“Don’t I smell amazing?” She beams at me and releases me, then gazes into the box in my arms. “Wait, why do you have those bracelets?”
“Oh, shit, I forgot to take them out. Jimmy was furious I didn’t sell any on the website.”
Her fair brows furrow together. “But wasn’t he adamant that they were the key item to bring foot traffic to the stores over Christmas? That’s what he told me.”
“Mmhmm.” I nod. “But he’s claiming he never would have said something so stupid and they didn’t sell because I fucked up.”
“What an asshole,” Victoria groans. “I’m sorry, honey. Forget about him, honestly. He’s just a sad, pathetic old man. Let’s get the rest of these up and then it’s party time!” She claps her hands together then takes the box from my hand and hurries away. I follow, carefully unwinding the streamer from my arm.
With Victoria by my side and a few other staff from other departments eager to help, the common room is soon transformed from a colorful Christmas haven into a silver-and-gold glitter ball ready for the New Year’s countdown. Thankfully, Jimmy doesn’t make an appearance and we get the rest of the decorations up just in time for the party to start at nine. Victoriagets things into full swing by popping the cork off a bottle of champagne and drenching the tiled floor in bubbles and alcohol.
Laughter fills the room and for the only time this year, everyone is friends. Alcohol flows, food passes between friends with bright smiles and happy stories of how good Christmas was, holiday plans for the next year, and a few drunken apologies about snippy emails. Angelic Jewels is a nice place to work when Jimmy isn’t breathing down everyone’s necks and pitting departments against one another to cover his own mistakes.
Andrew from Accounting brings me a glitter-covered chocolate ball and apologizes for delaying my paycheck back in March because Jimmy told him I was the one who reported him to HR for flirting with Amy from Sales. Turns out a week ago, he found out that it was actually his ex-wife who exploded at the Christmas dinner table, accusing Andrew of an affair he never had because Jimmy had told her after running into her in the supermarket. I’m still reeling in shock when Chris from the warehouse asks me straight to my face whether I’m trying to turn Angelic Jewels into a drop shipping business and remove the warehouse entirely.
I reassure him the best I can, refusing his attempts to get me to drink, and I’m not entirely convinced he believes me by the time he moves on around the party.
“Comeon,” Victoria whines an hour later, trying to ply me with a glass of wine. “When was the last time you let your hair down and had some fun?”
“This isn’t the kind of place I want to let my hair down.” I laugh, pushing the glass away. “Besides, I’m driving so I can’t.”
“Get a taxi with me!”
“Victoria, we live in opposite directions. Do you know how expensive that would be?”
“Oh, I don’t care!”
“I do.” I laugh, swerving the next attempt to give me the glass. “Trust me, you have it.”
“Boo.” Victoria laughs. “It’s not like you have anything to go home to.”
That comment sticks in my mind, so I catch her gently by the shoulders and face her. “I have to get home to Nick, remember?”
Victoria rolls her eyes, pouts, and then presses a messy, sticky lip gloss kiss to my cheek. “Fine. If you’re going to be boring, can you be a dear and fetch some more ice? I stored some in the freezer in our break room but I’m not sure I can find it with how much I had to drink.”
She pouts, bringing a bubble of laughter up my throat, and I nod. “I’ll get the ice.”
“Yay!” She hugs me close, tangling me in her long hair for a moment, then she steps away. “Cal saves the day!”
Several cheers rise up, although from the look on people’s faces, no one seems to know what they’re even cheering for. I step away from Victoria but before I can move further, her hand wraps around my wrist and she’s facing me once more.
“You’re not boring, by the way,” she says, her voice serious. “Honestly, I would not survive here without you.”
“Ditto.” I chuckle with a warm smile. “Let me get your ice.”
She affectionately squeezes my arm and then lets me slip away.
If I didn’t have to get home to Nick, I’d definitely have a drink or three to try and forget the horror this year has been. From work and home disasters colliding, there’s no escape from the stress that keeps my hair thin and my shoulders tense.
Victoria has the right idea. I should just take a really long holiday with Nick and forget everything.
The building is eerily quiet away from the party and I follow slightly unfamiliar corridors while searching for the break room assigned to Victoria and her people. I breathe deeply, quickly calculating when I’ll leave so I can make it home in time, when a voice drifts up from the office I pass and catches me off guard.
“—how much? Surely, we’re worth more than that? You can’t be serious. This deal is supposed to benefit both of us but right now, it feels like I’m the only one gettingfucked.”
Jimmy’s name is on the door and the sound of his voice turns the party food in my stomach into heavy acid within seconds. Just as I soften my steps to hurry away, he says something else that makes my blood run cold.
“I’m staying in charge, you hear me? I don’t care what fancy CEO they send down here, I’m staying in charge. Whoever he is will learn that just because he owns us, doesn’t mean he owns me!”
