Page 97 of She Likes It, Hey Micah
I do, smoothing out nonexistent wrinkles on my teal pants. “How was the planning—”
“What is this?” She spins her monitor around, showing me the spreadsheet with all of the information on the Greenwood event.
I swallow. “It’s the plan for the reopening.”
“Indeed it is. You see this square here?” She points to a cell that says, ‘string quartet.’
Oh.
“The last time I checked, we booked a DJ for the night. Care to explain?”
I would rather run away, but I remain in my chair, gripping the front of the seat beneath me. I could lie and tell her the DJ was booked out, but that wouldn’t do me any good. Sun City has dozens of people who could do the job well. People we’ve used before.
Tears prick at my eyes because I know this is only the beginning. “I thought the Greenwood needed something more organic.”
“You thought,” Lila repeats. She points to another cell. “And the change in menu?”
“I thought—”
“You.Thought.” She narrows her eyes, leaning toward me with a murderous expression. “I don’t recall promoting you to a planning position, Miss Taylor. In fact, I remember numerous conversations where I told you to keep your nose out of things and do the job I hired you for. Do you know why that is?”
Because you’re threatened by me. Because you won’t admit you’re wrong. Because you’re afraid that paying me what I’m worth is only going to make me realize that I can do this on my own.
My breath catches. What if Icoulddo this on my own?
There must be something in my expression because Lila jumps to her feet so she can stare me down. I drop my gaze to my lap, too miserable to look at her. “When this event fails, and it will,youare going to take the blame for the Greenwood Lodge’s inevitable downfall. You’ll be responsible for Bradley Properties going bankrupt and all of Grant’s employees losing their jobs. No one will hire you to plan six-year-old birthday parties, let alone anything important, and whatever aspirations you might have had, you will kiss them goodbye. I was going to promote you after the Greenwood opening, but with the way you’ve acted behind my back, it is clear to me that you cannot be trusted. You are never going to be anything more than an assistant at Ember for the rest of your silly little life.”
My head snaps up. “You’re not firing me?”
“I should. But someone has to clean up your mess, don’t they?” Lila points to the spreadsheet. “You are going to fix this and make everything happen the wayweplanned.”
With my stomach twisting in knots, I try to make sense of what she’s saying. “But the event is tomorrow. There won’t be time to—”
“You’re going to make it happen. I don’t care how late you have to stay or how many calls you have to make, but everything will be exactly how it should be or everything we paid for this event is coming out of your paycheck.”
She can’t do that. Can she? I have no idea. I’ll have to call Skyler and see if she has any answers for me since she used to work in corporate law. But am I going to have time to call Skyler? My mind is already racing, trying to figure out how I can change everything in the next twenty-four hours.
There’s no way.
“And Micah?” Lila narrows her eyes. “If the reopening doesn’t go off without a hitch, you’ll be losing more than just your job. Do you understand?”
I nod, unable to speak.
“Get out of my sight.”
She doesn’t have to tell me twice. Scrambling out of my chair, I scurry back to my desk with my phone already in hand. I’m sure Debbie can make a quick pivot and change the food, and the decorations shouldn’t be all that different because I convinced the team to change their direction, but the rest?
I stumble to a halt when I find Fischer sitting on the floor of my cubicle again, staring at my chair with a dead expression on his face. Grant is nowhere to be found. Heart racing, I crouch down next to him and grab his limp hand. I’ve never seen him empty like this, and that scares me. “Fischer?”
“Grant fired me.” He doesn’t even look at me. “My own brother fired me for signing off on all of your ideas.”
Well, that’s just throwing gasoline on the dumpster fire that is my life. I drop to the floor, feeling sick. “Oh my gosh, Fischer, I’m so sorry. This is all my fault. If I’d just—”
“No.” He growls, snapping to life and scowling at me. “You are not taking the blame for something that has nothing to do with you. Aren’t you sick of being treated like you’re worthless when you’re the only good thing Lila has going for her?”
“Of course I am! But it’s not like I can do anything about it.”
He growls again, clenching his hands and gritting his teeth so hard that his jaw muscles look ready to snap. “You’re worth so much more than what they give you, Micah. Lila is too wrapped up in her own self-importance and drama to know that she would sink without you, just like Grant is too focused on his problems to see that he’s had someone on his side when everyone else has left him. You…we…deserve better.”
