The laughter in her voice helped me relax, and I flashed her a grin.“Can’t help it.I want to spend time with you.”
She made a raspberry noise, and I laughed.After grabbing coffee for both of us—and food for Valerie—I got us on the freeway.
“Where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise.”
“I’m assuming it’s far enough that we have to stay overnight?”
“It can be.Stop fishing.”
“I can’t help it.I want to know where we’re going.”She wiggled in her seat.
“You’ll like it, I promise.”
“You can’t promise that I’ll like it.”
Was she having second thoughts?“I can.”
Valerie muttered “know it all” under her breath, and I fought against grinning.
“Talk to me about how you came to work for Fantasies, Inc.You seemed happy where we were.”she prompted after a few minutes of silence.
“I was happy for a while.”After our breakup, I began to realize how toxic the company felt to me.
“What happened?”
“I realized the culture was changing, along with management.They started requiring suits every day, impossible work schedules, and the pressure…” Working for the firm had become impossible task in my book.I should have realized it long before I left.
“I noticed you don’t wear a suit.”She glanced at me.
“I do when I have to, but John created a company where employees don’t have to dress up if they don’t want to, unless they’re meeting clients.”
“That’s nice.”
“I like that I can run my department my way.Is there pressure?Sometimes, but not like working for a big financial firm where outperforming your peers is the only way to get recognized.While I do have expectations and goals, it’s not as bad.”
“Or an accounting firm.I hate that I’m expected to outperform my peers.”
“Do they put a lot of pressure on you?”I didn’t like that idea at all.Valerie was too quiet to thrive in that kind of environment.
“At times.”She glanced at me.“Forensic accounting takes time and sometimes clients argue about the cost in the contract.”
“Then those clients shouldn’t be in business.”My tone was matter of fact.
Valerie laughed.“I agree.My boss usually calms them down, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t ask me to get the job done faster.Or that I’m not the one taking the brunt of the client’s displeasure.”
“Are you getting pressure from your company to hurry up with us?”
“No.I think that’s because you’re paying me directly and giving them a cut as well.Money talks.”
“Not always.”If Valerie had been a freelance accountant, it would have been a very different contract.
“My boss made it very clear that was the only reason they agreed to let me come to work for you under the contract that was presented.They didn’t like I was an employee of FI for the terms of the contract.”
“Ass,” I muttered.
“He’s not a bad boss, but he likes things a certain way and taking me away from my usual workload is not one of them.”
