Liam glanced over, reading my face. He didn’t interrupt.
I answered on the second ring. Too fast. Guilty fast.
“Hi,” I said. “I’m so sorry. I had a medical thing today, and I didn’t clock in or message and that’s on me. I should have?—”
My new boss cut me off. What a way to make a first impression.
“You didn’t log in,” he said. “We’re already short. You know that.”
“I do,” I said. “I do know that. I had a head injury and lost consciousness, and I’m fine now but I wasn’t earlier, and?—”
“This is a bad week for that,” he said. “We lost the manager. Everyone needs to step up.”
I stared at the wall across from me. That manager’s job had been held together by duct tape and unpaid emotional labor—mostly mine. We hadn’tlosta manager. We had finally removedone. There was a difference, even if the fallout looked the same from the outside.
Of course they needed more now. They always did after people stopped quietly absorbing things. When the damage surfaced, it suddenly became an emergency.
“I can log on now, if you really need me to, I guess,” I said. “I can do some light tickets and manage the inbox?—”
My mouth kept offering concessions before my brain signed off on them. I couldn’t lose this job.
I realized, distantly, that Liam had crossed the room. He stood in front of me now, blocking my view of the wall. He held out his hand, his demeanor calm.
I looked at it, then at his eyes.
He didn’t rush me.
I swallowed and handed him the phone.
“Hello,” Liam said. His tone had changed from the one he’d been using with me. Not loud, not aggressive, but clear and assertive. “This is Liam Beltane. I’m with Zoey. She suffered a head injury today and lost consciousness because of it. She’s currently under observation.”
He fell quiet and listened to my boss.
“She won’t be logging on tonight,” he said. “Or tomorrow. Concussion protocol requires limited screen exposure until symptoms resolve.”
Another pause.
“Yes,” he said. “I understand staffing is strained. That doesn’t change medical risk. She can provide a doctor’s note once the risk has passed.”
He glanced at me once, checking in with me.
I nodded.
“If her condition worsens due to being pushed back to work too early,” he went on, “that becomes a liability issue for the company.”
I stopped breathing. Not because he was wrong, but because he was being this firm for me.
“I’m not threatening you,” he added. “I’m informing.”
Silence stretched. I could picture my boss recalibrating—he wouldn’t want the extra paperwork if something did go wrong.
“Thank you,” Liam said. “We’ll check in once she’s cleared.”
He handed the phone back to me and went to the sink, where he rinsed his hands, then dried them.
When my boss spoke again, his tone had changed. “Rest up. Keep us posted.”
“I will,” I said. “Thank you.”
