off like she didn’t just cut off his balls and put them in her pocket.
He watched her walk away, his expression becoming more crestfallen. “Cleo, wait.” He tried to move past us.
Dex put his hand to Mr. Taylor’s chest to stop him. “The boss has spoken. Leave.”
He looked down at Dex like he might punch him, but he clearly took Cleo’s threat seriously because he turned around and marched off, giving a loud scream when he was near the entryway.
I stood there in shock. “This is all my fault…”
Dex kept his eyes on him until he was out of the building. “No, it’s not. He’s always been a difficult client. We rarely dismiss people, but it happens sometimes. His days were limited anyway.” He turned back to me. “You alright?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks for standing up for me.”
He gave a slight smile. “We have one another’s backs here.”
“Yeah, I can tell.” I looked to where Cleo had disappeared into her office. “She’s really protective. Like a mama bear.”
His smile increased. “Yeah, exactly like a mama bear.”
Over the next few weeks, I started to catch on.
I became more confident in my abilities, started to handle things on my own, established relationships with the clients that made me excited to see them again. Every single one of them was unique and different, having their own quirks and routines, but all of that was much easier to remember once I knew who they were.
I was putting away groceries in the kitchen of one of the residences, referring to the pictures I’d taken on my phone so I would know exactly where everything went because it was important to keep our clients organized. We consolidated things into the same box and took all the extra trash as a courtesy. If we got them more hair products, we threw away the old stuff and took the trash with us. We were supposed to be in and out without them knowing we were there at all—other than the fact that everything was perfect.
One of the difficult parts of the job was the fact that people didn’t really notice perfection. They got used to it. But if something was slightly off, they definitely noticed. So sometimes the feedback could be negative, like if the granola bars were in a different cupboard and it took them a couple minutes to find. They became annoyed at the time they wasted and didn’t hesitate to tell us that.
I was in the kitchen finishing up when I heard the front door open and close. I looked at the time and saw it was too early for Jeremy to be home, but it was unlikely to be Cleo or one of the girls. “Jeremy?”
His footsteps grew louder. “It’s me.”
“I’m just finishing up in the kitchen, and I’ll be out of your way. How was your day?” I started to move quicker, putting things away at increased speed so I could let him enjoy his home without my presence.
“No worries. I’m home early.” He set his satchel on the counter then stripped off his long coat. He was a man in his forties, mostly quiet, living alone after his wife left him to run off with a pool boy she met in Mexico. “Take your time.”
“Thanks.” I continued to work. “How was your day?”
He walked over to his coffee machine and made himself a black coffee. “Ordinary.” He turned around and leaned against the counter, sipping his coffee as he looked at me, his eyes holding a distinct sadness, a gloss of depression. “Yours?”
“It’s been busy.”
“Every time I see one of you, you seem to be running a million miles an hour. It’s never a slow day.”
I chuckled. “We’re little elves even when it’s not Christmas.”
He didn’t release a chuckle and continued to drink his coffee.
I knew I shouldn’t comment on the cause of his sadness, but I felt so bad for him that I did. “I was dating this guy for a while, and it felt right. But a few weeks ago, he told me he was married. Had a family somewhere else. It was…brutal.”
He set down his coffee on the counter and stared at me a little harder. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Yeah, it’s rough. I feel stupid on top of it.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “I know how that is. That old saying, good guys finish last—it’s true. I had a lot of opportunities to cheat on my wife while I was traveling or working late in my