Page 83 of The Sweet Life

“You’d better be loyal to me. I saved your job last week,” Sage rasped, lifting her hands to pry her eyelids off her eyeballs. The firm didn’t appreciate Renata organizing a petition to have a designated meditation space. Sage raised her head and peeled the keyboard from her face.

“Just FYI, ladies, I wasn’t sleeping. I was meditating.”

“Please, you can’t keep that monkey brain of yours quiet long enough to meditate,” Renata said.

“Isn’t that the whole point of meditation?” Sage yawned and covered her mouth. “Anyway, I had a good reason for pulling an all-nigher. Alice’s celebration of life is tonight, and I promised Jake I’d be home early. I’m leaving before noon.” She caught the women’s silent exchange. “What? I’m not supposed to be in court. I worked extra hours this week to make sure my schedule was clear.”

“Mr. Forbes implemented a new policy. No one is allowed to take off early on Friday, no matter the reason. We got the memo this morning,” Brenda said, holding up an official-looking document.

“I’ve worked till midnight every night this week, except last night, and I worked until four this morning.” Sage got up from her chair and headed for the bathroom. “Brenda, do me a favor and get Emilia to squeeze me in with Robert this morning. And once you have a time, ask Nina to meet me there.”

“Do you think that’s a good idea?” Brenda asked. “Mr. Forbes wasn’t happy when you intervened on Renata’s behalf.” She made big eyes at Sage, reminding her that it wasn’t only the meditation space the firm had taken issue with. Renatahad received a warning about her billable hours, and Sage had called them out on their unsustainable expectations. “There was that thing with Bill in security too, and Roland in personal injury.” Brenda made a face. “You can only push them so far, Sage.”

“You’re right.” She withdrew a small jar of lavender hand cream from her pocket. “I’ll slather this on, and I’ll be completely chillmellow when I meet with Robert.”

“How many times do I have to tell you? That’s not a word.” Renata sighed. “Don’t worry, Brenda. I’ll do some breath work with Sage before her meeting with Mr. Forbes, and she’ll be completely relaxed.”

“Thanks, Renata. That’s very thoughtful of you,” Sage said.

“A little selfish too,” the other woman admitted. “I need next Friday off for my sister’s wedding.”

“Oh my gosh, I couldn’t change my mom’s radiation treatments. They’re scheduled for late Friday afternoons.”

“Don’t worry. I’ve got this, Brenda.”

An hour later, Sage sat in Robert’s office, thinking she should have done at least two hours of breath work and slathered lavender over her entire body. She gritted her teeth and then repeated the hours she’d put in this week in order to clear her schedule for today.

Robert studied his cookies and picked one up. “That’s a shame you’ll miss Alice’s celebration of life. You should have scheduled your personal activities for Saturday, like every other person at the firm.”

“Life happens, Mr. Forbes. You can’t always schedule family obligations outside nine to five during the week.”

He frowned. “Who at Forbes, Poole, and Russell is workingnine to five?” He pointed his cookie at Nina. “Look into this immediately. It’s entirely unacceptable.”

“You know what?” Sage said. “The demands you put on your employees are unacceptable. In fact, I’m positive that the firm is breaking several employment labor laws at the federal, state, and local levels.”

He looked at her over the top of his bifocals. “Are you threatening me, Ms. Rosetti?”

“Nope, it’s not a threat.” She ignored Nina’s warning squeaks and stood up. “It’s a promise. I’ll be drafting a list of issues you need to address before I leave in the next hour for the celebration of Alice’s life, and you’ll have until Monday at nine to respond. If I don’t hear from you at that time, I will be contacting every news outlet on the East Coast.”

His face got red. “Ms. Rosetti, you’re—”

“Save your breath. I wouldn’t want you to strain your heart.” She nodded at Nina. “In case that wasn’t clear enough, I quit. I hope you do too, because life is too short to spend even a second longer at this firm.”

“You’re right.” Nina got up, left her iPad on the chair, and said, “I quit too. And I’ll be signing on to head the lawsuit against the firm.”

“Nice. I was trying to figure out how I’d have time for that too.”

Emilia, Robert’s personal assistant, looked up from her desk. “What’s going on?”

“We’ve just quit, and we’re filing a lawsuit against the firm for unfair employment practices,” Nina said. “And don’t bother with the list, Sage. I’ve been documenting issues for years.”

Emilia looked back at Robert’s office and got up from herdesk. “I can add to your list.” She picked up her purse and joined them. “Let’s go.”

Three hours later, Sage found Jake in his office at the farmhouse. He leaned back in his chair and smiled. “I should have taken the bet with Kendra. She said you’d get home five minutes before the event started, and I said no way, she’ll be here at least an hour before.”

“And look at me, I’m seven hours early.” She sat on his knee, wound her arms around his neck, and kissed him. “So, I have some good news and some bad news. What do you want first?”

“Bad news.”

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