Page 2 of My Forbidden Boss
“You’ve been there less than a month, and you’re already hitting the clubs so hard that you are practically passed out until noon? Jesus, Tish… When you say that you want a change in your life, you sure do mean it. I didn’t realize that you meant going back to living in some kind of sophomore dorm daze,” my dad remarked.
I was busy blinking my eyes repeatedly, trying to force their droopiness away.
“Huh? Oh… yeah. Mhmm.”
It took several long moments filled with their laughter in my ear before I was able to comprehend that the sound was at my expense.
“Wait, what? What did you say?”
“Oh… nothing,” I replied.
I swallowed another gulp and shook my head sharply as if that would shake my dreaminess down the drain. It wasn’t happening in a flash, but I was beginning to feel at least a little more conscious. My reactions were severely delayed, but I wasn’t a fool. Eventually, I rose to my own defense. “Hey. Give me a break, you two. I don’t know what you said, but I can tell it wasn’t nice.”
More giggles followed, and I rolled my eyes. I squinted and blinked some more, realizing for the first time just how blinding the sunlight was, streaming through the house’s front windows. Dad’s voice crackling in my ear immediately brought my attention back.
“Well, good morning, sunshine. Would you like to continue what you were complaining about earlier… or were you asleep during that part of the conversation, too?”
Finally finding a rhythm, I sighed with mild frustration and quickly returned to emphasizing my earlier point.
“No, I wasn’t asleep. I was just… a little out of it still. I was saying that I just have no idea what the people who live here do for any kind of fun. I mean, I get that we have like six major sports teams back home… I know that is way too many for me to expect most normal sized places to support. But I’m not talking about those kinds of big, huge… you know… stadiums and ballparks, universities and amphitheaters, shopping centers and all those massive, beautiful riverfront parks we have.”
I paused for another sip of coffee, then, finding my taste buds starting to stir from their slumber, regretfully decided to dump what was left into the kitchen sink. Prepping the machine for a fresh brew, I switched the phone to my other hand and kept talking.
“Of course, I moved out here knowing full well that I was leaving all of that stuff behind… and to be honest, I’m not really going to miss most of it. The restaurants and shows? Sure, of course… but I mean, you guys know me. How often did I really go for those things that only a big city can provide?”
Dad responded, “Yeah, we know. We talked about this already, I think. You were trying to figure out and plan for how often you would want to come back and visit. You say that now, Tisha… But do you want us to mark the calendar for the day we expect you to call, crying, begging us to overnight you some Tooblani’s? Or some Fret Bougart? Hmmm? Of course, you don’t care about sports or museums… You hate that stuff. But I think you underestimate just how much you are going to miss dining in a place that actually has napkins that aren’t made of paper.”
My stomach growled, and it seemed that my sudden hunger had swallowed my words when the thought of Chicago restaurants appeared before me.
“Tish? Did that do it? You’re thinking of packing to come home already, aren’t you?”
Laughter followed and, although I still couldn’t find a worthy response, my expression couldn’t have been more apathetic regarding my parents torturing me with such reckless, heartless abandon.
Dad’s voice returned, still mocking. “Hmmm? Nothing? No answer, Tish? You want me to give you a hint, how long that I think it will be? … I just marked it on my calendar, honey. Let’s see if you can guess: It rhymes with ‘Next Wednes-crème brûlée.’”
When I finally responded, ignoring his chuckles of self-satisfaction, my jaw was clenched and, without necessarily meaning to, I was just about growling at them through the phone.
“That… is not… nice. I am making a fresh pot of coffee right now, and I am still hardly awake. If you two do not drop this behavior right now… I’ll… I’ll ignore you both on your next birthdays.”
Their laughter only intensified.
“Ohhh, nooo!”
“Jeepers, Tisha… Whatever will we do?!”
I was one hundred percent awake in a fraction of an instant, ready to throw down and take on both of them all by myself.
“Oh, okay. I’ll remember that. Maybe I’ll just decide to spend Thanksgiving with Evelyn this year. And Christmas? Yeah, that, too.”
Their laughter dwindled but didn’t die out as I had hoped.
“Okay, okay… that’s enough. We’ll stop.”
“Come on, Tisha… We were just having a laugh. You know that we didn’t mean anything by it.”
I was about to let it go, but they just couldn’t help themselves.
“Besides, if you go there for the holidays, we’ll just treat ourselves to Tooblani’s. I hear they do an excellent Thanksgiving spread.”