CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Corey
Izzy hurried past me as I made my way back to Nora’s tiny cubicle after arriving back at our building.
‘Got to pick up my daughter. My ex is sick and thinks he can’t care for her and himself at the same time.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’
I dropped into my chair and read some boring emails, then Mark’s voice boomed behind me.
‘I’d like to see you in my office.’
I spun around to his crotch at eye level.
‘Is there a problem?’ I asked, feigning innocence about my embarrassing outburst during the meeting.
He shook his head and walked away after using the kind of tone I saved for negative performance reviews.
Shit.
The guilt eased when I considered my father was probably still chewing Nora’s ass off after failing to be the son he expected in that meeting.
If I end up having to return to that hellhole tomorrow, it’ll be me receiving those verbal lashings.
An eye for an eye, as Nora would say. Besides, it wasn’t my fault.
I’d only tried to stop her from outing us to an entire table of colleagues.
I headed to Mark’s office and closed the door.
He’d regained his composure, his straightened spine touching the back of his chair, hands clasped together on his lap.
‘Nora. About that meeting.’ He paused for dramatic effect.
‘I’m sorry if I spoke out of turn.’ I wasn’t familiar with grovelling, but if that’s what it took to save Nora’s career, I was prepared to flush my pride down the toilet.
He waved his hands dismissively. ‘You redeemed yourself by saving the company a lot of money with your suggestion.’
Dah, I thought. How could the director of a company be ready to fall into my father’s trap without a second thought? I’d known interns with better judgement.
‘It just made sense.’
‘The fine print.’ He nodded. ‘I used to read everything, but now, I have people to do that for me. The thing is, they didn’t do such a good job this time.’
‘Mistakes happen.’ I smiled through my urge to yell at their incompetence.
‘Not like this. This could have seen us lose half the company. Jobs gone. Budgets cut. Clients lost.’
Whoever didn’t do their homework should probably start looking for a new job.
Rumour has it, the barista in our lobby heard my father yelling from the top floor last year.
Not convinced Mark had it in him to throttle his vocal cords like that, I imagined he’d convey his disappointment through facial expressions and a puffed chest.
‘I’ve got my eye on you from this moment. You probably could have done well if you’d taken Terry’s place.’
Instead, you promoted Fuckface Freddie.
‘Would have. Not could have,’ I corrected him.
‘Well, we’ll see how the rest of the year plays out.’ He stood.
‘Actually.’ An idea formed in my head. ‘I think I’ve more than proved my capability and how much of an asset I am to this company. I’d really like the opportunity to discuss my salary.’
His nostrils flared, but I held my stance. Nora’s pitiful salary should have been reviewed long ago.
‘This isn’t the time for this discussion, unfortunately.’ He tried for a cheerful tone.
‘When would be?’
Unable to resist the urge to one up him, I prepared to go the full hog. I wasn’t used to answering to other people, and I needed this. Nora needed this. Something to remember me by once we were switched back to our own bodies. Something to prove I wasn’t as terrible as she thought.
‘Well, we’d have to bring HR in,’ he said.
‘I could set that up, if you’d like.’
Recruiting Maisy would be a piece of cake. She’d be delighted to help bump Nora’s lifestyle up a notch.
‘And I’d need to go over our finances,’ he continued.
I knew everything he needed to do, but I waited through each excuse as he tried to drag everything out into the large problem it wasn’t.
A flicker of shame raced through my body as I realised how much control management had.
Guilt gnawed at the way I’d manipulated careers to suit the company rather than the person.
Just as Mark was doing right now. Did I really want management skills comparable to this asshole?
I smiled. At least my knowledge of these skills could make things happen right now if I played my cards correctly. I knew I could. I’d been playing this game my entire life, and it was time to shuffle the deck. ‘I’m entirely flexible, please let me know when it suits.’
Mark stared at my unwavering gaze and sighed. ‘Take a seat.’
I’d never followed a command faster, and perched on the chair ready to negotiate a better life for Nora.
‘Damn it, Nora.’ Freddie scrunched his face.
I’d left Mark’s office only to land in his.
‘You didn’t read through everything before the meeting because you didn’t have time. Don’t blame me for that. You wanted this job, but you can’t hack it,’ I said.
I took in the deep bags under his eyes and his ruffled hair.
