7 - Jerk

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Ainsley and Rhys arrived at the Dwyer Mitchell party shortly after Lilli. The brown noser was hard at work when she left. Ainsley planned to leave after him the following night. No one stayed on Fridays, but she had nothing to go home to, except an overweight cat. Maybe she should start dating again.

The ballroom looked like a wedding reception or a charity function without the formal wear. A loop of pictures played on the screen, she smiled at the younger Kurt Dwyer. With a champagne flute in her hand, she mingled while Lilli talked to some of her clients. Lilli's first client, Nancy Gibbons, a loud, hysterical housewife, was entertaining Lilli's friend who just got married. Ainsley stopped by and said hello to both. She made the bride smile by asking about her wedding.

Nancy frowned. "We need to find a man for you."

The older woman looked around and smiled. "He's good looking."

Ainsley turned and froze. Why was the brown-noser here? He glared at her and she mumbled excuses and slipped out the door. From a secluded corner in the hotel lobby, she called Rhys.

"I'm leaving."

"Why?"

"The guy who hates me is in there. The last thing I need is for him to see me talking to Sumners or the others. Tell Lilli, I'm sorry."

"Honey. No! Where is he?"

Ainsley imagined Rhys scanning the men. "He's wearing a dark suit."

"You just describe every man in here except me. I'm an artist. Come back. Hello Mr. Roche." Ainsley hung up as Rhys talked to their boss

She sat on the train feeling sorry for herself. Gunther greeted her, but he just wanted something from her. After she poured herself a glass of wine and took out her tablet, she scrolled through the dating app. A few men had potential. She should run them by Rhys, but feeling sorry for herself reasoned that plan away.

Ainsley was asleep when Lilli texted her. She would talk to her over the weekend. In the morning, she woke determined to beat the party crasher to work. As she stood to cross the street, she missed seeing the mystery man. Even her crush wasn't cooperating. First Josh Roche found a wife and then the puddle guy disappeared. She cringed remembering one of her first words was 'wet', and he said he was dirty. Maybe she should have suggested they get wet and dirty together. He would probably call the police to arrest her for solicitation.

Fist pump. She arrived first. When Henry walked in she was hard at work. He walked over to her. "I saw you last night."

"So." She didn't look up from her screen.

"I know why you left. You were a party crasher and didn't want to get caught."

"Yeah, that's right. It had nothing to do with not wanting to see you. My friend who invited me was disappointed I left. Good thing she doesn't know you."

"I only met players, not nobodies."

"Whatever." She waved her hand. "I have work to do." She already knew the players, but he didn't need to know.

Once he was gone, Nina whispered, "What was that about?"

"He was at the Dwyer Mitchell party last night, so I left. Lilli will never forgive me."

"Yes, she will." Nina chuckled.

She would. Zach would intervene. A reminder popped up on her screen. She forgot they had a meeting. Henry sat across the table in the conference room and glared at her. Their boss, Catrina, came in and Henry smiled sweetly at her.

"With the month closing out, I have a new list of upcoming releases. We have the new Nancy Gibbons's novel."

Ainsley's hand shot up. "I've met her and read her book." I spoke with her last night.

Henry coughed, "Liar."

Catrina looked back and forth between Henry and Ainsley. "We want to hit hard on this one. I need Ainsley and Henry on this one together."

Ainsley said, "I can handle it."

"I'd rather we double our efforts. Let's see we have three children's books..."

Ainsley tuned out the rest as she tried to figure a way out. She looked up when she heard her name again for a young adult LGBTQ+ novel. She had experience, but she would like to see the brown-noser zero in on that market.

"Okay, I want promotional plans to review by the end of next week."

Everyone got up and talked on their way out of the conference room, but Ainsley stayed until the buzz faded, as did Henry who smiled across the table like a deranged man.

"Shut your mouth before security takes you out." She glared.

"Why are you so nasty to me?" He pouted like Violet's nephew, Teddy, would.

"Did you study theater? Never mind. You have never said a nice thing to me since the day you showed up. You treat me like I'm incompetent."

"I think you're talking about you."

"Whatever. I can handle Nancy's book without you."

"Nancy's book." He used a high pitch voice. "I met Nancy Gibson."

