Chapter 2
CALLIOPE
Owns us?
What the hell is he talking about? Jimmy is the CEO of Angelic Jewels. There’s no one above him. No one to own him. Unless…?
“Look, look, look,” Jimmy continues. “I don’t care.
You can even tell him I don’t care. At the end of the day, he’s just the money.
Two giants can’t exist in the same ship, you understand?
He gets exactly what I’m going to give him and I don’t care if he doesn’t like it. I won’t hear another word about it!”
Is someone… buying Angelic Jewels? No, it’s more than that. Jimmy would never sell unless it was a paycheck so fat, he’d never have to look at his bank account ever again, but from the way he’s speaking, it’s like he’s securing his own position.
An acquisition, maybe? Is the company really in that much trouble? If that’s why he was so furious about those bracelets, then whoever is dumb enough to buy this company is in for a shock at who the real cause of loss is.
I lean against the wall, craning as far as I dare to try and hear more as Jimmy’s voice drops a few octaves.
This is huge.
Bigger than huge.
Acquisitions never go well. One company swallowing up another means wage adjustments, position reshufflings, and the worst of all, job losses. So many job losses.
My mind surges with countless impossible questions as I try to work out which department would most likely be on the chopping block when the door to Jimmy’s office suddenly wrenches open and he storms out.
I fly away from the wall, stumbling a few steps down toward Victoria’s office, and gasp in fright.
“Cal? The fuck are you doing here?” His wiry gray brows bunch together. “Are you here to apologize about your fuck up?”
Catching my balance, I lift my chin and the urge to snap back at him surges inside me. If this place is going under and he’s keeping it a secret, then I’ll most likely be losing my job anyway, so what’s to stop me from giving him a piece of my mind?
I take a breath… but the words don’t come.
I can’t lose this job. Not from Jimmy and not from some strange acquisition. I need the money now more than ever, just like countless others who work here. If departments are on the chopping block, then I need to find a way to ensure the knife stays away from mine.
Assuming what I overheard is the full story.
“I…”
“Well?” Jimmy snaps, glancing at the obnoxious watch on his wrist. “I have places to be. I can’t stand around with you all fucking night.”
“Sorry,” I gasp as my confidence ends up deep in the hollow of my gut like every other feeling I get when he’s around. “I’m looking for ice.”
“In the offices? No wonder you fucked up with the bracelets if you can’t even find the fucking kitchen.
This place is going to the fucking dogs.
Breakroom is that way.” He jerks his thumb behind him, pointing back the way I came.
With an obnoxious snort and sniff, he storms past me and I narrowly dart out of his way.
Holy shit.
I definitely wasn’t supposed to overhear any of that.
I walk back down the hallway and finally find the break room, caught in a daze as I replay the snippets of conversation I heard. It’s New Year’s Eve. Two floors up, everyone is celebrating the end of the year and planning the future with no clue that Jimmy’s putting everyone’s job in jeopardy.
Mine included.
On one hand, it could be a good acquisition.
Maybe Angelic Jewels is the acquirer and there’s really nothing to worry about.
Despite how I focus on that thought all the way back up to the common room, I’m unable to convince myself of its truth, as nothing Jimmy said gave any indication that we were anything but fodder in this deal.
No one notices when I walk in and deposit the ice in the bucket, nor do they notice when I stand in the doorway and observe hundreds of faces that I’ve known for six years. Does anyone know? Is anyone here friendly enough with Jimmy that they’re safely in the know or is everyone in the dark?
“Calliope!” Victoria suddenly latches onto my side, her eyes lidded and sparkling from several more glasses of wine since I last saw her. “Aw, honey, why do you look so sad?”
I could ask her, blurt out what I overheard and let it spread like wildfire, consuming everyone here and ruining New Year’s.
No.
I could never do that. I don’t and won’t ever have the heart to do something like that without proof.
“I’m tired,” I reply, forcing a smile. “It’s been a long day.”
“Are you sure you won’t have anything to drink? You know you can have one glass and still be safe to drive, right?”
“Hold that thought.” I laugh while reaching into my jeans and pull out my vibrating phone. Mom’s face flashes on the screen and my stomach plummets. “Hello?”
“Calliope?” Mom’s exasperated tone drifts down the line. “When are you coming home?”
Pulling the phone away from my ear, I double-check the time. “Maybe another hour, why? Is everything alright? Are you okay? Is Nick okay?”
