Chapter 33
Shortly before noon that day, Scottie had volunteered to handle a ticket up on the thirteenth floor, where an Operations employee struggled with network connectivity issues.
She resolved them quickly, managing to glance across the bullpen to Willow’s desk only every now and then.
When she was done, it was time for lunch. Perfect timing.
Grinning, she crossed the room toward Willow, her coat draped over her arm, ready to head to lunch.
Willow wasn’t at her desk; she was in the next cubicle, discussing something with the co-worker who had taken over Barb’s workspace. Willow pointed at the screen, then leaned forward and reached around him for his mouse to show him something.
“Oh no!” Quickly, he slid it out of her reach. “You’re not touching my mouse! I need it to survive the day.”
Willow’s cheeks flushed crimson. “Okay, fine, I’ll keep my wisdom to myself and won’t show you the magic button.”
Her light, teasing tone didn’t fool Scottie. She could hear the hurt behind it.
Willow must have sensed her watching because she looked up. Her face softened, and her tightly held shoulders loosened a little.
Scottie lifted her hand in greeting. “Hey. Ready for lunch, or do you need a few minutes to wrap things up?”
The co-worker—Tony? Toby?—looked back and forth between them with a curious expression, probably trying to figure out if they were friends…or more.
At some point, they would have to talk about how to handle their relationship while they were at work. Did Willow want to keep it out of the office, or was she fine with her colleagues knowing that they were dating? Maybe they could talk about it over lunch.
“I’m ready,” Willow said immediately, as if she couldn’t wait to get out of there. She circled the divider and grabbed her purse and jacket from the back of her chair. “See you later, Toby.”
As they crossed the bullpen, Scottie could feel the tension radiating off Willow.
Was this about Toby and his attempt to hide the mouse from her? Clearly, Willow was starting to get a reputation among her colleagues as a person who broke devices.
That wasn’t good, but Scottie hoped it wouldn’t last.
Kudos Entertainment had always been the kind of workplace where the only thing faster than the Internet connection was the spread of gossip.
If someone from the executive floor started an affair with the receptionist or a new intern was caught taking reams of paper from the building, the rumor mill would move on and forget about Willow’s “tech jinx.”
When they got into the elevator and Willow pressed the button for the lobby, every single floor button lit up.
Luckily, no one else was with them. Scottie raised her brows but didn’t say anything until they’d left the building. She had the sneaking suspicion that this was about more than just Toby.
Willow wasn’t still angry with her, was she? Scottie had thought they had resolved their first argument and ended the phone call on good terms.
Outside, the rain had stopped, but the clouds still hung low and heavy.
“Hey,” Scottie said quietly as they crossed the street toward Willow’s lunch spot. “You okay?”
A shaky breath escaped Willow. “Yes. No. I’m having a horrible day.”
“I’m sorry. Is this about…us? Our argument this morning?”
“Argument?” Willow repeated as if it had no longer been on her radar at all. “No! We’re fine. I promise.”
“Then what’s wrong? And don’t even try to tell me it’s nothing.”
“It’s not nothing. It’s everything,” Willow whispered. “It feels like my entire world is about to crash.”
Scottie pulled her over to a bench in the park and used her coat sleeve to wipe away a few raindrops clinging to the wood before directing Willow to take a seat. “What happened?”
She sat beside her, leaving a bit of space, just in case Willow wasn’t ready for closeness after the morning she’d had.
But Willow inched toward her almost immediately. Her fingers twisted around the strap of her purse until the leather creaked. “As soon as I got to my desk this morning, Celeste came over. Said the COO wanted to see me.”
“Sorensen?” Scottie frowned. He didn’t usually get involved with day-to-day stuff in Operations. “What did he want?”
Willow bit her lip. “He called me on the carpet because of my tech issues. He wants me to document every little hiccup and CC him on all IT requests from now on so he can track where the breakdown is happening.”
Scottie bunched her hands into fists. “That’s rich!”
The words burst out of her, startling a crow into flight that had been pecking at a discarded sandwich.
“He’s lecturing you about your tech mishaps?
He calls IT for all kinds of ridiculous bullshit, like accidentally deleting his desktop shortcuts and wanting us to reinstall the programs that he thinks he uninstalled.
Track the breakdown! Ha!” Scottie snorted.
