“You can’t fire me.”
“Ah, but I can.”
“The contract I have is with your father.” As Penelope speaks, I click through items on my desktop and look at contracts, click on her name and scan over the document.
“No, your contract for the charity is with the acting COO of Knitted Hearts. In case you’ve forgotten, that would be me. Now, I’ll send Cassie over tomorrow afternoon. Please have all the files ready, and I’ll make sure she has your last payment.”
“Your father has never once complained about my services. You’re going to regret doing this,” Penelope complains. Her voice is a pitch higher and it’s obvious she’s upset. I can’t help her though, she did this to herself. If she wanted to keep her job, she should’ve reached out to me when my father made these changes. Changes he shouldn’t have ever been able to make in the first fucking place.
“Goodbye, Penelope.” I end the call and let out a frustrated sigh of relief.
Running my hand over my forehead, I struggle with what to do now. I glance at the clock, and it’s a little bit past four, but it’s snowed a bit, and I don’t want to drive quite yet. Better to let the salt get put on the roadways and sidewalks.
I call up my good friend, Haisley, who works a couple blocks away from me. She’s been a friend of mine since we were in school, and ironically enough, she knew Keenan as well. “Hey there, stranger. I was beginning to think ya forgot about me. How’re things?”
“Things are going well, but I’m afraid I’m not ringing you for a social hour. I have a business matter that I require your help with.” Haisley is an accountant by day. She’s certified and has been working as an accountant for a few years now.
“If you take me out for dinner and buy me a drink, I’ll do whatever it is. We haven’t had dinner in a million years, Delilah,” Haisley whines, and I know I’m going to end up agreeing to this.
“Fine, we’ll make plans for later this week then?”
“Um, no. How about we go get a glass of Guinness, eat some crappy food and catch up? The weather’s only going to get worse, and the roads are hardly salted from the looks of it.”
I glance out through my window, and even though the sun is starting to set, she’s right. The roads aren’t taken care of yet. The storm blew in out of nowhere, and none of us were prepared for it, if I’m being honest.
“Sure. Where do you want me to meet you?” I cave quicker than I intend to, but oh well, I haven’t seen Haisley for a long time.
“The pub around the corner from where you work is fine. Give me about five minutes, and I’ll be over. I just have to throw on my snow boots.” Haisley and I end our call, and the second I hang up with her, my phone is ringing again.
I pick up the phone. “Delilah Quigley speaking.”
“What in the bloody hell have you done, Delilah Ann Quigley!?” My father’s roaring so loud into the phone that I have to pull it away from my ear. If I don’t, he might burst my eardrum.
“I take it Penelope called you,” I say nonchalantly, while I kick off my heels and slide my feet into my snow boots.
“Obviously, and she told me you fired her for going over your head. I started this charity, Delilah. She had every right to come to me and—”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Dad. I’m the COO. I’m her boss. I’m the one she needs to be clearing things with, not you, but you know that. You’re only trying to come up with any excuse that you can to make yourself look good. Aren’t you?”
Instead of answering me directly, he deflects. “I had every right telling Penelope to move money to other branches of Knitted Hearts.”
“I wasn’t even aware we had other branches. Do you know how ridiculous that is?! I should’ve known! How can I effectively run the charity if I’m being left in the dark? Dad, look, I know you started this on your own, but Knitted Hearts is in very capable hands now. I know what I’m doing and I won’t let you down.”
“I know you won’t, but Penelope understands exactly what needs to be done for taxes. She’s worked for the charity since I started it.” I understand what he’s saying, but it doesn’t make a difference.
“And now Haisley will be handling the accounting for the charity. She’s more than capable. She’s worked with major corporations as well as other charities here in Northern Ireland.”
“No, you’ll call Penelope back right now and inform her she still has a job,” he grits. His angered tone becoming more evident with every passing second.
I let out a laugh, but I wasn’t trying to. “No, I will not. She was fired for a reason and that’s that. Now, I need to get going. I have a business meeting with Haisley to go over things. I’ll talk to you soon, Dad. Goodbye.” I hang up my landline and forward my phone to voicemail before he can call back. All I need to do now is finish tying my boots, and then I’ll be on my way.
CHAPTEREIGHTEEN
KEENAN
“Are you worried about the weather, or no?” Eamon asks as we walk up to the range. He thought it would be good for us to come here today, though I’m not convinced. I haven’t held a gun since the shooting, and even though Liam’s provided me with an amazing therapy team, there have been setbacks.
For fuck’s sake, whenever I bring my arm up to the level of my shoulder, there’s a shooting pain through my shoulder and arm. I know it’s normal to feel this pain, that it’s to be expected, but it doesn’t make anything easier. When I’m doing things with Delilah, I bite back the pain and don’t let her see a bit of it.