“No, we’re not fine!” Mom gasps. “I can’t get Nick to settle at all. He’s got it in his head that there’s a giant bell being rung at midnight so he thinks there’s no point in sleeping because it will wake him up.”
“Did you tell him there was a big bell?” I ask, covering my other ear and wandering away from the party so I can hear her better.
“No,” she replies in a tone that tells me she very much did. “This isn’t my fault. I told you not to give him so much sugar over Christmas. He’s getting too many of those fake ingredients and it’s making him crazy.”
“Mom,” I sigh deeply. “He’s not crazy, he’s a five-year-old caught in the most exciting time of the year. Did you give him warm milk like I suggested? And read to him?”
Her voice grows suddenly distant as she yells something I can’t decipher and then, in the background, Nick’s cheeky tones snap back. “He’s impossible,” Mom says, her voice back at the phone. “I don’t know what’s wrong with him.”
“Put him on.”
“What?”
“Mom, put him on the phone.” I wave at Victoria who pouts dramatically and waves back, then I leave the party and hurry down the corridor toward my office.
“Mommy!” Nick’s cheery voice fills my ear a second later. “When are you coming home?”
“Hi, baby, I’ll be home soon. Tell me, did Grandma give you some of the candy from your stocking?”
“Yes,” Nick answers immediately, and my stomach sinks faintly. “I–I mean no, no candy, Mommy. No candy!”
“He doesn’t know what he’s saying.” Mom’s voice cuts him off and she’s back on the phone while I grab my coat and purse.
“Mom, I told you not to give him candy after six. No wonder he’s still awake.”
“Well, he missed you,” Mom replies sullenly. “And how was I to know that one little piece of chocolate would keep him up this late?”
“I’ll be home soon, Mom. Love you.”
She doesn’t reply, instead hanging up on me and leaving an odd weight to settle in my chest. It’s never just one piece of chocolate with her, just like it was never her fault when Nick slept past his naptime or couldn’t sleep because she just had to clear out the attic at an ungodly time.
I’ve given her as much grace as I can since I chose to move in with her. It was the only thing I could think of to keep an eye on her after Dad passed away six months ago. Keeping what family I have left together is my only goal right now, aside from trying to figure out how to keep my job.
The drive home takes too long and gives me far too much silence for my thoughts to spiral down the path of doom.
Dad’s funeral took all of my savings and my emotional stability.
Focusing on Nick has been the only thing keeping me going, but moving back in with Mom reminded me fairly quickly why I reduced contact with my parents when I turned eighteen.
Moving back home to help Mom was a spur-of-the-moment decision, but it’s eating into funds I don’t have and destroying the carefully crafted peace that arrived when Nick was born five years ago.
His sixth birthday is in two months and every spare cent is going toward planning the best birthday he’s ever had. How can I do that if I lose my job?
Over and over, I replay Jimmy’s words in my mind, trying to decipher hidden meanings or warp those words into a scenario that I haven’t thought of before, but all my thought trails lead back to the same truth.
Anyone entering an acquisition with Angelic Jewels is definitely the bigger fish.
“Fuck. Fucking, fucking, fuck.” I get it out of my system, swearing loudly and slamming my hands on the steering wheel as I sit parked outside Mom’s house.
I can’t lose my job.
Not now. Not when everything else in my life is hanging by a thread.
But I won’t sit idly by either and wait for Jimmy to drop the bombshell. Either I’ll find another job or I’ll make myself and my department so vital that no one will be able to get rid of us.
With a final heartfelt fuck, I climb out of the car and walk up the snow-covered path to the front door. No sooner have I brushed the wreath out of my face and opened the door than Nick’s sprinting toward me in his teddy bear jammies with a blanket trailing from his neck like a cape.
“Mommy!”
“Baby!” I fall to my knees, ignoring the smarting of pain when they collide with the paneled floor, and sweep Nick into my arms the moment he makes contact. “Why are you still awake? You, mister, should be sleeping! Yes, you should!”
Nick dissolves into high-pitched, excitable laughter under my tickling fingers and he attempts to escape by rolling off my lap and onto the floor, but I follow him, crawling over him and tickling him until he’s screaming and gasping.
“Stop!” he yells between bursts of laughter. “I give up. I give up!”
“Aha!” I chuckle, lightly poking his stomach. “Once again, the great Superman has fallen to me, making me the greatest villain of all time!” With maniacal laughter, I stand and scoop Nick into my arms while kicking the front door closed. “The city is mine!”
