The Christmas Crush

Chapter 38

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Once eighteen hours passed without a word from Lawrence, Elena despaired. He would never call back, and she’d have to live forever with the consequences of her ugly words. How had a version of herself ever existed who didn’t want to see Lawrence? Her comments rang in her head every unoccupied minute, bats in the rafters waiting to swoop down to remind her how she’d thrown everything away over a stupid misunderstanding.

Her body toiled at Sparkle Cookie HQ, meticulously preparing for the grand opening she still intended to knock out of the park, but her mind stayed stuck in that fateful, heated conversation. Remembering how she’d kept waking the night before, foolish and sleep dazed, reaching out her hand to touch nothing.

In the dark hours, disgust at him for thinking her traitorous had given way to wondering how she would’ve reacted in his place. She probably would’ve been far more furious than he, since she hated being outplayed. She would’ve steamrolled over him with a verbal assault to gain the advantage, never giving him the chance to explain. The chance he’d given her.

Late at night, she began to wonder why it had been easy to badger Lawrence when she found it a challenge to speak up to those who wronged her on a daily basis. It was a low blow to go hard at Lawrence when she knew full well he’d hit rock bottom, that he struggled to articulate himself on a good day.

Those thoughts pounding her, she couldn’t make herself fall back asleep. She kicked the covers off, overheated, then caught a chill and wrapped them back around her. They still smelled like his soap and his skin. For more than an hour she couldn’t find a single comfortable place in her whole bed.

She might have lain awake all night, eyes stinging, save for the sudden comforting thought that she could take steps to do better. To be better.

“Voss, give me good news about tomorrow,” Derick sneered over the cubical wall, jarring her back to the present. He’d gone into full-blown delusion since the recipe theft. Based on his cocky posture and extra-abrasive attitude, he believed he had the advantage, that he had scored a coup against her. How little he knew.

She narrowed her eyes at him. Didn’t respond.

He wacked the top of the cubical wall, sent the papers pinned to it flapping. “Voss, hello? I asked you a question.”

A thousand bitter recriminations he richly deserved sprang to mind, but she had something even worse in store for him. She wouldn’t ruin the surprise by giving him any warning. She could delay her satisfaction for a bigger payout in the very near future.

“Everything is in place per the metrics you laid out. I am taking the rest of the afternoon off.”

“No, you’re not,” Derick said. He smoothed his already too-smooth hair with the flat of his hand. “I want specifics.”

“I’ve already supplied you with my daily report, which, per my official job description, is all that I owe you on a day-to-day basis.”

“C’mon, Voss, you know I have to go upstairs before an opening and give them the razzle-dazzle.” He fanned out his fingers into jazz hands. “You’re my right-hand woman. Help me out.”

She swore she got a literal bad taste in her mouth at his insinuation they were in this together. Sourness on her tongue.

“I’m not able to provide anything further. I have unused sick time—all of it, in fact. Remember when you insisted that I come in two months ago when I had the flu? I had a fever and chills right here at my desk. Today I will not be doing that. I will be taking my contractually owed time.”

“You’re not sick.”

“I have a headache.”

“Prove it.”

“Prove I don’t,” she sniped back.

He looked around, as if he expected a chorus of people to support him. A performer hoping for an audience’s cheers. What did he have? Next to nothing, and less than he thought. Priya had given her notice, Alan was long gone, and Sarah was too busy avoiding him by ducking into corners to offer any aid.

“Looking for someone?” Elena asked.

His eyebrows lowered, eyes narrowed to match hers. “Where’s the rest of the team?”

“Not much of a team left.”

“Watch your tone with me, Voss.”

“As you wish. However, I’ve emailed HR, who approved the sick time. They cc’d you. I’ll see you later.” She stood from her chair, put her arms into her coat sleeves as Derick crossed his arms, moved to block her exit.

“Keep your phone on, check your emails.” He didn’t sound as terrifying as he used to. In truth, he sounded more scared than scary.

