Page 21 of Ansel

“Fine,” she muttered. “Sit. I’ll make you your triple espresso with oat milk.”

As she made my coffee, I heard her mutter,“Treats me like shit and now wants my help. Asshole.”

That didn’t sound good but then she served me in a ceramic cup and not a to-go one, so I took that as a victory.

“You want a cupcake with that? We have lactose-free ones.”

She was still taking care of me.Maybe there was hope!

“Yes, please.”

She put a cute pink and blue vanilla and strawberry cupcake on a plate in front of me with a napkin that had the Sun & Chai logo on it.

“How’s school?” I asked as I took a bite of what turned out to be a delicious cupcake.

“Good.”

Right! So, we were back to snappy one-word answers.

“Capstone going okay?”

She rolled her eyes. “Get to the point. You said youneededmy help? You sure you need the help ofjust an assistant?”

I heard the hurt in her words, the pain I’d caused, no matter how she was trying to hide it underneath sarcasm. “You were always so much more than an assistant,” I admitted. “I was insecure about myself, about not being as good as I thought I was without you.”

She looked surprised at my confession.

“And, you know what, Neha, I amnotas good as I thought I was without you.”

She picked up my coffee cup and sniffed. “No, I didn’t add any booze to this.”

I let out a warm chuckle. “Trust me, Neha, since you left, I’ve spent so much time in self-reflection that I’m bleeding with regret for my actions and behavior.”

She waved a hand as if she didn’t care about my journey into self. “Let’s get on with it before people come in. Penny has a dentist appointment so I’m alone.”

I nodded and then decided to get to the point as she’d demanded. “I think Vanessa’s trying to get me fired.”

That got her attention. She crossed her arms, her lips set mutinously. “That bitch!”

Even now, after all that I said and did, she was still on my side. How did I let this fantastic woman go? I needed to get my head examined.

“What is she doing?” Neha asked.

“She’s been sending me bad data. At first, I thought it was just a mistake, but now I’m not so sure. It’s happened too many times.”

I chewed on the last piece of cupcake.

“That bitch,” Neha repeated.

“Any thoughts on how I should handle this?”

She considered for a moment before answering. “You could confront her, but she'll just come up with excuses. Or you could gather proof that she’s doing this intentionally and take it to HR.”

I frowned. “How do I prove something like this?”

Neha paused, thinking it over as she tapped her fingers on the counter. “Talk to Jimmy Jones. He’s a straight shooter, and he also thinks Vanessa is a snake.”

Jimmy was a senior analyst on Vanessa’s team. “You think he’ll talk to me?”

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