“Wait,” she said. “Can I talk to you in private for a second?”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea given our last private conversation.”
Her cheeks flushed red.
“It’s a business conversation,” she said. “Out in the hall, please?”
I gestured for her to lead the way and made sure that we were still in sight of everyone.
“I’m listening, Miss Stone,” I said.
“I went ahead and signed up to take the CPA exam for the next round, and I’m going to attempt to take all the parts at once, so…”
“So?”
“So, I need an additional four days off every month to study,” she said, “starting with tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow is myWall Street Journalinterview.”
“I left super extensive notes on your cloud, and I have two interns ready to step in and shut any not-allowed questions down,” she said. “But we’ve rehearsed it plenty of times, and I think you’ll be fine.”
“I have other meetings and things that need to be handled tomorrow as well,” I said. “Why can’t you take Sunday off?”
“Because I already get Sundays off…”
“Problem solved.”
“Please.” She touched my arm, but then quickly withdrew it. “I can’t possibly study without off days.”
“Fine, Miss Stone,” I said. “Despite giving you a colossal raise and clearing out new office space for you, you can have this Saturday off.”
“What about the other upcoming off days?”
“We’ll talk about that when we get there.”
“Thank you.” She smiled. “Thank you very much.”
This was the part when I knew I should’ve walked away…
“Tell me something,” I said, lingering. “Which senior employee did you draw for gifting?”
“You.”
“How is that possible if I wasn’t invited to play?”
“Well, they made me get you in exchange for staying in their good graces. Don’t worry, I don’t expect you to know anything about funny little knick-knack gifts.”
“So, you didn’t get me anything?”
“I shouldn’t have.” She pulled a small red gift box from her purse and handed it to me. “But I’m a stickler for tradition.”
We stared at each other for several moments, and I was seconds away from picking up where we left off in my office last time.
“Um…” She stepped back first. “Can I go back to the party now?”
“Please do.”
I walked away and carried the gift up to my office. Setting it on my desk, I stared at it—confused.
