The Asshole App (Expanded Version) ✅ Wattys2023

𝟣𝟦 𝖵𝗂𝗇𝖼𝖾

Evelyn tearfully made her way from the kitchen to the store room. She didn't want to be comforted, but Vince was right behind her. He pointed to a stool in the corner of the kitchen. "Sit." He fetched a first aid kit from the pantry shelf and then upended an empty crate and sat in front of her. "Now tell me what happened to upset you."

"It wasn't anything." She angled her face away from him and leaned back against the large sacks of rice and flour. She felt too tired and drained to move.

"I've served with enough men and women in armed combat to know psychological trauma when I see it." He knelt beside her and gently elevated her arm. "Let me see the damage." He took took an antiseptic wipe and gently swabbed away the blood. He caught her gaze. "Did you get any time off to rest before you started here?"

She shrugged. "I have to pay the bills. I was counting on getting the CENTIEN Marketing position, but that fell through. My savings are nearly depleted."

Vince took a deep breath. If he left her alone, just backed away, he suspected she'd be fine. That was likely something she was good at—making wherever she was and whatever she did fine for the moment.

To hell with fine.

Evelyn watched Vince's giant hands gently disinfect her hand. "I had to leave that job," she said quietly. "If it wasn't for Deedee, I'm not sure where I'd have gone."

"What happened?" Vince finished bandaging her hand and rested it gently on her knee.

"I came up with an idea to market CENTIEN's older phones to seniors." She hesitated. "I wanted to create an app to help them navigate Medicare. Also to simplify the healthcare process so it's not as confusing."

"Son of a gun, sign me up. That app sounds like a God send. With brilliant ideas like that, you should have been hired on the spot." He smiled, "While you're at it, could you make an App for Social Security too?" He started putting away the first aid kit. "Deedee told me you worked for CENTIEN and that you practically ran the marketing division over there."

"Not quite." Her chin drooped.

Evelyn coughed and Vince got up and brought her a bottle of water from the pantry shelf. "Here, drink this."

She bit her lower lip. "I was competing with twenty other interns for a Marketing position. I was never paid." She looked at the putty-colored linoleum floor. "It wasn't a real job." She had tried to explain this to Deedee, but her friend had insisted on portraying her as a heavyweight in the CENTIEN marketing empire.

"In my opinion, you've survived the equivalent of armed combat. It's obvious you were in a battle. Your boss sounds like a tyrant. I'm familiar enough with the signs of PTSD."

Evelyn blushed. "Uh, I wasn't in real physical combat." Embarrassed, she explained her internship role during the last year.

"Hey, Vince. Who's this?" Evelyn turned around at the warm, contralto voice. A beautiful athletic black woman in a faux fur lime coat and short acid denim skirt strolled into the kitchen. The woman's voice was softly commanding. "Who's your friend?" Evelyn guessed she was in her late fifties, but her face was smooth and unlined.

"This is Evie, my new assistant."

"Evie, this is Sonia Davis. She coordinates with the local supermarkets to have them donate their perishables."

"Any mushrooms this week?" He looked expectantly at Sonia.

"Sorry, Vince. No shrooms." She wagged a finger at him. "But I snagged you twelve cartons eggs and seven boxes of boxes of vegetables."

"Hey, girl. Nice to meet you. Sonia nodded at Evelyn. The lithe woman's braids were coiled on top of her head, making her look like an exotic model.

"Hello Sonia."

Sonia nodded, sagely. "Glad to have you here, Evie. I'm proof this program works. I've been clean six months. I heard what you were saying about your company. You worked there a year?" Vince smiled at Evelyn as he slid several pizzas into the industrial sized oven.

Evelyn felt an instant connection to the vibrant woman—she'd been through hell too. "I was in CENTIEN's Intern program. It was work in exchange for experience. I wasn't paid."

Sonia grimaced. "No pay? Man, you were smart to high tail it outta that workhouse! When you're being fleeced, change your pimp, girl. Tell me about handsome Raymond Sinclair, that bad-ass. Did you ever meet him?"

"He demoted me to the mail room, so I quit."

A look of disgust overshadowed her high cheek boned face. "Corporations are a nasty group of suits anyway. Hang in there. You'll see you made the right decision, takin your life back."

Evelyn sighed. Vince and Sonia had stated the obvious, but in the process, they'd drawn the emotions she'd worked so hard to bury to the surface. She didn't have the energy to discuss her inner demons yet, especially her conflicted feelings for her handsome boss, Raymond Sinclair.

Sonia gave her an encouraging smile. "You can't change the past, but you can change the ending.  This place might not be where you imagined working, but maybe it's where you belong."

She leaned her high butt up against the white enamel sink and glanced out the window. "Vince, that man's trouble." She nodded in the direction of a lone figure at the other side of the street at the end of the block. "He's carryin." Evelyn looked out the window at the long haired hippie who seemed out of place in the throng of homeless people. Sonia pointed. "He's a strange one. Not from around here. You seen him hangin out on the corner yesterday? What's his business here?"

"He's probably new to town and feels out of place." Evie doubted the man would commit any foul play in broad daylight. "I know that feeling".

"Then why does he have a gun? Seems like we should be feeling out of sorts, not him. He's been watchin' the street all day like a hawk."

Vince blew air out of his cheeks as he closed the pantry door. Raymond Sinclair was a bastard to mistreat a nice girl like Evelyn Simmons. He had hurt this lovely person and he was damned if it was going to happen again on his watch. He closed his eyes as an old familiar ache in his heart returned.

He'd served with a young girl in the service named Janice Starling. Her dream had been to become a Navy Seal. At first, he'd been skeptical of her abilities, but her guts and determination, her ability to cut it and pass the brutal physical and psychological training despite her physical limitations, had impressed him.

There had only been eight attempts by women to participate in the SEAL office assessment and selection process. Until Jane there hadn't been any progress in any female achieving Navy SEAL status. She was determined to be the first one to shatter that glass ceiling.

During a reconnaissance mission they'd been ambushed. The nature of their missions made their positions erratic and their load out extremely dangerous. Jane had taken a bullet to the face while he'd been semi conscious.  The others had hauled his ass out of there, but Jane had died in the evac helicopter, lying next to him. He saw Jane's intelligent determination in Evelyn's face. This was his chance to give back to those women who had sacrificed everything.

Seeing the chef was lost in his thoughts, Evelyn became curious. "How long have you been here, Vince?"

He smiled. "Five years. I received a medical discharge for my injuries. I was an emotional mess until I met Lady Dee and started cooking for the shelter. She has an uncanny knack for helping wounded people. There are a lot of vets that come through the shelter and she helps them all. They call her Mama Dee."

Through the kitchen window, he watched a maroon Tesla pull up and park across the street from the shelter. The maroon car's wheels turned sideways and the vehicle seamlessly slid into the tight perpendicular parking spot. He raised his eyebrows. "Well that's something you don't see every day." He headed out the kitchen side door. "I'll be right back,"he informed Evelyn and Sonia. Something about the street was off today and he was determined to get to the bottom of it.