Personal Assistant (3 page)

       
“Are
you coming, sir?” she asked.

       
Not yet
, he thought, but moved his feet
towards the vehicle anyways. “We could take my Jeep.”

       
“What
if you have a few beers at lunch? I don’t know how to drive a stick shift.” She
opened the door on the driver’s side and disappeared into the car.

       
“I
could teach you,” he said with as much restraint as possible for the double
entendre. “I mean, it is important you know how to drive every vehicle I own,
especially that you know how to drive a stick.”

       
She
half smiled, half laughed, and shook her head as though he barely amused her.
He had hoped to make her laugh out loud or maybe give a look that said more
than annoyance. “Like you said, I may go somewhere, meet a few people, have a
few drinks, and then need to get out of there. What if I get bit by something
on the camping trip?”

       
“I’ll
put it on the schedule when we get to the restaurant, sir. You want me to drive
your stick…the stick...the Jeep...I will.” Frankie gave the road her full
attention.

       
For
his part, he tried to hide his delight at her blush and stumbling words. He
knew now he had to do anything and everything to break her focus and make her
talk to him. He fiddled with the radio and complained about the fact that she
did not have all the sports channels and the buttons were pre-set to NPR and
the classical music stations.

       
“Are
you thirty-six or sixty-three, Frankie? If you think I’m riding in this car
again, then you know I am going to require you to fix this situation.” He
watched as she gripped the steering wheel tighter. He was never this picky with
people, but he
could not
help it. He
kinda
liked getting under her skin a bit. He tuned in to a
pop station and said, “Finally, something from this decade.”

       
“I…”
she started then stopped. Her grip was white knuckled on the wheel and he knew
she had something to say, but she was holding it back.

       
“Say
it. What?” he pressed.

       
“I
do listen to music from this decade. The channels are pre-set for when I need
to remind myself that there are other things going on this world, or when I
need to relax and clear my mind on a drive home after work. I mean after
teaching, not this job. If you look in the compartment under the radio you will
find a cord, and the little box it is attached to
has
hundreds of songs from this decade and others.” She darted a glance at him then
her focus was back to the traffic. She seemed to navigate through the afternoon
congestion smoothly and with less aggression than he. Of course, he never gave
himself enough time, and Frankie had timed it just right.

       
He
looked out the window as she took an unfamiliar turn and then another. The
traffic was almost non-existent by the time she made another turn. He hoped his
brother-in-law would be there already. The sooner they got lunch over, the
sooner he could move on to the real business of the day. He had forgotten all
about the nap and the business ahead when he made these plans because he was
caught up in his own lust at the sight of her drenched in sweat and her hair
tousled from the run. She hadn’t forgotten the plans for the evening and now,
thanks to this lunch, she would be scrambling to make sure everything lined up
just right. She knew he was pressing his luck fitting in lunch when he had an
award show to attend that night, but she didn’t argue. She just made it work.
Deciding to make the most of it, even if it meant missing a nap and working
well into the evening, he was going to enjoy the now.

       
“Great,”
she said with a sound of relief. “He’s here.”

       
Frankie
pulled into a parking space and got out of the car. He opened his own door and
got out before she could get to it. He shook his head at her as she rounded the
back of the car towards him. “I can open my own doors, Frankie.”

       
“Suit
yourself.” She held up an arm in the direction of the restaurant. His
brother-in-law sat at an outside table under an umbrella.

       
“Hey,
man, what’s up?” Buddy stood as they approached the table. Jonas responded with
a nod in Frankie’s direction. One he hoped she didn’t notice. He had called
Buddy shortly after the interview and told him all about her. Buddy was not in
agreement that this was a good plan, but what else could he say? Buddy reached
out a hand to shake Frankie’s and said, “You must be Frankie, your directions
and timing was perfect. How do you know about this place?”

       
“I
eat here all the time. I live nearby.” She shrugged. “If you guys tell me what
you want, I’ll go place the order and bring it out for you.”

       
“Don’t
they have a waitress to do that, Frankie?” Jonas asked as he took his seat. He
looked around at the old buildings and wondered how this gem had been right
under his nose his entire life and he never knew about it.

       
“No.”
She smiled. “I have to order at the counter, then they hand me a buzzer, and I
go get it when it’s done.”

       
That’s
how he never knew about it. No one he knew would go through all of that hassle.

       
“So,
what’s good here, Frankie?” Buddy looked at her and smiled.

       
Buddy
had been a regular guy working at a hometown comedy club before becoming an
actor. Jonas wondered what life would have been like if he was not born to
industry parents. He had never known real hardships except when he had to
endure them for a role. He felt compassion for people, he read, he studied, he
thought of himself as a nice guy, but some things he just didn’t get, because
he was never a part of them. His jealousy at the connection between Frankie and
Buddy alarmed him. He had no reason to feel the sting of emotions, but he could
not deny they were there, burning his throat, building in his stomach.

       
Frankie
replied, “I like the burger and fries when I am really hungry, the house salad
with grilled chicken when I want something light, and tomato bisque and grilled
cheese when I want some comfort food. Oh, and the cannoli are fabulous.”

       
Buddy
nodded, “Okay then, I want the chicken salad.”

