Budget meeting

Gabriel was sitting on the front steps of his cabin a cigarette in one hand and a can of beer in the other. He offered me a beer as I approached him.

"I thought you said this was a dry camp" I asked dubiously.

"It is," he extended his hand to offer me the beer again and I took it. "It'll take the edge off after your doctor thing this morning," he said quietly. I stared at him in wonderment, these were the most non-work related words he had ever spoken to me. I opened the can and took a long drink, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. I felt his gaze on me as he took a drag of his cigarette. He motioned for me to have a seat next to him on the step and I obliged. "Supper was excellent," he said simply, his gaze shifting to a squirrel running between trees just five feet away from us.

"Uhm, thanks" I replied, shyly. We sat in silence for a few minutes drinking our beer watching squirrels darting around. He finally took a long drag of his cigarette before putting it out and dumping it into his empty beer can. I took a last drink of my own beer and followed him inside the cabin.

His desk was neatly organized with labeled dividers and shelves, binders and books filed by height and neatly held back with a no nonsense metal bookend. He had a pencil, blue pen and an eraser neatly lined up next to his laptop. He had the large desk calendars where he had crossed off the days gone by and written several notes and timestamps in each of the squares; I spied that he had a 9pm meeting with Sheri that night. The desk was free of dust but that was where the tidiness ended. His clothes were sprawled out all over the other side of the room, his sheets were a tangled mess on his bed and he had a few dozen empty cans of beer strewn across the place. I took this all in while he watched me with a serious expression, not bothering apologizing or making up excuses as to why the place looked like a dump. I supposed not many people came here anyways, but it was such a stark contrast with how he presented himself, I never would have guessed he was such a slob.

"You've gone over the expected budget again for the 2nd month in a row" he said, pointing to the cell with the red numbers on his laptop screen. "You're going to have to figure out how to bring the cost down a little," he said calmly.

"Well,” I began defensively, “Janice is leaving, so we will be saving on her pay, the students salary should be paid in part by the government"

"Yeah but they fuck up a lot more too, so I’m sure that will come out of the groceries won’t it?" he retorted coldly.

"I suppose, but I will be with them the whole time so I should be able to step in if things go awry"

"Is there anything we can cut out of the meal budget?"

"Absolutely not," I interjected. "Your men are well fed and I really think it’s a bonus for you. If you cut from their grocery budget I don’t think they would be very happy"

"Don’t flatter yourself, Miss Saunders" he turned to look at me and his dark brooding eyes looked right into mine. My breath caught in my throat, my heart sped up and I had a nagging urge to run away to my cabin and hide under my comforter.

"I'm not cutting my budget" I said regaining some control over myself.

"I can find someone else who isn’t going to cost me so much," he said, his gaze unflinching.

"Then do it.” I dared him “I can find somewhere else to work too!" I fought hard against the tears welling up in my eyes. My anger was directly attached to my tear ducts and it enraged me. Although I did have other job offers I really enjoyed it there… well whenever I didn’t have to deal with this asshole.

"This is your budget for the month and if you go over it again this month, I’ll deduct it from your salary"

"If you touch a single penny of my measly salary, I will leave you at the mercy of the students. Have fun eating pasta and frozen vegetable every fucking day. Oh right, you don’t even eat here so you could care less what your men are eating."

"Harper," he warned.

"Don’t Harper me," I continued, tears still ever so threatening. He looked at me with a glint of amusement in his eyes, all hostility gone from him. "Fine, I’ll put an extra two-thousand dollars buffer to cover your spending, but please try to respect it"

"I'll see what I can do", I said through gritted teeth. "Are we done?"

"Let me know when you get your next appointments, I will arrange for someone to bring you to town," he said softly, returning his gaze to his budget spreadsheet. I frowned in confusion at him.

"Thank you" I stood there waiting for more but he dismissed me with a hand. I turned to leave frustrated by our exchange and heard him leave his cabin too. I looked back as he jumped effortlessly into his truck and drove off. Rumors had it he often visited girlfriends in town. He really was a womanizer.

I returned to the kitchen to make sure everything was done. Janice was finishing up the dishes and Matteo was mopping the floors. I grabbed a dry towel and dried what Janice hadn’t gotten to yet.

"You look like a flustered mess" she said with great interest, "do spill."

"It's nothing Janice, drop it" I said dryly. Matteo walked me over to my cabin and we chatted for a few minutes before he left.

As the cooks, Janice and I were privy to our own cabin whereas the men had to share with 4 or 5 others. It wasn’t a very big cabin, but in all honesty we only needed it to sleep. Once Janie was gone I would only share it with other female staff. I took a quick shower before getting into bed. I tried to read my book but I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

I was on breakfast duty the next morning and got up at 4:30 to get it underway. As I opened the door of my cabin, I was blinded by bright headlights. I squinted trying to block the light with my arm, the lights dimmed and I recognized Gabriel’s truck. He jumped out and I watched as he walked over to his cabin wearing the same clothes as last night. I sniggered under my breath and walked over to the kitchen. I cooked some bacon, sausages and eggs and by 5:30 the men had started to walk into the dining hall. They were much quieter at this time of day yawning and loading up on coffee while they ate. Janice showed up once breakfast was done around 7 to help clean up.

“I’ve got to bring these papers over to Mr. Mason, Janice, I’ll be right back” I said as I grabbed the following weeks’s produce order sheets. I walked over to his cabin and knocked tentatively on the door. After several minutes of not receiving any answer I pushed the door slowly, planning on dropping off the forms on his desk and leaving immediately. A movement caught my eye and I looked over to Gabriel’s bed where he was asleep, lying on his back snoring lightly. A thin sheet covered some of his mostly naked form and I took a moment to appreciate how peaceful and absolutely gorgeous he was when he wasn’t frowning. A strange heat travelled through my body and settled in my pants, I took this as a sign to hightail my way out of there before he woke up.

Once back in the safety of the kitchen I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. Flustered and confused by my reaction to a sleeping Gabriel Mason, I tried to distract myself by making snacks and desserts before moving on to lunch time prep. Janice and I worked in perfect harmony while listening to some of the CDs I had brought. By 11:30 we were all set to receive the men for lunch, but they wouldn’t be coming until 12.

"I'll run some lasagna to the boss" she called, serving out a huge portion along with a couple slices of garlic bread.

"Does he need that much?" I whined. She shrugged as she pushed through the door to his office. "Better you than me" I mumbled under my breath, but I felt a pang of jealousy that she was going to see him and not me. This new found interest in my boss worried me. Maybe I was tired and simply needed a nap.

The rest of the week went by uneventfully and I didn’t see Gabriel again. I drove out with Janice on Friday and stayed at her place for the weekend. I had to get to the mall and replenish my stores of soaps, books and DVDs. I didn't expect to have much free time, but on the off chance that I was sent an excellent student I made sure to be prepared.