Page 21 of Little Gray Dress

“So, you just let her get wasted?” Aron stands so that we are again at eye level.

“No. No, sir. We didn’t let her, she’s an adult. I just… She’s quite a handful and—”

“So, let me get this straight, I’m paying for a film crew—” He glances at Morgan, who is hardly an entire crew. “And the host is slurring, crying, and being humiliated by your fiancé.”

“I didn’t humiliate anyone, actually—” Jack shakes his head at Aron.

“Emi…” Aron is avoiding direct eye contact with me and shaking his head. “I thought you were right for this job. But with Greta coming into the picture, I can see that jealousy has taken over, as it always does when women are around my Greta.”

“WHAT!?” Jack, Morgan, and I say in unison. He has got to be kidding me. Jealous? Of Greta?! I don’t think so. Maybe I’m a little envious that I can’t pull off the dress she’s wearing, but that’s it.

“I am not jealous of Greta.” The disbelieving laugh I’ve been trying to stifle surrounds the words I’m using as my defense. Which makes me sound completely disrespectful. Although, in this particular situation, who would be married to respectful at this point? I mean come on, I’m in trouble because a grown woman decided to get wasted when she knew she was working. How is this my fault?

“It’s funny now?” Aron throws his hands in the air.

“No. Not funny, just… crazy! You can’t be serious about this? She’s a full-grown adult. I can’t make her not drink. I suggested it, but she wouldn’t listen. In fact she’s been talking down to me all night long. What did you expect me to do?”

Jack squeezes my hand. Probably as a signal that I should shut up and not make the situation even worse, but I can’t seem to go down without a fight.

“I’ll have you know that this entire situation has been utterly humiliating for me. If you’re now upset because she’s turned into this…” I point over at her. Her mascara is running down her face and her skin now a pale shade of green.

The retching noise she makes as she leans over to throw up on her father’s shoes turns all the heads that weren’t already in our direction.

“Ohh… That’s never good,” Morgan says behind me.

Aron momentarily closes his eyes through a giant heaving sigh. “I’m sorry, Emi. I’ll need you to pack up your things. Unfortunately, I’ll have to let you go.”

“You’re firing me?! For what?”

“For letting Greta become wasted at what was supposed to be our company Christmas Greeting recording and party. I expected you to be able to handle anything thrown at you in this job. This entire situation is hardly professional, and I think you and I both know it.” He directs his statement at both Morgan and me.

“You’re right,” I shout. “The entire night has been completely unprofessional. Your daughter is the most conniving, manipulative person I have ever met, and I’ve only known her for an hour. The fact that you are punishing the only person who tried to keep things professional is a testament to her manipulating even her own father. Good luck keeping your company afloat with her as the face of the business.” The grip I have on Jack’s hand is probably injuring him. Holy Moses, I’ve snapped. A drunk, nude model has caused me to have a complete breakdown, and I’m standing in the middle of a party screaming at my boss.

“You can excuse yourselves now.” With a wave of his hand, he expects me to be gone for doing nothing wrong. “You, though,” he points at Jack, “you will apologize to my Greta for making her feel badly about herself.”

“I don’t think so! If anything she should be apologizing to everyone in the room.” Jack looks between Greta and Aron for a moment. He rolls his eyes skyward and nods with an irritated laugh. “Let’s go.”

Jack and Morgan work quickly grabbing his equipment and bags. “This is insane,” I bark at them as I grab my purse. “I’m taking these.” I pile the three heaping plates of food on top of one another and quickly shove the full bottle of wine chilling in an ice bucket in the center of our table, into my bag. I did all the work, so I should at least taste the menu.

My heels clack across the floor as I follow Jack and Morgan through the room. The eyes of my co-workers are following my every step. If I was really evil, I’d post whatever video Morgan got on the internet as soon as possible. But I can’t. I may have just had an epic meltdown in front of hundreds of people, but I can’t ruin anyone, not even Greta.

“I don’t even know what just happened.” I look up at Jack when I catch up with him.

“Me neither.” Jack’s face is netted with confusion. “That was… insane.”

We’ve all made it to the front of the building and stand staring at each other in disbelief. This is definitely not the Christmas party experience I was expecting.

“I stole our plates… and this.” I pull the bottle of wine from my purse and watch both Jack and Morgan break out into laughter.

“Wow… You’re a fighter and a thief. I’m learning all kind of things about you tonight.” Morgan grabs a plate from the pile of three in my right hand. “Want me to upload this video? I got the whole thing.”

“You were filming that?” I ask him, surprised I didn’t notice it. I shove the wine back into my bag before handing Jack a plate of food.

“Well… I thought it might be useful for the impending lawsuit.” He winks at me.

“It’s tempting.” I look over at Jack who shakes his head with a small smile. “But my lawyer says it’s not a good idea.”

“I know. If you ever change your mind, though, I’ll save it.”

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