Chapter 9
Lisa and I are out for dinner.
I am worried about José. He still hasn’t returned. He still hasn’t picked any of my calls. He hasn’t called me back either. This attitude is just exasperating.
At least, I know- or think- that he’s just avoiding my calls because he’s very busy. He will call back sooner or later- he had better. I know he’s fine. I’m just worried.
He’s fine. He’s fine.
I did take Lisa’s advice and report the break–in to the police. The report has been filed and they’ve asked me to make a follow–up report if the occurrence repeats itself.
I twirl my pasta in my fork as my gaze goes around my favorite restaurant. Carlo’s Pot. A few years ago, it used to be just Carlo’s.
This is the first time I will be inviting Lisa for dinner here when José is not coming. She looks at me with worry even though she tries to downplay the fact that my brother could possibly be missing with her good cheer. But she’s doing it for me. She knows she only has to say a few worried words before my carefully–reined pessimism breaks out of me and I go into full–on panic mode.
“I don’t get you,” Lisa says then. “You complain about eighty–percent of what they serve here yet you’re always coming back. Are you masochist or something?”
I roll my eyes at Lisa. “This is the restaurant José and I usually frequented when we first moved here. It has too many memories. No matter how we were feeling, we could always drop by for a quick burger. And…” I trail off dramatically. “…Everyone knows they have the
best burgers.”
She shrugs. “True that.”
A second passes.
“Still haven’t heard from him?”
I shake my head.
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Chapter 9
She shrugs again, but it’s a one shoulder shrug. “Don’t you think you should report to the police or something?”
“He’s not missing-”
“I mean, with all of the weird things that have been happening to you,” Lisa cuts in. “Your
house was broken into-”
“-Nothing was stolen and no one was harmed-”
“You mentioned that you see some unknown yet expensive cars around the places you frequent, namely, your house, your workplace, Carlo’s Pot…”
I let out a sigh. “Which could also be coincidences or my mind playing games with me.”
A message notification pops on my phone and I willingly abandon my meal to attend to my phone.
It’s an email. A termination letter. From my boss, Bruni, “the freaking conduit of evil” Santos. Apparently, my suspension was not enough.
I rest my head on the table, at a safe distance from my meal. Imagine getting this bad news and still ending up eating that pasta. I might just die.
Beside me, Lisa grabs my phone. It takes her a few seconds to skim through. “No, he
didn’t.”
She pulls me up. My eyes are dry, but she knows I wasn’t crying. I stare blankly at her.
“Good riddance,” she says. “You’ll get a better job.”
“Maybe,” I say. “But I will be needing a good recommendation letter, to get another job in the same industry, and Bruni Santos will never give me that even though I didn’t really do anything to deserve this termination.”
“According to him, you’re being fired for inappropriate behavior- whatever that means- insubordination- another big word- insolence, disregard for authority and a generally poor attitude to work, evidenced in your lack of punctuality,” Lisa reads.
“What an ass.” I fold my hands together, taking in a deep breath.
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Chapter 9
Lisa shakes her head. “I wonder why he won’t just pick someone else to bother. What are you, like fifty employees?”
“Thirty–five,” I say under my breath.
Imagine my luck then.
“Exactly. You’re a piece of eye candy, baby girl, trust me, but I’m sure several other women. will meet his tastes too, given his disposition to… philandering.” Lisa shakes some pepper into her own serving of pasta. “So, why you? It’s like you have prey plastered across your forehead.”
“I pity his family,” I say.
“They don’t deserve such a creep,” Lisa agrees.
“No one does. Honestly, maybe you’re right. Not that stuff about me looking like a predator’s meal. But about leaving that place; and getting out of his hair. He’s an asshole
but he scares me.”
“The person that sent you that text doesn’t scare you?” Lisa asks incredulously.
I thought we had forgotten about that.
I tried all day to try to get that off my mind. When I told Lisa about the text earlier, she just grew quiet and then she was finishing her glass of alcohol.