       
Jonas
nodded, “Make that two.”

       
Frankie
looked them both over for a moment and then headed inside to the counter. As
soon as she was out of earshot, Buddy leaned in and quietly said, “What are you
doing? You have to present an award tonight. You will need to get there early
and you have to go to at least one of the after parties. You should be taking a
nap or something.”

       
“I
forgot.”

       
“You
never forget those things. You get an assistant and now you forget?” Buddy
frowned at him. “She is supposed to make things better for you, not worse. What
kind of assistant doesn’t remind her boss he has obligations?”

       
“Well.”
Jonas thought back to the dog park. “I didn’t really give her a chance. Between
the meeting with my agent this morning and watching her chase
Ish
I just…”

       
Buddy
shook his head with a smile of pity plain of his face. “This is a mess.”

       
“I
know what I’m doing,” he lied.

       
Frankie
returned a few moments later with two plates in her hand. She sat the salads in
front of them and headed back into the restaurant. Jonas sat, waiting
expectantly, but when she came out with two drinks in her hands he wondered,
“Hey, are you eating?”

       
“Oh yeah.
I have my order in.” She turned and walked away
from them. The customers inside probably noticed them because Frankie was
waiting on them like she was a waitress. They didn’t seem to pick up phones or
pull out cameras. As Frankie entered the restaurant they turned their heads to
look at her rather than the two celebrities at the table.

       
When
Frankie got to the door a little girl ran up to her and Frankie stopped. She
listened to the child as she pointed at them.

       
Buddy
laughed, “You’ve been spotted.”

       
“How
many kids still watch a bunch of puppets teaching words and numbers? That one
episode must play every week. I am getting noticed more by kids than by chicks
these days,” Jonas groaned.

       
Frankie
smiled at the child, said a few things he could not hear. The child ran back to
her parents at the table and climbed back into her seat to finish eating.

       
Frankie
stood in front of Jonas and said, “I told her you would give her an autograph
if she finished eating, including her vegetables, because those are your
favorite.”

       
Jonas
smiled. She had bought him time to eat, and he suspected, made some parents
happy.

       
Frankie
turned and took a seat at the table behind them. She was at his back, facing
away from him. He knew this because he had practically turned around in his
seat. “What are you doing?”

       
“Giving you some privacy.”
She didn’t bother to look at him.

       
Buddy
laughed. Jonas turned enough to glare at him in warning.

       
“Frankie,
come sit with us. It…it’s weird for you to sit there alone.” He frowned at her
beautiful auburn hair, almost brown in some light, but in this light, the sun
lit up all of the red highlights. He wanted to touch it, feel how soft the
texture might be. He wanted her long locks to tickle his chest, his thighs.
“Dammit, Frankie, stop being difficult.
Just come sit with
us.”

       
He
didn’t mean to lose his temper but his mind was torturing him. In hopes to
smooth the tension he could see as her shoulders pulled back and her spine
straightened all in a quick snap, he added, “Please, Frankie. I didn’t mean to
snap at you. I’m just tired.”

       
She
got up, stiff as a board and moved to sit at their table. She didn’t say
anything, she didn’t look at them. Buddy looked at Frankie, looked at Jonas,
and then shook his head. Jonas glared at him. Frankie took a bite of her
burger. Jonas picked at his salad. The paradigm not lost on him.

       
Buddy
suddenly smiled and said, “We’re having another one, in case she hasn’t told
you.”

       
“Another what?”
Jonas stared at Frankie. She was there, but
she wasn’t. She kept her focus on the food in front of her, not looking up, not
involved in the conversation.

       
“Another
baby, you goof.” Buddy laughed. “You need a nap, man. When did you get up this
morning?”

       
“Four.”
Jonas finally looked away from her to Buddy.
“A baby?
That’s great man. Congratulations.”

       
“No
one knows about it. Maybe Jed if she got ahold of him. I thought she might have
told you, but I wasn’t sure. She wants to wait until after the premiere before
telling anyone. You know how it goes. The press will be about the pregnancy not
the work.” Buddy didn’t even look at Frankie. He somehow trusted that she would
not be the one to leak such information.
Valuable
information.
Family secrets.

       
Jonas
realized, among the other things he had learned in such a short time, why she
might want to sit away from them. She was privy to more information than any
girlfriend he had ever had. It was not news to anyone he had his reputation
crushed more than once by women he let in his life. One of the reasons he
didn’t want a female assistant to begin with. Frankie had been on the job less
than a day and he had given her an all access pass.

       
The
little girl from inside the restaurant came running out with a huge smile on
her little face. She was a cute kid with blonde ringlets, big blue eyes, a
summer dress, and patent leather shoes. She held a grey colored plastic doll in
her right hand and held it up to him as she stopped in front of him. “Can you
sign my doll?”

       
“Sure.”
He smiled at the child. He had nothing to do with this particular plastic
figure, but what the hell.

       
“What’s
her name?” he asked as he took the plastic figure wearing scantily clad
clothing from her hand. He tried not to frown and reminded himself that little
girls didn’t pay attention to the details the way adults did. She didn’t think
her dolly looked like a slut.

       
“Frankie.”
She giggled. “She’s my favorite doll in the whole world.”