Page 78 of Pas de Don't
Mr. K glared at Carly for a long moment, then waved his hand at Barbara, dismissing her. “These things happen,” he said shortly. “Everyone loses their temper from time to time, as I’m sureyouknow all too well, Ms. Montgomery.”
“That’s true,” Heather said, unsurprised by his response. “But this is part of a pattern. As I’m sure you know, both Melissa and I have dated Jack. And Melissa’s experience has been quite similar to mine.” Melissa pulled out her own phone and slid it forward, as Heather picked up her own phone, pulled up her voicemail, and hit play.
Jack’s drunk, vicious voice echoed off the hard surfaces of Mr.K’s office. When the message ended, Mr. K looked down again, taking in the messages on Melissa’s phone, and Heather saw his mouth set into a firm, straight line.
“There’s more like that,” Melissa said grimly. “You can swipe through to see them.”
“And as you’ll see, Jack’s name is on all of them,” Heather added. “Melissa can email them to you, and I can send you the audio file, if you’d like.”
Mr. K pushed the phone away. “That won’t be necessary,” he said tersely.
Heather glanced at Melissa with a knowing smile, then opened her email and hit send on the message she’d drafted the previous night.
“I’ve sent them to you anyway, just in case,” she said and willed herself not to break eye contact as Mr. K’s face turned thunderous. He knew as well as she did that once those messages were in his inbox, there’d be a paper trail, and no way for him to pretend he didn’t know about them.
He paused, then spoke as he chose his words very carefully. “Thisis...unfortunate. Certainly not polite or gentlemanly behavior. But how Mr. Andersen conducts himself in his private life is a private matter.”
“Even if the women he’s mistreating are his colleagues? Your employees?” Heather asked.
Mr. K said nothing.
“This isn’t simply impolite or ungentlemanly, it’s violent and sexist,” she went on. “Carly and Melissa and I are entitled to a safe work environment, aren’t we? One where we aren’t afraid of being abused by our coworkers, even if that abuse happens after hours, or in private, or from the other side of the world?”
More silence. Heather pressed on, determined to say what came next, and trying to make it sound as though she and Carly hadn’t rehearsed it together last night.
“Carly was so pleased to be cast in a principal role in the new women’s empowerment initiative,” she said, amazed that her voice stayed steady as she dropped the hammer. “It would certainly be, uh,unfortunateif it became public she was fired in order to keep Jack happy.”
“Especiallyif these screenshots somehow found their way onto social media or to a reporter,” Carly added. “The company’s spending so much money to finally look women-friendly, but peoplemight start to wonder: does NYB really empower women, or does it silence them and protect the men who hurt them?”
Mr. K’s eyes narrowed, and Heather felt a spark of triumph jump in her chest. It was a nightmare headline, one that would be all too easy for him to picture. And it wouldn’t even need to be a headline to raise uncomfortable questions for the company. Heather knew better than anyone how small and gossipy the ballet world could be.
The silence stretched, tense and heavy, and Heather resisted the urge to fidget. Next to her, Melissa was frozen in her chair, and Heather could feel the nervous energy radiating from Carly. Finally, Mr. K spoke.
“What is it you propose I do, Miss Hays?” His tone was arctic now, but she could see a warm pink flush creeping up his neck.
“Give Carly her job back,” Melissa said, before the others could reply. She nodded at her phone. “And decide whether this is the kind of person you want in your company. And whether you’re prepared to defend that choice publicly.” In her high, sweet voice, the implied threat somehow sounded even more menacing.
Mr. K looked across the table at Melissa, his gaze sharp. He had no doubt known her since she was a preteen ballet student at the company’s school, just like Heather had, and surely he had been keeping a close eye on her since she joined the corps and started dating Jack. She was a gifted dancer, but now, Mr. K was looking at her as though he was realizing he had sorely underestimated her for reasons that had nothing to do with her dancing. Heather couldn’t help but think she had, too.
“I’ll consider it,” he said in a flat, defeated tone. Then he got to his feet, pushing back his black leather chair with a loud scrape. Heather and Melissa stood and glanced at Carly, who had always enjoyed the last word.
“You do that,” she said, with a triumphant smile. “You know how to reach me.”
They didn’t speak until the elevator carried them down to the lobby, where they’d strode out of the building and onto the wideexpanse of Lincoln Center Plaza. The dark paving stones sparkled inthe midmorning sun, and a breeze played unenthusiastically through the trees in the little park next to the NYB building.
“Oh my God, that was incredible!” Melissa said, words bursting from her at last. Her round face was jubilant, and her smile pure relief.
Heather chuckled, feeling a week’s worth of tension melt from her shoulders. “That was pretty great,” she admitted, linking her arm in Carly’s. “Are you okay?”
Carly gave her a tight nod, then wiped her eyes. Heather and Melissa both gathered to her.
“What’s the matter?” Melissa asked. “We won, didn’t we?”
Carly took a deep breath, and a few more tears rolled down her cheeks. She looked exhausted. “Yeah. I just wish we didn’t have to fight so hard.”
Heather hugged her, ignoring the heat of the day. “At least we don’t have to fight alone.”
“That’s true. And I fucking love a good fight.”
