THE SPITEFUL BRIDE: Marry To Rival's Son novel Chapter 106

Chapter Thirty: Two Kinds Of Bosses

Joy

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“What’s he doing?” I whispered as Alex and I poked our head around the door into Mr. Falcon’s gym. There were a lot of machines and weights and barbells and dumbbells and mirrors. Apart from some windows that looked out on the back yard, the whole place was covered with mirrors.

Which meant there was a very high probability Alex’s Daddy had already seen us spying on him from the doorway. He was laying on his back, pushing a sled loaded with weights up and down with his legs. He was wearing shorts, and for the first time I saw how big and muscular (and slightly hairy) Mr. Falcon’s legs were. They looked like the legs of those muscle-men you see on TV.

“He’s exercising,” Alex said with a frown. “Usually he exercises in the morning…unless…”

“Unless what?”

He lowered his voice to barely a whisper. “Unless he’s mad about something. He likes to exercise when he’s angry. He says to tame the mind, exhaust the body.”

I watched him strain and grunt as he pushed the heavy leg sled up, again and again. “What do you think he’s angry about?” I asked worriedly. Honestly, in all the time I had been friends with Alex, I’d never seen his daddy in a bad temper. My daddy, on the other hand, always seemed to be in a bad mood. It made me feel a little sad and anxious to think that maybe Mr. Falcon would act like my dad, and start yelling and stomping around the house and calling names.

When my daddy did that, it made me feel scared and angry… and Mr. Falcon was way bigger and

my way scarier than dad.

“Do you think he’s mad about Mommy and me staying at your house?” I whispered. Even though I was very, very quiet, I thought I saw Mr. Falcon tip his head toward the door, like maybe he heard

me anyway.

“I don’t think so,” Alex said. “If he didn’t want you to stay, he wouldn’t have insisted. He’s not like that. If he doesn’t like someone, he just has Spirko send them away.” He shrugged his thin shoulders. “It’s probably something at work, or at the I mean, at Grandma’s house. We have a… well it’s like a big family and you know how families are. Sometimes they argue about stupid

things.”

I eased away from the door, back into the hallway where Mr. Falcon wouldn’t be able to see me. Does your Daddy yell a lot when he is angry?”

Alex tipped his head to one side like he thought my question was strange. “My daddy doesn’t have to yell to make people listen to him. He’s Alph- I mean, he’s the boss, so everyone has to listen to

< Chapter Thirty Two Kinds Of Bosses

him.” He took my hand and pulled me in the direction of the kitchen.

“Let’s go talk to Mrs. Farley about dinner.”

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“My daddy’s a boss too,” I said, still thinking about Mr. Falcon being angry. “But he yells all the time. Mostly he yells at Mommy, but I hear him on the phone yelling at work people too.”

Alex stopped and gave me a sympathetic look. “I think there are two kinds of bosses,” he said thoughtfully. “Some bosses are so good and so kind and so strong that people want to listen to them. They trust the good boss to lead them in the right direction and keep them safe. Then there

is another kind of boss. The one that isn’t good, and isn’t strong enough. Nobody trusts him and they don’t want to follow him. So he has to yell and be a bully to make people do what he wants.”

I gave him a funny look. Sometimes I think Alex is too smart to be in first grade.

He’s also just basically said my dad was a weak bully, but that was pretty much the truth. It made me feel ashamed of calling Kevin Jackson my dad. But that’s why Alex and I had to convince our parents to get married.

So that I could really call Mr. Falcon daddy, and I could feel proud that he was the kind of boss that everyone liked and respected, and the kind of dad that went to exercise instead of raising his voice and swearing when he was frustrated.

Alex bounced into the kitchen confidently. “Mrs. Farley! We want to make a romantic spaghetti

dinner!”

Mrs Farley looked up, her kind old face reflecting both amusement and confusion. “I was making venison stew for dinner,” she said, “Isn’t that one of your favorites?”

Alex shook his head. “Save that for tomorrow,” he said, sounding like he was a boss himself. “We want to have spaghetti with meatballs, and candles!”

“Candles?” Mrs Farley looked even more confused.

“Yeah!” Alex ran over and opened a bottom drawer, dug through it, and came up with two white pillar candles. “These ones!”

Mrs. Farley propped her hands on her hips. “Oh? And why else?”

“There should be flowers!” I added.

“And music!” Alex said.

“What kind of music?” Mrs. Farley eyes were glowing, like she approved of our plan.

“Opera!” Alex said with a definitive nod.

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“I see,” Mrs. Farley wiped her nose. But I think she was really trying to hide a smile. “And will I be setting the table for two, or for four?”

Alex rolled his eyes like the answer should be so obvious. “For two, of course. Joy and I can eat in

the kitchen.”

“I see, and do you two also need candlelight, flowers and opera?”

“Eww, no!” I shook my head, and Alex agreed by sticking out his tongue.

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