Chapter 15 Kinley
This job was completely different from my previous one, in the best ways possible.
I loved working with something tangible.
The wine business was turning out to be very interesting, and I was sure the hotel business would have a nuance of its own too.
The team Wyatt had put together was great, just as amazing as the staff in Napa.
He truly had a knack for attracting the best people and keeping them.
As I understood it, the turnover among all of the Sterling Investments employees was modest.
By the end of the week, I’d made fantastic progress on the website.
We had five quotes, and I wanted to discuss my favorite with Wyatt.
I hadn’t made as much progress with the distributors, though.
I tried calling, but that turned out to be inefficient.
No one liked the cold calls, and they told me to send an email, which I’d done. I was still waiting on replies.
I’d given up hope of anyone getting back to me this week, though. So, on Friday afternoon, I had a very pleasant surprise when I noticed a response in my inbox. I opened it and then froze.
I’ve researched you because your name seemed familiar, and the BuzzPage scandal came up. We don’t feel comfortable cooperating with you.
I gasped. He’d copied Wyatt on this too. Oh my goodness. I hadn’t received such a strongly worded email in a long time.
When the scandal first broke, my company inbox was flooded with hate mail. It’d been over a year now, and I’d really hoped things had calmed down.
I was rooted in my chair, completely unsure how to react. This job wasn’t going to work out after all, was it?
I felt cold as reality dawned on me. I hadn’t realized that this would follow me around no matter the industry. I thought if I moved away from tech, I could start over. Clearly not.
If Wyatt were here, I would go straight to his office to talk about this, but he wasn’t. He’d left two hours ago.
I didn’t want my background to negatively affect his business. If I stayed, that was likely to happen.
I took a deep breath, trying to calm down. I was eager to reply but knew it wasn’t smart. I needed to check in with Wyatt first. I was shaking, slightly nervous about his response. Could this wait until Monday? No, I needed to deal with it now.
I called Wyatt, but he rejected the call. An icy sensation gripped my entire body. I’d received the email ten minutes ago. What if he’d already seen it? Oh God, what if he was thinking about firing me?
My stomach dropped. If this were my company, I’d fire me on the spot. I was deadweight—that was the truth of it. What if the other distributors felt the same way?
I took another deep breath and closed my laptop. It was Friday evening, and Wyatt wasn’t answering. I needed to leave the office. I would just have to deal with the fallout on Monday.
On the drive home, I nearly had a meltdown. I wasn’t expecting this to happen. When Wyatt first shared his hesitations with me, I truly assumed that it was a nonissue. How could I have been so wrong? Most importantly, what was I supposed to do now? Move out of the area? Maybe even the state?
I shook my head, chastising myself. Don’t be ridiculous, Kinley. You love San Diego. It’s your home.
I wasn’t going to flee. I wasn’t guilty of anything. This was just a roadblock, nothing more.
My phone rang just as I arrived home, and my entire chest constricted. What if it was Wyatt? What would I say? But it was Elsa. I answered right away.
“Hey, Emily wants to ask you something.”
“Of course.”
A few seconds later, my niece’s voice came through the phone. “Hi, Auntie Kinley.”
“What’s up?” I asked, projecting a fake cheerfulness into my voice. I didn’t want my sister or my niece to get wind of anything. Elsa had been my biggest supporter this year, and I refused to drag her down.
“Auntie Kinley, a girl in school today had a T-shirt with Moana on it.”
I laughed. “I am on it.”
“Emily,” my sister chastised in the background. “That’s not nice. You can’t call your aunt and ask her for things.”
“Yes, you can,” I said loudly enough for Elsa to hear. They were on a very strict budget.
So are you, a voice said in the back of my mind. If I lost my job, who knew how long it would take to find another one? My savings were dwindling.
“I’ll find you the best T-shirt, I promise. Want to put your mom on?”
“Okay. Love you, Auntie! Mom!” I heard Emily yell in the background. Then, “Okay, you go play with your dolls for a sec while I chat with your aunt.”
“Hi,” I said to my sister.
“You absolutely don’t do it,” Elsa said.
“We’ve spoken about this a million times,” I told her as I got out of the car and headed into my house.
“Really, Kinley? You do so much for us already.”
“Hey, I love you two.”
“I had no idea what she was about to ask you. I figured she just wanted to hear from you. Do you have plans tonight?”
“Not at all. Want to drop by?” I offered.
“Yes! Absolutely. I’m cooking dinner, so we’ll eat first and then head your way. But it’s going to take a while. About two hours. Maybe one and a half.”
