Chapter 9
GRACE
Grace’s fears were confirmed when she arrived at the office an hour later, freshly showered and wearing a pair of slacks and an off-white blouse.
Alex was in the dev-ops office, talking to the team about the code testing that day, but when he saw her arrive, he made a quick excuse and left.
Just a few days ago, he would have hung around to talk to her, but not today.
“Running late?” Autumn asked.
“Sorry,” Grace said as she hurriedly sat and started booting up her laptop. “Crazy morning.”
“That happens.” Autumn smiled sympathetically. “Take your time getting settled.”
“Thanks.”
As Grace fell into work, she began to relax a little.
The code was like a welcoming blanket, wrapping around her shoulders and reassuring her that there was nothing to worry about, not really.
It was easy to distance herself from messy emotions with code, which either worked or didn’t and never made Grace question what it was thinking.
The blanket was ripped away during the afternoon scrum, though. Grace made a comment about a way to test for an edge case, and Alex’s gaze skated right over her as though he hadn’t heard. Grace’s stomach clenched. She’d thought the idea was good. Maybe it hadn’t been.
Or maybe he just didn’t know how to act around her now that they’d slept together. Grace was certainly struggling to find her feet.
She was relieved when, in the late afternoon, Alex called her to his office. Finally, they’d have a chance to talk things through and, surely, ease the tension between them. She went right away, trying not to overthink the conversation they were about to have.
“Good morning,” she said to Louisa, who gave her a bright smile. “Alex asked to see me.”
“Of course. He’s expecting you—you can go right in.”
“Thanks.”
“Please sit,” Alex said as soon as Grace entered and shut the door behind her. He was sitting behind his desk, his hands folded in front of him, his blue eyes unreadable. Despite herself, a memory of him kissing her flashed through Grace’s mind.
“How are you?” she asked as she slid into the seat across from him.
“We need to talk.” Alex let out a short sigh and smoothed his hair back. “Last night was… great. But it can never happen again. I’m your boss, and it was inappropriate.”
A strange mix of relief and sadness flooded Grace. It would be good to get back to normal, and she’d never expected more than a night with Alex, but being dismissed so cleanly didn’t feel great. She did her best not to let any of that show on her face, though.
“I couldn’t agree more,” she said.
“Good.” Alex smiled, though his expression was still tight. “I value you greatly as an employee and a friend, and I hope this won’t hurt our working relationship.”
“Of course not,” Grace agreed. “We can just pretend it never happened.”
“Done,” Alex agreed. “It was just a mistake. We can both stand to be a little more professional going forward.”
“A mistake,” Grace echoed. That description hurt more than she’d expected, even though part of her agreed. And what Alex said about being more professional was foreboding, too. Did “professionalism” mean an end to their sessions of brainstorming and working together over takeout?
“Well, that should be all,” Alex said. “Let me know if you have any questions.”
“Good luck with the testing,” Grace responded. She stood and left, quickly, before either she or Alex could say anything else.
Over the next few weeks, Grace fell into a pattern of work.
After their conversation, Alex mostly went back to normal.
He called on her in meetings again, asked for her help with bugs, and praised her work, just like before.
He didn’t talk to her about anything personal, and he seemed to be trying to avoid spending time alone with her, but at least their professional relationship was intact.
Grace spent more time with her colleagues, especially Autumn. She worked hard on the update. She focused on her professional life and put her personal one aside, as she’d always done.
The more time that went by like that, the more Grace hoped this would all just blow over.
And then…
The night before the launch, everyone stayed late, cleaning up last-minute details and stressing out over potential issues.
Alex ordered takeout for the whole office, and it felt a little like a sleepover to Grace.
The secure laptop was passed around, with everyone doing final reviews of the code, and black coffee kept everyone going until late in the night.
Even Louisa, who usually went home on time, stayed to help.
Finally, Grace stumbled home for a few hours before coming back to the office on launch day, ready to see how the rollout went and to help with debugging as needed.
When she arrived, though, the office was in a frenzy.
The few employees who’d come in before her were wide-eyed and frantic.
Dennis ran from room to room, shaking his head as he emerged from each.
A bad feeling settled in Grace’s stomach, and she looked around for anyone who could provide clarity on the situation.
“You’re here.” Autumn hurried toward Grace, looking frazzled. Her blouse was untucked, and her hair was messy. “Where is it?”
“What’s happening?” Grace countered. “Where’s what?” She spread her hands wide in a gesture of confusion. “I have no idea what’s going on.”
“I think you do.” Autumn sighed, a little of her frantic energy draining. “Come on.” She led Grace down the hall to the team office, where she gestured for her to sit. “Wait right here. Don’t move.”
She returned a few minutes later with a security guard.
“Whoa,” Grace said, jumping to her feet. “What’s happening?”
“The laptop is missing,” Autumn said. “We found out when we got in this morning. And, according to the log, you were the last one to check it out.”
Grace’s eyes widened and her stomach flipped. “That may be, but we were all using it last night, and I’m sure I returned it to Alex’s office after I did.”
“Well, it isn’t there,” Autumn said sharply. “Think about it, Grace. Did you put it somewhere? Take it home? Give it to someone else?”
“No!” Grace shook her head. “I have no idea where it is. I was using it late last night, but I swear, I took it back to Alex’s office. Someone must have used it after me and forgotten to sign it out.”
“Is there anyone who can verify that?” Autumn asked.
