She nodded. “Yes, Boss.” And stuck out her tongue as he closed the door.
His laugh floated back to her along with his warning, “I saw that!”
Chapter Two
Audrey smiled with satisfaction as she looked around her rooms. She had worked hard for almost two hours and had everything she brought with her situated to her satisfaction and several lists generated detailing re-decorating work to be done, things to buy and things to have shipped from her family home. She made a mental note to be sure to thank Rich for cleaning her rooms so thoroughly in preparation for her arrival. He must have had a busy weekend between packing up John’s things from the office and preparing for her to move in, along with his work preparing for her transition onto the faculty and into his department.
As if in answer to the summons of her thoughts, he knocked on her door. “I have a surprise, if you’re interested,” he called out.
She opened the door and clapped her hands with delight. “Pizza! Bless you! I am so hungry; I haven’t eaten all day.”
He slid the box onto the small coffee table in front of the love seat, put a large paper bag down on the floor and turned to frown at her. “What do you mean you haven’t eaten all day?”
She shrugged, “I was busy finishing my packing and then traveling up here and getting to the meeting at President Boxford’s house on time. I didn’t have a chance to eat lunch.”
“Well, what about breakfast then, didn’t you eat that, knowing that you were going to be so busy all day?” She had taken a large bite of the pizza slice she was holding and was busy chewing as she shook her head. “Why not?” he demanded.
Finally swallowing to clear her mouth, she managed, “I never eat breakfast. Is there anything to drink in that bag?”
He lifted the bag from the floor, put it on the table next to the pizza box and then tore it open to reveal the selection, deciding it was more expedient than lifting all the various cans and bottles out. “I didn’t know what you liked so I bought an assortment. The rest will disappear quickly when they go into the refrigerator in the kitchen.”
She pounced on the bottle of diet coke, opened the screw top and took a long drink. “Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you! I needed this! I have a serious diet coke habit and I’m one hurting puppy for having gone so long without one.” She turned to pick up a piece of paper lying on a side table and waved it at him. “I made a list of things I’m going to have shipped up here from back home and my small office refrigerator is at the top of the list.” She looked over the selection of drinks remaining on the table. “You only bought one?” He nodded. “Hmm, what am I going to do in the morning?” she muttered to herself.
“You’re going to eat breakfast,” he answered.
She waved her hand at him dismissively. “Weren’t you listening? I told you I don’t eat breakfast.”
“I heard you and I gave you an answer. Starting tomorrow you are going to eat breakfast everyday.”
“No I’m not. I guess I can drink the regular coke in the morning to get me through until I can get to the store to pick up some more diet,” she mused and was startled to find herself grabbed by the shoulders and shaken.
“Don’t you ever treat me like that! Have the common courtesy to pay attention and look at me when we are having a conversation.”
“We weren’t having a conversation. You were spewing orders and I was making plans for tomorrow morning.”
“Spewing orders!”
“Well, what would you call it?”
He growled wordlessly, picked up the pizza box and headed towards the door.
“What? Now your feelings are hurt so you’re going to take your toy and go home?” she demanded.
He took a deep breath to calm himself. “No, I am moving this repast out to the living room so we can sit down and have a proper discussion about this while we eat. There isn’t space in here for us both to sit down.”
“Oh. Sorry,” she said in a small voice. “What should I bring out for you to drink? I can’t carry all these since the bag is torn.”
“I’d like a water please.”
She looked over the selection; while there was only one of each kind of the assorted soft drinks and fruit juices, there were multiple bottles of water. “Still or sparkling?”
“Still.”
She grabbed all the bottles of water that she could carry, still and sparkling, and followed him into the other room, placing the bottles on the table with the pizza. Sitting on the sofa, she took a deep breath and turned towards her angry colleague. “I’m sorry, Rich. It was flippant of me to talk to you like that.”
“Yes it was. I didn’t deserve to be treated like that.”
“I didn’t deserve to be shaken like you did, either.”
He looked at her darkly. “You were lucky it was just a shaking. Sass like that should be handled with a sharp spanking.”
“Spanking!”
“Spanking. That’s how little brats learn their manners.”
“Brat!”
“What would you call it?” he threw back at her.
She considered him for a moment and then dropped her eyes as she chewed her bottom lip. “I’m sorry, it was bratty.”
“Good. I’m glad we agree. I will treat you with respect, I expect the same in return.”
She nodded. “While I was unpacking, I was appreciating how much work you did over the weekend to prepare for me, thank you.”
“You’re welcome. I can’t take credit for your rooms, though, I hired a cleaning service to come in and do that.”
“Oh, I thought you said… well everything was very clean and I was very grateful to find it that way, especially given the time factor. Thank you for thinking to hire them.”
He grinned, “I pay them to come and do my rooms, do you think I would turn around and clean yours? I’m not that altruistic. All I can take credit for doing in your rooms is what I said I did, which was put out the clean linens for you. I can give you the cleaners’ contact information if you’d like to arrange for them to continue to clean for you. I could never talk John into hiring them, but I know they could use the money; they have a bunch of kids.”
“Yes, I would like to hire them. I confess I am also unaccustomed to cleaning my own rooms.”
“Good. Now that we have had a bit of civil conversation, I’d like to return to the issue of breakfast.” He held up his hand to forestall her. “I’m doing my best here not to spew orders, but you can’t expect to teach four straight hours without any fuel in your body. The timing is too tight to grab a bite between classes, you are going to be ready to faint by the time noon rolls around and your last class ends.”
He watched as she struggled with his statement. A couple of times it looked like she might be able to offer a response, but she shook her head and kept working at it. Finally, all she could do was whine, “But I never eat breakfast.”
“So you agree that it is a good idea; but you just don’t want to break your streak of not eating breakfast? That’s not bratty, but it is pretty childish.”
She sighed. “I’m not a morning person. It’s going to be a miracle for me to be on time for that first class as it is. Trying to add in eating breakfast is just going to make it impossible.”