“That’s a complete lie.” Wes stared at the Group of Seven wall before walking to a statue of a winged goddess holding a dagger, unable to believe Tyler’s nerve. “I mentioned it to him and accidentally left my rough draft at my desk. That’s it.” He decided not to addwhere Tyler stole it. That was obvious.
“Tyler said you asked him to post it through the platform as a favor while you were on vacation, knowing it would help you get some visibility and make your case to get back on the team. He accidentally published it when he meant to send it to me to confirm it was ready to go since he didn’t see my sign-off.” Jason coughed. “That mistake was on him, and I’ve talked to him about that. It’s a shame his name was attached to the story because of an error.”
“It wasn’t a mistake.” Wes heard his voice echo through the room and fought to control it. “He’s lying. None of that happened.”
“I’ve known Tyler since school,” Jason said. “I trust him.”
And not you.Wes heard the unspoken conclusion. “Jason, this is ridiculous. Do you think I’d try to get a story of that magnitude posted before it was thoroughly vetted?”
“Wes, I checked, and you had the story in the editing platform. You put that there. Not Tyler.”
“I always write my drafts there,” said Wes, moving to theconservatory door to look at the plants in a futile attempt to get some calm. “That doesn’t mean they’re ready for publication.”
“No, but it shows you were working on it. Desperation can screw with a man’s judgment, but this is the kind of underhanded behavior we can’t have. My people are fighters, but we know we’re a team.”
“You can’t seriously believe this.”
“You think I haven’t seen this kind of thing happen before?” snapped Jason. “I’m an excellent judge of people. I know you didn’t like getting sent back to Lifestyle, but you took the wrong message from that experience if you think scheming like this will help.”
“Fuck you.” The words came out before Wes could evaluate the impact, but he didn’t take them back. It didn’t make him feel better.
“This is what I mean, Wes. You’re challenging to work with when you don’t get your way.” Jason’s voice was cool now, as if Wes’s outburst had confirmed what he was thinking. “I’ve talked to management, and unfortunately Rebecca isn’t in, but I’m sure she’d agree. Your employment with theSpearis terminated as of today.”
What? “Tyler ran the story after he stole it, and he’s blaming it on me because it’s backfiring. Tyler is the one you should fire.”
“I understand you’re upset, but this is your word against his. Tyler has a lot of goodwill here and has admitted to poor judgment. We’ve had to give John Wilson an apology and post a retraction on the advice of legal.”
Why hadn’t he taped their discussion? Wes kicked himself as he put the call on speaker and fumbled for the Record button.
“HR will be in touch about the termination forms,” said Jason. “Best of luck in your future endeavors.”
Wes hit Record as Jason disconnected. Then he stopped, looking at the flashing 0:03 on the bottom. Three seconds of nothing.
Compared to the years of nothing he had to show for his work at theSpear, that was… Well. It was more of nothing.
He tossed the phone down on the settee, ignoring the beep he was sure was the HR email with his official termination. He’d have to geta lawyer, and for one ludicrous moment, he wondered if John Wilson would share his legal team.
Nadine’s head poked around the corner. Seeing him off the phone, she inched over as if to give him space to get used to her presence. Erma had no such qualms and raced in to meow at Wes’s feet for attention. He picked her up and buried his face in her warm fur, feeling her tiny heart beat against his palm. She wasn’t purring, but the weight of her was enough to soothe him.
“They fired me,” he said in response to Nadine’s questioning look.
“Oh my God.” Nadine stopped midstep. “Are you kidding?”
“Do I look like I’m kidding?” Erma rubbed her head against his chin.
“No. I’m sorry.” She crossed over to where he stood near the window. “What happened? Do you want to talk about it?”
The strange thing was normally he would say to give him some alone time, but he wanted to talk it over with Nadine. He put the cat on the ground. “Let’s go outside, and I’ll tell you.”
“Okay.” She took his hand, looking at him to check that it was all right. Wes tucked her hand under his arm to bring her closer, and they edged through the door together.
He didn’t pay much attention to where they were going as they passed the pagoda and then a stone lantern. Nadine handed him a stick. No, not a stick. A rake. “Yard work?” he asked.
“Meditation.” She pointed to a Zen garden. Or a version of it, with rocks and gravel that had been raked and trod on. He shook his head. A Japanese rock garden. Dot was something else.
“You?” He pointed at the footprints.
“You can fix them and tell me what happened.”