“I’m not sure.” Grace ran a hand through her short hair. “It was all so chaotic last night with the last-minute changes, but there were lots of people there. I’m sure someone saw me.”
“Well, no one did.” Autumn sighed. “Is there any other way you can prove you returned the laptop?”
“Actually, yes,” Grace said, her spirits soaring at the sudden realization. “I filled in the sign-out document as usual. I definitely signed the laptop back in. Just check the document.”
“We have, and your name isn’t there. To be honest, I’m in a really difficult position here, Grace.
I want to believe that you didn’t steal the laptop, but it is missing.
And that means that the update is stalled.
Are you sure you didn’t drop it? Maybe leave it somewhere?
If it was an accident, we’ll understand, and we can fix it. ”
“I’m sure,” Grace said. “I didn’t take it, either on purpose or by accident. Come on, Autumn. We’re friends, aren’t we? I’m sure the laptop will turn up. Maybe someone took it home by mistake.”
“Did you take it home by mistake?” Autumn asked. Her tone was accusatory, and Grace already knew where this was going. Autumn was frantic. She was trying to solve this immediately. And Grace was the most likely culprit, even though she was innocent.
“I didn’t. I swear.”
“Well, I’m afraid that I don’t have any other choice.
” Autumn stood up. “I’m as disappointed as you are, Grace, but it looks like you don’t have any alternative explanation for what happened, and you’re unwilling or unable to return the laptop.
Maybe you took it home so that you could be the hero at the last minute and win Alex’s approval.
Maybe you’re selling the data to another company.
Maybe you just misplaced it. I really don’t know. But I can’t let you keep working here.”
The air left Grace’s lungs in a whoosh, as swiftly as if she’d been punched in the gut.
“You’re firing me?”
“Whether you made a mistake or stole the laptop on purpose, the fact remains that it was checked out to you when it disappeared. I want to believe that you didn’t take it, but when the laptop is checked out to you, it’s your responsibility, and we’re unable to prove that you returned it safely.”
“This is a mistake,” Grace said. “Let me talk to Alex.”
“I already talked to him,” Autumn said. “And he told me to handle this, which is what I’m doing. He’s already trying to recover what was lost.”
“Handle this?” Grace swallowed. The fact that Alex wasn’t even here was very telling. Her heart started to race. Was it possible that he wanted her to be fired because of their night together?
“Yes. I’m doing my best here, and you’re not giving me any information to prove your innocence.”
“Autumn, please,” Grace said. “I think someone’s setting me up. I don’t know what happened here, but I swear, I didn’t take the laptop or lose it.”
“I wish I could take you at your word.” Autumn sighed. “But we have policies in place, and without any proof from you, I have to follow them. Josh here will escort you out.”
“Let me call Alex.” Grace fumbled for her phone.
“I’ll talk to him, I’ll explain.” Even though they weren’t romantically involved, surely Alex wouldn’t throw her under the bus like this.
Maybe, when he’d told Autumn to handle the situation, he’d meant investigate, not fire.
He’d want to know that Grace was being pushed out, even though she hadn’t done anything wrong.
Even though she’d signed the laptop back in on the log—she was sure of it!
But the phone rang and rang, and no one answered. Was Alex screening her calls? That seemed like a bad sign.
“Come on,” the security guard, Josh, said. His tone was kind. “Let’s go. No point in hanging around here.”
“I didn’t do this,” Grace repeated, but she stood. It was clear that there was nothing she could say, even though she distinctly remembered returning the laptop to Alex’s office. She’d never have stolen the laptop. And she’d never have been careless enough to misplace it.
“Let’s go,” Josh repeated. Grace followed him to her desk, where she packed up her few items. Her gaze landed on the duck Alex had given her. She picked it up, then slowly set it back down.
Alex must know what was happening. There was no way he hadn’t authorized this.
Suddenly, it all made sense to Grace. Alex had slept with her.
Now she was being fired. It seemed far too convenient, like he’d used her and then tossed her aside when he needed a scapegoat.
It was the only explanation that made any kind of sense.
Even if he didn’t care for her, Alex must know that she’d never have done this.
They’d had long conversations about being perfectionists and caring too much about work.
And Grace had signed the laptop back in.
In the best-case scenario, Alex was letting Autumn fire Grace despite no real evidence that she’d done anything wrong.
In the worst case, this whole situation was manufactured to try to push Grace out.
“I’m sure you’ll find a better job,” Josh said kindly, breaking Grace’s train of thought.
“Thank you,” Grace said, but she wasn’t so sure.
The San Valentino job market was scary at the best of times, and when potential employers found out that she’d been fired under mysterious circumstances, they’d surely pass her over.
“Can we go to Alex’s office?” she asked.
“I need to talk to him.” Some part of her still hoped that this was all a misunderstanding and that, when Alex found out she was being fired, he’d do something to stop it.
Yet the bigger part of her knew that this was probably Alex’s doing.
“I need to take you straight out,” Josh replied.
“It’ll just be a second.”
“I’m sorry. I can’t.”
And then he escorted Grace, confused, humiliated, and hurt, out of the building. No one tried to talk to her. No one seemed to care that she had been set up and summarily fired, least of all Alex, who was conspicuously absent.
It was all over. Her dream job. Her flirtation with Alex. Her hopes that she could finally prove herself. Everything had disappeared with one false accusation and no one to support her.