Giving In

Chapter 9

Jackson made his way to Kay's office. He saw her sitting behind her desk tapping her nails against a tan folder that was sitting in front of her. He stood in the doorway for just a moment while he studied her. He could tell she looked tense and nervous. He saw that her posture was stiff, and her face had a serious expression. He stepped into the doorway and walked towards her desk as he noticed that she was now looking right at him. Her blue eyes that used to shine with a little twinkle of happiness and humor now looked sad and empty. The sparkle they used to hold was now gone. It took everything in his power to sit across from her and not go around the desk and pull her into his embrace. He had to dig deep to hold onto his anger and remember that she fled from him to go find a stranger to bring home with her. With every day that past since Kay rejected him, it got harder and harder for him to face her.

Jackson sat down quietly. He told himself not to speak until she spoke first. She was the one that wanted this meeting, and he had to let her say what was on her mind. A part of him wanted to beg her to forget the past couple weeks and forget the problems that lingered between them. He wanted to beg her to forgive him for pushing her away the night before and ask her to find it in her heart to allow herself to love him the way he had grown to love her. He even started thinking that he could love enough for the both of them if only she would just give him a chance. He didn't say any of that though, he just sat down and looked into her sad blue eyes and waited patiently for her to speak.

Once Jackson was seated in front of her, Kay tried to search for the courage that she needed. When she saw him looking into her eyes, she almost forgot why she wanted to talk to him. She almost allowed herself to forget about her upcoming interview, because for just a moment, she didn't know if she would ever have the courage to pack up and leave. For a split second she let herself believe that she could be the woman Jackson needed in his life. She almost let herself believe that he could love her no matter how broken and messed up her life had been. Instead, Kay blinked a few times and pushed those thoughts away from her mind. Instead of staring into his beautiful chocolate brown eyes in search of hope, she allowed herself to see the betrayal and anger that was in those eyes of his.

 "Jackson, I want to thank you for taking time out of your busy day to talk with me. I only have a few minutes to talk before I have to go on the floor and train in the new waitress, so I will just get right to the point. We both know that things have been hectic between us, and that everything that has happened is affecting our relationship as boss and employee. We both know that working together is getting harder and harder, and that we both tend to avoid being around each other more than we have to. I have a way of making life easier for each of us, and for everyone that works here. I know that we are both doing our best to not let our issues affect the restaurant or our employees, but they are still caught in the tension, even if they aren't saying anything." Kay stopped to gather her thoughts and take a deep breath. Telling him what she was thinking and planning was even harder than she imagined it would be.

 "Well, I hoped they hadn't noticed, and I've been trying my hardest to not let there be any tension between us while we were here. What is your solution to the problem?" Jackson knew what she was talking about, and instantly felt bad that his employees have had to go to work each day and be cautious about what they did and said around him. He knew that he was a little harder on everyone when he was upset with things outside of work, and it wasn't fair to anyone. He was curious as to what Kay had in mind to make things easier.

 "I didn't want to say anything earlier than I had to, which is why I waited until now to tell you. I have been applying for other jobs. I will not leave here until I know that you have someone to replace me; someone who is able to take on the work load that I have been balancing. I know that I took over more duties than you have ever required of your manager, but I believe whoever you bring in here in my place should be willing to do all of the duties and handle all of the details that I take care of. I believe that you should have someone who is willing to take on half of the responsibilities of running this place, instead of only taking a quarter of them like your last manager. It is not fair to you to have to do as much as you were doing before I started here." Kay paused to look at Jackson. She wanted to see what his reaction was to her leaving, and she almost choked on her breath when she saw how hurt he looked.