Page 101 of When Fate Breaks
“Annie, time to set up for the meeting. Are you ready?” I look up to see Lucy, the manager of our branch’s personal assistant, staring at me nervously with her huge brown eyes. Lucy literally always seemed on the edge of a nervous breakdown, and I couldn’t say I blamed her. Working directly for and under the stone-cold witch that was Margaret Brooks had to take a toll.
I lock my phone, shoving it into the inside pocket of my blazer before Lucy fully makes her way around the wall of my cubicle. Cell phones weren’t forbidden in the office, but being on mine during work hours definitely wouldn’t earn me any extra points in the intern race.
“As ready as I’ll ever be!” I plaster on a grin, scooping up my folder of presentation notes and laptop and following Lucy’s lead toward the conference room.
“Hey!” I turn around at the sound of Riya’s voice. “You’re gonna kill it,” she says, winking at me through the curtain of her black hair. At the same moment, a calendar reminder sounds from Riya’s computer. Her eyes flick down to her screen. “Oh crap,” she mutters, “Annie, I almost forgot–”
“Ms. Jacks?”
My heart rate instantly skyrockets at the sound of the familiar shrill voice. “Yes, ma’am?” I whip around, my spine snapping into its best posture as I meet the gaze of Margaret Brooks standing in the doorway of the conference room.
“Plan on joining us today?” My boss and the decider of my fate surveys me over her too small reading glasses that never leave her face.
“Yes, ma’am. Coming right now.” I look back quickly to a tight-lipped Riya, mouthingsorrybefore heading into the meeting room to prepare for the most important presentation of my internship so far.
* * *
Despite the factthat both Margaret and Matthew’s gazes burned a hole in me the entire time, and my phone that I forgot to remove from my blazer pocket vibrated incessantly throughout my entire proposal, I managed to hit every point I had outlined and planned for without a stutter. The presentation ended with a round of applause from all of the executives and the handful of interns that had decided to sit in, excluding Evelyn Marshall, who, for whatever reason, decided she hated my guts the second we both began our internships. Riya made up for her lack of encouragement by clapping twice as loud as everyone else in the room.
I felt my cheeks redden as I nodded, thanking them. When I looked up again, I could have sworn I caught the ghost of a smile leaving Margaret’s face, causing me to break out in my own.
I let out a sigh of relief, allowing myself to truly relax for the first time in a week. Wow.
My proposal was a complete success.
I start to gather my things to leave the room, a dumb grin still playing on my face, when I see Riya approaching from the corner of my eye. “Hey, Ri.”
I look up when Riya doesn’t reply right away, seeing her chewing on her bottom lip. “Hey Ann, I’m so sorry–”
“Ms. Jacks? A moment?”
Both Riya and I turn our heads at the same time to see Margaret standing at the end of the conference table with her arms crossed, her silver toned ponytail pulled so tight that her eyebrows appear permanently raised and her dark red lips tightly pursed.
I feel my heart sink.Crap. My proposal was most definitely not a complete success. I immediately begin wracking my brain, replaying everything I said. Did I get a statistic wrong? Did I misunderstand the assignment? Did I unintentionally say something offensively? Good God, I’d rather shrivel up and die here on the spot rather than hear whatever Margaret Brooks is about to tell me.
“Yes, of course, Ms. Brooks.”
Riya gives me a wide eyed look seeming to saygood luckbefore turning and leaving the room.
“Please, Ms. Singh,” Margaret addresses Riya without removing her gaze from me, “close the door on your way out. Won’t you?”
I can visibly see Riya gulp. “Yes, Ms. Brooks.” She sends me a tight smile and nods before letting the door fall closed behind her, leaving me alone with Margaret.
Please, just kill me quickly.
Margaret’s black heels click against the tile as she makes her way over to me. I feel as if I’m shrinking more with each step she takes. Hopefully I’ll just disappear altogether before she reaches me. She motions towards a chair at the end of the conference table. “Sit.”
I pull the chair out, slowly sinking into it, and wait patiently as Margaret does the same. She folds her hands together, slowly raising her ice cold gray eyes to meet mine.
“Ms. Jacks.”
Just crush my soul already and let me leave.
“I like you.”
Please just put me out of my misery–Wait, what?
“What? I mean,oh.” I stammer. “Thank you, Ms. Brooks. I–er…like you, too?”
