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“Lilith?” Garfield said casually. “One more time, please?”
I saw my ex-boss swallow, like something was caught in her throat. Maybe it was her pride.
“I’m sorry for how I treated you,” she said, this time looking at me. Her eyes held misery, but maybe for the first time ever, no trace of contempt. “I’m not sure why I did it. You were always good.”
“The best, actually,” Garfield jumped in. “Wouldn’t you say?”
Lilith nodded. “Yes.”
“Go on then.”
My ex-boss took a long, deep breath and let it out as a sigh. If her shoulders got any lower, they were going to dislocate from her neck.
“I… I wasn’t fair to you. And I wanted you to know that I’m sorry.”
A silence descended, even in the noisy diner. For a long time, all that existed was the chatter of a hundred voices, and the shrill scraping of silverware against ceramic plates.
“That should be enough Ms. Boellinger,” Garfield said finally. He nodded toward the exit. “Thank you.”
Lilith rose immediately, like a balloon that had just been released. She slid away from the table and walked out the double glass doors without glancing back.
It took another ten seconds of silence before my host and I even looked at each other.
“Alright,” I said at last. “Now that that’s finished… why don’t you tell me what this is really about?”
Fifty-Nine
LAUREN
We ordered breakfast. Omelets and more coffee. We talked shop a little — mostly about current office events — until our orders arrived. Then the man who ran five miles each morning ate ravenously and without apology, slathering his eggs with ketchup and finishing off every last piece of his toast.
“I’m glad to see you eating,” he said between bites. “No one eats breakfast anymore these days. Everyone always skips it, then wonders why they’re dragging ass or thinking slow or—”
“You want me back, don’t you?”
Garfield smiled through a mouthful of hash browns. He took his time chewing before pointing his fork at me. “You’re very impatient, you know.”
“I’m patient when I need to be, just not when my time is being wasted. Besides, patience is overrated.”
“Do you think I’m wasting your time?”
“Probably,” I admitted, pouring a second cup of coffee. “Especially if you think I’m coming back.”
Garfield raised an eyebrow in genuine surprise. He put his fork down for the first time.
“So you don’t like your job?”
“I love my jo
b,” I replied. “And I’m good at it too. No doubt about that. I guess I just realized I don’t have to do it at your office.”
He sat back, folding his arms. Eyeing me up and down as if he’d underestimated me, and was trying to decide if that were a good or a bad thing.
“If you come back you won’t have Lilith there anymore,” he said. “Breathing down your neck. Taking your projects. Obstructing you rather than helping you, all because of her jealousy.”
I shrugged. “Lilith’s an asshole, but she did know her stuff.”
“But you’d have her job. I’d give it to you.”
