Page 62 of Small Sacrifices

"I just want you to be careful. Don't let him talk you into doing things you don't want to do." She sighs. "You know this could affect your job, right?"

Aaand that's the end of his rope. Yes, he knows. He's not stupid. Why does this always happen? She means well, but sometimes, she ends up being patronizing.

"Yes, I do," he says. To his own ears, his voice sounds calm, but Briana raises her hands in alarm.

"I didn't mean to imply—" She interrupts herself before she can say it out loud, closes her eyes for a second, and tries again. "I just want to make sure you see the big picture."

Reid nods. If his tone was off before, he doesn't want to risk saying anything else. They get like this sometimes, him and Briana, endlessly misunderstanding each other until they get more and more upset.

Right now, Briana doesnotlook happy. "Reid, please. You know how you get sometimes."

Reid does know. He also has strong opinions on her saying it like that. Not that he can express that without this entire thing devolving into a fight. Briana isn't appeased by his nod, but she at least seems to recognize what he's doing. She extends her hand to lay it next to his leg on the couch, for him to accept touchif he wants it. With a sigh, Reid moves his hand to tangle his fingers with hers. It's fine. They'll be fine. She just needs to leave him alone now, and then they can try again later.

Thankfully, she does. She smiles at him and plucks on one of his curls because she's not allowed to tousle his hair anymore. She hugs him when he asks her to, lets him breathe in the subtle flowery scent of her shampoo that she's been using since he was ten. And then she walks out the door with one last wave and a reminder to call her tomorrow.

It still takes Reid a while to start on the emails. He makes the mistake of sitting down too far from his satchel and gets stuck for about half an hour. But he manages to do it eventually when his phone lights up with a call from his mother. He doesn't answer it, but he gets up to retrieve his work.

Only twenty minutes later, he's doubting his sanity. Why did he think this would be a good idea to do on a Saturday? If possible, the emails are even more boring to read today than they were the day before. Although that might be a blessing, because it means he doesn't have to read what crude words Governor Mackenzie thought it appropriate to send to his lover from his work computer.

There are minutes for meetings, plans for lunch, questions on whether an expensive new fountain pen would count as "office equipment" or if Mackenzie would need to buy it himself. All of it is horrifyingly mundane.

But Reid doesn't want to let Marisol down. He cuts himself some apple slices to crunch on and he keeps going. And it gets better, but it also gets significantly worse. Because Reid finds an email written by someone named Tom. It takes him a while to realize, because it's sent from what's clearly a private email address, but the sender is probably Thomas Carter, who was up and coming in the company back then and is currently sitting on Agrifarm's board of directors.

Hiya Raymond,

Just sending over the final assessment with the original for reference. Richard’s made all the amendments we asked for.

Considering all the horrors that place has seen, I don't think better results would be believable. But it's good enough, hey? Just don't build a playground on it and we'll be fine.

Regards,

Tom

-sent from my iPhone

Reid feels weightless.Just don't build a playground on it.What is that supposed to mean? With numb fingers, he picks up the next sheet of paper, expecting to see the assessment and whatever nasty surprises it might bring. But it's just another unrelated email.

All of a sudden, it feels like there's a vise clamped around Reid's lungs. Because this… he was right. Governor Mackenzie knew. He was explicitly warned, and he still had an elementary school built on land that was soaked with dangerous chemicals.

Breathing shallowly only makes Reid's thoughts race faster, and he almost wants to laugh. Because on Wednesday, he was panicking about this very thing. Today, he's ready to punch someone.Greedy coward.

It makes him wonder how much of the governor's political platform is fake. Next to the environmentalism and the queer issues, there's not much left for him to lie about, they werethatprominent in his last campaign. But thinking about it now, he'sthe exact kind of person who wouldn’t support extended paid parental leave.

For a moment, the thought feels uncharitable. And then, Reid thinks:He can go fuck himself.Clearly, Mackenzie doesn't deserve an ounce of good faith. The only thing he really deserves is for this to go public as quickly as possible, while there are still eyes on the story.

Feeling overwhelmed, Reid decides to clear his head with a walk. The dark streets offer no comfort, but at least the physical activity helps him forget the problem, if only for a little while.

It takes sitting down at his desk again for him to realize that he still needs to tell Marisol about this. But when he opens his messenger app, he sees Everett has written him five messages since noon on Friday. Reid hasn't answered a single one of them. Some of them have been waiting for him for over a day.

hey had a good start to ur day?

my father is in the shittiest mood today. ur lucky ur not here anymore. hows the office treating u?

damn it ur prbly working. im sorry. ill stop disturbing u at work.

i was going to wish u a good weekend but then i realized that theres an actual chance u havent started it yet. have u left the office? Pls say yes

is everything ok? u can tell me not to bother u but im getting kinda worried.

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