Page 23 of Don't Bet On It
“Yes,” I agreed. “The episode where Willow almost ends the world.” Something occurred to me. “Wait. You don’t think I’m capable of ending the world, do you?”
She laughed as if I’d said the funniest thing ever, earning the attention of Kyla, who had walked into the pit. Olivia’s back was to her, and it was impossible to miss the glare Kyla shot at my best friend.
Oh no. Something bad was about to happen. I could feel it. Before I could warn Olivia, however, Kyla was on us.
“Tallulah,” she said in an icy voice, “I’m glad to see you’re on time this evening.”
I’d only ever been late once and by two minutes. She refused to let me forget it. “Of course,” I said automatically.
“Visits from friends are strictly forbidden, however,” she continued as if she was imparting a helpful tidbit on me. “I’m going to have to make a notation in your permanent file. Isn’t that three notations already?”
Since she was the only one making notations, she already knew the answer to that question. “That sounds about right.”
Olivia turned slowly and faced Kyla. “She has notations in her file?”
Kyla blanched when she recognized Olivia. “Oh, um, I didn’t realize you were the one dropping in for a visit, Mrs. Stone.”
“What notations does she have in her file?” Olivia asked. Her voice was brutally pleasant, which was a dead giveaway that she was about to turn difficult.
“Oh, just minor things.” Kyla brushed off the question as if it didn’t matter. “It’s not a big deal.”
Olivia pushed forward. “Well, if it’s not a big deal, then you should have no problem showing me.”
Kyla looked as if she wanted to do anything—including take up interpretive dance—other than show Olivia the file. She didn’t have a choice, though. “Of course.” She disappeared behind the counter and came back with a manila folder. Leave it to Kyla to go old school with a physical folder rather than an electronic one. Her eyes briefly landed on me, and there was fury there. When she snagged gazes with Olivia, however, she was all smiles. “As I said, it’s not a big deal.”
“You made it sound like a big deal.” Olivia opened the file, which contained numerous pages of notes. Much more than the two—potentially, three—incidents Kyla had remarked on. “So, it says here she was late about a week ago.” Olivia’s forehead creased. “What day was this?”
I opened my mouth to respond, but Kyla answered first.
“Eight days ago. She was technically late on her first day, too, but she got held up by security, so I didn’t put that one in there.” Kyla acted as if she deserved a reward for that.
Olivia swished her lips. “I should hope not. We all know the first day with security is a doozy. You do have notes in here about the incident.” She whipped out the sheet of paper and handed it to Kyla. “You don’t need that. It must have been an oversight.”
Kyla swallowed hard but nodded. “Of course. It was a total accident.” She crumpled up the sheet of paper and shoved it in the garbage can. “I have no idea how that happened.”
Olivia flicked her eyes up to me. “Was this other day because you were in the storage room?”
The question in Kyla’s presence made me distinctly uncomfortable, but I nodded all the same.
“This one can go into the garbage too.” Olivia whipped it out of the stack and handed it to Kyla. “She was late because of unforeseen circumstances.”
“Life is full of unforeseen circumstances,” Kyla replied dryly.
“Yes, but in this instance she was doing something important for my family.” Olivia’s gaze was steely. “If you need higher clearance, I can get Zach on the phone. Or he can come down here, and we can do this in person,” she added brightly, as if it was an afterthought.
Kyla looked furious. “I…” She didn’t finish. She seemed to be debating her options. “That won’t be necessary,” she said finally. When she crumpled that sheet of paper, she did it with enough force that her knuckles turned white. “It’s not necessary at all.”
“Good.” Olivia smiled and looked at another sheet of paper. “And what’s wrong with the uniform? You have a write-up about the uniform in here that I don’t quite understand.”
“The top is too small.” Kyla gestured toward my cleavage. “I think one size up would be better.”
I wanted to wrap my fingers around her throat and start squeezing. I held it together. Barely. “I believe I mentioned I thought I would do better with a bigger top during my first shift,” I gritted out.
If looks could kill, I would’ve been dead. Kyla made a coughing noise into her hand then shook her head. “I’m sorry. I must not have heard you when you made that request.”
“You’re on the hook for uniform issues,” Olivia said as she whipped out the sheet of paper and handed it to Kyla. “Get her a bigger top. This should’ve never been there in the first place. You’re in charge of making sure everybody is dressed correctly.”
Kyla balked. “I… Of course.” She threw the sheet of paper in the garbage can. “Anything else?”
