Page 89 of Feel It in the Air

Percy chuffs, as if he can’t believe I brought up the topic. I shake my head, knowing that he secretly loves all the attention he’s getting over it and that he’s going to miss us more than he lets on.

“I won’t lie; I’m sad about it. I’ve really enjoyed working with Percy all these years and I’ve learned so much. I’m really going to miss his expertise. But at the same time, I do have to say that I am excited about the opportunity for growth within this department this may present.”

I sneak a look at Percy out of the corner of my eye, noticing the side of his mouth twitching into a smile. Teresa couldn’t have kissed his ass any more right there if she had actually puckered up and asked him to bend over.

“I love working for Hayes, and I do hope to have a very long career here,” she continues.

Oh good, she got me in there too.

“We’re happy to hear that,” I say.

She might think she has that perfect answer locked and loaded, but I can’t help but wonder if she knows that we see right through her. Or at least that I do. I make a mental note to find out what her colleagues think of her. I know Margeaux’s take—as well as Willa’s—but there are more than a dozen others in this department. There’s a good chance they all find her just as unbearable.

“I know your specialty is in taxes, but that you’ve worked on a number of different contract types, correct?”

Teresa nods. “Yes, most recently I reviewed a contract for the potential acquisition of Hickory Hills Drugs.”

“What about Sapphire Sands?” Percy asks.

“Sapphire Sands?” Teresa repeats, her voice going up an octave. Shifting in her seat, she crosses her arms, her bright and shiny demeanor starting to fade.

“You wrote up the vendor establishment contract for them last fall,” Percy tells her, picking up another copy off his desk and handing it to her. “Gus and the team have run into some…discrepancies…surrounding some of the billing⁠—”

“I don’t see what that has to do with me,” Teresa retorts, cutting off her boss in a saccharine, singsongy voice.

“We’re just trying to figure out why, that’s all,” Percy explains. “I don’t remember the contract. Sapphire Sands doesn’t ring a single bell, so I told Gus that maybe you would remember some of the details about them so that he could get to the bottom of all this.”

“I didn’t do anything.”

Her sharp tone catches both of us off guard, and both Percy and I flinch. The air around us shifts, swirling like a storm is brewing around us. Goose bumps prickle my skin, a shiver running down my neck, and not in a good way. A switch just flipped.

“I thought this was to discuss my future at Hayes. About my potentially becoming a senior associate,” she continues, trying to return to her sugary façade. Her words are still clipped and the acid is still there though, not giving it quite the effect she’s hoping for.

I keep quiet, leaving this one to Percy. I don’t feel the need to interject myself into their department politics. Being witness to it is bad enough. Although, from a human resource perspective, it’s probably a good thing Percy has a witness to this. Had it even remotely occurred to me that this could have gone this way, I would have called Carl to join us.

Then again, I would have bet good money that it was going to be Henry Nedens or Micky Sliger’s name on that contract and that this meeting was going to last all of five minutes with one of them being like “yeah, wrote it up, because so-and-so in this other department asked us to” and I was going to be on my merry way to go find out who actually requisitioned this vendor.

Instead, I’m here.

“That’s a discussion for a later date,” Percy sidesteps. “Right now our focus is this contract and⁠—”

“Seriously?!” Teresa snaps. Her voice is shrill, ear piercing, to the point that it’s a good thing that the office is empty for lunch or we might have some workers’ comp claims on our hands. “You’re focusing on this piddly little insignificant contract! Why? So you can try to use it against me?”

“I don’t follow,” Percy says.

Teresa turns to me, features tightening. “Just what are you accusing me of, Gus?”

Excuse me?!

“We’re not accusing you of anything, Teresa,” I tell her, trying to keep my voice as level as possible. My pulse kicks up a notch, my fight-or-flight responses on high alert, ready for whatever she pulls.

Turning back to Percy, Teresa leaps to her feet. My insides hurdle forward with her, anxious tension rising in my chest.

“He’s fucking an employee, did you know that?” she exclaims. “Ever since you left. He and Margeaux Finnegan.”

The whole room stops.

My heart plummets. No…no…