“You definitely did not.” I slapped my hand over my mouth to prevent any more sass from exiting.
But Blanc smiled this time. He actually looked like he couldbe kind when he smiled. His eyes crinkled like this was something he’d done before, though I’d yet to see it until then. He ran a hand through salt-and-pepper hair. “Perhaps I’m mistaken, my dear. Could you pull the Bishop file and bring it to me?”
“Yes, sir,” I said. I rushed out of the office, my face flushed. I pulled the Bishop file and returned to Mr. Blanc’s office, staying as close to the open door as I could. “Here you go.”
“Thank you, Miss Gordon.”
“Sure, Mr. Blanc. Anything else you need from me?”
“Please, call me Richard.”
“Oh,” I said, surprised. I didn’t really want to call him Richard. “Okay.” I glanced at the door. “So, anything else?”
“How about a drink tonight?”
Fuck.“I don’t know?—”
“With a few people from the office—a, what is it called, ahappyhour.”
My heart rate slowed. I’d only go if coffee-one-cream went. “Oh. Sure. I guess so.”
“Good. Now that will be all.” His eyes scanned me in a way that made my skin crawl before he waved me away.
I went back to my standing desk-slash-cart, body buzzing from how uncomfortable that interaction was. I shook my head and took the moment I finally had to check my phone. I had six missed calls from August’s mom. That was more than a butt dial.
I snuck away to the bathroom for privacy. It was not difficult to find in there when I was one of three women in the office. One being the receptionist and the other another paralegal.I pushed through the door, glad to find none of the three stalls filled. I leaned against the wall opposite the mirror to call her back.
She answered on the first ring. “Lacy, thank god.” Her voice was high-pitched and raw.
“Hi, Mrs. P. Sorry, I was pretty busy at work. Is everything all right?” My heart was beating practically too loud to hear myself ask the question.
“No, I—no. August was in a car accident this morning. She ran a red light. She hit someone. They’re okay, but she…we don’t know. They rushed her into surgery this morning, and she just got out. We don’t know if she is going to be okay.”
Numbness washed over me. I blinked hard, my vision blurry. “Shit. Um…okay…” I didn’t know what to do. My brain was taking its time processing this information; I wasn’t sure I even understood what she said. Somehow a logical question managed to leave my lips. “Where is she?”
“The hospital. Come…come when you can, but sooner is better than later.”
“Shit,” I said again. “Okay. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Lacy, just—just be careful on the drive over.”
I hung up the phone and stood still, staring at myself in the bathroom mirror. My hair was more wild than normal, and I tried so hard to contain it that morning, pulling it into a bun that most of the hair seemed to have sprung loose from. I needed to go, but my feet wouldn’t move. “I need to go,” I said aloud as a way to force myself to move. To make one step. One step toward the door and the rest should come easily. My feet didn’t move. I was frozen.
“I need to go,” I verbalized again, and this time, the prompt worked. My feet started to move. They took me out of the bathroom and straight to Blanc’s office. “I need to go,” I repeated to him.
He scrunched his face, asking blandly, “Meaning?”
“My friend. She was in an accident. August. She’s in the hospital. I need to go.”
He shook his head. “No. She’s not family. You don’t need to go.”
“Sheisfamily,” I insisted, my voice surprisingly steady. “Ineedto go.”
He continued to shake his head. “If you go, you won’t have a job anymore.”
“Fine,” I said without a moment’s hesitation. I stripped off my lanyard and dropped it in his doorway, pivoting on my heel to retrieve my personal effects (a singular mug and a pen I planned to steal) from my cart.
As I dug my keys out of my bag, I dropped them on the floor with a curse. I reached for them, but someone else was there to pick them up before I had the chance. Coffee-one-cream was standing in front of me, my keys in his hand, eyes soft with concern. “I’ll drive you,” he said.