“Take your time. We can watch a movie. It’ll be a party.”
“Perfect. I’m gonna hang up now so I can finish cooking.”
“Sure. What are you having?”
“Macaroni and cheese and meatloaf. Shall I bring you some?”
“No, I’ve got something I can make.” I wasn’t really hungry anyway.
“Okay, see you later.”
We said our goodbyes, and I stepped into the house, heading straight to the kitchen. I missed cooking. This week had been a bit frantic, and I’d ordered takeout every evening.
My phone beeped as I took out an onion, garlic, and chicken. This time, it was Wyatt. He’d sent me a message. With trembling fingers, I opened it.
Wyatt: I saw the email. I’d like to discuss it in person. Are you still at the office?
Damn it. My eyes watered. He was going to let me go. I was sure of it.
With a heavy heart, I wrote back.
Kinley: I’m already at home.
Kinley: But you can drop by if you want.
Might was well get it over with.
My heart sank even further at his reply.
Wyatt: Send me the address and I’ll head straight to your place.
He was going to let me go for sure. Otherwise, why would he be in such a hurry to see me?
I texted him the address and took a deep breath while I inspected my ingredients. I had enough to make a chicken salad for two. I made my own Caesar dressing as well.
I kept an eye on my phone while I grilled the chicken. Wyatt had shared his location with me, and I could follow on the map where he was.
I’d only lasted one week on this job. Two if I counted Napa. It had been too good to last.
After I finished preparing the Caesar salad, I glanced at the app. Wyatt would arrive in five minutes. I set the table and then grabbed glasses too. After deliberating for a few minutes, I swapped out the plates for my good china.
Jesus, Kinley. Do you think he won’t fire you just because you’re serving him salad on expensive china?
It was completely ridiculous. But I wanted to put my best foot forward. That was why I hurried to the bathroom. I combed my hair and reassessed my appearance but didn’t have time to make any adjustments because the doorbell rang.
I headed to the door with quick steps. I should have prepared some sort of explanation. But what could I say? I opened the door and fully expected Wyatt to say, “You’re fired.” To my surprise, though, he held a bottle of sauvignon blanc.
“Good evening. Thought this might be appropriate given the tone of that email.”
I swallowed hard, blinking at him. “Um, hi. Come in.” I wasn’t sure what he was getting at.
“It smells good in here.”
“I’ve made some grilled chicken Caesar salad for both of us.”
He cocked a brow.
“I was cooking for myself anyway and figured you wouldn’t have had time for dinner yet.”
“I didn’t.”
“Then follow me. You’re in for a treat.”
“Caesar salad?”
“Hey! Don’t say that in such a judgy tone. It’s really tasty.” I was on pins and needles. Why wasn’t he getting straight to the point?
Maybe because you asked him to stay for dinner, the devil on my shoulder said.
But he showed up with a bottle of wine. What did that mean? It certainly didn’t seem like he was seconds away from firing me. I still couldn’t relax, though. All my muscles were strung tight.
As we sat down at my dining table, Wyatt looked out the window. “You were right about your view. It’s spectacular.”
“Thanks.”
I started to eat, unsure of what to say. God, why can’t he just get on with it?
He turned back around slowly and took a forkful of salad too. “All right, I take it back. This has to be the least boring Caesar salad I’ve ever had.”
I started to laugh. “Not sure if ‘least boring’ is a compliment.”
“It is. I’m not a salad type of guy.”
I put my fork down, straightening up. “Wyatt, I don’t understand. Why are you here?”
“I figured it was better than talking on the phone.”
“You didn’t need to come all the way over here to fire me.”
He’d brought the wine as a consolation gift. I was sure of it.
He frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“I mean, you could have just asked HR to—”
“I’m not firing you, Kinley.” The look on his face told me that had not been his intention at all.
My body instantly turned soft. Goodness, I’d clenched even more muscles than I thought. I took a deep breath and blew it out through my mouth. “Oh, okay.”
“You think I’d come here to fire you? I just wanted to check on you and discuss our next steps. First things first, are you okay?”
I swallowed my mouthful and fully intended to say, “I’m fine,” but I ended up saying something completely different. “I wish all of this was over, you know? I assumed that with changing industries—”
“I know,” Wyatt cut in. “Honestly, I thought so, too, but it seems we both miscalculated the notoriety of the case.”
“Clearly. So, why aren’t you firing me? After all, this was your exact concern, wasn’t it?”