It had now been over sixty hours since Grant’s last text message on Friday evening. Not that she was counting.
tired. gonna catch up on sleep this weekend ttyl
Nothing about the meeting. No word since. Not even a dirty text message. With the stress of corporate restructuring, Sidney had really looked forward to the weekend in Grant’s arms. She’d typed in numerous replies, but only sent one.
ok
She recognized the retreat procedures. Although she hadn’t expected them so soon, she’d known they were coming eventually. Itches scratched, curiosity satisfied. Time to move on.
That didn’t mean it didn’t suck.
All weekend she’d held onto her phone like she’d drown without it. She should have taken Lily up on her offer to stay over. “We could do each other’s hair and watch chick flicks until we puke.”
How pathetic was it that she’d turned down a fun weekend with her best friend on the chance that Grant would call? She’d dialed his number countless times, but never hit send because she didn’t want to be clingy. Or hear from him that he really was done with her.
This is what you’re reduced to. Sitting by the phone waiting for a booty call. Pathetic.
She entered her office, glad to see that Grant’s light was still off. She was anxious about seeing him after a weekend of silence, but she wasn’t a coward—she didn’t do anything to be ashamed of. If he wanted to call their affair off, she wasn’t going to fight. She was certainly adult enough to treat him just as she had before. She’d go back to burying every raw emotion he’d uncovered, and life would go on.
Just as she sat down at her desk, she heard Carol’s cheerful greeting. “Good morning, Grant.”
Then another, and yet another “good morning” as he made his way down the hall. Focusing on the green light of her computer monitor, she waited until she saw in her peripheral vision that he was outside her door.
“Morning Grant.” Just as she always did. She was even able to flash an only half-way stiff smile. She hoped he would stop, but once he did she wished he’d move on.
“Good morning, Sidney.”
Praying she wouldn’t inject too much syrup into her words, she continued. “Did you have a nice weekend?” Then she finally allowed herself to take a good look at him. Impeccably dressed as usual, but there was a haggardness to his hair, and a grey tint to his eye sockets.
He stared at her for a moment, even opened his mouth to say something, but eventually just nodded and lifted a hand in a half-assed wave before walking down the hall to his office.
Sidney stared at the doorway for a few minutes. Maybe he really wasn’t feeling well. He certainly didn’t look like himself today. All of the weekend’s anger and even sour grapes inspired apathy disappeared with one look at Grant’s tortured face. She gripped the arms of her chair to keep herself seated when she wanted to run after him and soothe that exhaustion away. Later. She’d find an excuse to corner him in his office. If he was sick, she’d feel a lot less like a spurned woman, and a little better about her weekend.
Pathetic.
Just as her computer came to life, another chorus of “good mornings”. This time with the added “Mister Price”.
Oh, shit. Harold Price is here? It took him twice as long to walk past her door since he had to stop and greet everyone in his path. The man liked to talk, but his ability to connect with everyone, no matter their position in the company was impressive.
“Sidney! How are you this morning?” He stepped into her office. His three piece suit reeked of power and authority. If it wasn’t for the gray peppering his temples and the smile lines bracketing his mouth, he would look almost intimidating.
“I’m well, how are you? I didn’t know you were visiting us this morning.” She ran a mental checklist for her area. Although she was always ready for a corporate visit, she’d just wait another day to submit the pizza party receipts.
“I’ll be holding meetings in all the facilities this week. Grant thought he’d like to get his over with first thing, so here I am.”
“Well…great!” She smiled, though her stomach flipped over. Not great. Get what over with? This had something to do with their meeting on Friday, she just knew it. With Harold here, she wouldn’t get a chance to corner Grant.
He walked away as she sat grinning like a porcelain doll and frozen inside.
Relax, Sidney. Breathe.
“What’s going on?” Lily closed the door behind her and collapsed into a chair.
“I have no idea.” Sidney buried her face in her hands.
“Nothing? No pillow talk?”
“I haven’t heard from Grant since Friday evening.”
“Damn.”
Before they could speculate further, Grant’s voice came over the public address speaker.
“I need all P and R employees to the bull pen for a quick meeting.”
Sidney met Lily’s gaze. She’d lost the little color she had. Even the whites of her eyes looked whiter. “Now let’s not freak out—”
“I’m freaking out.” Lily nodded frantically.
“We need the whole story.”
“I’m still freaking out.”
“Come on.” She rounded her desk and held her hand out. “We need to be strong for our employees. If they see you puking in the trash can, it might start a stampede.”
“Easy for you to say.” Lily took her hand and together they walked to the door. “Your job is safe.”
“What are you talking about? You and I are in the same boat.”
Lily snorted, then leaned close to whisper, “Yeah, but I’m not sleeping with the Regional Vice President.”
Sidney shook her head, horrified. “I could never…based on….Grant wouldn’t—”
“Maybe not consciously, but if he had to choose between you and say…Jose. Who do you think he’d keep?”
“No. He wouldn’t. I couldn’t. I’d never stay on knowing I got the job by screwing the RVP.”
