Page 33 of February (New Orleans #2)

“F irst two days in charge, and you were out sick for one and late for the other,” her mother teased when she and Monica walked in.

“Yeah, yeah,” Bridgette said, rolling her eyes. “Seriously, though, I am sorry.”

“It’s all right. I think if your father and I had just met and he told me he was leaving, I probably would’ve needed some time, too.”

Bridgette looked over at Monica, who seemed not to notice, or at least, not show that she cared, that her mother had just compared their relationship to her marriage, which had already lasted thirty years.

“I’m here. You can put me to work.” Monica volunteered with a raised hand. “For free, I might add. Now that I’m not here for Arnette, I can just be here. Maybe two of us working today will make up for Bridge not being here yesterday.”

“You don’t have to work,” Bridgette’s mom replied. “You’re on vacation. I didn’t even expect to see you here. I thought maybe we’d all have dinner this weekend or something; get to know you more as Bridgette’s girlfriend and not Monica Arnette.”

“Sure. We can do that,” Monica said. “And I meant it. I am on vacation, but only sort of. I’m still working a little while I’m here, and I’d like to help however I can. I’ve made transitions like this with other companies we’ve bought in the past, so I can offer some advice, or I can just stay out of your way.”

“Well, Dale and I are only here this morning,” Bridgette’s mom replied. “We’re here to wrap up what we have in New Orleans before we go back to Baton Rouge around lunchtime. We’ll be working from home for a few days. That will give us an opportunity to adjust to this change and time for Bridgette to get settled in.” She met Bridgette’s eyes. “If that’s okay with you.”

“Me? Yeah. Why–” Bridgette stopped herself when she realized that her mom was attempting to respect this new dynamic where Bridgette was in charge and the one making decisions. “I mean, yes. I think that’s a good plan.”

“Great. We’ll need to start preparing the staff there for the transition, too, so let us know how you want that to work when you figure it out,” her mom added.

“I will. I should have an approach today or tomorrow.”

Her mom nodded and said, “The others are all working from home today.”

“They are?” Bridgette asked.

“I hope you don’t mind, but I emailed them last night and told them we had the fire marshal inspection today and that it would be better for them to just work from home. I thought that would give you some time to get settled into the office permanently. Your father and I will be working from home, with the shutdown of the office there, and if we come here, we’ll take a desk like everyone else.”

“Mom, no. Just because I–”

“That’s how this works best, honey. People have to see you as the boss, and having us in the bullpen with everyone else does that. Besides, your dad will be out in the field most of the time, anyway, so he won’t even need a desk, and I think I’d quite like to be out there. It’ll be good to get back to what started this company, to begin with: your dad out there, selling my card designs.” Her mom smiled. “And you’re ready. We get that now. We can help you move the second desk out of there, if you want. It’s an old one, so it’s pretty heavy. I don’t think you and Monica can do it on your own. Your dad is out getting coffee, but he should be back in a minute. We can do it together.”

Bridgette looked into the office with the two old, solid-wood desks that had been there since they’d opened this location. She thought about it for a minute. That would be her permanent office now; not just the one she got to use whenever her parents weren’t in town, but hers. She could get a new desk for herself, decorate it however she liked, and have the door open or closed whenever she wanted. She looked at the first desk and decided she’d keep using that one for the time being. Then, she looked at the one her mom usually used. It was definitely the cleaner of the two, and it made her think of Monica in that moment. Bridgette looked over at Monica, who was staring at her, likely expecting her to say something back to her mother.

“Um… Can you leave it, actually?”

“Really? Why?”

“I’m just not ready to part with it yet. I need to think about what I want the office to look like. When I decide, I’ll have the others help me move it,” she replied.

“Well, all right.”

Bridgette’s father came in through the suite door with a tray of coffee.

“Oh, good morning,” he greeted. “I didn’t expect to see you in, Monica. I would have gotten you a coffee.”

“That’s okay. I had some already, so I’m good,” Monica replied.

Her parents disappeared into the office to have their coffees and pastries before they’d pack up their things, and Bridgette didn’t really know where to sit or what to do. She felt like they were in the middle of the awkward part of this transition. Her parents were attempting to let go, which was unexpected and nice, but she hadn’t been prepared to truly be their boss, to take their office, and to be the one making all the decisions. It was upon her now, and she’d brought it on herself, so she’d have to be ready for it now.

“Conference room?” Monica asked softly.

“Yeah, sure,” Bridgette replied.

They closed the door behind them, despite there not being anyone out there to overhear them, and Bridgette sat down. Monica sat down across from her and pulled out her laptop, ready to work.

“I can give you time to work, Mon. You could’ve stayed at my place.”

Monica looked up at her, confused, and replied, “I’m working for you. I thought I’d pull up some of the Baton Rouge office numbers so that we can review them again and see who we absolutely need to keep on staff. We can’t have everyone decide to take a severance. We’ve only talked about it generally so far, but not the specifics.”

