“An entire department? What did they do? Go on a work strike or something?”
“If that was what it was, then I wouldn’t even write them up because we could sit down, they could tell me why they were doing it, and come up with a solution that worked for everyone. As it stands, there’s drama throughout the entire department that I think stems from them all sleeping with one another.”
Eri furrowed her brow. “Seriously?” Her dad nodded. “Doesn’t your office have some sort of rule against interdepartmental dating?”
“We do. If two employees decide they want to date, they need to be in different departments or one needs to be willing to move to a different one if they aren’t.”
“But no one transferred, and now it’s causing issues.”
“Yes,” her dad responded. “I don’t know for sure that they’ve slept together, but the tension that’s between them only comes from knowing one another intimately, and since the only thing they’ll tell us when we ask about it is that they’re having a difference of opinion or aren’t seeing eye to eye, I can’t ask them anything regarding my suspicions.” He released another sigh. “Tomorrow they’re all getting written warnings, and I’m hoping it snaps them out of it and causes them to get over it, or we’ll end up laying off the entire department if things don’t turn around.”
Eri nodded. That did make getting to the bottom of it difficult. If every person in the department gave the same answer, there wasn’t much more her dad and the rest of the company’s human resources department could do other than follow the appropriate steps.
“Enough about that. How’s your spring break going?”
“It’s good. I’ve just been relaxing. I finished the assignments in my course outline. The only things I have to finish are projects for finals.”
Which she’d planned to work on during the break, but hadn’t yet. She’d mainly been lounging around Elias’ house, watching drama series or continuing her rewatch ofThe Powerpuff Girlswhile he was at work, and then doing something with him when he got back.
“I’ve also been making advertising media for this competition Avian’s husband is putting on in a couple of months. It’s going to look great in my portfolio, and I think the turnout will be excellent.”
They conversed for the rest of dinner, and when they finished, Eri cleared their plates before giving her dad the gift bag. He pulled out the new tie and pocket square set, and she was hoping it wasn’t a design or color he already owned. Her father had an abundant collection of them and rotated them daily for work. It would not be an exaggeration to say he had enough to wear for a couple of months without repeating any.
He reached in again and pulled out a new panini grill. They’d been speaking on the phone a couple of weeks ago when he’d casually said the one he’d had forever had finally kicked the bucket. Eri knew it had put up a good fight, considering her dad used it once or twice a week.
He thanked her for the gifts, then helped her clean the kitchen, even though she’d protested since it was his birthday. Once finished, they went into the living room to watch one of her father’s favorite movies, which was anything with Denzel Washington in it.
As they waited for the movie to start, her dad asked her what she wanted for her birthday in a couple of weeks. There really wasn’t anything Eri could think of, but she asked him to let her sleep on it.
She would spend the night, get up in the morning to make her dad breakfast before he left for work, and head out herself sometime afterward. If she still didn’t know by the time she got ready to leave, she had a little time to let him know.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
They pulled into the parking lot of his favorite restaurant, and Elias glanced over at Eri as she found a parking space. When she’d originally asked him if he wanted to do something that weekend, he hadn’t known what she had in mind because she wouldn’t tell him, but he’d gotten an idea as the week went on.
Elias would have to be slow not to notice that she’d used the week to reconnect with him. She was showing him she could communicate with him when something bothered her, like after she fell into the toilet in the middle of the night because he’d left the seat up.
It’d been nice spending the week with her. It wasn’t like they lived in different cities, and as long as they both were free, he could see her at any time. But there was something about having her in his space that hit differently.
“What do you usually get when you come here?” Eri asked once they were seated with menus.
“I rotate through a few different options. It depends on what I’m in the mood for when I come,” he replied.
“Will you order for me?”
“If you want me to, Amate.”
“Did you take pictures of the tattoos you did today?” she asked.
Elias nodded and handed her his phone after bringing up the pictures. Their server came while Eri scrolled through them, and he placed their orders.
“This is the bike you’re currently working on?” she asked, turning the phone for him to see.
“It is,” he responded. Elias took pictures of his progress at different stages for every motorcycle he built. Most customers understood the timeline of how he worked better when they had a visual representation. Taking pictures at each stage was also a reminder to him of how much work he’d done. It was a sense of accomplishment.
“Are you going to work on it tomorrow?”
“For a couple of hours.”
