A Broken Watch, some Peppermints, and a Hug That Goes Too Far by R. Brownell (the red fox clan txt) 📖

“That’s good to hear,” I said as I opened the door. I moved aside and let her happily walk in first.

“Ladies,” Mason stood as we entered.

I know I am not a teenager anymore, but every time he did that, I always got a knot in my stomach.

“Mason you will never guess what happened last night,” Theresa beamed as she ran up to him.
She spilled the contents out of her briefcase and put it all out on the table.


12:00pm

“Can I get one hot dog, lots of mustard, oh and a little ketchup too,” I told the guy at the hot dog stand.

Aside from the incident in the elevator this morning, I also forgot to put money in my wallet the night before. Luckily, I had a few singles floating around my office, it was just enough to get one hot dog and a soda.

“Thanks, keep the change,” I said grabbing the hot dog from the guy.

I started walking back towards the building. Walking and eating have never been one of my things. Bring on stain number two. I was about to cross the street when some teenagers ran by and smacked into me. Of course, not only did the hot dog land directly on my chest again, but the open bottle of soda I was holding did as well.

“I think you could use one of these,” a hand reached from behind me holding a napkin.

12:20pm

“Thank you for bringing me here, I swear I will pay you back tomorrow.”

I sat facing Mason Hansen in the Hard Rock Café in Times Square. They kept the lighting very dull, and in this lighting, the stain was barely visible, or so I hoped.

“Really it’s no problem,” he laughed.

“Mason, first my watch now lunch, I think I owe you for today,” I responded, not taking no for an answer.

“Fine,” he laughed. “It’s really not that big of a deal though,” he added.

“So how’s your lunch, better than that hot dog I suppose?” he asked.

I looked up after swallowing my favorite rosemary chicken meal.

“You could say that. So what did you think about Theresa’s presentation today, she’s such a wonderful addition to the team,” I was trying to change the subject. I hated the subject of me, and my feelings.

“I think she has potential,” he agreed.

“I was thinking after she graduates to take her on full time with us. She would be an amazing mentor for others,” I said.

“Are we really going to talk about work?” he questioned.

I felt my face get red again.

“Was there something else we should talk about?” I asked him.

“There are plenty of things, like maybe how was your weekend?” he asked.

“My weekend, well it was kind of like how my Monday has been going,” I laughed nervously.

“That bad huh?” he asked.

“Well Friday night I had to take my cat Rambo to the vets, he ate something and couldn’t… never mind we are eating. So he ended up puk-once again I apologize, maybe we should talk about your weekend,” I was still laughing nervously.

“It’s okay it really doesn’t bother me,” he said digging into his dish.

“Let’s just say I was up all night cleaning it. Saturday-actually my weekend was quite boring,” I finished. He laughed.

“If you think mine was any better, I was on the couch all weekend taking care of my sister’s sick kid. She had asked me to baby sit while she and her husband went on a weekend getaway. I love my niece, but after the amount of boogers I have touched this weekend I think it’s safe to say your story isn’t that bad either,” he laughed.

“Well, then I don’t feel as bad.” I could not help but smile.

We talked like that for an additional forty-five minutes. In the end it ended up that, we had lost track of time to the point where we didn’t realize we were almost an hour late for work.

“Check please,” he called the women with the black hair by the bar. She nodded acknowledging us, but not coming back for another ten minutes.

“Peppermint?” he questioned pulling out a tin from his suite jacket pocket. I reached over to get one.
“Sure,” I smiled.

He placed the mint inside of my hand and I could have sworn I felt him hesitating to pull away.

1:45pm

“Thank you for lunch,” I said as we approached my office.

Suddenly, I began to feel like we had been on a date and that he was dropping me off at my front door.

“Really, it was no problem. If you don’t ever give me the money I promise I won’t be mad,” he said touching my arm lightly.

2:30pm
A small knock distracted me from going through some work.

“Come in,” I called.

“You wanted to see me?” Theresa stuck her head in the door.

“Yes, please come in and have a seat,” I told her.
She looked nervous, but I could tell she was trying to hide it. I was looking at her article, it had just been sent back to me from the revisions department with very few mistakes.

