Chapter Twenty Seven
S he wasn’t going to lie. Waking up without Bea was a strange sensation. Even stranger was the fact that she’d only had a week of waking up with her. Missing her after such a short amount of time was an odd feeling.
But Alli wasn’t about to complain. Things had changed, she could see that. She had a better view of life, a more balanced feeling about things. And while she wasn’t going to say she wasn’t going to get angry, she was definitely going to be more in control.
She jumped out of the shower and started to get ready. She missed Bea. But she’d missed working as well and she couldn’t wait to get back. In the back of her mind, she was already thinking about her inbox, about potential meetings, about projects that were unfinished.
But, she’d promised herself, she was going to leave the office by seven at the latest. She was going to eat better. And she was going to see Bea just as soon as she was done. They were having dinner and, if Alli played her cards right, Bea was going to be spending the night.
Who said you couldn’t have it all?
When she walked into her normal coffee shop, she graced the barista with a smile. “A latte with oat milk, an extra shot, and a sprinkle of cinnamon, please.”
“Coming right up,” beamed the barista.
Alli waited patiently, took her coffee, and put a healthy tip in the tip jar. When she turned and almost caught the arm of another woman, she apologized and moved on.
Walking up to the big glass office building, her stomach had a twinge of sourness, but she was used to that. What she wasn’t used to was greeting the reception staff when she walked in, but she did it anyway. There was nothing wrong with being nice to people, she told herself. It was not a show of weakness to be friendly.
Not that she was planning on being a walkover. She wasn’t. And she was damned if she was going to let Bea be one either. They could teach each other, she figured. She’d be calmer, Bea would be more confident. They could learn, improve each other. After all, wasn’t that what relationships are about?
It wasn’t until she walked into her office that she had the first hint that something was wrong.
Her assistant’s desk was empty.
She peered over at it. Empty and cleared. She sighed. Another one gone then. She’d have to get HR to send someone else up. Someone that she was going to be nicer to, she swore to herself. Someone she was going to smile at and be polite to. Someone she could count on to help her, not someone terrified of her.
Mostly.
A little fear would be okay. Just a little would add respect, and she definitely needed respect.
She went to her desk, flicked her computer on, and dropped her purse into one of the drawers. Then she sat down, flexed her fingers, and got down to work.
Except her login didn’t work.
She growled under her breath and tried again. And again, she got an error message. She sucked her teeth and took a deep breath. Okay, mistakes happened. She’d been away for two weeks. Maybe there’d been some kind of reset or something.
She picked up her phone and barked for her assistant to put her through to IT before remembering that there wasn’t an assistant. She slammed the phone down. Her stomach took an acid twist as she slammed back the rest of her coffee and then hurled the cup at the rubbish bin.
Fine. Alright. So she’d go down to IT herself and get someone. She couldn’t look up the phone extension without access to her computer. It was a glitch. A tiny little unimportant thing that wasn’t worth losing her temper over.
Then Darren appeared in her doorway and Alli finally breathed out. Okay, here we go. Things were going to be alright now.
“Miss me?” she asked.
“What are you doing here?” Darren said.
“Um, being your most productive employee,” she countered. “Although from now on I’m leaving at seven. I’ve learned a little something from this enforced holiday and you might not like all of it. I can keep my temper, but I’m also going to start prioritizing my personal life a little more.”
He swallowed and looked confused. “That’s… that’s great, Al. I’m proud of you. But what are you actually doing here? How did you get in?”
“What do you mean, how did I get in? Through the door, idiot. And what’s up with the computers? My password isn’t working and—” She stopped herself, her brain catching up. “What do you mean, how did I get in?”
Darren took a tentative step forward. “Alli, you’re not supposed to be here.”
She looked around. “Am I early? You’re pale. Am I dead? Is this one of those things where I died in a car crash or something and now I’m just here and…” She shook her head. “What’s happening?”
“HR was supposed to call you,” he said, coming a little closer.