Elena regretted using her combative skills against Lawrence, but Derick presented the perfect opportunity to put a deserving person in his place. “I will not be available by phone nor email until normal work hours tomorrow. If you contact me, that would be a violation of the HR manual, page seventy-six, aggressive and/or harassing treatment.”

Derick shifted his weight to let her pass, giving her barely enough room. In her high-heeled boots, she stood an inch taller than him. She would not shrink against the wall to shimmy past him. Instead, she strode in his direction, and at the last possible second she saw it dawn on him she wouldn’t change course. Unwilling to collide with an employee and end up on an incident report, he had no choice but to clumsily dodge.

“Elena, what’s wrong?” he asked, voice low with pain and confusion. He really had no clue how much everyone disliked him, what a mean, self-serving person everyone believed him to be. In his world, he was in the right and she was in the wrong.

“Oh, Derick,” she said lightly, “everything is fine.”

She didn’t look back, left without letting him protest further. The near-constant agitation she felt in that place lessened the moment she got to the street. Even the sorrow soaking her over the loss of Lawrence abated a fraction. Outside, the wind and bright sky wouldn’t let her wallow. She’d been straightforward and professional, not a bully like Derick, but she’d still managed to get her way. A sense of freedom, of accomplishment, swelled in her.

What’s more, she had a mission to power her forward. A purpose and a plan.

First, she ducked into the caf é , purchased two coffees, and gave Mel an extra-big holiday tip. The barista—who’d dyed her hair a festive red and green—wished Elena luck. Said Elena would kill it.

From the caf é , she walked five blocks, coffees balanced in a paper holder. She traveled past the frigid river and under the skyscrapers’ shadows until she came to an imposing concrete-and-glass tower, fifty stories high.

“Elena, what a lovely surprise,” said Tonia Greene, Voss, Voss they each had one eyebrow slightly higher than the other. Like her, a trait they all got from Dad. These were her people. She could, and must, say her piece.

“Alexander and Oliver, this is for you too. It’s something I’ve needed to say for some time. I know you all love me and want the best for me, but the questions, concerns, and advice about my life in general and my career in particular must stop. It—”

“We ask because we wor—”

“Dad, you taught me never to let someone speak over me. I must ask you to refrain from responding.”

Dad snapped his mouth shut; a small smile danced on his lips. He swept out a hand in a You have the floor gesture. Oliver took out his phone, but Dad gave him a stern look, and he quickly returned it to his suit pocket. Alexander nodded, and she remembered him doing that once before, years ago, when she forgot her lines in a school play. Encouraging.

“It undermines my confidence and invalidates my choices. I work hard, have always been able to take care of myself, and I will ask you directly if I need advice. All of you.”

“Dramatic much, Elena?” Oliver said, rolling his eyes. She would not let him faze her. “This could’ve been an email.”

“I came here to meet you on your level, Oliver. Communicate in the way you understand. Directly.”

“We appreciate that, E,” Alexander said.

“I thought I was being helpful. I’ve seen a lot, you know; I want to protect you from mistakes,” Dad said, shoulders drooping, the closest to crestfallen she’d ever seen him.

“I know, and that means the world to me. But I need you to trust me. Don’t second-guess every choice I make.”

Her brothers looked to Dad for confirmation. Dad bowed his head to her. “We will respect your wishes, Elena. Thank you for telling us. For being straightforward. Clearly, you can apply my advice. That should be all the proof I need that you can look out for yourself.”

Awkward silence began to creep into the room. Time to throw them a bone, bring up the second item on her list. “With that out of the way, I want it understood I have also come here to ask a favor as a professional woman who has been wronged. Not as a daughter or a sister running for help.”

“What can we do?” Dad asked, shoulders squaring.

“I need you to use all your legal acumen to utterly and completely annihilate a formidable archenemy who has done his utmost to ruin my life in every possible way.”

Oliver’s eyes took on a wicked, hungry shine. Alexander clapped, and Dad smiled ear to ear. Pushing himself out of the chair again, Dad came over and put his arms around her. “Elena, I think I speak for your brothers too when I say we’d love nothing better.”