by Lynn Stevens
He didn’t turn around to face me.
“What else did you tell her?” Barry asked.
“Nothing,” I snapped. “I never told her anything. There was nothing to tell.”
“So she made it all up?” Chuck threw his hands in the air. “It can’t possibly be your fault.”
“You can’t believe I would do this.” I stared at each one of them before settling my gaze on the back of Devon’s head. “You’re pissed at me for no fucking reason. Your second baseman dated that bitch and you still blame me anyway. Screw all of you. I’ll get you another server,” I snapped as I backed out of the room, willing Devon to look at me. Willing him to see the truth in my eyes. Willing him to listen to me.
He never even bothered to give me that chance.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Sunday morning, I woke with a plan. It wasn’t about getting Devon to forgive me so much as about getting that Hailey person to tell the truth. Obviously, she’d gotten some of her information from Chuck Mathis, but the rest was a mystery. Whether Devon or anybody else listened to her, that was a whole other ball game. And it would require stealth and sneakiness. None of which I had. But Paige was full of it. Having a father who owned a security company helped.
We met after the lunch rush at Steak Stockade and hammered out the details over plates full of fish and fresh veggies.
“You’re sure about this?” Paige asked. “I haven’t talked to Hailey since the story broke. She might think something’s up.”
“I’m sure. She’s getting her information somewhere, but she’s lying about it.” I took a bite of grilled tilapia. Kit made the best fish. “Get her drunk enough to spill. It’s not like it should be that hard. But don’t take her to O’Malley’s.”
“That would be stupid. She’d get lynched. I haven’t seen her around campus much.”
“There you go,” I said with another bright idea. “Get her off campus. Take her to that bar…Teeter-Totters. By the truck stop.”
“I’ll set it up. But I don’t want anything to do with this, Liv. We nail her, you take all the credit.”
“Let’s get it done first. Then we’ll go from there.”
It was simple, really. Paige would promise Hailey a scoop about the basketball team and offer her inside information after gushing about the great story Hailey did on the baseball team’s gambling habits. Of course, anyone would jump at that chance. Paige being her normal charming self would get Hailey to talk. There was something about Paige that made people open up to her within five minutes of meeting. All the while Paige would have this chrome travel mug on the table that held a tiny camera and recorded the entire thing. I’d be nearby, watching the entire thing on Paige’s laptop.
All I had do was wait for Paige to set it all up.
By the time I pulled up to JenCar on Monday afternoon, my nerves were fried. I hadn’t bothered to make contact with Devon since the ambush at Steak Stockade Saturday night. He wouldn’t have returned my calls anyway—I’d already tried that and failed. I didn’t even bother to chase him after class; he was too fast. I failed at that, too. Funny thing, failure. I was getting used to it. And something told me this meeting was just another step along that new and not necessarily improved path.
Ally greeted me with a smile that held none of the malice from my hasty exit. “Hello, Ms. Dawson. It’s good to see you again.” She motioned to the clipboard. “Please sign in.”
I did as I was told and accepted the badge she offered. In bright red letters, it said “Visitor.” What had I expected? I settled into the couch with my back to the door and a surprisingly recent magazine in my lap. They would have to come all the way into the lobby to get my attention. Childish, but I wanted what little satisfaction I could get out of this meeting. My instincts had me on high alert.
“Ms. Dawson,” Rex Anderson said to my left.
I glanced up at him and smiled before placing the magazine in the exact same place it had been.
“Follow me, please.” He turned on his heel and sped to the door. I sauntered, taking my sweet time to make him wait for me. There wasn’t any reason for me to chase after him like a puppy. He held the door, and his face turned the shade of a ripening tomato. “Don’t dawdle, Ms. Dawson. Our time is precious.”
I stopped in front of him and paused for a moment. “So is mine,” I finally said with too much bite. “And I’m here at Ms. Upton’s request. Not yours.”
