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Ramona picked up my phone. “Who’s Cindy?”
“Assistant to the big boss. Why?”
“She says you have a meeting tomorrow morning.” She held up the phone for me to read.
Cindy: Meeting at Starbucks at 7:30
“What’s that about?” Ramona asked.
My gut tightened. “Probably my exit interview. I screwed up pretty badly today.”
She took silverware to the table. “I doubt that.”
“Trust me, it was worse than anything you could imagine.”
Cindy’s text must have been sent earlier while my phone was off. I composed the most polite reply I could come up with and sent it.
ME: Not feeling well might not be in tomorrow
The timer went off, and I extracted the pizza.
Ramona had the cutting wheel ready, and we had it sliced on our plates in minutes.
I’d only taken a few bites when my phone chirped again.
Ramona quickly lunged for it and handed it to me with a smile.
Cindy: You don’t want to miss this
“Probably not as bad as you thought, huh?” Ramona asked.
Billy chowed down on his pizza, picking the olives off when he didn’t think Ramona was looking. He slid them under an uneaten slice.
I texted back.
ME: Which Starbucks
Her reply was immediate.
Cindy: Your normal one
How the hell could she know where my normal Starbucks was?
I didn’t bother asking that question, or the more important one of what the meeting was for. I didn’t know her well, but I had to trust her.
Ramona grabbed for my phone as soon as I set it down. “It’s good news. I can feel it.”
Her feelings always went to the positive, and it was pretty much a coin flip whether she was right or not. She gave up on interrogating me.
It was just as well. I could tell her about my need to find a new job tomorrow after my exit interview.
A few minutes later, Billy pushed his chair back and picked up his plate. “I’ve got homework to do.”
He was halfway to the sink before Ramona finished chewing enough to say, “No you don’t, little guy. Come back here and eat your olives.”
She hadn’t missed his trick.
He slouched back to the table. “I don’t like them.”
