Chapter Thirteen
Thirteen
I did not have everything handled. This week was a mess. I prayed and prayed for Friday to come, and it was finally here and off to an even worse start. I had double-booked Mr. Stevenson for two very important meetings, one with finance and one with legal. I refused to bother Natalie, who was now home with her baby girl. She sent me a photo to include in the company newsletter to announce her daughter’s birth at the end of the month.
This role was a lot of pressure and stress for being bored most of the time. I dialed Kyle’s extension. He answered on the first ring.
“Ember, what can I do for you?” He had a voice that always sounded flirty.
“Hey, so something came up and I’m gonna have to push your meeting back until Monday.”
“No can do, kiddo, I need these numbers approved.” I hated when men called me kiddo. He was maybe twenty-nine or thirty at the most. Patronizing ass.
“Do they have to be approved on a Friday? Monday morning first thing, I promise.”
“I really hope this doesn’t become a habit. Mr. Stevenson and I have a very close working relationship, and he likes to be heavily involved in all things finance.”
I rolled my eyes. What executive didn’t like being involved in “all things finance”? It was money. Give me a break.
“Okay, thanks. Bye!” I hung up the phone and fixed Mr. Stevenson’s calendar. I crossed my fingers in hopes that he had not seen the mistake yet.
My favorite task of the day was finalizing the menu for the conference dinners at the hotel. Steak, steak, and more steak. There were fish and veggie options too, but all I cared about were the free steak fillets and barbecue sandwiches I had planned. Planning events was a lot of fun when you didn’t have to pay for any of it yourself.
I heard stomping down the hall and looked up to see Mr. Stevenson with his head down barreling his way to his office, leather briefcase in one hand and his oversized thermos of coffee in the other.
“Good morning, Mr. Stevenson,” I greeted.
“In my office, now.” He sped past me.
Inside his domain, he threw his briefcase down on his desk. I believed I was about to experience one of Mr. Stevenson’s infamous foul moods. I grabbed my laptop and headed in, bracing myself for whatever was about to be thrown my way.
“Happy Friday,” I said with as much cheerfulness as I could muster. It was a lot.
“Sit down.” He steepled his fingers together as he leaned over his desk.
I sat down and plastered a fake smile on my face.
“Why was my calendar a mess this morning?”
My stomach dropped and my heart skipped a beat. He had noticed my mistake. Great.
“I apologize, there was a double-booking, but I fixed it.”
“Why do I now have a meeting with our legal counsel instead of the finance team, who is now pushed to Monday? I received a call from my nephew.”
Nephew? What? No one here looked like they could be related to Mr. Stevenson…apart from all the white people. Shit, Technix could employ most of his family then. I remembered Kyle had wanted that meeting with Mr. Stevenson, but it wouldn’t fit. I guess I knew Kyle and Mr. Stevenson’s “close working relationship.”
“Kyle is your nephew?”
Mr. Stevenson leveled a glare at me through his bushy eyebrows for interrupting him. A close working relationship indeed.
“As I said, I got a call from my nephew. I need the month end to wrap up and get finalized before our conference. That was a poor lapse in judgment from you. Jacqueline Wethers is our legal counsel, and I’ll have to listen to her whine about the current litigation and the legal bills on a Friday. Never, and I truly mean never , do this to me again. Natalie should have explained the hierarchy of importance to you. Write this down: finance, marketing, everything else, then legal, and lastly HR and personnel problems. Got it?”
“Noted. I promise it won’t happen again.”
“Good. You’re dismissed.” He stabbed the number pad on the new conference phone on his desk as I walked out of the office. I closed the door and immediately it turned opaque.
I made a mistake. People made mistakes. Was it so bad that I deserved that kind of treatment? You would think I lost thousands of dollars or something.
Jacqueline’s email said it was extremely urgent and could not wait. Had she lied to me? I hardly knew these people well enough to understand the nuance of electronic correspondence and the actual urgency.
I pressed send on the email with the final menu options and then had nothing to do but replay the scolding I just got and panic about the worst-case scenarios. Does Mr. Stevenson hate me? Will he fire me?
I opened Teams, typed in Danuwoa’s name, and wrote him a message.
Ember Cardinal: Heyy
The two y ’s made it casual. Totally could not be misconstrued as flirty. One y would have been too professional, in my opinion.
Dan Colson: Heyyy
Oh my god. A third y ? Was that flirty? I felt like that was totally flirty.
Ember Cardinal: Why don’t you have your full name on here?
Dan Colson: Bc I’m IT and I can program it how I want.
Ember Cardinal: Can you do that for every device?
There was a pause, but my anxiety was abating already. I was smiling and more relaxed.
Native Daddy: I am the master of this universe.
Ember Cardinal: What the hell? Does it say that for the entire company?!
My face was bright red, but I was laughing out loud.
Native Daddy: Just for our chat.
Great. I was going to have to convince him to change it back. I wouldn’t survive if someone walked by and saw his username on my laptop screen.
Ember Cardinal: I’m not sure I am comfortable with you fetishizing yourself like this.
Native Daddy: I believe it was you and your roommate doing the fetishizing…
Ember Cardinal: JOANNA NOT ME!
Native Daddy: Gotta run.
He sent one final message.
Native Daddy: Have a great weekend if I don’t see you.
Mr. Stevenson’s conference call must have wrapped up, because the office wall turned clear in my peripheral vision. I was starting to think that this smart glass, while cool, was fucking weird. Like, just have normal walls. I didn’t want to stress about him going from clear to opaque and back again while I was picking my nose or something. There was also something really Big Brother about how he sat behind me. Granted, his desk was at the end of his large office, but it was facing the back of my head. The only privacy I had was from the short cabinet that ran the length of the wall. Maybe I could find a big, full plant to put on top directly behind my head. Just in case I had more of these instant message exchanges with Danuwoa before he changed his contact name back again.
My desk phone lit up. Thomas Stevenson appeared on the caller ID.
“Hello?”
“Please come in.” His voice was much calmer than before. Could I get a neck injury from this personality whiplash?
I wasted no time grabbing my laptop and heading in.
“Great news! Our patent litigation matter has settled. This is great. Great! The investors will be really happy. I’m going to head home. You should too. Enjoy your weekend.” Mr. Stevenson grabbed his briefcase and thermos and headed out of the office, pausing at the door to let me out first.
He went from menacing Bond villain to friendly and chivalrous southern boy in an hour.
Natalie and Danuwoa were not kidding about his moods. He swung back and forth like a pendulum. Could I trust that he really meant I could leave early? I breathed deep and took my time as I packed my things to head home, giving my mercurial boss time to change his mind.