“That guy couldn’t troubleshoot his way out of a login screen!
The only reason he’s COO is because he’s engaged to Mr. Haggerty’s daughter!
Everyone knows it’s really Celeste, not him, who keeps Operations running smoothly! ”
Willow blinked as if stunned by her outburst.
Scottie slumped against the back of the bench. “Sorry. It’s just… It makes me furious when admin—especially women—are criticized for every little misstep, while the men higher up in the corporate hierarchy mess up all the time and still get fat bonuses at the end of the year.”
That was true, of course, but if Scottie was completely honest, she had to admit that her protective reaction hadn’t been so much about admin in general and more about how he had treated Willow in particular.
“Yeah, but unfortunately, that’s not all.” Willow stared at a cluster of bare trees next to their bench. “He wants me to assist him with the licensing proposal presentation for Unicorn Pictures.”
“Wow.” Scottie hadn’t expected that. “That’s an important project.” At first glance, getting to work on that seemed great. But then why was Willow so anxious?
It dawned on her after a moment. “He wants you to set up the laptop for the presentation.”
Willow nodded miserably. “The Unicorn Pictures team is coming here instead of us going to LA, and Mr. Sorensen wants me to set up the conference suite. I just don’t get it.
If this deal is that important, why risk having me of all people do the tech setup?
Why not ask his EA? I bet she’s done it a hundred times without any glitches. ”
His motivation finally became clear to Scottie. She gritted her teeth until her jaw hurt. “Because he needs someone to blame if the proposal tanks.”
“What?” Willow shook her head. “But why would he assume it’ll tank? Is he sabotaging it on purpose by assigning employees he thinks are incompetent?”
“No,” Scottie replied. “He probably figures his chances of landing the deal are slim—and for once, I agree with him. Unicorn Pictures hasn’t signed with Kudos since Sorensen took over.
They were really happy to work with Ms. Saunders, his predecessor, but have always gone with the competition since he became COO.
If they’re coming here instead of having Sorensen go to LA, they want to vet our team culture and production capabilities.
They’re not sure we can handle a global launch under his leadership.
He’s under pressure, and he needs a scapegoat in case things go south. ”
“Oh crap,” Willow whispered. “This isn’t just a test, is it? He’s setting me up to take the fall.”
Scottie nodded grimly.
“And there’s nothing I can do about it. I can’t refuse, and I can’t call in sick the day of the presentation. Anything I do would end up getting me fired.” Willow’s shoulders hunched. She didn’t look angry, just defeated.
A fist seemed to tighten around Scottie’s stomach. She opened her mouth to suggest that she do the tech setup for Willow.
But then she snapped her mouth shut. She had promised not to offer more unsolicited tech advice or to try to fix Willow’s problems for her. And she wanted to keep that promise, but watching Willow sit there, pale and anxious, made it almost unbearable. She couldn’t just stay put and do nothing.
Was getting HR involved an option?
But what would they tell them? That Sorensen had assigned her this task because she kept causing tech issues?
No, that definitely wouldn’t help Willow’s case.
“I really hoped this time would be different,” Willow whispered.
“What do you mean?”
“This”—Willow waved toward the Kudos office building across the street—“is exactly what happened at my last job.”
Scottie turned fully toward her. When they’d been trapped in the elevator together, Willow had told her that she’d been fired from her last job, but she hadn’t revealed the reason—or at least not all of it. “They set you up to take the fall for management too?”
“No, not that part. They let me go because I kept having tech issues. They never said it outright, but I could tell. I was too expensive as an employee. Too much trouble.”
Scottie reached over and took her hand. A jolt zapped through her fingers and raced up her arm. Even the scars on her scalp seemed to ache from leftover static. Ouch. That had been stronger than ever before, probably reflecting the turmoil inside Willow.
Willow tried to pull back, but Scottie refused to let go. “You’re not trouble.” She emphasized every word. “You’re hardworking, smart, and resourceful. Any employer worth their salt should be happy to have you.”
Willow tried a smile, but it ended up looking more like a grimace.
“You say that now. Wait until all the IT tickets start to pop up as my anxiety rises in the weeks leading up to the presentation.” She pressed her lips together.
“Even if the presentation itself goes smoothly, Mr. Sorensen might end up firing me for the string of tech disasters.”