Maurice waved to security as he entered the building, chatted with one of the marketing reps, and snagged an empty elevator just as his phone buzzed.

[Leaving soon. ETA?]

He squinted at the message from Nancy and checked his watch. She tried to be early whenever possible, but her appointment wasn’t for almost two hours. When the doors opened, he saw her packing her briefcase and Shirley’s go bag.

“Isn’t it a bit early still?” he said, walking into her office.

“Moory!” Shirley squealed and stumbled over to latch onto his leg. He lifted her up for a hug and held her at his chest.

Nancy squinted at her daughter. “It is,” she said, before returning to her packing. “But that one,” she said, pointing at Shirley. “Has decided she doesn’t want to be carried anymore.”

“What about the stroller?” Nancy shook her head as she zipped the bag up. “Are you being a pain?” he asked Shirley, who hugged his face in response. He set her down and she wandered over to her box, probably to find Elephant. “Maybe she just doesn’t want to be carried by you?”

Nancy snorted, slinging the go bag over her shoulder. “Very well. I’m up for an experiment.” She looked at her watch. “It’s… twelve fifty. Let’s see if you can get her down to the car by one fifteen.”

Maurice laughed. “Easy.”

Nancy smiled and turned to her daughter, who was returning with Elephant. “Uncle Maury’s going to bring you to the car so we can go to the doctors.” She flashed Maurice a wicked smile and walked out. “Have fun.”

“Alright little miss, let’s go downstairs.” Maurice walked over and held out his hands. As usual, Shirley did her little stumbling run and gave him a hug. He picked her up and started toward the elevator. Shirley, seeing where they were going, struggled.

Maurice had to stop and readjust his hold on her while she grunted and pushed away from him. Nancy’s very self-satisfied smile was the last he saw of her as the doors closed.

“Look here, young lady,” he said, putting a finger on her nose. “We are going downstairs and there will be no more fighting. Do you understand?”

“Doon,” she said, pushing against him.

“Yes, downstairs.”

“Doon.” More pushing. When she had bent herself almost parallel to the floor, he relented and put her down for fear of dropping her. On the floor, she just looked up at him while holding Elephant.

“Come on,” he said, holding his hands out. This time, instead of coming for a hug, she backed up a step. “You little rascal. Fine. You want to walk? Let’s go.”

He went and pressed the button for the elevator and looked back. Shirley was coming but at her slow, not quite an expert at walking yet, pace. The elevator dinged just as she caught up to him. He moved in and held the door. She ambled in but got distracted by the gap between the doors. Maurice waited a moment before he picked her up.

She kicked and wiggled in his arms. “No!”

“Shirley! Come on! Stop it.”

She dropped Elephant in her struggle as the doors closed. Not wanting elephant to get crushed between the doors, Maurice kicked her out into the foyer. Shirley, seeing her best friend rolling away as the doors closed, shrieked and pulled on Maurice’s shirt.

“Hey, it’s okay. Elephant will be there when you get back.”

She looked up at him, her little face crumpling and she pressed her face into his shoulder. Well, now he felt bad. Shirley’s tiny wet sobs echoed in the elevator. Maurice hit the closest floor and tried to console Shirley.

When the door opened, several sales people turned, hearing the crying child. He waved and walked out to hit the button for the other elevator.

“Awww, is everything okay?” one of the sales people said, coming over.

Shirley looked at her, then threw herself around Maurice’s neck.

“Don’t take it personal,” he said. “She takes a while to warm up to you.”

They entered the other elevator and rode back up to their office. As the doors opened, Maurice pointed out Elephant and put Shirley down. She ran out and fell on Elephant, hugging her.

Maurice walked out with a sigh. “Can we go now?” he asked, squatting next to her and holding out one hand.

Shirley sat up and wiped her face. “No.”

“Elephant will come this time, okay? Can I hold your hand?”

Shirley stood up, holding Elephant tight in one arm. She looked at Maurice and then to the elevator. After a moment, she grabbed his finger and looked back up at him. They walked into the elevator, Maurice bent over so he could hold her hand.

They exited the elevator onto the sixth floor. Sculptures and wireframes of building models stood at every corner of the architecture level. Shirley walked fine, albeit at her slow pace, with Maurice holding her hand, but every new colorful art piece caught her attention and she would pull away from him to go look at it. They entered the parking deck at one twenty five and found Nancy leaning on her car with the textbook definition of an ‘I told you so’ smile.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

“Were you good for your uncle?” Nancy asked as she lifted Shirley into her car seat.

“She was a treasure,” he said, stretching his back now that he could stand straight.

“The wet spot on your shoulder says otherwise.”

He looked down to see a little wet imprint where Shirley had cried. “Oh, yes. Elephant got left behind on the first elevator attempt. It was very traumatic.”

Nancy chuckled and patted Maurice on the shoulder. “Elephant is not to be trifled with.” She opened her door. “Thank you for bringing her down.”

“You’re welcome. Sorry, I doubted you.”

“It’s fine. I’ve come to accept your flaws,” she said with a smile, and closed her door before he could answer.

----------------------------------------

Ikher walked into the Corner Pitch, and in contrast to the past few days, it was nearly empty. Billie was behind the bar with only two other patrons nursing their lunchtime beers.

