After a long day in town, I sluggishly made my way back to the lodge. My legs burned from the surprising amount of subtle hills in the area. By now the sun had almost set. All I had planned to do now was try and have a private talk with Dante about the job before calling it a day. However, nothing I did today would have prepared me for what was now at the lodge.
I pushed the door open to see her standing by Wendell and talking his ear off. She was a possum nonferal with a long straight pony tail that reached all the way down to her skirt. Her oversized pink and white sweater completely engulfed her hands. Her head cracked to face me like a freakish monster in a horror movie. Small freckles covered the area around her eyes and bridge of her nose. On seeing me her entire face lit up, “Tommy Boy!!! I knew I got the right place!!!”
As if seeing her wasn’t troubling enough, when she ran to me I could hear the rolling of an overpacked luggage bag behind her.
I stumble back to avoid being hugged as she stops inches from my face. A hint of panic was in my voice, “R-Rosey? Why are you here?”
Wendell slowly walks up behind Rosey with a look of pure exhaustion, “This thing belongs to you?”
Quickly I shake my head, “NO. She’s my ex. She shouldn’t BE here.” I shot Rosey a glare but it went right through her head without any affect.
Rosey kept on, “Wendy here was just telling me the price for rent here! Isn’t that exciting!!! Living under the same roof together but now you get that space you need cause I’ll have my own room!”
Wendell narrows his eyes at Rosey for the nickname before mentioning, “I had one more room left and she offered a good deal. Plus if she’s really your ex then she will have a blast messing with you when I’m busy.”
My hands tightened to fists as I spoke through clenched teeth, “That wasn’t agreed on.”
He shrugs, “From what I heard this would only be beneficial.”
I narrowed my eyes at him as Rosey shook her hands near her face in glee, “I can’t wait! I already found this adorable nail salon just a couple blocks away. It’s called NAIL in the coffin! Has a whole year round halloween aesthetic too. How cute is that?”
Before I could react, Wendell smiled ear to ear and responded to her for me, “That sounds like a great idea! I heard they do walk-ins. You and Michael should catch up by having a little play date there tomorrow.”
Rosey’s sleeves raised in the air as her voice somehow raised another octave, “PERFECT IDEA!”
Folding my arms I tried to fight back, “Wendell, there's nothing in there that said I have to do this. I’m not doing it.”
His smile curled more, “That’s funny cause unless you go hangout with her, you wont see a penny of your pay and you won't make rent because of it.”
Rosey starts to point and laugh at me in excitement as I huffed, “...Fine. Whatever. But just this once.”
She pumped her fist in the air while still raising her voice, “Alright! Team Mosey back at it again! Ready to do some crime and make some time! LETS GO!”
She holds out one of her sleeve covered hands for a high five. At first I stared at it unmoving until Wendell took out his wallet and gestured at it then at Rosey.
I let out a heavy sigh before giving her high five, “FINE. We aren’t going as Mosey. You’re still my ex. No funny nicknames. Got it?”
She nods as what I just said gets rattled right out again, “Oh my gosh! You admit they’re funny! Got it Mosey!” She quickly turns and runs to the hallway for one of the downstairs rooms. Her bag rolling behind her flipping from the force and yet still being dragged away even when it wasn’t on the wheels anymore.
Wendell gives me a malicious smile as he takes out some cash and holds it out to me, “This is for the works. Get yourself something pretty so people won’t be looking at your hair so much.”
As I took the money, the front door behind me gently cracked open. Dante peeked into the cabin with a hushed voice, “Is whatever the hell that was gone?”
Wendell nods, “That thing was Michael’s ex apparently. Didn’t know you even knew what an ex was based on that job application."
While I stepped aside to allow Dante in, he carried a few grocery bags with food and set them on the kitchen counter. He turned to look over at Wendell curiously, “Michael works for you as well?"
Immediately I went quiet as Wendell answered for me, “Literally paying her to mope around so I can make fun of her. Though her application said she couldn’t speak any English, I’m surprised to have more effective verbal ammo than I originally thought.”
Dante was quick to ask, “So how is her pay in comparison to my own? She isn’t exceeding me in value is she?”
A small growl escaped as I spoke, “I’m right here you know.”
Wendell swats dismissively at the air, “Oh don’t worry, it’s like half since you actually clean and cook.”
My eyebrows shot up at Wendell, “HALF?!? You’re already paying me a freaking fortune. What the heck are you even going to do with all of that?”
Dante starts putting away some foods into the fridge as he smiles, “A very lavish and early retirement.”
Wendell laughs, “Yeah and maybe something other than a suit and tie for once.”
The fridge door closes as Dante finishes putting away the groceries, “I’ll have you know I wear this as an impression on clients for my work.” He pauses and looks at me with his chin up and a sly smile, “Speaking of. Michael dear, As someone who previously was unaware of my position here. How were the results of my first impressions? I presume the suit helped.”
Baffled by the question, it took me a moment to respond, “Well for one you woke me up at sunrise making rock water. Then apologised before getting mad at me for not knowing what it was. Lastly you proceeded to be loud again to intentionally wake up your boss… I guess you were wearing a suit during all that too. So we have a double negative and it cancels out.” I held out a thumbs up at him as his chin only tilted up even higher.
Wendell looks confused, “That’s not how that works.”
Dante grabs a bag of cookies from one of the cabinets and tosses it towards me, “You heard her. Double negative. Cancels out.”
After catching the bag of cookies I gave Dante a smile in return, “Ooo. Cookies! Thank you.”
Wendell sighs, “Whatever. Just stop bribing my employees.” he starts to head back to the hallway, “And for the record your ugly ass suit left AN impression. We’ll agree on that atleast.”
When Wendell was out of sight and turned away, I stuck out my tongue for a brief moment. Dante had started working on a snack for the night as he gestured to me with a smirk, “Might I make you some tea for your cookies dear?”
I sat at one of the bar stools and nodded with my chin up as well, “Indubitably sire.”
When Dante kneeled to reach a lower cabinet, he looked over at the floor in front of the door, “Oh come on. Glitter?!? Who got glitter all over the floors?”
“You can thank Rosey for that one. She puts it on everything.” I opened one of the bags of cookies.
He scoffs, “I understand why you broke up with her…”