Page 269 of Manhattan Bossholes

“Again!” I burst into another fit of laughter. “This is a regular occurrence?”

“At least monthly,” Shay said, joining us. “I keep saying Bonnie must have been a bird in another life the way they’re attracted to her.”

I wiped tears from the corners of my eyes. I’d made progress with the whole team, but the CAD designers and I had gelled best of all, and outside of a certain very handsome CEO, they were part of the reason I was genuinely excited to come to work in the mornings.

The realization that I actually liked my job hit me hard. It had been a long time since that was the case. Come to think of it, though, was that ever the case? My part-time gigs over the past few years were all pretty miserable, so anything would’ve been a step up, but even the job before them, the one I’d thought was my dream job…well, it’d never been that great, had it? Especially not at the end. This job, though. This one felt different. Felt good.

Saunders Furniture might have started as another gig to get by, but it was quickly becoming a place I could imagine myself staying long term.

Bonnie huffed. “I have noted that none of you are at all concerned for my safety.”

Shay gave her a side hug. “Because we know you can outrun the little bastards.”

“On that note,” I said. “Let’s jump into things. Outside of bird-related incidents, I hope everyone had a good weekend.”

Erik yawned through his reply, the words completely distorted.

“Sounds like you had a great weekend,” I said.

He smirked. “I think I got in this morning, had like two hours sleep, then got up and stumbled out the door to the train.”

“What the hell were you doing that early on a Monday?” I asked.

Erik smirked. “Let’s just say it involved a girl.”

Shay groaned. “Here we go. You know this guy literally followed some girl to Paris one weekend?”

“It was a cheap flight,” Erik said, shrugging. “Why not?”

“Umm…because she ditched you the moment you landed.”

“How was I supposed to know that would happen?”

“People like that just have vibes, Erik. And she was a screaming red flag.”

“Maybe I’m not good at reading vibes.”

“Maybe it’s just a guy thing,” Bonnie said.

“Definitely not just a guy thing,” I said. “I was with my ex for years and missed some glaring red flags.”

“Ohhh, spill,” Shay said. “I want details.”

“She loves mess,” Erik said.

“Exactly, which is why I love you,” Shay told him, blowing him a kiss before turning her attention back to me. “Now tell us about this ex.”

I sighed. It wasn’t a very fun story—but Shay looked so eager to hear it I couldn’t refuse. “Before Saunders, my last furniture gig was with Echo.” It was a solidly successful, mid-priced furniture company with a horrible reputation for the way they treated their staff. I didn’t know that back then, though. I was just happy to have a job in the career I’d always dreamed about.

Bonnie wrinkled her nose. “I’ve heard some things.”

“Probably all true,” I said. “Anyway, I got a job there with my then-boyfriend, Fisher.”

Shay shook her head. “Fisher…just sounds like bad news.”

“Yeah,” I laughed humorlessly. “Wish I’d figured that out sooner. But I was fresh out of school, and I was stoked that we’d both managed to get jobs working for the same design team. I was even grateful to Fisher for it—his family had some connections that helped land us the jobs.”

“Right,” Shay said, elbows on the table, leaning toward me. “He didn’t get you fired, did he?”