“It’s about your report. We want you to know we consider these matters with the highest level of respect, and we take concerns seriously.”
“Mm.” Hollow reassurances like that never came along with real action.
“We’ve conducted a thorough investigation, and in light of evidence coming forward, we wanted you to know that Mister Donahue has been terminated from his position.”
I stopped, phone up to my ear, staring straight ahead. It was a messed-up product of society that my first instinct was to apologize and withdraw—that that was extreme and that my complaint had caused all that trouble and commotion. “Oh,” was all I managed. “That’s… I see.”
“In light of the circumstances, we wanted to offer our sincerest apologies. We don’t condone or accept the sort of behavior you were subjected to, and we’ve reevaluated your sudden resignation through the lens of the investigation, and the department manager personally wanted to extend an offer for you to come back to your position, with backpay for the time you were out.”
I sucked in a long, shaky breath. I felt like I was going to be sick. “I… I see.”
“We hope you accept our apologies and see our efforts to make things right.”
∞∞∞
“Oh—you’re back early.” Bridget sat up off the couch,peeking over the back to look at me as I came in the door. From the rustling and movement and putting something away, I assumed it was a good thing I hadn’t come back about ten minutes later. Normally I’d be all for coming home to a sight like that, but now wasn’t really the time.
“Hi,” I said. Her face fell, and she sat up taller.
“Oh, shit. What happened?” She climbed over the back of the couch, hurrying towards me—she wasn’t wearing pants, and I guess if I was being honest, even with the situation, it wasn’t like I minded the sight. Maybe I needed to fuck the feelings out. Or maybe I was delirious. Could be both.
“I got a job offer,” I said.
“Oh—that’s great.” She stood in front of me, hands folded at her waist, looking at me carefully. I set my bag down on the kitchen table. I felt like I didn’t know how to hold myself.
“I got two job offers.”
“Oh. That’s… that’s twice as great.” She scratched her head. “Victoria, what’s happening?”
“Mark Castle came around again.”
“The one from the office? Did he come around before?”
Oh yeah. I guess I hadn’t mentioned him before. Both times he’d shown up before, I’d had… other things to talk to Bridget about. “A couple times at the café. There’s some shakeups at the office, and he offered me my old job back. Or potentially an even better one, depending on how it goes.”
“Well, that’s… that’s great.” I could see it in her eyes, too—the same wariness, not sure how to approach the topic of me taking a job here.
“And the job in Seattle got in touch with me again. Offered me that job back too.”
“What—on the same day?” She shook her head. “Did they take that creepy asshole of a boss you had and dump him in the ocean?”
“No. Probably not. They said they terminated him. I assume they meant from the job. Could go either way, I suppose.”
“Oh. Well, that’s… that’s great,” she said, shoulders falling but not much, still shifting nervously, watching me. I didn’t want to have this conversation. I’d been hiding from it for months now. Been hiding from it for all my life.
“With backpay, too.”
“Oh, so they think you’d have a case to sue them and they’re really covering their asses.”
I laughed thickly. It broke something in me, and I stumbled a little, and Bridget moved in an instant, catching me, her hands on my arms, and I let her do whatever it was she was doing… we moved, somehow, one way or another, and before long, I was sitting on the couch, a mug of hot chocolate in my hand, a plate with a couple of cookies. Bridget sat next to me, stroking my arm, and it took a minute of me sipping the drink before I managed to speak.
“I don’t know why I’m upset about this.”
“Well…” Bridget knew exactly why, and so did I. Neither of us wanted to admit it.
“After all this… stress… I didn’t think I’d wind up in a position of two job openings fighting over me.”
“Which one do you want?” she said softly. “Ignoring everything else, just for now. Which one do you want?”
