1 Chapter 1
“Hey, Tobie. How was your weekend?” John DeWitt asked me while pouring his coffee.
“It was good, thanks.” I added a ton of creamer to my cup. John preferred his coffee black as tar.
“I hung out at a Cinco de Mayo festival near my apartment. Drank a shitload of beer.”
John and I worked together as associates for EnerGen International, in the acquisitions department. We’d started with the company at the same time as interns, and eventually had been hired on full-time.
“Oh, right. I totally forgot about that.” John took a sip of his coffee and closed his eyes in bliss.
“What did you do?” I asked.
“Partied all weekend. I can barely walk, but it was soworth it,” he replied with a grin.
I laughed. “Oh my God, you’re such a slut!”
“‘To thine own self be true,’ or some such nonsense. You should try it sometime, unchain yourself from that desk. You work too hard.” John took his cup and walked out of the break room. I grabbed my coffee and followed him.
“I’ll be okay. Work is my highest priority right now,” I said.
John stopped with me at my desk. “Honey, you need to get out more. I’m glad you went to the festival this weekend, but that’s the first time in, like, months, right? You’re always here working late at your desk, sometimes even on the weekends. Work shouldn’t rule your life. You need to date, have a little fun.”
“I want to be VP in five years. The only way I know how to do that is by working long hours. Sacrifices are necessary. There isn’t much room for dating.” I sat and turned on my computer.
“Yeah, well I think you can work, have fun andstill get what you want. Hell, when was the last time you were with someone?” John asked.
“I dunno…months, maybe?” I responded. It was something I tried not to think about. I reallymissed sex.
“Are you serious? Your ass must have cobwebs by now.”
“John, seriously. We’re at work. And leave my ass out of this, pendejo.It’s fine just the way it is.”
“Oh, you’re calling me names. I must have struck a nerve,” he teased.
“Go away.”
“Wait, let me see your right hand. Must be chafed from all that solo action.” He made a grab at me, but I swatted him away.
“John! Stop it. My ass is fine, my hand is fine, and lube helps with the chafing, if you must know. Quit bugging me and get to work.”
“You know, if you ever need—”
“?Basta! Enough, already.”
John relented, but before he sat at his own desk, he said, “Seriously, Tobie. I hope one day you find something, or better yet, someone who’s more important than work or a promotion, because all work all the time is just depressing.”
I loved my job, despite pesky coworkers, namely John. He was always after me to go out more or have fun, but I was really focused on getting ahead. Working hard was the only way I knew to achieve that. I didn’t need anything to jeopardize this goal. Sometimes, though, I wondered if John was right.
A few minutes after I started working on a complicated spreadsheet, John interrupted my train of thought.
“Hey, Tobie. Do you know where that file with the salary data for the southeast is located? I can’t find it on the server.”
With a sigh, I found the file and emailed a copy to him.
“Check your inbox,” I said. As much as I liked John, sometimes he annoyed me because he could never find stuff in plain sight.
“Thanks. You’re the best.”
“Yeah, yeah.” I went back to my calculations.
I took a break around ten o’clock to clear my head. As I walked by the break room, I glanced in and saw John talking to a few other associates, animated as usual. They all seemed so carefree and laid back. Wish I knew how to be that way.I headed outside and took a quick walk around the block, then went back to my desk to get some more work done before noon.
I was eating a sandwich in the break room when John found me at lunchtime, catching up on a Jack Reacher novel on my e-reader. It was one of the few things I allowed myself the luxury of doing in my rare free time. It helped me to unwind a bit.
“Hey, Tobie. Did you hear about the new department VP?” I looked up as John sat at the table with a can of soda. He popped it open and took a sip.