His loosened tie hung like a noose around his neck.
Once I’d committed every little detail to do with his flustered appearance to memory, I moved on to his office.
Nora would love the play-by-play I planned to deliver this evening.
Paper littered his desk. Reports, folders, scrunched drafts, to-do lists.
For every one item he got through, it seemed three more were brought in.
‘Do you have any idea how many things I’ve had to finalise since Terry left?’ His eyes were pistols.
‘That’s what senior positions do, Freddie. They balance and prioritise. Admit you shouldn’t have accepted this position and be done with it.’
‘Oh, you’d love that, wouldn’t you? That’s the last time I’m bringing you along to something important. I’ll make sure you never leave that cubicle again.’ He pointed to the pitiful space Nora worked in.
I walked back to her desk with a spring in my step. As much as I loved his confidence, I would shit all over his bluff.
That evening, I rotted on the couch for an hour before the front door rattled. ‘Has anyone called about the umbrella?’ I moaned.
Nora had barely stepped inside before unsuccessfully hiding her pleasure at my pain now that the pain relief from the day had worn off.
No man should have to deal with uterus problems. Every ounce of anger and frustration flowed through my fingers, my pencil moving across the page of my notebook in a flurry.
‘Nope.’ She placed my briefcase by the door and walked straight to the kitchen.
‘Will you make me a tea while you’re in there?’ I pleaded.
‘Seriously? You were home before me, but I’m making you tea?’ she teased.
Nora’s shoulders scrunched in the way I’d noticed each Monday when she gave a funny answer to a question. She carried the milk over to the mugs she’d filled with boiling water and loosened her tie.
‘Thanks, we’re gonna need sustenance like this because there’s serious work to do this arvo.’
‘No, no more work. I dealt with your asshole father all day and untangled some seriously tangled webs you’ve been ignoring in terms of colleagues.’
My forehead dropped to my hand. She was meant to keep out of trouble, but it sounded like she’d jumped into the lion’s den and started grooming his mane. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean the work culture in that office is horrendous. Have you ever looked at your staff turnover? It’s ridiculously high.’
Of course it’s high. They work hard, but the devil named Craig Flemmington works harder.
‘Would you want to work for my father? It’s hard to care when—’
‘But you should care,’ Nora huffed, making my broad shoulders slump.
‘You may not care about your father or his business, but you should care about the people unfortunate enough to be stuck working there. They don’t live in a place like this, with no personal responsibilities or problems. They’re trying to get by with a shitty paycheque and not cry at their desks while your father storms around the office. ’
I frowned. ‘Wow, you like, really care.’
‘Of course I really care. I’m one of those people trying to get by with a shitty paycheque and not cry at my desk.’
I opened my mouth, but words wouldn’t come out.
I’d been blind to the fact my misery contained in the walls of my office had company lurking just outside.
It was scattered between desks being nurtured by mugs of warm coffee.
I’d been so consumed with myself, I hadn’t noticed anyone else.
I stared at the wall behind Nora, unable to meet her eye.
‘And why do you always wear that bloody hat?’ she continued. ‘Are you worried your head’s going to fall apart and your small brain will fall out?’
I twisted my cap so it sat backwards and took a deep breath. I needed to focus on tonight. ‘Yeah, yeah. Ha ha, so funny. Can we talk about everything later? You’re going to need a history lesson if we still have no ideas how to switch back.’
‘A what?’ She scrunched up her face.
I opened my laptop on the coffee table and pulled up photos on the screen.
‘Corey, I’m tired after today,’ Nora whined.
‘Tired isn’t an excuse to the Flemmingtons. Injury isn’t an excuse to the Flemmingtons. Even death isn’t an excuse to the Flemmingtons.’
‘Your family dinner,’ Nora groaned upon realisation.
‘My family dinner.’ I nodded. Nora was about to be properly christened as Corey Flemmington; mind, body, and soul.
‘We can’t be in public anymore; you saw what happened in that meeting.’
‘You’re the one who insisted we go to work to save your career. This is needed to save mine.’
‘When your father insists we be in a padded room in strait jackets, don’t say I didn’t warn you.’ She crossed her arms.
My heart clenched as she softened my grey eyes and smiled with the charm she must use at work. For the first time, I didn’t dread going to my parents’ place. Not when I knew Nora would be by my side.