past, and while I was admittedly curious, there never seemed to be the opportunity to ask her about anything specifically. So I decided that there would be plenty of time to get to know her better, to understand how she’d become the woman that she was.
I rubbed my eyes again and let out a long sigh. I had to do something about work, but I didn’t even know where to start. I knew that I had to find some balance, that it wasn’t healthy to be investing so much of myself into Annie.
Annie. I smiled when I thought of her, and how much she had changed my life in such a short time. To hell with Donald Gold, I decided. He and his law firm had little to do with my future.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
I couldn’t make sense of what I was looking at. The description in the ledger next to the February 12 entry said RC Plat F.D. REPL — $??. I knew I’d seen the same phrase RC Plat F.D. somewhere else, but couldn’t remember where. To make matters worse, it didn’t even look like Annie’s handwriting, which I’d gotten rather good at deciphering.
I had no idea what an RC Flat F.D. was, or how much to enter as the sale price for the item, and I was growing frustrated. Normally I would have kept going and moved on to the next item, except that I’d already moved past it twice and was ready to reconcile the month. Annie was out at an auction, and I was irritated that I wouldn’t be able to finish. So far I’d completed every other month through June, and February was the only thing that got in the way of completing the project. I wanted so badly to be able to finish up and begin to show Annie how to keep track of things going forward.
“Ah.” I actually said the word aloud as I knelt down and searched the shelves below the counter. Annie kept copies of all the receipts in shoeboxes under the counter. All I had to do was find the copy and enter in the amount. Simple enough.
Except that the receipt number wasn’t in its proper place. So I had to go through each receipt from the box marked February, until I finally found the copy near the bottom. Thirty-eight dollars. Mission accomplished, I put the box back where I’d found it and turned back to the computer and typed in the amount. A few button pushes and mouse clicks later, I ran some reports and was surprised by the results. I was off by thirty-eight dollars. Dammit . The cash-register receipts didn’t match up to the entries in the ledger.
“Hi.” I heard Annie’s voice at the same time that I heard the jingle of the bell above the door.
“Hi.” I wasted no time in rounding the corner and pulling her into a big hug. “How did it go?”
She groaned in reply. “A waste of time, really. Everything was in such lousy shape, and I just don’t have the time or the energy or the patience to do any major restoration work.” She kissed me quickly.
“So you’re empty handed?” I asked.
“Afraid so,” she sighed. “How’s it going with you? Have you tamed the beast yet?” We had begun to refer to the project that I’d undertaken as simply the beast.
“I’m almost done.” I had to temper my enthusiasm. “I’ve got everything balanced except for February. Do you think if I showed you something you might be able to figure it out?”
“Does it have to do with math?” she mocked, and I laughed.
“Only a little bit,” I assured her. “There’s just this one entry that I’m having trouble with.” I walked to the other side of the counter and turned the ledger around so that she could read it. She leaned in for a close inspection as I began to ramble.
“Number twenty-three-fourteen, see?” I pointed to the entry. “There’s no price beside it, and so I dug up the pink copy.”
She raised her eyes to mine quickly, all traces of the previous smile now gone. “Did you find it?”
“Yeah.” I squatted down and lifted the lid from the shoebox, removing the receipt. She took it from my hands and stared at it hard.
“Thirty-eight dollars.” Her voice
I rubbed my eyes again and let out a long sigh. I had to do something about work, but I didn’t even know where to start. I knew that I had to find some balance, that it wasn’t healthy to be investing so much of myself into Annie.
Annie. I smiled when I thought of her, and how much she had changed my life in such a short time. To hell with Donald Gold, I decided. He and his law firm had little to do with my future.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
I couldn’t make sense of what I was looking at. The description in the ledger next to the February 12 entry said RC Plat F.D. REPL — $??. I knew I’d seen the same phrase RC Plat F.D. somewhere else, but couldn’t remember where. To make matters worse, it didn’t even look like Annie’s handwriting, which I’d gotten rather good at deciphering.
I had no idea what an RC Flat F.D. was, or how much to enter as the sale price for the item, and I was growing frustrated. Normally I would have kept going and moved on to the next item, except that I’d already moved past it twice and was ready to reconcile the month. Annie was out at an auction, and I was irritated that I wouldn’t be able to finish. So far I’d completed every other month through June, and February was the only thing that got in the way of completing the project. I wanted so badly to be able to finish up and begin to show Annie how to keep track of things going forward.
“Ah.” I actually said the word aloud as I knelt down and searched the shelves below the counter. Annie kept copies of all the receipts in shoeboxes under the counter. All I had to do was find the copy and enter in the amount. Simple enough.
Except that the receipt number wasn’t in its proper place. So I had to go through each receipt from the box marked February, until I finally found the copy near the bottom. Thirty-eight dollars. Mission accomplished, I put the box back where I’d found it and turned back to the computer and typed in the amount. A few button pushes and mouse clicks later, I ran some reports and was surprised by the results. I was off by thirty-eight dollars. Dammit . The cash-register receipts didn’t match up to the entries in the ledger.
“Hi.” I heard Annie’s voice at the same time that I heard the jingle of the bell above the door.
“Hi.” I wasted no time in rounding the corner and pulling her into a big hug. “How did it go?”
She groaned in reply. “A waste of time, really. Everything was in such lousy shape, and I just don’t have the time or the energy or the patience to do any major restoration work.” She kissed me quickly.
“So you’re empty handed?” I asked.
“Afraid so,” she sighed. “How’s it going with you? Have you tamed the beast yet?” We had begun to refer to the project that I’d undertaken as simply the beast.
“I’m almost done.” I had to temper my enthusiasm. “I’ve got everything balanced except for February. Do you think if I showed you something you might be able to figure it out?”
“Does it have to do with math?” she mocked, and I laughed.
“Only a little bit,” I assured her. “There’s just this one entry that I’m having trouble with.” I walked to the other side of the counter and turned the ledger around so that she could read it. She leaned in for a close inspection as I began to ramble.
“Number twenty-three-fourteen, see?” I pointed to the entry. “There’s no price beside it, and so I dug up the pink copy.”
She raised her eyes to mine quickly, all traces of the previous smile now gone. “Did you find it?”
“Yeah.” I squatted down and lifted the lid from the shoebox, removing the receipt. She took it from my hands and stared at it hard.
“Thirty-eight dollars.” Her voice
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