32. Priorities 2.0 #3
“Because I was afraid,” Audre says. “I was afraid to admit my culpability in all of this.”
“Your culpability?”
“And I was hopeful we might recoup our losses so I wouldn’t have to bother you.” Audre swallows. “But we didn’t.”
Jesse snatches up the statements and pages through them. “Seven million dollars!” He jumps to his feet and starts pacing the room as he studies the statements. “For fuck’s sake, Audre, this is a nuclear meltdown.”
“There were market fluctuations—”
“Market fluctuations, my ass!” Jesse says.
He takes another moment to pore over the pages while Audre reminds herself to breathe.
“You gave this… Oak Bellamy person permission to invest a quarter of our budget in high-risk stocks? You need that money, Audre. I can understand not leaving it in cash, but it should have been in short-term government bonds or, I don’t know…
. Something stable. You can’t just take an amount like that and light it on fire.
He invested you in… Credible Crypto? Was he really that big of an idiot? That company went up in flames.”
“I’m aware,” Audre says. Despite her absolute mortification, she finds she feels a tiny bit better now that her secret is out in the open.
“I spent the summer in New Orleans moving my parents. I didn’t pay enough attention to what Oak was doing.
Dick Ryan retired, Oak took over, I assumed things would remain status quo, because why wouldn’t they?
But Oak started a new company, which has a similar name to the old company…
” Audre throws her hands up. “I signed the documents, but I wasn’t paying attention.
You trusted me with the budget, which I appreciated—”
“Because, if I recall, you said you didn’t want to have to ‘ask a man’ every time you needed to write a check…”
“Correct,” Audre says. “But evidently, I was wrong. I wasn’t capable of handling the budget.”
Jesse runs a hand through his hair, then sits back down. “You’re perfectly capable,” he says. “You just weren’t doing your job, which is far worse.”
Sloth, Audre thinks. She succumbed to that deadly sin, and here they are.
Audre is determined not to cry, even though she can see what’s coming.
He’s going to fire her. He has no choice.
Audre’s hope that she could limp along until the end of the school year vaporizes.
What devastates her isn’t the scandal and gossip the firing will cause—both Worthless and Mikayla Ekubo will relish the news of Audre’s downfall—but rather, that she won’t be present to watch her beloved sixth-form graduate.
Jesse is silent for a long time; Audre feels like she’s standing by the gallows, waiting to be hung. Just do it already, she thinks.
Finally, Jesse clears his throat. “By all rights, I should let you go.”
Audre looks at him. Is there a “but” coming?
“But,” Jesse says, straightening the bank statements into a neat pile and setting them on the couch beside him, “I’m a new man these days, thanks to O’Malley.” Jesse breaks out into a grin, and for a fleeting moment, he looks just like East. “We’re having a baby.”
“Yes,” Audre says. “Congratulations again, it’s wonderful news.”
“You’ve honored our agreement in regard to East,” Jesse says. “You not only got him through high school, you somehow inspired him to go to college.”
Credit for that should really go to Charley Hicks, Audre thinks, but she just nods.
“You kept our deal under wraps, no one found out, and I’m sure there were many, many times when you chose to look the other way with East.” Jesse pauses to throw back the rest of his coffee. “I know East was responsible for building that speakeasy.”
Audre presses her lips together.
“The sailor’s tattoo wallpaper in the bathroom was the giveaway,” Jesse says. “My ex-wife, Lori, and I had the same paper in the bathroom of our first apartment. I would know Lori’s decorating anywhere.” Jesse chuckles. “I’m sure East told her he was working on some kind of school project.”
Audre allows herself a partial smile. Will she not be getting fired?
“You don’t have to confirm or deny, but my guess is you found out East built the speakeasy, and instead of busting him for it, you took control and repurposed the space for donor events. Which I appreciate, on multiple fronts.”
Audre will neither confirm nor deny. This seems wisest.
“Also?” Jesse says. “I heard Erik Sacks offered you a blank-check bribe and you turned him down.” He points at Audre. “And because of that, I will forgive you anything. Call me petty, but I loathe Erik Sacks, and you turning him down, I don’t know… it makes me feel special.”
“Oh, Jesse,” Audre says. “You are special.” She nearly adds, I can’t imagine being bribed by anyone but you.
“I’ll cover the deficit of the budget,” Jesse says. “But the first thing we’re doing after this meeting is firing Oak Bellamy.”
Audre imagines interrupting Oak’s Sunday morning Ashtanga class or his egg-white-and-foraged-mushroom omelet brunch with the news that she’s pulling Tiffin’s account.
Nothing will give Audre more pleasure.