ book,” Melanie replies with an eye roll. “You should have been a security guard. It’s your true calling.”

  This hurts because that’s not backed up by my past, but before the memory takes hold, Teddy says, “Just like that, huh.” He’s touching a finger to TJ with a stark expression.

  I realize what the problem is. “Don’t worry, they’ll bring them back.”

  There’s an upward flush of color and energy in him, lighting his smile up white and his eyes tortoiseshell brilliant. “I’m glad to hear it,” he says. “So, so glad. Thank you, Ruthie.”

  His relief means my relief. How do I feel the emotions and changes in him, and will I ever resist the urge to fix things for him? To get the smile back on his face, like right now? The warning I received from his dad was far too late. I needed to hear it about five minutes before I arrived at the gas station dressed as a grandmother.

  Stretching his shoulders like a weight has been lifted, Teddy says, “I’m taking your boss, Sasaki. Let’s go, Midona. Lunchtime.”

  “I cannot believe I’m not invited,” Melanie huffs, using a pen to touch the tortoise. “Huff,” she further enunciates to drive the point home. “I am not a valued member of this team. I’m left out.”

  “It’s so hard to get a decent sitter at short notice,” Teddy pleads and she reluctantly nods. Poor thing. She really deserves some fun more than me. I have a tin of perfectly serviceable soup that I’ve had a hundred lunches before.

  “I’ve just gotten my task list from Rose so I’m probably busy for the rest of the evening. Mel, you can go in my place.” I ignore the sad lurch in m
y stomach as she beams and claps. “Have fun, you two.”

  “Uh-oh, you know what that means,” Teddy says. “Didn’t I warn you? My strict instructions were to carry you out of here, kicking and screaming.”

  “No? What?” I roll back in my chair as he rounds my desk with purpose. “No, wait, I’ll come—”

  “Rules are rules,” Teddy says and takes both of my hands in his to pull me to stand. His eyes are sparkling.

  I’ve got to heed the warning about being dazzled, but it’s too late. He bends and puts his shoulder into my stomach, there’s an upward push, an arm around my knees and I’m facedown, a long way off the floor, looking down at his butt. I repeat: dazzled.

  My foot knocks over a cup of pens. Melanie is screaming with joy.

  “No, no,” I beg, but now I’m looking at the carpet, the in-tray on Melanie’s desk, TJ’s astonished blink, the potted plant near the door. “My bag. My jacket.”

  I’m hoisted, which feels like a bob and a bounce. Melanie brings both things to Teddy, hooking them onto his free arm. I say into his back, “I’ve got to start work for PDC.”

  “When’s it due?” he asks Melanie.

  “Her assistant emailed me already. We have time. One long lunch won’t ruin anything. We also had an accounts receivable meeting locked in, but I think we can reschedule that. In fact, I won’t expect her back this afternoon.”

  I argue, “I’ll definitely be back.”

  Upside-down, she says to me, “I know you’re planning on working all weekend. I’ll come in tomorrow and do a half day with you, so you won’t have to be alone.” Her hand combs through my hair. “Have fun.”

  Melanie’s Saturdays are sacred. She sleeps in until two P.M.

  “Oh, Mel, you don’t have to.” I’m having difficulty having a work conversation while folded over a man’s shoulder. In an even, normal voice I try to handle this situation. “Very good, Teddy, you’ve made us laugh, now put me down.”

  “I don’t hear you laughing.” His arm squeezes my legs.

  Melanie says, “Turn her more this way so I get her face in the shot.”