“Holden basically antagonized me in the first meeting. Practically daring me to tell him what is wrong with him—and I did. I told him he needs to get his head back in the game and take his job seriously. At the end of it all, I think he told Chris that the meeting went well. Then I get this text at five thirty in the morning.”
Lena blinks furiously, taking a minute to let what I said sink in.
“You told Holden all of that?” she says questioningly. Her response alone makes me want to throw up.
“I’m just really confused why they would add me to this meeting. It doesn’t make any sense.” My foot taps incessantly against the gray and white tile. The bathroom door creaks open as another employee walks in—instantly, we freeze in place.
Lena places a steadying hand on my leg, grounding me, stopping me from shaking. I mouth a silent “thank you.”
We wait for whoever walked in to exit. Once the door slams shut, I start up again.
“What am I going to do?”
“Charlotte,” she says calmly. “How long have you been here?”
I press my tongue to the roof of my mouth, fighting the tightness in my throat. “Two and a half years.” My voice strains, the realization hitting me harder than expected. The edges of the room are blurring.
Lena draws out a long breath before she sits on the toilet seat to gather her thoughts. I could tell it was my turn to embrace brutal honesty.
“That’s long enough to know how this place works. You have this. Everyone needs an opening—this is yours. So he is probably testing you, don’t sweat the reason. Just focus on the advantage this can create for you here. You are finally getting what you want.”
She says it like it is simple. Like everything in life was this logical… There is no gray area to overthink, just to let it be.
If only she knew how crowded it was in my mind.
“You don’t get it,” I say quietly. “I’ve fantasized about what it would be like to pitch a client and handle a situation from top to bottom, but maybe I am only really good at fetching things for people.”
Unfazed, Lena riffles through her purse, trying to find something. Ten frantic seconds later, she looks up. “Do you have a tampon?”
I slide my purse off my shoulder, diving through the contents of wrappers and random pen caps to find one, muttering to myself, “Mm-hmm, I must have one… Nope, not it… Definitely, not that.”
My hand rummages through my bag, as my fingertips land on something cool. I pull it free of the bag to get a better view: a thin, delicate silver chain with a pendant hanging off the center.
“What’s that?” Her words fade into static as I stare at it, enthralled. I’ve—I’ve seen this before… “Wow,” she breathes. “That’s gorgeous.” Lena’s eyes are entranced by the pendant.
She grabs it from my hand, taking a closer look. “If I were you, I’d wear this to our meeting. It’s too good not to show off.”
The lights flicker. A whisper curls over my shoulder, low and somber. “A luz sabe.”
My head snaps to either side of me, searching for the source. It wasn’t even a question, just a statement that only I seemed tohear. I hear the expression two more times before the deep echo stops.
Lena finishes fastening the necklace around my neck, unaware of what just happened, only commenting on how gorgeous it is.
“Did you hear that?” I ask, scanning the room.
“Hear what?” Lena’s gaze follows where I’m looking, confused.
The pendant glows soft, blue, almost celestial. My fingers close around the necklace, now around my neck, instinctively. For the first time in days, my nerves settle. The pit in my stomach fades.
I rub my left hand against my right arm, moving it up and down, unable to shake the sudden chill that has entered the room.
“It’s so cold in here,” I murmur, still rubbing my arms.
“These bathrooms are basically Antarctica,” Lena says, then takes a breath before saying, “I’ll follow behind shortly… Got to deal with some business, if you know what I mean.”
“Oh, right!” I resume my original search for that tampon, digging around my bag some more before I finally manage to find my last one tucked away in a zipper pocket.
“Thanks, girl. And Charlotte?”
