Page 23 of When We Were More (Aron Falls #1)

T illie

I sit in the booth at Smiley’s Restaurant with my friend and soon-to-be business partner, Shannon, and Ruthie. We glance over the menu, and I wonder why I bother looking. I decide on the lunch salad with grilled chicken on top—the same as I always get.

The server takes our orders, and now we’re ready to get down to business. Shannon and I had already decided before coming that she’d start the conversation to see if Ruthie was interested in joining us on our new business venture.

Ruthie beats her to it. She folds her hands together on top of the table and clears her throat.

“I assume we’re here to talk about my salary and the perks of the job. Vacation time, personal days. All of that.”

I glance across the table at Shannon, who’s looking back at me. Her jaw is slack, and surprise is written all over her face. Evidently, we’re both dumbfounded.

Ruthie cackles and smacks the table with one hand to get our attention.

“You didn’t think I was going to let you two leave Stinson and not take me with you, did you?”

“I… we?—”

“You don’t have to say it. You girls need me there to manage your office. Keep it all together while you two do your wizardry with numbers.”

“Uh, yeah, actually,” Shannon says.

“I’ll take it.”

“The pay is—” Ruthie doesn’t let Shannon finish.

“Don’t worry about it. We can sort that all out later.” She takes a long swig of her diet soda, then leans back in the booth and looks between me and Shannon. “What is it about math that you girls love so much, anyway? I hated math in school.”

We both stare at her for a few seconds, still recovering from everything she just said.

Shannon looks over at me. “You wanna go first?”

“No, you go ahead.”

I’ve never really talked openly to anyone about why I chose my field or why I enjoy it so much.

Well, except for Gram. She knew. But you couldn’t hide anything from that woman.

She could read me like a book. I’m not even sure anyone else has ever thought to ask.

Joe didn’t care. He used to say it was mundane work that didn’t require much thinking, unlike his job, which was “more intellectual.” Fuck off, Joe.

Shannon leans forward and rests her elbows on the table. “For me, I always loved math. I loved how it always worked out, and I looked at it like a puzzle. I didn’t realize how good I was at it until I started tutoring and saw how much other kids struggled.”

She pauses and takes a sip of her drink, then clears her throat.

“I think for most people, math is one of those things that you either love or hate. As far as taking accounting in college, because of my love for math, I wanted to be able to use it to help other people. I know that if you think about jobs that help other people—service-type jobs—an accountant isn’t the first thing that comes to mind.

But I look at it as an ability to help an entrepreneur—a small business in my community—with something that may not come naturally to them but is so critical to their business.

If I can take that stress off of them, I feel like I’ve done a good thing. ”

Ruthie smiles at her with affection in her eyes, and it warms me on the inside because I’ve never seen Ruthie like that with anyone else besides me.

She only does it to me when she thinks I’m not watching.

It’s the look a mother would give to a child that she’s proud of, and it always makes me feel warm inside.

Ruthie gently taps Shannon’s arm a few times. “You’re such a good girl, Shannon.”

When Ruthie turns to look at me, I smirk.

“Let me guess, Shannon is a good girl, and I’m the problem child?” I grin at her because everyone knows Ruthie and I give each other shit, but love each other dearly.

“I haven’t said that… Yet. But there’s still time and as much sass as you have, I’m sure before the end of the meal, you’ll be harassing this poor old lady.”

“Oh, brother. You’re laying it on thick today, huh?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Now, go on, it’s your turn.”

I turn my gaze down to my hands, resting in my lap, and pick at my nail polish.

“Mine is less noble than Shannon’s. For me, like you, Shannon, math always came easily.

I did well in all of my classes, but my English and writing classes were my least favorite.

There’s too much room for interpretation and not always one right answer.

Math isn’t like that. There’s always an answer that you can arrive at if you work hard enough. ”

I’m hit with sadness I didn’t expect, and I need a second. I focus my attention out the window, and I bite at my lower lip to keep from tearing up. When I’m ready, I take a deep breath and turn my attention back to them.

“Numbers don’t lie. They always tell the truth, and they don’t leave room for favoritism.

Your answer is either right or wrong. It’s steady.

As far as my accounting, it made sense to me.

I figured it’s a way to work with what I love every day, and I enjoy the challenge of trying to find the missing piece when something isn’t matching up.