She thought about this. She’d ignored a couple of calls last night. She’d been face-timing with Bea and then she’d wanted to get an early night, get enough sleep. “About what?”
He put his hands on the desk. “I think you know about what. ”
“About what?” she repeated.
“Al…” He licked his lips and tried again. “Al, I did everything I could. Everything, I swear.”
Her stomach did a full-on somersault now, swirling around in her torso and making her feel sick. “Everything about what?” Her voice sounded high and more panicky than she’d like. “What are you talking about?”
“Al, you’re going to have to leave. You need to get out of here before someone calls security, before things get worse for you.”
She could feel the scratchy cushion of her chair under her thighs. She forced herself to laugh. “Why would I leave? I just got here.”
“Because you don’t work here anymore,” he said gently. “Because you’ve been fired, remember?”
There. There it was. The small spark that started it all, the heat that was going to build any second now. “Fired?” Her mouth was dry.
“The condition was that you graduated from an anger management program. You didn’t graduate,” Darren said.
The spark flared and with the greatest difficulty, Alli tamped it back down. Losing it now would be a bad plan. “There must be some mistake.”
He shook his head. “I don’t know how. I fought for you, Al. I swear I did.”
She was reaching down, taking her purse. “No, there’s definitely a mistake. Let me deal with this and I’ll be back. Just give me the morning and I’ll make up the hours later.”
“You don’t have hours to make up.”
“I will.” She gave him a rictus grin. “I will. Just wait. I’ll get this sorted.” She stood up, walked around her desk, but Darren caught her arm as she passed him. “What?”
He loosened his fingers. “Nothing,” he said. “Just… Be careful, Al. Call me if you need me.”
“I’ll be back before you know it,” she said, shaking his hand off. “I’ll deal with this and I’ll be back. ”
SHE COULD FEEL the anger bubbling away in her stomach and swore that she wasn’t going to go back to the coffee shop. The stupid barista had used regular milk, she could tell. It was making her feel acidic and sick.
She kept to the speed limit as she drove.
At first she’d wanted to call the center. But after a second of thought, she’d decided to actually drive back to St. Hilda’s. Doing this face to face was the best way to get this sorted out. And… and if she needed to make her voice heard, she could do that better in person.
When she pulled her car up into a parking space, she forced herself to take ten big, deep breaths before she got out, keeping her control. She controlled the anger, not the other way around. She had this. She could do this. Everyone made mistakes.
The front door was unlocked and she showed herself inside, walked calmly to Luke’s office, and found him feeding papers into a shredder. He looked up as soon as she came in.
“Ah,” was all he said.
“Ah?”
“I had a feeling you’d be back.” He straightened up.
And it was in that second that she realized that this hadn’t been a mistake at all. That this was all true. A black wave of fear overcame her and she had to hold on to Luke’s desk until it had washed over her.
“What happened?” she said through clenched teeth.
“You didn’t play by the rules,” said Luke with a sniff. “And, let’s face it, I’m hardly likely to make concessions for a trouble-maker, am I?”
“So, this is personal?”
“Not personal,” said Luke. “All above board. I might want it to be personal. But in this particular case, I didn’t have to twist anything, didn’t have to fudge the details. It’s all there in black and white.”
“What do you mean? ”
“You didn’t pass the course.”
Alli gritted her teeth. “I was here for the full two weeks. What are you talking about?”
“You were here,” Luke said evenly. “But every course leader writes a report. Simply showing up isn’t enough, you have to participate.”
“I did!”
Luke smiled as he shook his head. “Oh, no you didn’t.”
“But I was here,” Alli said desperately.
“You were here,” agreed Luke again. “But unfortunately, you didn’t participate in more than half your yoga classes. I have the report from Bea around here somewhere if you’d like to see it?”
Alli was shaking so badly that she’d never be able to read a report. She stared hard at Luke and with the very last shred of her control, she turned around and walked out. This wasn’t his fault.
It was Bea’s.