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“She ignores me on a good day. Haven’t you noticed?” Haylee shouldn’t have been surprised but a dull thud of pain echoed in her chest. Cherish’s eyes were only for Febe. She was the bottom rung. She wasn’t anywhere on Cherish’s radar.
“Oh.” Cherish’s voice was softer, the tone that Haylee had come to hope for.
“Yeah.” Haylee took a shuddering breath, trying to hold back the tears that pulled at her for release. There was no humor in her expression, and Cherish could obviously see that. It wasn’t as though Haylee was hiding it. Fuck, she needed to hide it.
“You’ve had a lot of jobs, though.”
“I know.” Haylee rubbed her lips together. Her mind already ticking through how she was going to deal with yet another short-term job on her résumé. She could go back to temping—that was how she landed here—the pay was good, but it was never guaranteed. She’d already lost her car. How was she going to handle being unemployed? It hadn’t bothered her during her twenties, but she wasn’t a kid anymore, despite what Febe thought.
“Haylee,” Cherish snapped.
“Sorry. What?” Haylee refocused.
“That for one would be the first area I would suggest you need to improve.” Cherish pursed her lips, her gaze dropping down Haylee’s body, at least what could be seen from her seat at the desk.
“What?” Haylee frowned, trying to recall exactly what had been said.
Cherish closed her eyes. When she opened them again, they fixed on Haylee. “You’ve left other jobs. I got the impression many of them were your own decision. So why would you care about losing this one?”
“So she is going to fire me?” Haylee’s heart dropped into the pit of her stomach.
“No.” Cherish spoke as though she were talking to a child. So much for the happy fluttering butterflies Haylee had hoped weren’t just one-sided. “I’m simply trying to understand why you care so much about being fired from here. Is it just the money?”
“No.” Haylee’s answer came out fast before she could stop it or think about it. She didn’t need to think about it. Her need to stay here was more than just the money. It wasn’t like she was paid exceptionally well, and she had a mound of debt that choked her at every step.
“All right.” Cherish nodded, still unsure in her gaze. “Then what is it?”
Haylee forced herself to slow down, to think about what she wanted to say before she let it spill from her lips. “I want to be here. I need to be here. I’ve been working all these smaller jobs, trying to find something that fits. And Wellbeing Works fits. I care about it, and the messages behind it. It’s important.”
The silence stretched as Cherish processed Haylee’s words. Haylee’s lips pushed against each other, moving in and out as she waited and worried.
“Good.”
“Good?” Haylee stared at Cherish, bewildered.
“Yes.” Cherish gave her that small smirk that woke the butterflies again in Haylee’s stomach. “That’ll do for now.”
“Care to elaborate?”
“I’m going to help you.”
Cherish had said those words before, but Haylee wasn’t sure she believed them. She wanted to, but it seemed everything between them came down to currency. Cherish would help Haylee only if Haylee helped her first. What would it be this time? Getting Febe to notice her as more than just a secretary?
“Help me how?” Haylee finally asked.
“First things first. If you don’t want to be the next Precious, which I doubt is even in the cards, we simply need to show Ms. Aarts that you’re not Precious.” Cherish smiled, and a rush of warmth spread through Haylee.
Did she really think it would be that easy? Cherish must be lost in her delusional brain that was filtered through a long-term, unrequited crush. Haylee sighed, the small amount of hope she’d had at Cherish’s words vanishing. “But she’s already decided that I’m useless.”
“Then prove her wrong.” Cherish stood up from her desk and came over to rest at the edge of Haylee’s desk.
Cherish was within reach, and oh how Haylee wished to put her hands on those luscious hips and pull Cherish onto her lap. She cringed at her own stupidity. She wouldn’t do it, obviously. Cherish had shown no signs of liking her beyond a mere work companion, and even that was tenuous conjecture. Haylee pushed the inappropriate thought from her mind.
“How can I prove her wrong?” Haylee shook her head and hoped Cherish took the action as something other than shaking those images from her mind.
“Well, that’s where I come in.” Cherish leaned against the desk, half-sitting on it. She bent down, her tone so intimate that if Haylee didn’t know better, she’d definitely mistake this for flirting. But she did know better. Cherish was absolutely in love with the boss.
“All right.” Haylee wasn’t sure she liked what lurked behind Cherish’s sparkling eyes, but she would take any help she could get for Febe to like her. If it meant she kept her job, then yes, she was all in. Especially if it meant more time with Cherish.
