She nodded. “Just remember that. Now, can I go to lunch?”
“Yes, of course.”
She turned on the ball of her shoe and I took absolutely no satisfaction when she tripped on the material of her overly long pants. Her head whipped around to glare at me, but I said nothing.
Instead, we both agreed to retreat temporarily from the battlefield.
THIRTY-SIX
ANNA
She wanted to be the one to leave first. Maybe just this once in her life, she wanted to be the one who abandoned.
Daniels Enterprise, Inc.
“Doyou plan on getting your degree?”
“I do,” I said. “I’ve enjoyed the classes I’ve taken so far. I’ve done well in them, and now I can see a clear path forward. Previously, college was this murky idea of a place that just cost a lot of money without direction. I wanted to make sure my investment would pay off first.”
The man sitting across from me smiled briefly but then went back to studying my resume like it held all the answers.
Tom Daniels, of Daniels Enterprise, Inc., ran a software company. Software he’d originally created himself but now relied on a team of programmers to keep it updated. It wasn’t sexy. Not a fancy app for the phone or anything like that. It wasmedical billing software. Not that I needed to know much about the software.
I was here to interview for the job of administrative office manager.
It was only a matter of time before E.G. found me a job himself and cut me loose.
The writing was on the wall in bold Sharpie.
He didn’t want to fire me. He needed to fire me.
If I don’t do this now, leave him now, he would have all the control in our separation.
“And you think you can keep up with both? School and this job?”
“E.G. is a pretty demanding boss and I’ve had no problem making my schedule work,” I told him.
Tom nodded. He was an attractive man. Dark hair, dark eyes. Maybe the same age as E.G., maybe a little older. There was a seriousness about him, which in a way was very different from E.G.’s somberness. At least the E.G. I’d first met.
The man I knew now was anything but somber. The man I knew now was a firecracker. Constantly filled to the brim with potential explosions.
“Does he know you’re here?” Tom asked me.
Uh, no. He would freaking kill me if he knew where I was.
“Here, specifically? No. But we both agree it’s time for me to move on. He’s looking to scale back his operation and won’t be needing full-time assistance.”
“He would give you a positive reference if I asked for one?”
“Yes,” I said. “He would.”
It wasn’t a lie if you believed it was true. I knew for a fact E.G. was looking for a job for me. I’d overheard him on the phone with potential employers asking questions about hours, salary and commute times.
Okay – I’d stood on the other side of his door with my ear pressed to it. E.G. never closed his office door, so when he began doing it, I knew something was up.
All I was doing was getting out ahead of him. Before he could fire me. Before he could leave me and walk away.
When push came to shove, and he understood why I was doing this now, he wouldn’t lie about the work I’d done for him. Instead, he would grudgingly admit I had a right to find my own position. To take control of my life, rather than letting him steer me in the direction he’d decided.
