Hi Noelle,
Thank you for meeting with us again to further discuss your concerns.
After a thorough review of the recent information you shared, as well as interviews with relevant parties and an assessment of available documentation, Evergreen & Co. has determined that we are unable to substantiate the claims as presented.
As you know, Evergreen is committed to fostering a professional, respectful, and collaborative workplace. However, we must also ensure that our internal standards are upheld and that all employees are able to perform their roles effectively within our culture.
At this time, we have identified several performance-related issues that have been previously documented, including concerns around team alignment, judgment in professional settings, and conduct inconsistent with Evergreen’s expectations. As such, we have decided to move forward with a separation of employment, effective immediately.
This decision is final.
You will receive information regarding your last paycheck, any continuation of benefits, and a standard severance package under separate cover. As outlined in your employment agreement, we expect continued adherence to confidentiality and non-disparagement policies.
We recognize that this may not be the outcome you were hoping for, and we encourage you to take the time you need to focus on your next steps. We wish you the best in your future endeavors.
Sincerely,
Janice Tyler
Human Resources
Evergreen & Co.
I tried to move on. As best as you can after a violation like that, plus how cruel it was that no one paid the price for their attack on me except for the victim, Itried.Being fired from Evergreen & Co. meant that I had a black mark on my record that kept competing firms from hiring me. I had to take whatever temp work I could to survive living in a pricy urban city likeSpringfield since I refused to let my parents help me more than they already have.
I refused to let them know that their twenty-four-year-old daughter was shattered and broken by five men whose lives seem fan-fucking-tastic while mine was destroyed.
Marcus got engaged. Dean got promoted. Charles Dutton’s oldest kid got into Harvard. The company was thriving, and stubborn to a fault, I did everything I could to put it behind me.
And then, the first holiday season after the Christmas party, I realized how much that night was still affecting me when I was walking past a boulangerie in downtown Springfield, caught a whiff of some kind of cranberry baked goods on the breeze, and bolted into the first door I found.
It was the Aria Coffee Lounge, an upscale coffeehouse next door. The bitter beans and scent of brewed coffee was enough to overpower the cranberry, and I breathed in deep before deciding that, instead of going to the library to fill out applications on the laptop I was toting around, I would use the complimentary Wi-Fi and fill them out there.
At least, that was the plan. Once I’d ordered my gingerbread latte to settle my queasy stomach, I’d sat down at a table, flipping the lid on my laptop open, before opening a blank document rather than the temp website.
The feeling of their hands on my skin, their breathon my neck, the denials that I couldn’t get out of my head a year later… the rage returned. The rage and the absolute unfairness of it all that they used me, discarded me, and went on to live happily ever after while I fuckingsuffered.
So I wrote a list. A wish list for that Christmas. I reminded myself that life isn’t fair with a disclaimer—If life were fair, they would get what they deserve. But since life’s never been fair, I can only wish that, this Christmas, they do—and typed up the five names of the men who ruined my life.
Charles Dutton.
Grant Ellison.
Dean Rourke.
Evan Pike.
Marcus Willis.
I wanted them to pay. I still do—and the miraculous thing is, in the year since I typed out that list in utter pain and frustration, theyhave.
This Christmas, all five of them are dead.
TWO
ACCIDENTAL
NOELLE