Bridgette smiled and said, “Hey, I have this crazy idea.”

“Is it a forty-year-old going to New Orleans, meeting a sarcastic twenty-seven-year-old, and they start dating?”

Bridgette laughed and said, “No, but it does involve those characters.”

Monica closed her laptop and asked, “What’s going on, Bridge?”

“When we were talking this morning, you said that you told your dad that you’ve liked working here and that you like solving problems; that you’ve missed that.”

“Yes,” Monica said. “And that’s true.”

“What if you really worked here?”

“Where?” Monica looked confused.

Bridgette laughed and said, “Babe, I’m saying you could work here, at Southern.”

“Work here?” Monica asked.

“I know it’s no Four Seasons and no Manhattan skyscraper, but it’s not awful, right?”

“Oh, babe… No, that’s not what I meant,” Monica replied.

“I can’t pay you what you’re making now. I probably can’t pay you even remotely close to what you’re making. Like, what you’re making now is as close as Japan, and what I can pay you is here, in New Orleans. Actually, it’s probably more like Jupiter and the Sun or something, but–”

“Bridge?” Monica interjected.

“Yeah?”

“It’s not about the money. And the office is great.”

“But you don’t want to,” Bridgette said with a nod. “I get it. It was a stupid idea.”

“No, it’s not,” Monica replied as she stood and quickly moved to Bridgette’s side of the table. She sat down next to her and took Bridgette’s hand. “It’s not a bad idea, babe. I just… It’s a big deal.”

“I know.”

“We just started dating.”

“Yes, I’m aware of that,” Bridgette said. “But you being here finally got me to tell them what I was feeling and what I wanted for the business.”

“You did that on your own. I didn’t have anything to do with that.”

“Yes, you did,” she argued. “Maybe the Arnette in you more than the Monica in you, but you did. You coming here and trying to buy this place got me to actually step up. I’ve been spouting my ideas at them for years, just taking their no-ways and their reasons as reality; the future. I didn’t see any choice. And when I found out how bad they’d let this place get, to the point where we were about to sell, I had to step up, and you even helped me do that, despite your dad telling you to buy it.”

“Well, to be fair, I had some ulterior motives.”

Bridgette smirked at her.

“Not those. Those are great, too, but I’m not in it for orgasms. I’m in it for the holding before and after; for how good it feels just walking down the street while holding your hand or spending any time I can with you, even when you’re making fun of me.”

Bridgette laughed silently.

“I wanted to help however I could, and I still want that. I’m going to have work to do for Arnette, too, though. Me announcing that I’m leaving the company is going to be a big deal, and there will be some press, so I’ll have to help with that. I also have to help Darius, who wasn’t exactly expecting this to drop into his lap, but he’s the best-qualified candidate.”

“I know,” Bridgette said.

“Just hold on there, impatient,” Monica told her as she shook her head. “What I was going to say was that I’m going to do most of that from here. I know you have to work in the office, so I thought I’d just come in with you and work from the conference room, if you don’t mind. That way, we could have lunch together when you can, and I can help out if you need me to. I don’t want to just sit around the hotel or an apartment.”

“My apartment,” Bridgette said, interrupting again.

“Some days, yes. But I need to find one of my own.”

“Not right away,” Bridgette replied. “You can stay at my place whenever. I know we don’t have champagne service like the hotel, but–”

“I can buy us a nice bottle of champagne. If I do, will you serve it to me?” Monica asked with wiggling eyebrows.

“Naked in bed?”

“Only if you’re in there with me.”

Bridgette nodded rapidly, causing Monica to laugh.

“I’ll add buying champagne to my to-do list, then.”

“And probably champagne flutes. I don’t have those. I still can’t find my wineglasses.”

“I’ll buy you some of those, too,” Monica said.

“What? No way. I can buy my own damn unnecessary wineglasses.”

“Well, they’d be necessary if I’m staying over a lot because I drink wine, Bridge. And don’t tell me you’re going to be one of those people who has a problem when their girlfriend offers to buy stuff.”

“A problem? No. Buy all the sex toys and lingerie you want me to wear for you, or you want to wear for me. You can buy me those super fluffy socks, too, that are so soft and keep your feet warm even when the floor is freezing. I’d also take those sweats of yours that I borrowed when I stayed at the hotel. Can you get me another pair?”

Monica laughed and said, “Okay. So, pride is clearly not an issue here.”

“Nope.” Bridgette shook her head. “But if you’re going to buy me wineglasses, I’d rather us go shopping together.”

“Yeah?”

“Pick them out together, I mean. I don’t care who buys. I’ll buy. You buy. We go Dutch. I’ve never had someone to buy something with , you know? Not that we’re moving in together, so they’re, like, our wineglasses, but it would be nice to do that with you, I think.”

