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“Because I figured at some point he would be an adult about it. I never expected it to escalate after I refused to go on a date with him. I have witnesses to all of that by the way, but I bet he doesn’t have witnesses for me because I’ve never harassed him.”
“Be that as it may, we are still going to have to formally investigate.”
“You can investigate all you want. I was relieved when I heard he was transferred, but of course he couldn’t leave it at that. I hadn’t been planning on handing in my two weeks notice for a couple more months?—”
“Ms. Barlow, there’s no need to quit.”
“There is, though. I’m opening my own business soon, completely unrelated to finance so don’t worry about noncompete. I was trying to stick it out for a while until construction on the building was finished. I’ll stay today and tomorrow to help the department finish up month-end, but then I’ll be done.”
The HR officer pursed her lips. “Please give me the name of your witnesses.”
I gave her Allie’s name. She didn’t care about Luca’s information since it was outside of work, but Allie was in good standing with the company, so at least she should be taken seriously.
“The investigation will take place regardless of whether you still work for the company. Do you still want to hand in your resignation?”
“Yes. I wasn’t saying that to get out of the investigation. I’ll cooperate with whatever you need, but I don’t think this is the right place for me anymore.”
Fear over the finality of my statement closed my throat.
The HR officer nodded. “Very well. You can submit your resignation through the online portal and we’ll start processing everything.”
Before she dismissed me, she had me run through my interactions with Kevin at the office and the escalations thereafter.
I left her office, numb, and went straight to Allie.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“Kevin told them he’s going to Chicago because I harassed him.”
“What the actual fuck?”
“HR is going to talk to you. I’m also handing in my notice.”
“Already?”
“I can only handle so much stress in my life, and if I’m going to be under investigation, I don’t think I can do a full-time job on top of everything else.”
“You know what. That’s fair. Can I do anything?”
I slumped down on the corner of her desk with a sigh. “No. Nothing I can think of, anyway. Promise we’ll still be friends once I leave here?”
“Of course we’ll still be friends. You’re one of my favorite people on the whole planet. You don’t get rid of me just because we’re not working together.”
I smiled sadly, knowing she meant it, but struggling to believe it as much as I needed to.
“I have to go submit my resignation. I’ll see you later today.”
Allie hugged me tightly before letting me go. Walking out immediately was tempting as hell. I didn’t want to screw my coworkers with month-end coming up. I could suffer through a few more days. I put in my notice to be effective on the first. A day and a half and I’d be out of the career I’d been planning to keep until I retired.
The rest of the workday went by with an agonizing slowness. I didn’t want to be there anymore. The urge to immediately message Arthur to see if I could get more shifts at the club had me reaching for the phone, but I couldn’t pack my hours full the moment I freed them up.
I took my coffee break outside and phoned Luca, spilling all the details while he sweetly reassured me everything would be fine. I couldn’t be penalized at work if I was quitting no matter what they found, and there was no evidence of harassment anyway.
It didn’t stop the frustration from sitting in my stomach like a lead ball, but it was nice to have Luca and Allie so firmly in my corner.
I waited until the end of the second day to pack everything up. Allie sat nearby, helping arrange things in an empty file box, while HR hovered at a discreet distance to make sure I wasn’t absconding with office property.
“I can’t believe it’s your last day. This place is gonna feel so weird without you. If you need any help with the design and decorating of your new studio space, you absolutely have to let me help,” Allie insisted.