Employees filed down the hall. The mood was so thick with dread that Sidney almost didn’t want to open her door.
“It’s like you said on Friday.” Lily brushed lint from Sidney’s shoulder. “We can get jobs anywhere, right? And that severance would probably pay off my car.”
“Don’t talk like that. We don’t know that’s what’s going to happen.”
“Well then, let’s go find out.” Lily’s color returned, along with a confident tilt to her chin. “Everything’s going to be just fine. Right?”
* * * * *
Everything was not just fine. Harold Price stood in front of every one of P and R employees and calmly announced that the tablet they’d worked so damn hard on for the past eighteen months was to be discontinued immediately. The home office was still deep in discussion about what it was going to do with the entire mobile hardware division, including the operating system software team. Grant’s region was to be liquidated, and each employee either transferred to a remaining facility, promoted, demoted, or simply laid off.
“You should all be very proud of yourselves.” Harold used his superior people skills to keep pointing out the good points, few though they were. “Of all the facilities being eliminated, the highest percentage of reassignment comes from right here in the Southeast Region.”
Those employees facing reassignment would have to choose between a long commute, relocating, or termination. Sidney barely heard Harold’s speech, which seemed way too rehearsed. All she could see was her five year plan swirling down an imaginary toilet.
Grant stood a step behind Harold during the entire meeting. His hands clasped in front of him. A few times he’d caught her gaze, and though she tried like hell to read his expression before he looked away, she had no idea what he was thinking.
“…so Grant wanted you folks to be the first to know what’s going on, rather than wait a week or two. I think he deserves a thank you.”
The weak applause tugged at Sidney’s heart. Grant wasn’t going to be a
very popular guy today, but Harold did have a point. Much better to know right away.
After the meeting, Sidney returned to her office to await the call. Employees once dubbed the hallway with Grant’s office at the end as “The Green Mile”. Now she saw no humor in the nickname. She picked up one of the Oasis tablets and held it against her chest. None of it made any sense. The Oasis Company had been the forerunner in the industry. Before there were smartphones and tablets there was the Oasis. The name was once synonymous with technology. Almost like Kleenex or Band-Aid. When Pritchard and Redland bought the floundering Oasis company, everyone—including Sidney—saw the acquisition as a good move for all involved. Now it looked more like a way to get Oasis’ brand name and customer base before pulling the rug out from underneath.
Feeling sufficiently sorry for herself, her coworkers, and even her beloved Oasis devices, Sidney turned to her computer and drafted a new cover letter.
When she finally got the call to walk the green mile, she gave herself a few slaps on the cheeks and a pep talk. All of her bravado deserted her when she entered Grant’s office to find him sitting on one leather chair facing Harold who lounged on the sofa in the corner. With a quick prayer of thanks that she wouldn’t have to get fired while sitting across the same desk that they’d had sex upon.
She sat in a chair facing them without being invited. Grant’s hands were folded in his lap. She let her gaze travel past those long elegant fingers, past the wrists dusted lightly with dark hair, up his suit-clad arms and finally met his gaze.
His sad smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. The dark circles were a little more pronounced in the bright fluorescent lighting, and she even noticed how red the whites were.
“You look like we’re about to cut off your right arm.” Harold chuckled. “You should know that with your qualifications and employment record, you’d be the last one we’d ever let go.”
Sidney could actually feel the knots she’d made of her intestines unraveling. She tore her focus off her former lover and looked at Harold. “I appreciate that.”
“Grant spent all weekend recommending positions for every one of his employees. I went through his list and approved most of them this morning.”
Well, that explains what Grant had done all weekend. She glanced at him, then back at Harold before she could stare too long.
“I’m glad we’re getting this over with quickly. Although I wish corporate would reconsider scrapping the former Oasis devices. Especially the tablet, which hasn’t had its fair chance on the market. We still have parts in shipment from Asia. I know we signed contracts with software engineers—”
Harold held up a hand. “You’re not the only one sad to see the tablet go, Sidney. Top executives at Pritchard and Redland know what they’re doing. Believe me when I tell you that they’ve looked into every aspect of this decision. It wasn’t made lightly.”
Sidney shelved her anger. She’d always taken the Oasis fight personally. Now that the entire line was obsolete, she’d have to get used to the idea that Oasis is no more. She couldn’t take it out on either of these men anyway. She clenched her jaw.
“Sidney, you’re a brilliant manager.” Grant leaned back and crossed his legs. “Since you took over our customer service department, our call center turnover has gone from sixty percent down to twelve. As if that wasn’t enough, our customer satisfaction surveys have shown a thirty-nine percent increase.”
Sidney resisted the urge to correct him. It was only thirty-eight percent. She’d just looked it up for her cover letter.
“The employees like and trust you, yet you aren’t afraid to call them on the carpet for something they’ve done wrong.”
“One thing I noticed,” Harold broke in. “Is the fact that you find the underlying problem behind performance issues, and correct it. Rather than the Band-Aid solution that’s so much easier in the short run. Case in point, Carol couldn’t stop talking about her recent move. She was terrified that you’d get in trouble for the blue cubicle.”
