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I ignored him. He was punishing me for this morning’s chase. “This has nothing to do with safety. You’re just angry with me.”
I didn’t look up to see his reaction, but tension grew in the room. My back stiffened, but I glued my eyes to the words in that email. “If you think some spoiled woman with a huge ego would incite me to make petty decisions, you’re even more arrogant than I thought.”
“Spoiled!... Arrogant!” I sputtered, reciting his words back at him. They sounded even worse coming from my mouth. “How dare you?”
“Oh, I dare to say a lot more. You think you know more than I do about security. You think you can drive like a maniac and risk people’s lives for some stupid show of resistance and not be called spoiled and arrogant for it. That only confirms my assessment of you.”
Heat crept up my face, and my cheeks burned. My chest tightened and every rotten emotion I could feel erupted in me. I was humiliated, angry, insulted, and most of all, contrite. Despite his harsh criticism, I couldn’t help but see some truth behind it. Would he understand if I told him that I hated it when people controlled me? Would he even care? Judging by the tightness of his mouth, I’d say no.
I inhaled slowly and steadied my knee so I could speak rationally to him and not punch him in the stomach, which I wanted to do very badly at that moment. “I can’t go upstairs.”
He crossed his arms.“Why not?”
My knee trembled, and I steadied it with a hand. “Because the second floor is for management and partners.”
Shrugging his shoulders, he simply said, “So?”
I felt childish saying it, but here it was. “There is a hierarchy in the office. I’ve been here less than a month and if I move to the second floor, people will start to ask questions.”
“And?”
Was he really this obtuse?
“And I don’t want them to find out about my mother, or worse, think that I’m sleeping with one of the partners.”
His jaw twitched at the last part. “No one would think that.”
I pulled back. “Well, that was frank.” I had suspected he didn’t find me attractive, but saying it strongly like that hurt.
He pursed his lips and tilted his head. “A bunch of lawyers wouldn’t make accusations like that. Isn’t that called defamation or something?”
“I didn’t say they’d say it, only that they’d think it.”
“And you care what people think?”
“Yes, I do. Especially when it comes to my career.”
I placed my forearms on the desk and leaned forward. “I’m not questioning your line of work. I’m simply telling you that I won’t be moving offices. Find another way.”
We held each other’s gaze while the seconds ticked by. His jaw flexed, and I was starting to think he did that when he was angry or frustrated. Glimpsing the candy jar at my desk, I pushed it closer to him. “A peace offering?” I suggested.
He looked at the sugared sweet and after a moment stepped forward to open the glass lid and take two. He popped them both in his mouth and replaced the lid.
It remained askew, so I fixed it before fixing a smile on my face. “Thank you.”
He nodded once and walked away.
Smiling at my accomplishment, I resumed reading my neglected email. I’d only been working for five minutes when my phone rang. It was my boss, Marty Williams.
“Hello, Mr. Williams. What can I do for you?”
“Ms. Adams. I expect you to be upstairs in your new office in fifteen minutes.” Then he hung up the phone.
I held the receiver to my ear until the dial tone became deafening.
Sucking in a defeated breath, I looked around my office. Correction, it was no longer my office.
Calvin was right, I hadn’t personalized it and I had nothing really to pack up except for my laptop and a few pens. I stacked everything together and carried it out.