He harrumphed, but he didn’t chastise me further. Good. I wasn’t a child and I certainly didn’t work for him. He also slowed his pace. When we reached Ms. Upton’s office, her secretary motioned us inside.
The office was as perfect as I remembered it. And the players inside were the same. Rex Anderson took his spot on the couch while Philip Lawler sat in the same chair in front of Madeline Upton’s desk.
“Ah, Ms. Dawson, so glad you could make it.” She smiled and goose bumps covered my skin. “Even if you’re late.”
I returned her smile. Two could play this game. “I’m afraid I was quite on time, Ms. Upton. Mr. Anderson didn’t retrieve me from the lobby soon enough. I’m sure you could check with Ally about when I signed in if you don’t believe me.”
She raised her eyebrows and set her pen in front of her. “My apologies. Please have a seat.”
“If you could tell me why I’m here,” I said as I settled into the white and chrome chair. My own bed wasn’t as comfortable as this.
“Mr. Lawler, be my guest.” Madeline sat back in her chair and steepled her fingers.
“Sure.” Philip Lawler turned to me with a warm smile. I wanted to check his forehead for a fever. “Liv, I went over your work on the rudder. While it wasn’t perfect, it was impressive for such a short period of time. Rex and I have spent the last week on the project and it’s ready for a prototype.”
“Okay.” I turned toward the HR director again. “What’s that got to do with me?”
“We feel we may have acted…hastily in your termination.” She stood and strolled around the desk until she could lean against it. Of course, this meant I had to look up at her. Calculated. “So how about it? Would you like to come back to JenCar?”
“No.” It shot from my mouth. I wanted to grab it and shove it back down, but I couldn’t. Besides, it was the truth. And by the expressions on their faces, they didn’t believe me.
“I don’t understand,” Mrs. Upton said.
“I…” I inhaled and took my time to gather my thoughts, which was not an easy task. “I came to Westland for two reasons. One, they have one of the best engineering programs in the country. And the other was JenCar. I’d dreamed about working at this company for years.” Madeline smiled as if this fact alone would change my mind. “But when I got here, it wasn’t what I expected. At all.”
“How so?” Rex said from behind me.
I turned around and faced him. “I was tossed into a room with someone who didn’t want me to breathe the same air.” Part of me wanted to apologize to Philip, but it was true so why bother. “When he grew tired of sending me for coffee, he gave me a stack of files with no direction other than to sort them out.” I stood and stared Madeline Upton in the eye. “And when I found a problem, I was terminated based on a half-ass orientation. Do you use this antiquated orientation on the people you hire full-time?”
“That’s not—”
“But it is. Devon and I were shoved into a room and told to watch videos for four hours. You can’t tell me that you expect people to pay attention the entire time.” I held up my hand. Maybe she did. It didn’t matter, anyway. “The truth is I never felt like an equal at JenCar. I felt more like a bug in somebody’s way. So, no, I don’t want to come back.” I nodded to each of them and turned toward the door. “I’ll see myself out.”
I stepped out of the office with my head held high. Until I left Madeline’s outer office. Then I realized what exactly I had done. Any bridge I had, even a weak rope one, was officially burned. I could still see the embers drift
ing into the crevice below.
What the hell did I just do?
My knees weakened as each step slowed. All the ways this could bite me in the ass rushed through my head like a flip book. One word from that woman and I’d have no career whatsoever in the aerospace industry. Not even as a barista in an airport.
“Liv, wait,” a voice broke through the rapid-fire thoughts. “You can’t just leave. You have to be escorted out.”
I stopped in the middle of the hall and let Philip catch up. As soon as he was next to me, I started moving again.
“Listen, Liv, you should—”
“Should what? Apologize?” I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye. “Not likely.”
He chuckled. “That wasn’t what I was going to say.”
“I know.” I buckled and leaned against a wall. Desperation took over. “I should’ve kept my mouth shut. God, what did I do?”
