Oh, no you don’t.That pompous, ponytailed bastard wasn’t going to get the best of me.
“Barely felt a thing.”
“Let’s see that boot, then.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Oh, come on,” he pushed. “Show me.”
“Let’s not,” Tabitha said coldly, shooing him away from her desk. “For future reference, Geoffrey, please don’t ask your coworkers to show off their feet. That’s a human resources nightmare waiting to happen.” She quickly tacked on, “Oh, and please reschedule our meeting with Brooks Bennett and his team.”
“What? No.” I’d had tomorrow’s meeting with Bennett Studios on my calendar since Halloween. “Please don’t change it on my account. I’ll get my sister to drive me if needed.”
“It’s already done. His assistant called this morning, requesting that we push it out a few more weeks. Something about a broken sauna at his house in Joshua Tree.”
My brows furrowed. “The address we have for him is in Malibu. Do you need me to change that?”
Her lips kicked up to one side.
With anybody else, I wouldn’t have thought much of the subtle smile. With Tabitha, though, she might as well have been bouncing off the ceiling with uproarious laughter.
“That’s hisotherhouse. Welcome to Hollywood, Janelle.”
“Right.” A soft knock at the door drew my attention. “I’m so sorry. There’s somebody at my door. Do you mind if I grab that?”
“Please do. Actually, why don’t you take the rest of the day off?”
Um, what?
I didn’t take days off. Ever.
Since starting with Wilson, Treger, and Faison, I had taken exactly one half-day, and that was only because my gynecologist had refused to see patients before or after normal office hours. Nonetheless, I had still made it back by eleven a.m., a smile on my face and I.U.D. in my uterus.
“Oh, that’s not necessary.”
“I think it is,” Tabitha said with the arch of her perfectly manicured brow. “You have thirteen days of paid leave thatexpires at the end of the year. It wouldn’t hurt to take a day or two off, especially around the holidays. And speaking of . . .”
Oh fuck, I already knew where this was going.
“How are the plans coming along for the company holiday hoopla?”
I swallowed a sigh. In my desperate need to impress the partners, I’d volunteered to organize the end-of-quarter company outing. Not a Christmas party, but rather a company-wide holiday hoopla—whatever the hell that meant. According to some of my coworkers, past years’ events had included a yachting excursion to Catalina Island, tickets toWickedat the Pantages, and a private dinner in Cinderella’s Castle at Disneyland.
WTF put the extra in extravagance.
Nonetheless, they were a lot more invested in their staff’s well-being than either of the firms I had interned with during law school. The bar—pun intended—had officially been set.
“I’m still throwing around a few ideas.” That was a lie. I had been so focused on work lately that I had barely given the holiday shindig a second thought . . . or first one.
“Fantastic. Send me some thoughts by next week, please.”Awesome.Well, at least I would have something to work on during my sudden, extra downtime. “In the meantime, take it easy, would you?”
“I’ll do my best.”
“And Janelle?”
“Hm?”
She leaned in a little closer. “Don’t forget about your door.”
