“You’re suffocating me,” I said with a fake cough.
He released me and looked me over carefully, worry in his eyes.
“I’m fine, Dad,” I said.
“And the baby?”
“Fine too,” I assured him, nodding for the booth.
We both sat down and looked over the menus before placing an order with our server. My father opted for his usual chicken, vegetables, and rice, and I went with a cheeseburger. I was starving. Always. It was a good thing Chandler fed me some tea cookies before I left, or I might have ordered two cheeseburgers.
“So, what’s going on at work?” I asked warily, not sure if I wanted to know.
My father smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “We got him,” he said with an authoritative nod.
“You did?” I asked wide-eyed, surprised Chandler hadn’t told me.
“Just this morning,” he said.
“Who was it?”
“Brent from Accounting.” He shook his head.
I nearly spit out my water, picturing the mild-mannered accountant. He had been with the company for years.Decades.
“You’re kidding!” I said in surprise.
“Afraid not. You never know who you can trust anymore…”
I hated that someone had betrayed my father, even more that it was someone who had been working for him for so long. It waseven more of a slap in the face. To think he got away with it for as many years as he had. It made sense, though. He was always keeping his head down, flying just under the radar, but pulling all these manipulative strings behind closed doors.
“What happened?”
“I confronted him at a meeting this morning. He was absolutely terrified. I fired him, of course, without severance. I turned him into the SEC, but not before watching as he transferred every single dime back into our accounts. He will never work as an accountant, and maybe not ever, again.”
“Good riddance,” I said. I shook my head in disbelief still. I prided myself in knowing everyone at the company, but I guessed you could only know so much about someone. People often surprised you, especially when it came to money.
“Now what?” I asked.
“We’ve got to take a good, hard look at our employees. If it weren’t for Chandler, we would never have known something was amiss. I want to go through everyone with a fine-toothed comb.”
“Yes, of course.”
“But enough about that,” he said, waving me off as if he hadn’t just told me a big scandal. “How is your health?”
“I told you, I’m fine. Baby is fine. We went to the doctor just a few days ago.”
“Good,” he said, feeling satisfied with my answer.
“Chandler has been taking good care of me,” I said, testing the waters. My father and Chandler had been working together, but I didn’t know where they stood on a more personal level.
He smiled, looking pleased. “He’s a good man,” he said.
“He is.”
“He should come by the office tomorrow. Both of you. It’s about time we properly celebrate you and the baby.”
“Really?” I asked, surprised he wanted to make it public.