Philip smiled and loosened his tie. “You should’ve seen Madeline’s face. That alone was worth sticking around for.”
“She’ll make sure I never get hired.” I clutched my stomach, afraid what little I’d eaten early would make a sudden reappearance. Splattering Philip’s Rockports would make a lasting impression, though. “I mean, if I tried for a job at one of the other plants. She would blackball me to everyone in HR.”
“Bit melodramatic?” he asked, leaning against the wall across from me. I’d never seen him so relaxed.
“I’ve found it suits me lately.”
Philip laughed. I didn’t think that was possible for him. “Come on, drama queen.”
We walked in silence toward the door. I tried to take in every inch of the inside of JenCar, but it was all white walls and gray carpeting. There wasn’t anything to really make it stand out. It felt so sterile.
The door to the lobby grew larger. It wasn’t as scary as the first time or the last time I went through it. At first it was my future. Then it was the end of everything I’d worked for. As I stared at it now, it was just a door. It didn’t control my fate.
I did.
Philip stuck an envelope in front of me as I reached for the doorknob. I took it, noting the heavy stock, thickness, and my name typed in a simple font. I glanced up at my former mentor.
“Recommendation letters. From me. And from Marvin Acton.” He ran his hand through his receding hairline. “I’d wanted to give them to you earlier, but I didn’t know how to contact you. And Miller didn’t, either.”
Why would Devon tell him he didn’t know how to contact me? Was this before or after the gambling article? “Why didn’t you just email them?”
“Madeline wouldn’t have given me your email address. She’s big on employee confidentiality.”
I nodded. That made sense. She’d made it clear that the rules are the rules.
“Liv, despite all the facts, what you did was against company policy. I had no choice in reporting you.” I opened my mouth to protest, but he held up his hand. “Regardless of your orientation. Ignorance of the law is no excuse and all that.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better or worse?” I asked, because I wasn’t entirely sure where he was going with this.
“Neither. It’s just something to think about. Look, I know I wasn’t the best mentor, and I was even worse as a person to you. Rex had been riding my ass for weeks about going through Marvin’s files. On top of my own projects, I was working twelve-hour days. After you left, I took the issue to Madeline. I’m only telling you this because I wanted you to know why I wasn’t…decent. And I feel like your termination was partly my fault. Had I done better, you would’ve been successful.” He pointed at the envelope. “You’ve got a brilliant mind. Even Rex saw that. It’s why Madeline hired you. But you’ve got to use it to your advantage. And you’ve got to use your voice. Stand up for yourself more. Go after what you want and you’ll do great things.”
“Thank you, Mr. Lawler,” I said.
“Good luck, Liv.” He glanced around as if someone would overhear us. “And apply again in the fall. I’m sure that’s plenty of time for Madeline to appreciate how you handled yourself.”
I smiled and thought about what Henry said. “Take a new path.” It was time I created one suited just for me. Not the one expected, not the one that determined every detail of my life, but one that let me be me. I wasn’t really sure who that was anymore, but I wanted to find out.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Paige set up the girl’s night with Hailey for Saturday. I had the rest of the week to prepare myself, but after what I learned at JenCar, I was in no hurry to help Devon out of his mess. I tried to figure out why he would tell Philip Lawler or Marvin Acton that he didn’t know how to reach me. He knew my phone number, my email, and where I lived. Why lie about that?
Was everything between us a lie?
That was what really bothered me. I’d decided, against my better judgment, to trust him. To open up to him. To love him. He tossed me aside the minute he thought I betrayed him. Obviously, my feelings were stronger than his. Despite what he’d said that night in the parking lot. He had acted like I’d planned this all along, when what I’d really planned was to get the internship and earn a job at JenCar after I’d graduated, get my master’s, start a family, and maybe move to San Diego. That had been it for me in the planning department.
I felt like a spy as I sat in my truck with Paige’s laptop. She showed me how to record and replay the live stream. I was more concerned with getting it recorded. Then the athletic director could do whatever he wanted with the information. Paige had talked to her dad, getting him involved in this mess. He gave her a different camera to use instead. I settled back and watched as Paige entered Teeter-Totters.
