Page 111 of Feel It in the Air

My eyes almost bug out of my head. He has to be joking. Termination isn’t the guaranteed outcome of this meeting? It’s the only acceptable outcome as far as I’m concerned. If he read the same things I did, then I have no idea how he would think otherwise.

“Carl, are you fucking kidding me?”

“Let’s just wait and see what she has to say. It’s called giving people the benefit of the doubt. Auggie taught me that one.”

Auggie taught me that one…

Oh…way to throw that back in my face. To be fair, he’s probably right. Giving people—especially our employees—the benefit of the doubt is a tenet of my father’s belief system, and something I would normally agree with him on. However, this is one case where I’m past that. There should be zero benefits left here.

He’s holding the proof in his hands.

Sucking in a breath, I count to ten, my own silent way of telling myself to calm down. I’m a lot more agitated than I realized, and that is not helping anyone. Carl, on the other hand, is as cool as the proverbial cucumber, hands folded on his desk, waiting for some kind of retort.

“What did I manage to teach y’all?” Auggie asks, sauntering into the office. “Something good, I hope.”

“Giving people the benefit of the doubt,” I mutter, nodding in greeting.

“Ah,” my old man drawls, a smug smile taking over. “That is a good one.”

Carl gestures toward him, only upping my annoyance. Yeah, yeah, I get it. Not what I want to hear, but I get it. I need to have confidence that this is going to go my way. No, I take that back. I do have confidence this is going to go my way.

I know what we have. I know what was uncovered thanks to Margeaux and what it all means. And it’s not good. Discovering the root of the issue doesn’t leave any of us with the warm fuzzies. There’s some serious trust broken, resulting in a lot of processes that will have to be reviewed and reworked, plus training. For the entire company. An uphill battle for sure.

All that is secondary to having figured it out though.

Now comes the hardest part. Confronting the culprit and getting them to own up to their actions. All of their actions.

“Are we ready to get this started? Our guests should be in the conference room by now,” Auggie continues.

Standing up, Carl nods. “Ready if you are.”

“You joining us?” Auggie asks, turning to me.

“Not allowed.”

There’s no hiding the bitterness in my voice, even if I do mutter my words. Maybe I can convince one of them to call me, and I can listen in that way. Sure, that probably breaks a dozen other laws, but right now, I’m desperate.

“I don’t see why you shouldn’t be able to,” Auggie says.

“Any number of reasons,” Carl responds. He doesn’t bother hiding his impertinence, nor does my father seem to notice. “Gus has broken enough rules these last few months.”

“We’re choosing to view that as growth on his part. Learning that sometimes, exceptions can and should be made.”

Thanks, Dad…

I lower my head, laughing to myself. Leave it to my father to drive home a life lesson in a moment like this.

“We’re hoping that from here on out, he can be a little more understanding, and maybe not quite as uptight.”

“Message received,” I comment.

“So, I don’t see why he can’t join us. He’s been taken off administrative leave after review, and this meeting isn’t directly in regard to that investigation, so his sitting in shouldn’t present any issues.”

“Auggie, I⁠—”

“My company, my rules, Carl,” he cuts him off.

Bingo!