Katie and her two bosses 044

Katie and her two bosses 044
Katie

I
don’t know exactly
what time it is, but the sun is starting to get a little lower in the sky. I’m afraid to turn on my phone to look at the clock. I don’t want to have to face reality right now.
Putting my shoes back on, I leave the safety of the park, and walk back toward the subway stop. I pass by a quiet neighborhood bar that I hadn’t noticed before. The sign out front, “Edith’s Pub,” makes me smile – Edith was my grandmother’s name. My strong-willed grandmother who always said what she meant, could read a person like a book, and had the best lap to sit in when I was little. I decide to go in and get a beer.
Walking in the wooden door, I look around at the old-fashioned décor with art and photographs from the 1940s and 50s. It’s mostly empty, with a couple of older guys at a booth in the corner and a woman sitting at the bar who looks up and gives me a smile before looking back down at her newspaper.
I take a seat at the far end of the all-wood bar and order a draft beer. The young hipster bartender, looking up from his phone, pours it into a frosty mug.
The light beer feels good going down. I lick the foam off my lips and look at the walls covered in memorabilia from the last century.
“Who’s Edith?” I ask the bartender.
“Oh, she was Fred’s wife. He’s the owner of this bar. I’m told she was a journalist. That’s her and Fred right there,” he says, pointing her out in a black-and-white photograph near me on the wall.
In the picture, Edith is young and beautiful, standing beside her handsome husband. They’re laughing at something.
“They look so happy together,” I say. “So in love.”
“They were,” says the woman at the other end of the bar. “Totally devoted to each other.”
I feel a twinge of self-pity as I think to myself, Something I’ll never have. I swallow it down, refusing to indulge it.
“Did you know her?”
“Yeah, I grew up in this neighborhood, and everyone knew Edith,” the woman says, moving a few seats down so we can talk. “She was bigger than life. Fred was shattered when she died a few years ago. She made it to 90, though. They had a lot of years together.”
“That’s really sweet.” I don’t really know what else to say. I look back down at my beer, and we’re quiet for a bit.
“Yeah, they were lucky,” she says. “Not everyone gets to find true love like that.”
A pained sigh escapes me before I can stop it, and she raises an eyebrow.
“Rough day?” she asks.
“Yeah, the worst day,” I admit.
“I hear you,” she says. “Been a hard day for me too. I had to come down here to take a breather from work. My name’s Grace.”
“I’m Katie.” I smile and shake her hand. She’s got a kind face. The bartender sits on the far side of the room, engulfed in his phone.
“So, let me guess – guy trouble?” she smiles knowingly.
I groan. “That’s putting it mildly.”
“Believe me, I’ve been there so many times,” she says, squeezing lime into her glass of Mexican beer. “He’s not cheating on you, is he?”
If any other stranger had asked me that question, I would have been upset at the invasion of privacy. But for some reason, all my defenses drop around her. I feel completely at ease, and part of me wants to tell her everything. I decide to tell her at least some of it.
“No,” I say. “Nothing like that. I just – I got freaked out and I ran off. It’s all too much. And I made everything way more difficult than it had to be. I don’t think I can go back. I ruined everything.”
She looks at me with compassion in her eyes.
I add quietly, “I’m terrible at relationships and I think I’m doomed to be alone forever.”
Grace reaches out and gives my arm a little squeeze.
“You’re just human like the rest of us,” she says, smiling at me. “We’re all just trying to find our way in the world.”
I wipe away the pesky tear that has rolled down my cheek. A weight feels lifted off my shoulders just hearing her say those words.
She looks out of the window for a moment, then back at me. “But there’s still mutual care and affection between you? Maybe love?”
I think for a moment. I know there’s love between Austin, Tyler and me, even though we haven’t said it yet. “Yes, definitely.”
“Well, that’s all you need, then. Everything else can be worked out, believe me,” she says. “With someone by your side who looks at you like no one else does, who understands you, who makes you laugh, you’ll figure everything else out with time.”
I look at her, studying the faint lines around her eyes, each one probably telling its own story of lessons lived and learned.
“Can I give you some advice, Katie?”
I nod. I feel so lost and needing of direction.
“Love’s hard to come by in this world. Hold onto it wherever you find it.”
I sit, there, floored. Her words ring true through my entire being. I already know what I need to do.
Grace laughs, probably because I look dumbfounded. “You’re gonna be just fine, Katie. Don’t run away from love. Go back there and make it right again.”
“Thank you so much,” I say slowly. “You’re so right. I don’t know what I was thinking. I knew I was making a mistake by running away, but I just didn’t see it until you said that.”
“Happens to the best of us,” she says, laughing. “I’m glad I could help.”
She finishes the last of her beer, puts some money on the bar, and stands up.
“I better go. I need to follow my own advice,” she says, chuckling. “Here’s my card. Look me up if you ever need anything.”
I take her card, too stunned to tear my eyes from her to look at it.
“Can I give you a hug?” I ask, standing up.
“Of course!”
We embrace, and I feel all the tension melt away. I’m finally convinced that everything will be okay, one way or another.
“Thank you so much, really,” I say, feeling my words are inadequate.
“Don’t mention it,” she says. “You take care of yourself now.”
She gives me a wink just before she opens the door and walks out.
I watch her leave, lost in thoughts.
Finally, I look down at her card:
Grace R. Jacobsen
CEO
Le Projet Innovations
Le Projet? Why does that sound so familiar? I rack my brain, then slink into my chair as the realization sinks in.
It’s a local technology company. And Grace is the CEO? I had no idea who I was just talking to.
And that means she probably saw the picture of me with Austin and Tyler now plastered all over the internet along with attacks on our character.
Fresh humiliation washes over me again. But she didn’t mention the picture, and she played it off like she knew nothing, though she almost certainly must have known.
Oh, well, I sigh. I guess it wasn’t that important to her.
And then an even better thought crosses my brain – maybe it won’t really be that important to a lot of people.
But none of that matters now anyway. Grace was right – now that I’ve found love, I can’t just throw it away. That would be crazy. What on earth was I thinking? I must have been insane to want to close the door on these two great guys.
I pay my tab and hurry out of the bar. The sun is getting lower – what time is it? I turn my phone on as I make my way to the subway station.
Thirty-five missed calls and fifty-two text messages! It looks like they’re mostly from Austin and Tyler. Oh, how selfish I’ve been to ignore them and leave them out in the cold. I open the last message sent – they’re going to be at my house in just 30 minutes! I start to write a text telling them to wait for me, but my ancient phone can’t handle the energy drain of being powered on again without a charge. I watch in horror as the battery dies and the screen goes black before I can send the text. Damn it!
I break into a sprint as I approach the train entrance – I can’t miss them!