The video was great, but the audio was shit. I could hear Paige perfectly clear. Hailey was so distorted. I hoped and prayed that it would clear up, but it didn’t. Not once could Hailey be heard confessing her sins. We’d wasted our time.
“Got it,” Paige said Thursday. She set her tablet on top of my notebook.
“There wasn’t anything to get. You couldn’t hear anything,” I said, moving the tablet off my notes. I had a test coming up.
“Now you can. It took us a few days to get it just right, but Daddy helped me clean up the audio. He showed me how to minimize the background noise and boost Hailey’s voice.” She moved the tablet back on top of my notes and pressed the big play arrow.
The noise in the student union made it hard to hear the audio, but not impossible.
Hailey’s face filled the screen in black and white. She lifted a margarita glass, complete with extra salt on the rim, to her mouth, laughing as it spilled over.
“You’re so funny,” Hailey said, pointing at the person on the other side of the camera. “I looked into that story about the basketball team, but it was totally bunk. Were you pranking me?”
Paige mumbled offscreen. I couldn’t hear what she said or even who had said it. She must have minimized her voice to hide her identity. Nice.
“Yeah, most jocks are dicks.” Hailey looked around, then leaned closer to the camera. It was way too much cleavage for me. “Let me let you in on a secret.” Hailey glanced over her shoulder again. “I made most of it up. Well”—she bobbed her head—“I embellished it. I mean, Chuck fucking bets on anything, you know. He’d bet on the color of someone’s pee just to win. But he never bet money. He pushed the fucking limits, though. I mean, Ross should suspend him at least.”
Paige spoke off-screen again and Hailey’s head nodded in agreement.
“Oh yeah, Chuck loves fucking winning at everything. He took my sister out when he was a freshman, screwed her, fucked with her mind, ya know. The minute he was done with her, he tossed her aside like water. This time I got the pleasure of tossing him aside. Thank God, I never fucked him. He bought the whole saving myself bullshit.” She pursed her lips. “He deserved everything he got. All of them did.”
Hailey laughed and finished her drink. Paige said something
else. I wished I could’ve heard the entire conversation.
“Devon Miller? That prick?” Hailey snorted. “He’s just an asshole.” Hailey shook her head. “Nah, other than that beer pong bet, I had nothing on him. Heard he dumped your friend. He’s just as bad as the rest of them. All he wanted was to score. If he actually gave a damn about her, he would’ve known she didn’t say shit.”
She had a point.
It went on for ten more minutes as Hailey confessed to having no sources and no real knowledge of illegal gambling on campus. Plus, for added nails in her own coffin, she talked about how this story was just the first step in her future as an anchor on a national news channel.
“Are you going to show Devon?” Paige asked once it was done playing.
“Can you email it to me?” I handed the tablet back to her.
Paige typed on the screen, dramatically hitting send on her email. My phone vibrated in my pocket a few seconds later. “What’re you going to do now?”
Devon had tried to screw me out of two great recommendation letters. That hurt more than his sudden silent treatment. “I was going to email it to Ross. But that’s not going to work. We’re going to take it to the athletic director and show him.”
“No, you’re going to take it. He doesn’t need to know your source and I don’t need anybody on campus questioning me. And take my tablet.” Paige shoved it into my hands. “Show it to him from that. The screen’s bigger than your ancient cell.”
“Thanks.” I stood and grabbed my messenger bag from the back of the chair. Paige was right about the screen size. Plus the clarity. And my phone was a few years past its prime. I hugged her tablet to my chest. “I owe you.”
“Wait.” She put her hand on my arm until I sat back into my chair. “What about Devon?”
I didn’t know how to contact you. And Miller didn’t, either. Philip Lawler’s words bounced around my head, settling near my determination. “That’s over, Paige.”