She walked over and punched him in the shoulder as Ikher sat on his stool. “S’up stud.” She laughed when he squinted at her. Taking a deep breath, she held her hands up. “Okay, don’t laugh at me.” She thought for a second then said, “Kay pewdo haycer… kay beebas hoy?”

Ikher’s face lit up and he replied in Spanish, "Yeah! Can I get my usual iced tea and a burger?”

Billie waved at him. “Whoa. Slow it down, still learning here.”

“You’re learning Spanish? That’s awesome.”

Billie nodded. “I’m getting there.”

“Is this for Dahlia?” Ikher asked with a huge smile.

“Yeah. I’m kinda torn, though.” When Ikher shook his head, she said, “The stuff she says when we’re... you know. It sounds sooo good and like, I don’t want to demystify it but I wanna be able to talk to her in her language.”

“That’s so sweet!”

“It is,” Eric said, coming from the back. He slid next to them and leaned on the bar with a folded piece of paper. He nodded to Billie. “You got a sec?”

She glanced around to check on the patrons. “Yeah, what’s up?”

Eric tapped the paper in his hand. “Sun and I were talking and decided that since she’s the breadwinner, I’m going to stay home with the baby once it gets here. So, that means we need someone here to function as manager.” He smiled and pointed to Billie. “You already handle just about everything here. Think you can do some behind-the-scenes stuff as well?”

Billie blinked. “Is this a promotion?”

Eric nodded. “Yep.”

“Oh my god, I can finally quit the toll booth,” she said, wilting to the bar before popping back up. “Wait, does this include a raise?”

Eric slid the piece of paper over. She picked it up and scanned it. Her eyebrows went up, and she looked at Eric, then back to the paper. She slid the paper back over. “I’m gonna need another thirty percent.”

Eric’s mouth hit the floor. “Wha.. this is.. are you serious?”

Billie stared at him straight faced for a couple seconds before she broke and laughed. “No, dude, I’m just fucking with you,” she said, taking the paper back. “Hell yeah, I’ll take this amount.”

Eric grabbed his chest. “Jesus, woman. Don’t do that.”

“When does this take effect?”

“As soon as you;re ready,” Eric said after an exhale.

“Can it start today and can I go tell the tolls I quit?”

Eric laughed. “Yeah, sure. I can handle it til you get back.”

“Thank you!” Billie said as she wrapped Eric in a bear hug.

She released him, ran to the back and re-emerged a moment later, without her apron. She gave Eric another quick thank you hug before running out.

“Man, she really hates that toll job,” Ikher laughed.

----------------------------------------

Ikher had almost finished his burger when the bell rang and Katrina walked in.

“Hey lady,” Eric waved as she approached.

She put her hand on Ikher’s shoulder. “Eric, how are you today?”

He laughed. “Tired. Is this a business or casual visit?”

“Casual. Ikher and I need to talk.”

Ikher turned to look at her. “We do?”

Katrina turned, putting a fist on her hip and pointing at him. “I want a rematch.” Ikher’s face scrunched as he thought. He turned to look at the bathrooms, then back to her. She squinted at him before saying, “A football rematch.”

“Oh, yeah, sure, but won’t that be awhile? I don’t think they play each other that often.”

“Not the national clubs. You and me.”

“Oh man, I haven’t played in forever.”

“Well, you said you did when you were little. I was on travel teams when I was younger. So, it should be a fair match. What are you doing tomorrow?”

His lips pursed as he thought. “I think just hanging out with some friends in the evening.”

“Good. How about Canyon Park at ten?”

“That’s the big one in Mesa Rojo, right?” Katrina nodded. “Yeah, I can make that.”

“Good. Come ready to play,” she said with a smirk and left.

Eric leaned on the bar, watching Katrina leave. Ikher spun back around to find him smiling at him as he wiped the bar down.

“You open to a piece of advice?” Ikher nodded. “Seems like Kat likes you, and I’d wager you like her. But you need to understand something I’ve learned after a couple years.”

Ikher looked back and forth between the door and Eric. “Okay.”

“Kat’s intense. She’s a hundred and sixty percent all the time. You’ve seen her come at me in here. ”

Ikher nodded in agreement. Every interaction he had with her was very direct. His eyes widened when he thought of something. He leaned forward and whispered, “Did you and Sun and her… ?”

Eric shook his head. “No. We extended the offer, but she declined both of us. So I can’t speak on anything sexual.” Eric grinned. “But then you’ve already been down that road.”

Ikher flashed back to being pulled into the bathroom and getting the best blowjob in his life. “Yeah, intense is a good word.”

Eric chuckled and pushed off the bar. “A hundred and sixty percent. Keep that in mind.”

“Do you think she really wants to play football?”

“Oh, she does. She takes it serious and as you’ve seen, she doesn’t like to lose.”

Ikher thought for a moment. “Should I let her win?”

Eric laughed and shook his head. “How much did you play when you were younger?”

“My dad and I did a lot, and I did two years in a junior league in middle school.”

“Dude, she was on a national travel team and she coaches teams that win. There’s trophies and plaques all over her office. So, unless you can take a very convincing dive, I’d go for broke.”

“I’m gonna get whooped aren’t I?”

Eric nodded. “Yeah, probably.”

“Aww, man.”