“No!” Nick yells and he flops back dramatically in my arms. “I will never let the city fall!”
“What secrets and sneaky plans do you have under that cape, hmm?”
“I’ll never tell!”
I tickle his ribs and he squeals, laughing, and it quickly turns into a yawn while I carry him through the hallway and into the living room. “Is that a yawn?”
“No.” Nick yawns widely.
“Then why can I see all your teeth? And I can definitely see that you haven’t brushed, Mister.”
“I did!” Nick pouts and then he cackles. “I didn’t!”
“Well, as punishment for your defeat, I want those teeth brushed, okay?” I set Nick down and he nods, sending his brown curls scattering about his head.
“Fine.” Crossing his little arms, he stomps out of the living room. I watch him stomp into the downstairs bathroom. Passing the doorway, I linger until I see toothpaste messily squeezed onto his brush and entering his mouth, then I continue on to the kitchen.
“Mom?”
She stands by the kitchen window, gazing out at the blanket of snow draped over the back yard and highlighted by the warm yellow light streaming from the kitchen. “Calliope.”
“What happened, Mom? We did New Year's early for him this afternoon. He’s supposed to be asleep by now.”
“You know how unruly he gets. He’s a little boy.” Mom refuses to look at me.
“Did you do everything I asked?”
“I always do. This isn’t my fault,” Mom snaps, finally throwing a look over her shoulder. “It’s that tablet you gave him. It tells him all sorts of things and he worked out that you lied about the bells.”
I close my eyes, resting one hand on my hip. “It wasn’t a lie, it was just a way to make tonight easier for you. You knew I had the party to organize.”
“As if that’s more important than your family,” Mom snaps, turning to face me. On the counter behind her lie the remaining wrappers of two chocolate Santas.
My heart sinks and exhaustion pulls at my eyes. “Just one piece of chocolate, huh?”
She glances back at the wrappers and then covers one with her hand. “It was a tradition I had with your father. Chocolate Santa at New Year. I just wanted to feel close to him.”
“I could have done that with you, not Nick.”
“You weren’t here,” she mutters tightly. “You’re never here.”
I bite back the argument rising within me. Things are tough without Dad. Everything and anything reminds me of him, just like it can send Mom to tears at the drop of a hat. I’m fighting to be understanding because grief is different for both of us, but she’s making it so difficult.
Or maybe I am.
I’m too tired to work it out now.
“It’s fine. I’ll settle him. I’ll—”
“Done!” Nick slams into the back of my legs, nearly knocking me fully into the kitchen, so I grab the frame for support. As much as irritation rises, when I turn to look at his toothy, grinning smile, it all melts away.
“Good job!” Holding out my palm, he slaps it lightly, then I scoop him up into my arms. “So, you want to see the grown-up bells, huh?”
“Yes!” Nick clings to my shoulder, absent his cape which is now discarded in the bathroom.
“And then you’ll go to bed?”
“Promise!
“Okay, come on, then.” I carry Nick to my room and we cuddle up on my bed with my iPad against my knees. We’re just in time for the countdown and together, at the top of his lungs, of course, we count down the New Year together.
“Ten!”
I have to keep this job.
“Nine!”
Or find a new one.
“Eight!”
But in this market? My skills are limited.
“Seven!”
Jewelry and websites are niches these days, especially with the surge in small businesses.
“Six!”
I have no credentials that would justify setting up my own business.
“Five!”
So I need to work with what I have. I have to make Angelic Jewels vital.
“Four!”
While helping Mom stay afloat.
“Three!”
And Nick happy and healthy.
“Two!”
And food on the table.
“One! Happy New Year, Mommy!” Nick surges up and plants a wet, excited kiss on my cheek.
“Happy New Year, baby. Happy New Year!”
“It’s gonna be the best ever, you wanna know why?” He slips back down and tucks under my arm, yawning widely.
“I do want to know why,” I reply while tucking my blankets over him.
“’Cause it’s my… my birfday soon! Do you think Grampa will be back by then?”
Unable to prevent it, tears suddenly spring into my eyes and I bury them in Nick’s hair with a kiss. “No, baby, I’m sorry. He won’t be able to make it. Remember he’s gone to be in heaven with Charlie, your hamster?”
“Oh, yeah.” Nick nods, yawning deeply once more. “Maybe… maybe next year, then.”