Chapter Six
Sarah
“I’m calling bullshit,” my best friend, Mira, said as we ate dinner together. After Henry sent me home, I’d spent the past two days spending quality time with my daughter.. Mira had insisted on treating me to a nice meal so that we could catch up since we hadn’t seen each other for a couple of weeks. As the manager of a hotel, she worked long hours,andshe was the mother of twin eight-year-old boys.
“What does that mean?” I asked as I speared a potato with my fork. We were in a casual dining restaurant, sitting near a window where I could see people walking by on the sidewalk as the sky above darkened since the sun had just set.
“It means you shouldn’t keep working for a man who mismanaged his money so badly that he can’t give you a raise and has shady guys shaking him down for cash that he clearly doesn’t have. I mean, how long do you think this can go on before the business collapses? Then you’ll be out of a job.”
“Don’t sugarcoat it for me or anything,” I said.
She smiled as she rolled her eyes. “It’s a best friend’s responsibility to give it to you straight. I know you like this job and you appreciate your boss’s support while you were pregnant and on maternity leave, but you deserve a raise. You work your ass off.”
I couldn’t necessarily argue with that, but I wasn’t sure I was ready to walk away from Moss Logistics yet.
“I get where you’re coming from, but I want to give him a little time. He seems to think he can turn things around in six months.”
Mira’s lips pursed, and I knew she was debating whether to argue more or accept my decision. We’d been friends for a long time, and we were both stubborn as hell.
“Fine,” she finally said, even though she didn’t look happy about giving in. “I’ll let it go, after I tell you this one last thing.”
I groaned.
“I know of a job opening with a big advertising company. They need an office manager, and I know you’re a personal assistant, but you pretty much handle everything at the shipping company, right?”
I shrugged. “It’s a small operation, just the two of us. It’s not exactly hard to manage.”
“But I’m sure youcouldhandle a bigger office.”
I smiled, touched by her confidence in me. “Yeah, I probably could.”
“You should at least apply. Just in case things don’t work out with your boss.”
“I’ll think about it.”
It felt like a betrayal of Mr. Moss to consider leaving my current job, but Mira had a point. I wasn’t making enough money. I didsay I’d wait six months, but I had to at least consider my options. Money had been tight while I was on maternity leave, and if things as bad as Mr. Moss said, then I might not even have a job in six months.
***
After dinner, I went home just as my mom was getting Alexis out of the bathtub. Settling her down into bed involved two bedtime stories and turning on her Winnie the Pooh nightlight. After that, I had a glass of wine and watched some TV, but I didn’t stay up late. Mr. Moss didn’t say when he wanted me to come back to work, but I was going in tomorrow. I knew he needed me to help run things, and I couldn’t afford to take any more time off.
I just hoped tomorrow wouldn’t bring any more drama to the workplace. I was ready for things to get back to normal.
The next morning, I was surprised to see Mr. Moss’s car in the parking lot. I almost always arrived before him, and I wondered if he came into the office early to catch up on things since I hadn’t been here for a couple of days.
Well, we could just do that together.
As I approached the building, I noticed that the blinds on the windows in his office were closed. That was unusual as well. He liked to have sunlight coming into his office at all times. He said working without it made him feel like he was in a cave.
Walking inside, I shivered as the cool air washed over me. I always turned up the thermostat in the evenings when we left the office around this time of year so that the air conditioning wouldn’t run since it got colder at night and wasn’t needed.
I smiled and shook my head at the obvious sign that Mr. Moss needed me around here. Walking past his closed office door, I headed to the thermostat. Turning the temperature up, I headed to the break room to make coffee. While it brewed, I went about my normal morning routine of firing up the computer, checking my email, and organizing Mr. Moss’s calendar for the day. The whole time, I listened for his officedoor to open, but it didn’t. He must have been busy with whatever work brought him in early today.
I made him a cup of coffee once it was ready, walking to his office with my tablet tucked under my arm. My mind was already on the contract that needed to draft based on an email I received from Mr. Harper, the potential client Mr. Moss had a meeting with a few days ago. There was so much work to be done, but it felt good to be back at the office. I knocked twice before pushing open the door.
“Good morning, Mr…”
Oh my God.