Thebastard.
She hit the monitor’s power button. The screen went black and empty and useless as Neil’s fickle heart.
She snatched the RR-40s and marched to Shirley’s office.
“They’re not signed,” Shirley said. And the look she shot Anna added,So what are you going to do about it?
If the releases weren’t signed, the fuel wasn’t officially QA certified and couldn’t be delivered to base, which meant a potential for unplanned aircraft downtime for lack of fuel. Which was expensive. Which meant the government might look for another distributor when RMC’s contract was up for renewal.That, Anna could fix. And being able to fixsomethingfelt good. “I watched Jules test it. It’s fine. I’ll sign for her.”
Shirley’s jaw settled into that stubborn tilt. “Has to be the analyst. She’s qualified. You’re not.”
Oh, good. A fight. Anna set her jaw to match Shirley’s. “I have a year of experience and I’m highly educated.”
“But you don’t have a degree.”
No, she didn’t. Because she’d left college two semesters short to marry Neil when he convinced her she could finish up at a school close to his first assignment.
He’d been wrong.
About more than she could’ve imagined.
She’d had to retake a few classes that hadn’t transferred in order to get into senior design, and had one semester to gotherewhen Neil got orders early because of his program moving to a different base. Wash, rinse, repeat.
Shirley’s gaze landed on Anna’s hands. She curled them into balls and thrust them into the pockets of her cardigan. “Jules said they were good to go.”
“Jules was preoccupied,” Shirley said. “What happens if you sign off on our delivery and the plane goes down because something wasn’t right on our end? Then your butt’s on the line, and more important,mybutt’s on the line for letting a tech aide certify our analyses. You want to sign that dotted line, go back to school.”
A lump of hysterical laughter popped and fizzled around her larynx. She was still paying student loans from three different institutions and had her doubts Neil would consider signing over his GI Bill to her as part of a divorce settlement.
Oh,God. She was getting divorced. “Right.”
“Right’s exactly right.” Shirley plucked a couple of brochures from an uneven stack of papers that made Anna twitch. “The job’s always come second for you.”
“I—”
“I don’t fault you for that,” Shirley interrupted. “You came here as an officer’s wife looking for an outlet and a paycheck. The team’s appreciated your work. But you’ve been lax with continuing education and certifications. You’re organized, but are you ambitious? Do you want a job, or are you going to start watching the men around here like they’re your next meal ticket?”
She couldn’t even manage a squawk of protest. She wastoo busy figuring out if she was angry, sad, or suddenly living someone else’s life.
Shirley pointedly gestured to Anna’s hidden left hand. “You’re a pretty girl. They’ll start circling soon enough. Just make sure it doesn’t mess with the work.”
Oh, God. She was right. Men would think she wasavailable.
More like physically ill.
Shirley leaned forward and shoved the brochures at her. “Take a breather. Look these over. Nice week to take an afternoon off, what with Jules out.” She gestured to her clock. “I have to go placate a client who’s not going to be happy about that late delivery.”
Anna shuffled out of Shirley’s office. Halfway down the hall, she risked a glance at her ringless hand to inspect the brochures.
Three were about RMC’s internal fuels expert certification programs. The last one outlined RMC’s tuition assistance policy.
And in three more days, she would qualify.
She stopped in the hallway. Her lungs seemed to be battling one another. One side of her chest felt panic, the other hope, with her heart caught in the crossfire.
Neil could change his mind.
Or she could put herself first for once in her grown life.