Math never let me down. People have, but math hasn’t. Not once.”

Across the booth, Ruthie and Shannon are both staring at me, a hint of sadness in their eyes and something I hope is not pity. I don’t want to be pitied by anyone.

“I get that,” Shannon says. “You and I are even more alike than we thought, Tills.”

Our server brings our food and helps break up the moment. Thank goodness because I made it real awkward real fast. It relieves me somewhat. I’d hate to cry and go back to work with puffy eyes.

We spend the next twenty minutes eating our food and talking about the logistics of our move. When I’ve had enough, I push my plate aside and take a drink of my water to clear my throat.

“Ruthie, you should probably give a month’s notice, so you’ll likely start later than Shannon and me because we’ve already given our notices.”

Ruthie shrugs. “I have, too. Don’t worry. I gave it the day after you guys did.”

“What? You weren’t even sure we would have a job for you.”

“I knew I would be coming with you. There’s no way or reason for me to stay at Stinson if you two are gone.”

“Why did you stay so long then, Ruthie? You could’ve retired already.” Shannon hurries and adds, “Only because you told me, not because you look old enough, of course.”

“Nice save,” I chuckle.

Ruthie tosses a quick glance at me, and though I suspect that she didn’t intend for me to see it, I did. It wasn’t meaningless, either. But I can’t quite interpret it.

“Extra cash. You have no idea how much my clothes cost,” Ruthie says. She picks at her food, avoiding eye contact with either one of us.

It suddenly dawns on me. I narrow my eyes at her, waiting to see if she’ll look up at me, but she doesn’t. She’s staring at her food as if her chicken fajita roll-up is the most interesting thing in the world.

“Ruthie?”

She finally looks up at me and we stare at each other, neither of us saying anything right away. She puts down her silverware and sighs.

“Your Gram was my best friend for nearly my entire life. There was nothing more important to her in this world than you, Tillie girl. But, when—” she pauses and looks over at Shannon, then back at me, and I nod.

She can speak freely in front of Shannon.

“When you came to us five years ago, you were broken from that dickwad ex-husband of yours.” I force back a smile at the protectiveness in her voice.

Ruthie takes a sip of her water.

“I was about to retire back then, but I didn’t want to leave you there alone.

Mr. Stinson—the good one—was retiring at the same time, and I knew his son would be taking over.

I’m not stupid. I’ve been a woman in the workforce my entire life, and I would like to think that women are treated equally and respected in the workplace nowadays, but I can’t say that’s completely true.

It is better, but it’s not fixed. I delayed my retirement because I didn’t want to leave you alone with that new management.

I don’t mind Jeff in general, but he’s not his dad, and he doesn’t make decisions the same way his dad did.

Mari and I always knew you were going places.

I wasn’t going to get outta Dodge until I was sure that no one there prevented you from doing that, simply because you’re a woman.

Since Mari couldn’t be there with you, I was. ”

Ruthie shrugs like it’s nothing. It’s not.

I stare at her in silence for a minute. Hell, this woman takes joy in being a thorn in my side every day, but then goes and sacrifices several years that she could have been retired in order to protect me.

My eyes blur with tears. One sneaks out over my lower eyelid and rolls down my cheek.

I quickly swipe it away with the back of my hand.

“I’m not broken anymore, Ruthie. You didn’t have to stay. You’ve given up those years of retirement for me. Thank you.”

Ruthie swats at the air and tsks.

“I know you’re not broken anymore. That fuck face you married couldn’t hold you down, and neither can Sir Douchebag and his friends in the tiny dick club.”

Shannon starts laughing, and it’s one of those laughs that’s infectious. I laugh as well, and then Ruthie joins. Anytime one of us begins to settle, one of the other two gets us going again.

Shannon’s practically wheezing as she tries to get words out. Finally, she says through breaks in her laughing attacks, “I’m sorry, the whole fuck face comment got me.”

Now I’m crying again, but they’re tears from laughing hard, and those are good tears.

“For me, it’s th-the tiny… dick… club. I’m guessing Sir Douchebag is Will?”

“Sure is,” Ruthie exclaims.

The server drops off our bill, looks between the three of us, and smiles. She laughs as she walks away. When we’re finally getting control of ourselves, I sense someone next to me, and I glance up.