“Sure. Jessa, are you okay?” Penny asks, and she glances over at Aiden’s door. “Did something happen when Aiden dropped you off?”
“You could have told me he was your cousin,” I say calmly. I’m not trying to make her feel bad, but if I would have known, I would have absolutely slept in my fucking car even if I did roast alive. I can see the headline now, ‘An adult woman cooks herself inside of her car instead of facing absolute embarrassment from her boss seeing her drunk.’ Better yet, they could title it Florida Woman Dies of Stupidity.
She shrugs her shoulders. “Sorry, I forgot that you were new and didn’t know.”
“Everyone else in the office knows?”
“Oh yeah, I had a similar unfriendly welcome to the company,” Penny says. It makes me feel a little better, that the cold shoulder isn’t specifically me, this office is just a tough crowd. “But seriously, was he a dick or something?”
“No, he was kind. I’m just feeling embarrassed.”
“Don’t, seriously. Are you sure about lunch?” she asks, her bright blue eyes searching mine. She gives me a small assuring smile as she waits for my answer.
“I’m sure, thanks Penny.” She nods and walks off.
The day is completely dragging, it’s one of those days where you think an hour has passed, but when you look at the time it’s only been about twenty minutes. I would rather do just about anything than feel the tension I do today. Aiden hasn’t come out of his office once, not to ask me or anyone else for anything. Maybe it’s narcissistic to believe it has something to do with me, but I can’t squash the feeling.
I finished the lacrosse branding kit and decide to start working on baseball so I can show him both at once. I open the pdfs with the sticker files and my mouth drops when I see the first image. It’s so extremely phallic looking that I don’t even know how this image was created. What’s worse is when I look at the words in a circular font around the baseball dick. ‘Rays’ Kids’ day - sponsored by Kemper’s.’
I swallow and look at the clock, it’s nearing the end of the day. I’ve got to bring it up, right? Surely this is a mistake?
The chime of the front door alerts me to employees leaving for the day, and I know if I don’t bring it up with Aiden, I won’t be able to sleep tonight. I’ll just fixate about it all night and worry about how it will be received. I print the document out and it looks like it’s just Aiden and me left at the office—fantastic.
I swallow and try to stop the trembling of my hands when I lightly tap on the door frame of his office. “Aiden?”
He looks up and blinks twice. “What can I help you with?”
I take a deep breath and sit at the chair in front of his desk. “Did you approve all the marketing for our baseball materials?”
“Usually, why?” I slide the paper over to him. “What’s wrong with it?” I point to the cock looking sticker, and his eyes widen.
“It looks like a dick. Has this already been printed? I can make a design really quickly.”
“Kids’ day at Tropicana Field is tomorrow. I’m supposed to drop them off and go to the game.” He swallows.
“Okay, and these stickers are on what?”
“The wooden baseball bats they’re giving to the kids.”
“How many are there?”
“Five-thousand,” he says softly.
“Fuck,” I whisper.
“Fuck is right,” he says, staring at the cock baseball bat and balls.
“Where are they?” I ask.
“The warehouse.”
“Can the stickers easily be removed?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, then we can fix this.”
“What?” he asks, looking back down at the horribly designed stickers.
