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Her heart gave one painful thump.
They did fine without me.
Of course she’d wanted them to. After all, Watchdog was full of grown adults who could answer phones, schedule meetings, file paperwork, and locate their own asses with both hands when properly motivated.
That didn’t stop the old thought from whispering maliciously.
They didn’t need you.
The door from reception to the rest of the offices opened. Jodie looked up. Kyle stood in the doorway. He glanced toward her desk, then back at her. “Hey. Before you get comfortable, we need to talk.”
Her stomach dropped so fast she felt it in her knees.
Here it comes.
“Okay.”
As Jodie followed Kyle back to his office, every bad decision she had made at Sand Wash assembled itself. Leaving staging alone. Taking Willow’s truck. Getting attacked. Causing half the operation to stop and search for her. Missing work afterward. Returning under restrictions while somebody else had already proved they could cover her desk.
By the time Kyle shut the door, Jodie had practically written her own termination letter for him.
He gestured toward the chair across from his desk. She sat.
Kyle sat too, then opened his mouth—
“Please give me another chance.”
His mouth clapped shut. He looked genuinely confused. “What?”
Jodie stared at him. “You just told me, ‘Before you get comfortable, we need to talk.’”
“Yes.”
“That means you’re firing me.”
Kyle’s expression changed slowly as he finally caught up to where her brain had already sprinted.
“You…think I’m firing you.”
She hated that hearing him say it out loud made her eyes burn. She nodded.
“Jodie.”
“What am I supposed to think?” She folded her arms, then immediately unfolded them because one of the lingering bruises along her ribs objected. “I left the staging area when I shouldn’t have. I disappeared. Everybody had to come looking for me. I’ve been out for days, and now I’m back looking at my desk realizing someone else can do my job just fine.”
Jodie heard herself and knew she should stop. She didn’t. “Everything kept running. Which is good. Obviously. It’s supposed to keep running because I set it up that way. But maybe that means you realized I’m not as necessary as you thought I was.”
Kyle leaned back slowly during her entire speech. He stared at her for a moment, then opened a folder on his desk.
Jodie looked at it suspiciously. “Is that a performance review?”
“Negative. It’s information.”
“About?”
“Veterinary school. A couple of different ways we could structure your schedule here if you decided to pursue it.”
Jodie stared at him. “You’re not…firing me?” She rubbed her temples.