Ainsley smiled. "It's Gibbons. She was at your party last night. I talked to her, but you only met players. Somehow I'm the crasher."

"Whatever. Let's do our own plan and let Catrina choose."

Ainsley shook her head. "That's not teamwork."

"I prefer solo sports."

"I bet you do." She snickered. Dating your hand?

"What's that supposed to mean?" He whined like Violet's niece, Daphne.

She shrugged. "Fine. You do yours and I'll do mine, but we share a day early. If you have any good ideas, I'll add them."

"No, I'll add yours." Now he was like the two siblings fighting over a toy.

"Let's see who has the best plan. Then we can fight it out." She wanted to appear to be working together.

He stood up. "Get to work. Don't break your laptop or you'll miss the deadline."

She stood wishing she had Lilli's height. "You! Do you keep messing with it?"

"Not me. It's your incompetence."

"And you're never mean?" She fisted her hands.

"Get to work, Douglas."

"Fine." So she had to have the last word. Violet was that way. When had she turned into her sister?

Nina watched her sit down and groan. "What happened?"

"He's an asshole."

"A sexy one. Do you think he's good in bed?"

"You have a guy, but my guess is his right hand complains it does all the work."

Nina laughed, but Ainsley didn't smile. She had work to do and pulled up the promotion details on Nancy's first book. It had turned into a bestseller. Promoting the book was personal because Lilli made commission off the royalties. She went to pull the demographic on her book and the search kept coming up empty. There was data, but why wasn't it available. She put in a help desk ticket convinced the jerk was messing with her.

Out of the corner of her eyes, she watched as her nemesis left for lunch. He criticised her, but he took an hour lunch break every day. Ainsley ate at her desk. Some days she went to the cafeteria to buy food, but most of the time she brought something from home.

Her shopping habits were another sign she had matured. She and Lilli often had wine for dinner with a frozen pizza. Living on her own, she had cut down on her week day alcohol consumption and also cooked healthier meals for herself. As a result, her clothing fit better without even exercising. She walked enough without adding the latest fitness craze to make her miserable.

Catrina walked through their office space as Ainsley ate a salad from the cafeteria. She didn't cook after she returned from the party. "Are you okay, Ainsley?"

She nodded as she swallowed. "I'd prefer not to be working with Henry."

"Why? He's a nice guy and good at what he does."

"He doesn't value my experience."

She shook her head. "No one in this department has come as far as you."

She started as an assistant. "Yeah, and he waltzes in and thinks he can climb over me."

"Just keep being productive. I'm watching."

"Thanks." Ainsley's email distracted her. "Did you know the database had been updated? I couldn't pull stats. The director of IT says it will be fixed."

Catrina shook her head. "You took the initiative. I like that."

Ainsley looked up to her boss. She had been with Roche-Sumner longer than Ainsley. Catrina had recently married a nice guy who she met through a dating app. In her mid thirties, she had it all, the career and a warm body to sleep with at night.

The data search worked later in the afternoon, so Ainsley studied the sales stats from Nancy's first book, including a snapshot of the demographics. It was just as she predicted. Women aged thirty to sixty. Middle class. These women lived in their cars which combined with Nancy's personality puts radio interviews at the top of her plan.

Ainsley watched Henry slither out a few minutes before five but kept working. Later when she exited the station, she walked up the street to the corner market to buy some vegetables to cook with her chicken. The store was crowded, especially at the deli counter. Other professionals opted for store made sandwiches. As she tried to avoid the deli line and to get to the register, she bumped into a body.

"Sorry." She mumbled. When she looked up, her eyes widened. "It's you!"

He looked down. "Not dirty."

She blushed but refused to say anything about being wet. "Go ahead, you were first."

"No, please, ladies first."

She smiled. "A gentleman."

"Blame my father."

She felt like she won the lottery and bit her tongue before she said the words wet, dirty, together in any order.

With her paper bag, she murmured her thanks and left. Purposely walking slow she wanted to see if he caught up to her. She refused to look behind her to check. As she reached her building, her neighbor was leaving, so she entered without needing her key. Once in her basement with Gunther begging for food, the regret hit her. She should have waited for him.

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