Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 61939 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 310(@200wpm)___ 248(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61939 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 310(@200wpm)___ 248(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Everly went still, watching me.
“Okay,” I said. “Go ahead. Let me have it. Pile on extra pettiness, hundreds of ‘I told you so’s.’”
“No.” She shook her head slowly. “I’m not going to do that.”
“Until later?”
“Until never.” She sighed. “There’s no point. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I slept with my boss.”
“I know, but…” She wiped my tears with her shirt. “It’s because you have feelings for him.”
“Had. Past tense.”
“Okay, fine.” She touched my arm. “Are you planning to talk to him anytime soon?”
I shook my head.
“So, how exactly are you going to quit?”
“By not showing up anymore,” I said, letting her wipe my face again. “He’ll get the point eventually.”
FORTY
HARRISON
Monday morning
“Here’s the Lay Group’s second proposal,” Aaron said, walking into my office. “Now, they’re claiming that they can turn things around with forty percent layoffs instead of what they said before.”
“Interesting.” I glanced at the doorway behind him, wondering why Andrea wasn’t steps behind him. Why she wasn’t armed with files and apologies for not returning my calls and ignoring my texts.
Her ridiculous tantrum should be long over by now.
“There’s also a proposal by the Kroger Group, but I’ve already told them we’re not keen on getting into the grocery business.”
“Uh huh…” I craned my neck to get a better view of the hallway. “Interesting.”
“You’re not even listening to me, Harrison.” He slammed a folder onto my desk. “We have less than six weeks to make a decision here, and you—whoa. Don’t take this the wrong way, but you look tired as hell today.”
“I didn’t get any sleep this weekend.”
“Sorry,” he said. “It seemed like you were doing a lot better for a while… Shouldn’t you call your doctor?”
He’s not the reason I was sleeping well…
“He says it’ll pass eventually,” I said, desperate to change the subject. “Repeat what you said again. I’ll listen this time.”
“Thank you. The Lay Group submitted a second proposal and…”
I tuned out his voice once more and picked up my phone.
I refreshed my inbox and my texts, knowing Andrea was seconds away from responding.
She better be.
By the time I’d finished checking, Aaron was staring at me and shaking his head.
“I’ll come back when you’re ready to join me on this planet, Harrison.” He sighed. “Maybe this afternoon.”
“I was listening to you, Aaron.”
“Right.” He looked at his watch. “Let’s just make it this evening.”
I didn’t protest him walking away.
I scrolled down to Andrea’s name, but a junior accountant suddenly stepped into my doorway.
“Mr. Cross, may I come in, sir?”
“Sure.”
“Thank you.” He rushed to my desk.
“Here are the calculations you requested from me late last night, sir,” he said. “If it helps, all the latte blend sales are stronger than they’ve ever been.”
“What about merch?”
“Same.” He shot me a quizzical look. “You had me run those numbers, too… They’re in there.”
“Did you find a way to make five hundred million in profit appear in the next two quarters?”
“No, I…” He paled. “I’m just the raw equations guy, sir. Miss Stone probably can, though. She’s the best at that.”
“Get out.”
He rushed away without another word, and I walked to my secretary’s desk.
“Heather?” I cleared my throat. “Did Miss Stone say she’d be late today?”
“No, sir.”
“Can you call her and ask what time she’ll be arriving?”
“Right away.” She picked up her desk phone and called. Then she covered the receiver. “It sent me straight to voicemail. Would you like me to leave a message?”
“Yes,” I said. “Then send her an email.”
“Miss Stone, this is Heather calling on behalf of Mr. Cross.” She was far nicer than me. “He’s just wondering when you’ll be coming into work today. Call me back when you receive this, please.”
She hung up and typed on her keyboard.
“Okay,” she said. “The email is sent as well, sir. Anything else I can do for you this morning?”
“My breakfast is late for some reason,” I said. “You can also tell me why Andrea isn’t here.”
“I just called and emailed her seconds ago, sir.” She arched a brow. “Remember?”
“Maybe. Send an intern in with my breakfast and reschedule all my morning meetings by two hours.”
She nodded, eyeing me suspiciously as I returned to my office.
Subject: Unauthorized Time Off
Miss Stone,
Given the fact that I have generously spared you from any disciplinary action over ruining a certain meeting and that you seem to be feeling better, I will not tolerate you taking any additional time off.
You need to make an appearance in my office no later than noon, or I’ll be forced to take action.
Thank you for your attention to this issue.
(I’m still your boss.)
Harrison Cross
CEO, Sweet Seasons Coffee
Founder & Owner, Cross Industries
FORTY-ONE
ANDREA
Dave
Mr. Cross told me to take him to The Grand Alaskan this morning. FYI.
Was he mad I wasn’t there?
He’s fucking livid.
Good.
Iflipped through my CFO contract for the umpteenth time, searching for any loophole that would let him withhold what I was owed.