Toto and the Boys II: George

Chapter 25

When they reached his car, George pulled her hand away from Jordan and stared at him like he was crazy. “Do you realize what you just did? You could have started a family feud there!”

“Well, you’d like that very much, wouldn’t you?” he snapped at her, opening his car door.

“I can’t believe you just did that,” she huffed out as she climbed inside beside him. “That might have gotten you in trouble!”

“They won’t do anything. For those people, personal problems are not business problems. They will not be that shallow as to ruin their business because of angry words.” He maneuvered the car out of the parking lot.

“Still, you should not have done that,” she said more quietly now, slipping out of her heels and back into her slippers.

“What? Let them talk down on your work?”

“No, let me handle it. I was about to do that when you decided to speak up.”

“Well, I was offended too. I am also a volunteer.”

“Still, you should have let me handle it.”

He did not answer and drove on.

A moment later he threw her a glance and asked, “Does he always talk down on your work like that?”

“It’s not new.” She tried to sound casual about it, but there was a catch on her throat she was not able to stop. When Jordan opened his mouth to speak, she cut him off by saying, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Do you want to go home now?” he asked instead.

She shook her head as her eyes started to well with tears. She was feeling a lot of emotions right now and after that momentary composure at the party, everything inside her was starting to crumble down.

“Should we go home to Ayala?”

She turned to the window and nodded, a tear finally rolling down her cheek. She hastily wiped it away as Jordan sped down the road toward Ayala.

*****

“Is there something to eat?” she asked when they finally arrived at his place.

“I figured you’d be looking for food,” he muttered, walking to the kitchen.

George followed him and watched as he looked for something in the fridge. “Just bacon, ham, hotdog…all the bad stuff,” he said with a frown. He had loosened his tie and was taking off his jacket which he threw on the high stool beside her.

“Bacon,” George answered. “And rice.”

“Cook the rice, I’ll cook the bacon.”

Her eyes went to the bread and she said, “I guess I can pass up the rice. Let’s go for bacon and cheese sandwich.”

“You’re such a lazy cook.”

“I hate cooking.”

“Yeah, right,” he said, throwing the freezing bacon in the microwave to defrost. While waiting, he looked at her and asked, “You okay?”

“Of course. Just hungry and tired.”

He was looking at her with concern and she wanted to wipe it off. She didn’t like it when people looked at her that way. It was very close to pity and she didn’t need that.

“You are angry?”

“With you. You shouldn’t have done what you did.”

“You mean I should have just let them fry you?”