Sidney couldn’t resist sending Grant a sly smile. When he returned it, it some of the stress had faded from his face.
“We could go on,” Grant waved a hand. “But I wouldn’t want your head to swell so much that you can’t get through the door.”
She wasn’t always comfortable taking praise, but today she desperately needed it. Especially with so many jobs and the future of P and R on the line. She smiled and thanked them both.
Harold leaned forward to brace his elbows on his knees. With his fingers steepled, Sidney knew that something bad was about to happen. “The problem, Sidney, is the fact that your position has been eliminated. Companywide. The Customer Relations Coordinating Manager duties will now be divided between the remaining managers, or taken care of by the Regional Vice President.
Sidney glanced toward Grant. He kept his gaze on Harold.
“I see.”
“Most of the CRCMs out there will be walking out of P and R this week with their severance packages and well wishes.”
Blood drained from her face. “Oh.”
“But for you we have a special assignment.”
She braced herself, and even tangled her fingers together in her lap. Staring at Harold’s nose until he continued.
“We have a position in Mexico City that just opened up. I think you’d be a great fit.” Harold began describing the job, and Grant injected a few positive points.
After first stumbling on the “halfway-around-the-world” part, Sidney tried to focus on the job the two described.
“It sounds like my CRCM position.” Was she missing something?
The men looked at each other then back at her. “Just about.” Grant leaned forward too. Now both of their body language suggested they were bracing for a fight.
“What’s the catch? Other than the location?”
“There would be considerably less responsibility.” Grant spoke slowly. Obviously preparing her for what came next.
“Meaning considerably less pay.”
Their silence spoke volumes. When Harold finally quoted a figure, she did some quick math.
“That’s forty percent of my current salary.” She kept her voice steady, though she wanted to tell them both where they could shove their job. “It’s actually several thousand below what I made my first year with Oasis.”
Neither said a word. Both men’s faces were blank. Like some psychedelic thriller, they sat stone still and waited, as her head spun with the indignity.
“Sid,”—Grant reached toward her, but stopped just before making contact and drew back—“I suggest you seriously consider the offer. Do some research. I assure you the cost of living in Mexico City is—”
“I don’t speak Spanish.” She bit each word off. Her face no longer stiff due to lack of blood, it now flared with heat.
Grant sighed. The men shared another glance. They obviously expected this reaction from her. “Take some time to go over the offer.” Grant handed her a folder.
Reluctantly, she took it and leafed through the contents. Job description, contract, and… “Seriously?” She lifted the Mexico Tourism brochure and raised an eyebrow.
Grant raised his hand. “Read through the paperwork. Carefully. I’ll need your decision by Friday—”
“I can give you my decision right now.” She handed him the folder.
He leaned back. “I won’t accept it right now. You need to understand that your only other option is—”
“Termination. I understand.” She stood, and since he wouldn’t take the damn folder, she tossed it onto his desk on her way out the door.
“Sidney!” Grant wrapped one hand around her arm and spun her around before she could even reach for the doorknob.
She glanced at his hold on her, then toward Harold, who’d stood but hadn’t moved from the seating area. She looked up into Grant’s face and raised her eyebrow. Still, he didn’t let go.
“Take the folder.” He pressed it back into her hand. “I’m
not going to have you make a snap decision that you regret later. We’ll discuss this again on Friday.”
His proximity drugged her. If he didn’t have a tight hold of her arm, she would have leaned into him and begged him to hold her while she cried over the loss of her job. Her future. His familiar scent never failed to draw a reaction from her. She took one long breath, and as she exhaled, her heart squeezed painfully with the realization that she’d never see Grant again once she left P and R Southeast. “Don’t worry, Grant. I don’t regret my decisions. I just learn from them.”
Chapter Five
Alcohol probably wasn’t the best idea.
Sidney weaved through the living room toward the fireplace mantle, where Lily had the liquor lined up like it was on display. She’d barely filled her glass with whiskey before Lily raised hers in yet another toast.
“To Sidney! The woman who told P and R where they could shove their pesos!”
“I’ll drink to that!” Sidney took a large swallow, the burn leaving her coughing and giggling. She would have been embarrassed had anyone but Lily been present. The rest of the party had left over an hour ago, but Lily stayed, ostensibly to finish cleaning up the party shrapnel, but so far all she’d helped finish was the bottle of Crown, and some very corny toasts. Sidney lifted her glass high. “To Lily, the new Pritchard and Redland Contract Services Liaison.”
“Woo hoo!” Lily tipped her glass back, but stopped short of finishing it off. “To Sidney! Who got a better job before the ink on her severance check even dried.”
It took four days, but Sidney wasn’t going to complain. Not in this job market. She raised her glass. “To P and R, whose severance check paid for this party.”
“Hell yeah!” They both drank, then lapsed into silence, only broken when Lily set aside her glass and yawned. “Think it will pay for a cab ride home? I don’t think I should drive.” She collapsed onto the sofa, looking a little green.
“Just stay here. You can help me clean up tomorrow.”
Olivia Brynn Collection Volume 1 Page 19