Chapter one
“—and I can onlyimagine how difficult it’s been managing the back without me,” LA Holmes said with a polite smile. “Please believe that I am ready to return to work as soon as possible.”
His manager, Michael Block, frowned and glanced over the papers in front of him. “But this says you haven’t been cleared for lifting?”
“No, no,” LA said quickly. “I was cleared for up to fifty pounds, sir.”
Michael stared. “But the job is for at least seventy-five.”
LA gritted his teeth.
Smile. Just keep smiling.
“We both know that’s ridiculous,” LA forced himself to spit out. “Some decedents are in a bit of, let’s say,excessof that number. It’s not like we ever move a body by ourselves because that would be dangerous to us and them, so—”
“But you were only cleared for fifty.”
“Really? That’s what you’re focused on right now?”
Michael’s furrowed brow indicated his answer was ayes.
A sweaty, uncomfortable yes.
“We want what’s best for you, Mr. Holmes,” Lisa Sun said with a perfectly congenial smile. She was from the human resources department for the company that owned the funeral home, and she was just as plastic as the fake plants that decorated the conference room. “Your family here at Barrie-Lucas Funeral Home wants that too. But the company has to move forward, and we’ve already filled your position—”
“I embalmed your uncle,” LA snapped, glaring at Michael now. “Do you remember that? I did that when I was anapprentice. You trusted me to take care of the man who raised you—”
“Mr. Holmes—”
“—because your daddy was a fucking drunk just like you—”
“Mr. Holmes!”
LA stood, his eyes narrowed and jaw set. “This is absolute horseshit. You’re firing me on a bullshit job description technicality and for what? To get some asshole fresh out of college that you don’t have to pay as much? Is that it? Because I was toodifficultof an employee? Oh, you haven’t seen fucking difficult yet—”
“I think you’ll find that we’ll see very little of your difficult behavior,” Lisa cut in while Michael trembled. “After all, haven’t we seen enough? You have a very troubling pattern of behavior, Mr. Holmes. Insubordination, fraternization, and oh, my personal favorite, drinking on the job—”
“I was not on the clock, merely here on the premises during asnowstormthat prevented all the staff from leaving the property,” LA clapped back. “My apologies for not knowing in advance that my manager was a recovering alcoholic and sharing a bottle of vodka from the trunk of my car was a terribleidea. Which! Oh! By the way, still has nothing to do with this meeting.”
“Does it not?” Lisa arched a brow. “There have been many concerns about your professionalism and your attitude during your employment.”
“Excuse me?”
Lisa tapped a folder in front of her. “You have quite the collection of write-ups, warnings, and at least two counseling sessions with human resources, one of which includes the aftermath of your snowstorm adventure when you verbally attacked your manager, Mr. Block here—”
Michael shrank in his seat.
“We were drunk, off the clock, and—” LA tried to cut in.
“Still on company property.” Lisa opened the folder. “Just like when you told a coworker to, and I quote,choke on a block of cement and then jump in a river?”
“That was an extremely stressful day. We had an entire family who’d passed away in a car accident and—”
“What about when you told a coworker to change careers to something they were more suited for? Like working atMcDonalds?”
LA gritted his teeth.
“Or when you threatened a client’s family?”
