“Yeah.”
“They hired us.”
“I thought they had already?”
“They hired us for a small project on a trial basis—to see how they liked working with us. Tenisha and I did a few websites for them and designed a couple small marketing packages. But they just told me they want us to put together some huge marketing campaigns for them. And theirfiveother businesses in the US.”
My mouth fell open as I beamed at him. “Are you serious? That’s amazing. So all this time, you weren’t lying about meeting with Japan?”
He laughed. “Nope.”
“What are they having you do for them?”
“TV spots, interviews, websites, radio, everything. It’s a huge win for our company.”
“I’m so proud of you. That’s awesome.”
“Thanks.”
We both went for a hug at the same time. It was only natural, right? To give someone a hug when they accomplished something amazing. I was proud of Duke. I still held the bottle of cleaner in one hand and my squeegee in another during the hug, so it made it a little awkward, but nothing we couldn’t work through. His cheek was warm as it pressed against mine. I breathed him in, appreciating that he still wore the same cologne as he did the night of the basketball game.
A throat cleared.
“Knock, knock.”
We broke apart as we turned at the sound of a man’s voice. Duke’s parents stood there by the entrance, watching us with raised eyebrows. Looking closely, I could see the resemblance to the young father in Birdie’s pictures, but the man staring at us now, wearing a fancy polo shirt and dress pants, was a far cry from one I’d seen playing with his sons and flexing his muscles. At my side, Duke stiffened.
It was his mom who spoke first, her quiet eyes taking in every detail, from the way Duke’s shoulder pressed against mine to the cleaning supplies in my hands. She was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt and looking more casual than her husband. She held up a Tupperware container.
“Dad told me you weren’t going to make it to our family dinner tonight because you had to work late again. We thought we’d come say hi and bring you some dinner.”
Duke blinked and stepped forward, remembering himself. He gave his mom a hug and took the container from her hand. “I just got out of my meeting. Thanks.”
His parent’s eyes flitted over to me once more and I might as well have been an elephant standing in the room for as out of place as I felt.
“Who’s this?” Duke’s dad asked, nodding toward me.
We all waited, myself included, to see what Duke would say. He didn’t disappoint. At least, he didn’t disappoint…me.
He walked back over to me and put his arm around my shoulder. “This is Nora. She works for us and is a good friend of mine. Nora,” he motioned toward his parents, “these are my parents, Roger and Elaine.”
“Nora?” A puzzle came over Elaine’s face. “Grandma and Grandpa told us you brought a girl named Nora to their house over the weekend.”
I smiled, pushing aside my nerves to speak like a human person to these people. “Hi.” Duke’s arm was still currently around my shoulder and something about his touch grounded me in this moment, so instead of walking forward, I gave them a little wave. “For one of my projects with RDM, I’m creating a website and logo for Bart and Birdie’s company. Duke came with me this weekend to introduce me to them so I could get started.”
“So, do you work at RDM?” Roger’s eyes drifted over to my cleaning cart.
“I’m an intern,” I supplied, brushing a strand of hair behind my ear.
“Nora’s the hardest worker you’ll ever meet,” Duke added with a smile. “By day she’s an intern, at night she cleans our office building and another upstairs.”
Elaine looked thoughtful, processing this news, but Roger began getting fidgety. With jerky movements and sharp huffs of breath, I felt my nerves rising. Though Duke didn’t make any big movements, he seemed to be waiting for something.
Roger didn’t make us wait long.
“For hell's sake, Duke. Is this your meeting?” He threw his hand out and motioned toward us both. “Cleaning the office? You’ve been at this company for three years. In three years I had already expanded the car wash into a franchise and was working on building up another business. You have to think bigger. How many more times will it take for this to sink in? You have to use money to make money. Please take our loan and get going. You’re wasting so much time.” At this point, he was pacing, using his flailing hands to emphasize his tone and drive home the message. And he wasn’t done. “As an owner, you shouldn’t be concerned about some of these businesses you're putting your time into. I know you love your grandparents. We all do. But their little wood carving business isn’t going to change a thing for your company. Send the intern to take care of that. I was ticked when I found out you went there this weekend to help someone do it, though,” he motioned toward me, “now I understand why you wanted to.”
“Roger, “Elaine warned, pulling on his arm.
