My answering silence as I put down my purse visibly infuriated her.
“You can pack your things and leave.”
“Why?”
“For disregarding your terms of employment.Am I speaking a language you don’t understand?You’re allowed a sixty-minute lunch break.”
“And I only took fifty before my thirty-minute meeting with HR about the issues I’ve been having with missing emails.”
Her eyes narrowed.“That’s an IT issue, not an HR issue.”
“Which is why it took thirty minutes.We had to wait for the tech working on the issue to join us.”
She let out a slow breath, which wasn’t an anger release but more like a slippery grip on control.The woman was going to give herself premature wrinkles if she couldn’t find her zen place.
“From here forward, meetings need to be pre-approved by me so I know where you are.”
“Understood.”
She whirled away from my desk.
“How was the report?”I called after her.
The door slammed in answer, and I glanced at Whitney.
“Does that mean it was good or bad?”
Whitney shook her head at me and went back to work.I did the same, shutting down right at quitting time and heading home to find Mom power-cleaning the house.
“Job hunt not going well?”I asked.
She let out a heavy breath and turned toward me with an odd look on her face.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”she asked.
“You’re going to have to be more specific.There are lots of things I don’t tell you.What I had for lunch.The dumb things I think about buying.How many guys I flirt with at Lunar.”
“I can see why you’re driving him crazy, which I applaud by the way.Why didn’t you tell me why your father was trying to set you up with Hestian?”
“Ah.I didn’t want his complete lack of parental love to disappoint you again.He’s disappointed you enough, I think.”
She gave me a sad look.“It’s not your job to protect me.It’s my job to protect you.I can’t believe he actually thinks it’s okay for you to marry a man older than he is just to benefit his company.”
“Don’t forget a multi-widower too.I think that’s maybe more concerning than the age thing.”
She huffed.“I don’t think this is funny.”
“You’re right.It’s not.”But it wasn’t Dad’s attempt to marry me off that I didn’t find funny.“How did you find out what he was doing?”
“The idiot told me, pitching it like it would be a win for all of us.You’d be set for life.I wouldn’t have to worry about finances anymore because you’d help me like the good daughter you’ve always been to me.And he would get the contract he needs.”
“What did you tell him?”
“That we didn’t need his kind of help.Then I asked him to leave.”
He’d come to the damn house.I wanted to throat punch him.
“Good,” I said.“Next time, don’t answer the door for him, and if he doesn’t go away, call the police.”
