DATING MY EX'S DAD

CHAPTER FOUR

Haley left for Mr. Anderson’s office after taking a deep breath.

“CLOSE THE DAMN DOORS!” Mr. Anderson, the manager, shouted and she closed the doors, blinding and deafening the gossip outside the office.

“Okay Haley, what the hell is going on with you today?” his aggressive tone suddenly vanished but he was obviously unhappy.

“I am sorry sir,” Haley apologized and sat down even though he didn’t ask her to.

“Sorry? Haley… this is the third complaint today. Today!” he repeated the last word, raising his voice slightly. He took a deep breath and rubbed his temples, taking a moment to calm his nerves.

“Look here Haley, you are a really hard worker, one of the finest staff I have had working with me, and I envision a future where you will get promoted to my position if I get promoted or retire or die, whichever comes first. I have really high hopes, but mistakes like these? They ruin your career faster than the larger mistakes you intentionally avoid,” he said and stood up. “Look Haley, breakups are hard, and I understand that, but …”

“Wait … what?” Haley looked at him with questioning eyes.

“What?” he raised a brow, wondering why she had cut him off.

“How … How did you know about that?” Haley asked curiously.

“Know about what?” Mr. Anderson was confused.

“How did you …” she paused and restructured her statement so it didn’t come off as a confirmation.

“What makes you think that I am going through a breakup?” she said with a questioning look on her face, her head tilted to the side as if to say ‘where is this crap coming from?’.

“What? You … You aren’t going through a break up?” Mr. Anderson was surprised. “Oh … I just … I heard your colleagues talking about you and it was about your breakup, so I thought that was the reason why you weren’t putting in your all,” Mr. Anderson explained with an apologetic tone.

Haley remained silent and just watched him, placing her jaw in her palms.

“Okay, okay … can you please not look at me that way?” Mr. Anderson shook his head.

“Look at you like what?” Haley shrugged her shoulders slightly.

“Ugh,” he frowned and let himself sink back into his seat. “Okay Haley, whatever is going on and not going on, I am sorry about all of that, but that can’t be an excuse for you to go on and f**k up your career and give the company a bad name, alright?”

“Yes sir, I understand,” Haley replied and nodded.

“Good.”

“Can I … Can I go now?” Haley asked after a few seconds of silence.

“Oh … sure, sure uh … sure, you can go,” Mr. Anderson stammered. “Oh, and Haley,” he called out to her as she got to the door. “Please stop pissing our clients off today, okay? In fact, I will be transferring all your work for today to someone else you feel can handle it, does that sit well with you?”

“Sure,” Haley replied. “Thank you, sir.”

“Yeah, yeah, get out of here,” he said. “Oh, and go straighten out your hair. It looks like you are making a home for some bird to lay its eggs,” he playfully made fun of her and she left shaking her head with a smile.

“Hey, Bella!” Haley called out as she left the office. “Come on, we have a few things to handle,” she said and left for the restroom, not sparing anyone a glance to talk of a second one.

She soon got to the restroom and Bella rushed in after her.

“Here, your bag,” Bella said and passed her bag.

“Thanks,” Haley managed a smile and ruffled through her purse for things to use to rearrange her looks, but there was nothing.

“You wouldn’t happen to have anything I could use in your bag, would you?” Haley asked skeptically and Bella smirked and tossed her bag towards Haley.

“You are welcome,” she said and Haley muttered an apologetic thank you afterward.

“Damn! That is … that is a s**t ton of makeup,” Haley’s eyes widened as she unzipped the bag. “Did you bring your whole makeup kit?” she asked with a chuckle.

“Whole?” Bella laughed. “This isn’t up to half of a quarter of my makeup kit,” she said, bragging a little bit.

“That’s crazy,” Haley laughed and took out a hair comb to fix up her hair. “But why all the makeup? It isn’t like we are always going out and stuff impromptu.”

“I know, but you never know when you might get sweaty and need to fix up or even replace your makeup entirely,” Bella replied with a smirk.

“Sweaty?” Haley laughed. “We don’t do anything in this office that makes us sweaty,” she laughed and shook her head.

“Well, people like you who are in a serious relationship don’t, but as for the rest of us … well, there is a lot of sweating,” Bella said with a naughty look on her face.

“What the f**k!” Haley exclaimed and let out a laugh. “Wait … even …” she paused and shook her head, pointing at the manager’s office.

“Anderson?” Bella asked and shook her head. “Nah, Anderson is loyal to his wife, but hey … who knows, he might be hitting on someone but we don’t know yet.”

“I am guessing someone thinks it is me,” Haley said with a slightly saddened tone.

“Well, I don’t think ‘someone’ does,” Bella replied, emphasizing the word ‘someone’. “I ‘know’ that a lot of people do,” she laughed. “Almost the whole building is thinking about it. I mean you are his favorite so … you really can’t blame anyone for that.”

“Hmm,” Haley nodded in agreement. “What about you though? What do you think about the rumors about me and Mr. Anderson?”

“Well, I think it is your business if it is true, but I also think you wouldn’t do something like that. I have seen you with your boyfriend before. Actually, a lot of times I have seen you two and I don’t think you would do anything like that to jeopardize your relationship,” Bella said with a smile.

Haley sighed and gave a sad smile. “If only he felt the same way I did,” she said and dug into the bag for what next to use on her face.

“Wait what?” Bella was shocked.

“Yeah, the rumors are true, I had a breakup,” Haley’s sad smile worsened.

“Aww, I’m so sorry for bringing it up,” she apologized.

“Nah, it’s fine,” Haley shrugged and let out a sigh.

“Hey, you want to talk about it?” Bella asked. “I am a really great listener when it comes to breakup stories. I have a lot of sisters that can attest to that fact,” she said playfully, trying to lighten up the mood and help Haley let her guard down a bit.

“Nah, I am good,” Haley smiled. “I mean unless you can help me come up with a plan to get back at him for cheating on me with my best friend.”

“Oo … I can definitely do that,” Bella laughed. “We are going to get back at him and that friend of yours, and we are gonna get them good. Now, tell me about it,” Bella urged and Haley succumbed to her persuasion.