Well, I would definitely have to check that out because I'd cleared that through HR when I took the promotion. I wanted to make sure that Trudy could continue to work from home as she usually did.
"But that's not the worst of it," Trudy said.
I waited as she seemed to mull over what to say.
Finally, she continued, "He's taking credit for your ideas and your work. All that stuff you emailed him over the past couple of months? He's not mentioned you once in the meetings. It's allhisplan."
What in the hell? Seriously? Not only had he interrupted my vacation more than once, he had the gall to say it was his work. No, that wasn't okay at all. I busted my ass to get where I was and I fully intended to continue doing it.
"Do you have proof?" I asked, my voice soft. It took all my willpower to keep my words even rather than screaming.
Trudy bit her lip. She looked scared. "Not really. I have a couple of emails from him, but the only reason I knew they were your ideas is because I logged into your account to find an old email I needed and I saw your messages to Barnes."
Wow, my face was hot and my head throbbed. I wondered how high my blood pressure was. Twenty-seven was too young for a stroke, right?
"And in the meetings, he's been presenting them as his material without mentioning you," she finished.
I took a deep breath and released it. Then another. And another. Nope, not helping. I was still pissed as hell. I knew things like this happened a lot in the corporate world, but they'd never happened to me. My boss before Barnes had been a great guy who was more than happy to give me kudos when I solved a problem or found a way to save time and money.
I glanced at the clock on my computer screen. Ten-fifteen. I had forty-five minutes before the meeting started at eleven. Which meant I had some digging to do and quickly.
"Will you let me do some nosing around before you officially turn in your notice?" I asked her. "An hour or two?"
She nodded and got to her feet.
I waited until she was at the door before I called her name. When she turned toward me, I said, "Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I know it wasn't easy."
"It was a dick move," she replied. "I couldn't let you go into that meeting blind."
She disappeared out the door and I stared at my computer screen for a long moment. I didn't want to deal with this. I didn't want to fight. I used to love my job and everything that came along with it. The long hours, the problem-solving, the ability to work pretty much wherever I wanted.
But this morning, I'd dreaded coming into the office. I would rather be at Crave. I liked working with Cam at the shop. I liked living in Farley and seeing Colette and Malcolm every Sunday.
And I loved Ben.
It was like a bolt of lightning exploded in my brain. I couldn't imagine my life without him and I didn't want to. I didn't want a long-distance relationship because of a job I no longer felt passionate about. I wanted to go to bed with him every night and wake up with him every morning at an ungodly hour so I could watch him sweat his way through a workout. Okay, maybe not every morning, but a couple a week sounded good.
I wanted him to make me dinner and teach me to cook.
Fuck want. I needed him. He made my life better. He mademebetter.
I wasn'tfalling in lovewith him because I was already there.
As I came to the realization, a plan formed in my mind. I hesitated at first because I was about to burn every bridge I'd made in the company but I ignored the niggle of doubt and focused on logic.
Okay, so what I was thinking of doing wasn't just going to burn the bridges, it was going to be like setting off a nuclear warhead. I just had to find a way to shield Trudy so she could stay on if she wanted.
One more glance at the clock. Ten-twenty. I had forty minutes to get this done. It would be tight, but I could manage it.
I flexed my fingers and got to work.
