Page 20 of Get It In Writing
Chapter Eleven - Harper
I’m stunned. I thought we had a good thing going. The sharp pang of rejection starts behind my eyes, but I try to shake it off. She’s rejected not only me, but my business. The thing I’ve put all my effort and sweat into over the past ten years.
Maybe I wasn’t personal enough with her. I shouldn’t have sent her that email this morning. I should have showed up at her door yesterday afternoon and demanded that she get in the car, presented her with a box of cookies and driven her up to the country house for the day.
But this is good for her. She has all the potential and opportunity in the world, and if she’s as good as I think she is at graphic design, she’ll out-earn me within the quarter.
Joanna’s buzzing me, and I hit the green button to answer.
“Your ten o’clock is here,” she says. She’s a funny girl, that one. She’s a little bit too excited, or something.
“Thanks, just put them in the conference room and I’ll be there in a minute.”
I get up and stretch my legs. They feel like rocks, and I feel like I’ve been sitting for a week. Is it too early for a drink? I go over to my bar cart and decide against having a stiff one this early.
It’s a good thing I have a meeting right now, because if i didn’t, I’d probably end up knocked out on my ass by two in the afternoon with the company of bourbon straight-up.
So I gather up my laptop and start for the front desk to talk to Joanna.
“Terrible thing about Rebecca,” she says as I put an elbow up on the counter above the desk. I look at my name emblazoned on the wall behind Joanna. The logo is a little out-dated, and I could use something fresh.
“Yeah,” I say. “It is. Smart girl. Did she happen to say anything to you about leaving?”
“No, not at all.” Joanna blinks up at me and smiles. I spot a piece of paper on the desk next to her keyboard. From just a cursory glance, it looks a lot like a note I gave Rebecca.
“What’s that piece of paper, Joanna?” A knot tightens up in my chest, and I get a terrible feeling in my gut.
“That’s nothing,” she says, grabbing the paper, crumpling it up and tossing it into the wastebasket behind her desk. “The people for your meeting are waiting in the conference room.”
I can deal with this later. This girl seems a little off, and I don’t want to get on her bad side. I know she can’t do anything to me, but I don’t need the annoyance and aggravation. She seems like a girl who would buzz around your ear like a fly and annoy the shit out of you.
The meeting is standard: I need to discuss permits with some government bureaucrats. But I’m phoning it in. I’m not myself. I can’t get Rebecca out of my head.
I slip my phone out of my pocket to check my texts. I just have one from my brother, asking me when I’m planning to be at mom’s house for Christmas. Nothing from Rebecca. I check my emails. There’s just a few emails from Joanna, telling me about some calls that came in. The last email is signed with her name and a smiley face.
Jesus.
The meeting finally ends, and after I shake hands with the paper-pushers from downtown, I go back over to Joanna.
“Can I please see that paper you threw out before?” I ask through clenched teeth. She’s really getting on my nerves now.
“It’s nothing, but if you really want to see it,” she says, rolling her eyes and rooting around for it in her wastebasket, “here it is.”
I smooth it out between my fingers and examine in. I don’t remember giving this note to Rebecca, but it looks like my handwriting.
“Where did this come from?” I ask, searching Joanna’s face for a sign of honesty. “And why’d you try to hide it?”
She laughs and leans forward in her chair, pressing her tits together under my eyes. I’m tired of this bullshit. “Oh, it’s nothing. I just wanted Rebecca to know that she isn’t the only one playing a little game around the office.”
My fucking heart sinks into my shoes. If this lady made my girl quit me over some stupid shit like this.
“What does that mean?” I demand.
“Maybe I have a little boyfriend around the office too,” she says, tracing a finger along her collarbone, “or maybe I’m just trying to get one.”
“Whatever you think you’re doing,” I hiss, anger and resentment fueling me, “stops now.”
“I’m not doing anything inappropriate,” she says, forcing a laugh that I know she thinks is flirtatious but just sounds fake as shit. “I’m not doing anythingshedidn’t do. And besides, she isn’t the only one who thinks you’re cute.”
“Get your shit and get the hell out of my office.” I want to help her put her goddamn coat on, but I can’t stand the sight of her. “Now.”
“You can’t fire me!” she shouts, jumping out of her seat. “This is illegal!”
“Illegal?” I say in disbelief. “Youcame on tome. Now get out before I have security escort you out. I’m trying to handle this as calmly and professionally as possible. Don’t make this get ugly.”
She freezes and starts to stutter something before letting out a huge sigh, gathering her things in a huff and storming out.
I watch her walk away and she doesn’t look back. Good. I don’t want to look at her.
