The man stared at her in stunned silence, his red, pudgy face falling as slack as his protruding belly that squished out on either side of his body. “Did you just speak to me like that?”
Fuck this job! If Cicely doesn’t support me in this, I’m outta here anyway, so I’ve got nothing to lose.
Sabrina didn’t hesitate. “Yes, I did. You’ve been a totally disrespectful asshat since you walked in here. I’m wasting my time working on you because you’re fighting me. You’re rude as fuck, and you smell so bad I want to puke!”
“I can’t help it if I got no time for a shower this morning! I sweat a lot!”
“Then don’t get a massage until youdobathe!”
The man spluttered something about her being unprofessional and that she should be fired, but Sabrina didn’t hear him as she walked out of the room and slammed the door behind her.
Cicely came out of the mudroom. “What’s going on? Who’s yelling?”
“Mr. Shitty Diaper in there.” Sabrina flicked a hand at her room. “I don’t know what your policy is on working with peoplewho have poor hygiene or questionable skin conditions or ones who are just plain assholes, but I’m not dealing with that shit. If you want to fire me, go ahead.”
She turned to see Stephan standing in the doorway leading to the front counter. The man had his arms crossed and a shit-eating smirk on his face. Sabrina raised her middle finger at him as she stormed out. “Fuck you!”
The cold air cooled her temper, and she slowed her pace. She didn’t know where her feet were taking her, but she kept going. At least her phone was in her pocket, so she wasn’t without any resources.
Who would she call? In retrospect, she couldn’t afford to lose this job, but at the same time, there was only so much crap she could take. An aesthetician told her this spa had a revolving door for employees. No one stayed there very long either because of pay or the general work environment, or both. She could definitely see why. And while Sabrina was grateful for the opportunity and the leeway with parking her van out back, that didn’t mean anyone had the right to walk all over her.
Worry hit her that Stephan or Cicely would call someone to tow her van and trailer. “Dammit!” she muttered. “If I have to apologize to that guy…. Nope, I can’t do it.”
She had the option of returning to her previous route between Planet Fitness and Walmart parking lots at least for now. Then she paused. Why the hell was she even sticking around? It was clear Scrap wasn’t going to give her any answers. Even though she was low on funds, she wasn’t flat busted broke. She hadn’t put down roots in this city. Nothing was stopping her from loading up her van and taking off. Maybe that was for the best.
She thought briefly about Cam and how he would take the news of her leaving. Regret pierced her heart as she thoughtabout not seeing him again. Last night had the potential of turning into something special, but today….
She turned around, intending to call the spa to officially quit, but she heard someone calling her.
“Sabrina!”
She spotted the person who’d embedded himself in her life and didn’t seem to want to go. Cam approached her, walking stiffly.
Those psoas muscles are giving him trouble again.
“Hey, Cam.”
He stopped in front of her. “Everything okay?”
Not really.“Yeah, everything is fine. I forgot to ask if Scrap made it home from the hospital.”
“He did, and Wolf checked on him this morning. What’s wrong?”
His face showed such concern that for a moment, she wanted to do nothing more than cry. “Nothing’s wrong. I was just asking.”
“Then why are you here looking like someone stole Reptar and Rugrat instead of at work?”
“No one is gonna steal my babies. I just needed some fresh air. The last client I had smelled like ass and acted like one too.”
“Long ways to walk. ’Bout a half mile from here to the spa.” His demeanor changed from concern to anger in a heartbeat. “Did this ass touch you or say something to you?”
Tears welled in her eyes, but she didn’t let them fall. Not yet. When was the last time anyone had this kind of concern for her? Definitely not since Ernie passed away. Her dad always figured out when she was down and often took her for ice cream. He had a manner of calmly talking to her and asking questions until she finally opened up and told him what bothered her. The closest person she had now was Amelia, and even then, there were limits.
“I’m just having another really shitty day, that’s all.”
To her surprise, he stepped forward and folded her into his body, tucking her head into the space between his neck and shoulder.
“I’m sorry, babe. Tell me how I can make it better.”
