5. Sofia #2
The atmosphere in the office felt strangely light.
Before making my way to my cubicle, I passed by the break room, basking in the rare luxury of a stress-free morning, and poured myself a fresh cup of coffee.
Someone had left a bakery box on the counter, so I snagged a chocolate frosted donut.
Normally, I’d miss out on the donuts or manage to only get a sugar one since all the good ones went fast. It felt like the universe might finally be cutting me some slack.
Balancing my coffee, donut, and my tote bag, I strolled happily over to my cubicle. Then I stopped dead in my tracks.
My desk was empty. My notebooks, my colorful pens in my Minions pen holder, my lucky purple stapler—all gone.
But the real kicker was seeing the empty spot where my dual-monitor computer setup used to sit.
There were wires dangling uselessly off the edge of the desk and a few stray sticky notes with my handwriting on them.
“What the…” I muttered, setting my donut down on the bare desktop. I spun around, looking at the neighboring cubicles. “Hey, Steve? Do you know where my computer went? Did IT pull it for updates or something?”
Steven peeked over his divider, frowning. “No idea, Sofia. It was there when I left last night. I didn’t even know it was gone.”
I asked two other designers, but everyone just shrugged, completely clueless. A cold sweat broke out across the back of my neck. Had Leonard found a way to get back at me for what I’d told our new boss yesterday? Was this his twisted revenge for me finally telling the truth?
Before I could spiral into total panic, Nova came rushing toward me, her eyes wide and breathless.
“Sofia! Oh my god, come on,” she panted, grabbing my arm and pulling me toward the executive hallway. “Your stuff. It’s all down there.”
“Down where?” I asked, stumbling after her while trying not to spill my coffee.
“In Leonard’s old office,” Nova whispered fiercely, leaning in close so the rest of the floor wouldn’t hear. “They’re moving you in. So the rumors I heard first thing this morning are true—Leonard was fired last night!”
“What?” I said a little too loud, catching the attention of a few employees near us.
“See for yourself.” Nova tugged on my arm until we stood just outside Leonard’s old door.
The corner office had two full walls of windows overlooking downtown Golden’s streets.
It was almost as nice of a view of the mountains as in the boss’s office.
I hadn’t known what Leonard had done to deserve the space when I’d first arrived last year.
Especially after working with him for a while.
Now, I was shocked that my things were sitting on the desk while one of the IT staff hooked up my dual monitors.
“What is going on?” I asked the room, my voice barely a whisper.
The IT guy, Joe something, didn’t even look up from the cable he was zip-tying. “I don’t know. I just had a work order telling me to move your computer in here.”
Nova nudged me in the ribs with her elbow, a massive, triumphant grin spreading across her face. “See? I told you good things were coming your way. I guess Leonard is really gone.”
My friend’s office was just down the hallway, three doors down from this one. She had pretty much the same view and the same size office. She’d earned it a few months back when she’d snagged a lucrative deal with a law firm.
Once again, Nova was ahead of me in all things.
It was the natural course of our friendship, something neither of us focused on.
We weren’t in competition with one another.
Instead, we looked at it as a partnership.
We each helped lift the other when something good happened to one of us.
Besides, she’d worked her ass off to be there, and I was in no way going to take her joy away from her.
I could tell that, now, she was basking in my good fortune just like I had the day she’d moved in to her office.
“Yes,” the IT guy said, finishing up and standing up straight. “I canceled his login first thing this morning and shifted all his emails to the new boss man. You still have access to all the shared folders on the drive,” he said, dusting off his hands. “You’re all set.” He disappeared out the door.
“I gotta go. I have a meeting in”—Nova winced—“two minutes.” She hugged me. “Congrats. I helped move a few of your things in” She motioned to my stapler and pen holder. “Talk later,” she said and quickly disappeared down the hallway.
My head was spinning so fast that I felt a little dizzy.
This office was three times the size of my cubicle.
Hell, it was bigger than my apartment. The air in here didn’t smell like stale coffee and corporate despair like the bullpen did.
It smelled like fresh carpet and crisp mountain air floating in from the window seams. I walked over to the desk, setting my coffee cup down right next to my lucky stapler, which looked incredibly small on the polished wood surface.
“How are you liking your new space?”
The deep, gritty voice cut through my daze. I snapped my head around to see Rick leaning against the open doorframe. He had his sleeves rolled up again, a porcelain mug in one hand and a too-attractive smirk playing on his lips.
Suddenly, the spacious office felt incredibly small.
“Good morning, boss,” I said, my heart doing that ridiculous, high-speed fluttering thing it had perfected over the last twenty-four hours. “I, uh… I love it. I’m not sure I deserve it though.”
“From what I’ve heard and seen, it’s a much better use of the space,” Rick said, stepping into the room and letting his gaze sweep over the view of downtown Golden before landing back on me.
“Since Leonard doesn’t work here any longer, the real estate was available.
I figured the person who actually did the work he took credit for should get the space. ”
“So it’s true? You really did fire him? Was it because of what I told you?” I asked.
“Not only because of what you said. I did some research of my own. I noticed a lot of inconsistencies after glancing over the server logs. According to the records, he had deleted a lot of records after you had uploaded them. He shifted files from your folders into his own as well. But the biggest part was him adding all your overtime to his own time.” He tilted his head.
“Didn’t you notice you weren’t getting paid for all those extra hours? ”
“He assured me he was trying to get it straightened out,” I said, suddenly feeling stupid. “I suppose I was kept too busy to look into it further.”
“That ends now,” he assured me. “I also took a look at his personnel file,” Rick said smoothly. “Let’s just say, all of his concepts lacked a certain… authenticity. Plagiarism doesn’t fly on my watch, nor does lying to me.”
A massive wave of relief washed over me, so intense my knees actually felt a little weak. I sat down in the chair with relief. The tyrant was really gone. I didn’t have to spend my weekends doing data entry or hiding my sketches anymore.
“Thank you,” I said softly, meaning it from the absolute bottom of my heart.
“Don’t thank me yet,” Rick murmured, his eyes locking onto mine with a playful, heated intensity that made the room feel twenty degrees warmer.
He stepped a little closer to the desk, tilting his head.
“You still have a brewery pitch to finish. And considering I caught you violating my strict no-work-after-five policy at the Italian place last night, I expect those sketches to be spectacular,” he joked.
“I accept that challenge.” I laughed.
“Good.” A devastatingly handsome smile broke across his face.
He tapped the edge of my new desk. “Get settled in. Pack up whatever is left in your cubicle, and then bring your napkin sketches down to my office at eleven. Let’s see what else you came up with while you were supposed to be off the clock.
” He turned and left me alone in my new office.
My very own office! I held in a squeal of excitement as I spun my chair in circles.