“I just received your revisions, and I am happy to say they didn’t change much, just a word or two, and some small grammar mistakes, probably due to you being tired. I found your article to be just perfect for our first issue, and Mr. Hansen thought so as well.”

Her smile brightened and all of the nerves simply just washed away.

“Do you really mean it Gertrude, you don’t know how good that makes me feel,” she said grabbing onto the sides of the chair with excitement.

“There is something else I would like to speak with you about. I talked to Mason and his father about twenty minutes ago. I know you have another year before graduation, but we want you to come work for us part-time as soon as your internship finishes for the school year. Once you graduate if you are still a hard worker we want to take you for a full time position,” I couldn’t help but smile.

I had the girl in tears, her eyes watered so quickly I barely had time to grab her a tissue.

“You don’t know what this means to me,” she cried.

“I think I do. I was in your chair once, and when Mason hired me I felt like there was nothing I couldn’t accomplish,” I told her.

“Gertrude I will not let you, Mason, or Mr. Hansen down I promise,” she stood up.

I stood up as she held her hand out to shake mine.

“Thank you; oh thank you so very much. I have to go call my mom,” she shouted running off.

As she left she almost smacked Mason with the door.
“Thank you Mason,” she yelled back at him.

He looked at me, pointed at her, and laughed.
“You made her day,” he said.

I smiled and sat down.

“Actually we made her day,” I corrected him.

“It was all your idea Gerri,” he said.

“So what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?” I questioned.

“Well first,” he said shutting the door.
“I wanted to see how Theresa took the news,” he pointed to the door, as he got closer to the seat she had been sitting in a minute earlier.

“I already can tell that,” he laughed.

He didn’t sit in the chair, but stood in front of the desk. He reached his hand in his pocket and pulled out my watch. I could hear it ticking in his hand.

“You fixed it?” I questioned. My eyes were not going to cooperate; I could feel the tears well up, just as Theresa’s had. He handed me a tissue with his other hand.

“I am sorry, I look like a blubbering idiot,” I cried letting them fall.

He laughed.

“No Gertrude not you most certainly don’t,” he grabbed my right wrist and carefully pulled it towards him. I was still blotting my eyes with the tissue in my left hand.

As gentle as he could be he carefully wrapped the watch around my wrist and snapped it into place. My heart raced, he did not let go of my hand. He walked around the desk, still holding on and stood only inches from me. I had to look up because he was so much taller.

I had the strange urge to hug him to thank him for fixing the watch.

“Would it be okay if I give you a hug to thank you, or would that be crossing the line?” I asked. He shook his head.

“A hug would be just fine,” he let go of my wrist and pulled me into him.

My ear rested against his chest, I could hear his heart skipping beats and racing. His warm arms gave me comfort. It was strange how it happened, almost like slow motion.

I tilted my head up to look at the scruff that he had on his chin, which I only noticed because of how close I was. He looked down at the same time; my pulse was racing even faster now. His brown eyes kept my hold and I felt my stomach knot again.
He leaned down slowly our faces only inches apart. I could feel his breath lingering on my lips. When they finally pressed down against my own, I thought my own heart had stopped.

It didn’t take long before our tongues had met each other head on. He pulled me as close as he could; it almost felt as if he was taking all of me in. I could smell the peppermint from his jacket and breathed it in.

One of his hands reached my hair and brushed through it passionately. I felt embarrassed as I somehow let out a small moan, but it didn’t seem to phase him.
He leaned me back so I was sitting on my desk. The kiss lasted for what seemed like forever. I had never been kissed like this before. His hand rested on my upper thigh. He pulled away and stared deeply into my eyes. He was breathing heavily and so was I.

“I have wanted to do that for so long now,” he huffed.

I was shocked, hearing that he had wanted me as much as I had wanted him.

“I have too,” I admitted.

“But can we even do this?” I asked him.

“What about our jobs, your father? What will he think?” I asked.

“He has no say in who I date,” he said reaching back down to kiss my lips. I closed my eyes and inhaled his scent again. This time he pulled away too quickly.