Cold as Hell

His first day dawned and it was cold as hell. When the alarm went off at 4:30 in the morning, we both groaned. But I got up with him, figuring I could be moral support for the first day.

"Do you want to bring anything for lunch?" I called into the shower.

"Nah, I'll grab something when they give us a break."

Okay. So I saw him off with love and a vote of confidence.

"Call me as soon as you get out!" I went back to sleep when he left, and then filled my day with the usual: clients, classes, a trip to see my Grandmother in between.

I was waiting with baited breath for my phone to ring, and when I finally saw his name appear upon my screen, I almost jumped out of my skin. I snatched the phone off the center console in my car and then hit the send button with glee.

"HEY! How did it go? Where are you?!?!" I was probably screaming, but hey, I was dying here.

"Ugh, what a day."

The alarm bells started to ring. Why was it that I sounded far more excited than he did?

"Tell me what happened!" I took it down a notch, but barely.

"It was just horrible. They made us stand outside in the bitter cold for over an hour before they let us in there. Then they yelled at us for hours." He made a sound of annoyance. "Plus, I'm frigging starving."

"Didn't you eat anything?"

"No."

"No?" My tone began escalating again. "What do you mean no?"

"They never gave us a break." There was a sharp intake of breath on his end. "Look, I just got to the business. Let me go take care of some things and I'll see you later. What time will you be home?"

I told him and we made plans to catch up over some sort of dinner. I hung up the phone and was about to pop a vein. I'm diabetic, so I am super-sensitive and very careful about food intake and meal times. I am known to always have some sort of food on me; a handful of nuts in a small plastic bag, a granola bar, even some sort of portable fruit. I could not believe they never let them take a break for lunch; I would have been on the floor in the same situation. I was furious, and I felt bad for Roc, because the one thing I picked up from his tone was clear...he was disenchanted.