“Decorate a place together if we do move in together one day?” Monica asked with a smile.

“Yeah,” she replied. “It sounds silly, probably. You’ve done this before; you were married. But I–”

“Not really, no,” Monica shared. “I moved into Lily’s place when we were together, and it was already decorated. I added some of my stuff over the years, but she was pretty particular about what went where, even though she was hardly home. She even had a decorator do Aaron’s room. And not just his nursery, which would’ve been fine; she had someone come in every few years and redo it as he got older. The poor kid just got to tell her what he liked, and that was it. She’d have someone put framed posters on the wall and choose the colors of the paint.”

“God, is she a sociopath? Did you marry a sociopath?”

Monica laughed and replied, “No. She’s just a very successful corporate attorney from an incredibly wealthy family, so… pretty close, but not quite. The house never felt like mine; even the vacation home in the Hamptons was hers. Hell, the place that I have now isn’t really mine. I hired someone to decorate it, too, and didn’t help them much. I’ve never had someone to do that with, either.”

“And you know I’ll never be able to afford a vacation home, right?”

Monica leaned in and said, “But I can. And if this keeps going, one day, we’ll be moving into a place here, and then later, if we decided to get a vacation home, we’d be buying it together with our money.”

“Make sure it’s a one-room cabin because that’d be all I would be able to afford.”

“Babe, listen to me for a second,” Monica said softly. “If we’re buying a vacation home together, it would be our money.”

“I know. I heard–”

“We’d be married, Bridge. It would be our money because we’d be married. That’s what I’m trying to tell you.”

“Oh,” she said with wide eyes.

“Don’t freak out.” Monica patted her thigh. “Not proposing. Not even close.”

“Right.” Bridgette nodded.

“Just saying that those are some possible steps for us later.”

“Later. Right,” Bridgette said.

Monica leaned in, kissed her quickly, and said, “You’re really cute right now. You looked totally dazed.”

“Well, the woman I’m in love with just told me that she thinks we could get married one day, so yeah, it got me a little dazed.”

Monica’s eyes widened then.

“Oh, shit,” Bridgette added quickly before she cupped her hand over her mouth. “Sorry,” she mumbled through that hand. “Didn’t mean to say that out loud.”

“Are you really sorry?” Monica asked, looking almost hopeful.

Bridgette dropped her hand, waited a moment, hoping this didn’t change them in a bad way but in possibly the best way, and then shook her head.

“No, I’m not sorry.”

“Neither am I,” Monica told her as she took her hand. “Because I’m in love with you, too.”

“You are?” Bridgette asked, hopeful.

Monica nodded and said, “Back to the original point of this conversation, though: I don’t know about working here officially.”

“That’s okay.” Bridgette shook her head. “Forget I said that. Not important anymore. We–”

“Babe, I meant that I can’t right now . I want to help, and I’m yours to employ how you see fit, but I don’t want to be on payroll. When my dad finally retires, and I feel like I’ve done what I can to help Arnette transition, then, maybe we can talk more about an official role for me here at Southern.”

“Yeah?” Bridgette asked. “That’s, like, a year away.”

“Is that okay? I will help. I don’t need a paycheck.”

“No, I meant that you’re talking a year from now, where we’re still together, that you’ll start working here.”

“Yeah,” Monica confirmed with a smile.

Bridgette smiled back and replied, “I’ve never really had that, either.”

“Someone planning a year ahead?”

Bridgette nodded.

“I think I can get on board planning however far ahead you want, Bridgette Musgrave. I can promise I’m in a much better place than when we first met, and I can see it all for us now. Whatever we want it to be for us, I can see it.”

“Can we start by shopping for wineglasses?”

Monica laughed and said, “Sure. This weekend?”

“Yes. And I’m leaving that desk in the office for you.”

“Bridge, it’s your office.”

“I know. But if you’re here, and we’re working together, you can be in there with me. It would be a practice run, really. Can we be together and work together?”

“I suppose that’s true,” Monica agreed.

Bridgette’s phone buzzed in her pocket, so she pulled it out and glanced at the screen.

“Mel wants to hang out tonight.”

“Yeah? You should go, maybe,” Monica suggested. “I know you’ve missed her.”

“Not just her and I, but with Kyle and Jill, too.”

“Is Jill single?” Monica asked.

“Yes. Why?”

“Maybe Sophie could join us.”

“Are you trying to set up your friend?”

“Not set up. But if they hit it off, so be it. Right?”

“I’ll tell Mel we’re in. You can message Sophie, if you want, but no guarantees about Jill.”

“Maybe they’ll just be friends. Maybe they’ll hate each other. Who knows?” Monica pulled out her phone. “I think I just like the idea of having a friend here whom I can… contribute to the friend group I’m about to join.”

“I like that.”

“Sophie being part of the group?”

“No, you being part of the group.” Bridgette leaned over and placed a kiss on Monica’s cheek.