AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Does my sister remember anything I told her before about my job? “Soph. I’m in the middle of a grievance case and need to get back to take this course I fought so hard for—”
“Get that friendly doctor to write a letter saying you are needed. I’m sure Paul or his wife or their cleaning lady can pack a few more things for you from your place and send them to you—David!” she shouts for her husband.
After the call, I stare at my phone for ages scrolling through all the possibilities, but Sophie is right, there is no one but me who can make the arrangements. But she’s wrong, it won’t be a few more days, more like a couple of weeks.
I find Steve’s number and dial, rehearsing what I need to tell him. Unfortunately, I don’t get a chance to say it because Steve rejects the call almost immediately. This has been his tactic for the last few months, treating me like an unwelcome interruption. His usual reprimand: “I don’t have time; I have twenty-six books on the go.”
I try my colleague who’s filling in for me. “Is Steve in?”
“Yes, he’s just at his desk. I’ll put you through.”
She comes back on the line a minute later. “He says try him on his mobile or email him.”
I know what he’s doing, avoiding talking to me. I can email, but he has one of those annoying autoreply messages that warns you he’s busy and to get in touch by phone if it’s urgent. He’s done this to me before and claimed I never called him.
“Oh, and Elodie?” The temp says before I hang up. then she lowers her voice. “When are you back, because you know Steve has just taken on three more books and it’s not an ideal time to go on holiday.”
“What? I’m not on holiday.”
“It’s marked as annual leave on the roster.” She says in that tone most of my colleague use when talking to me: Elodie the airhead. “Steve is having to manage alone, as usual, he says. And HR aren’t impressed that you’re missing some private training they booked you on.”
“But it’s …” then I remember. I told Steve about the family emergency face to face, not by email. That’s why he was so happy to let me take time off. Because he can use my absence to make me look bad.
I call him.
He rejects the call.
I try again.
Same result.
And suddenly, anger rises in me like a tsunami. The hoops he makes me jump through so he can feel important. The games he plays so he can shirk responsibility and dump the blame on someone else. Is this a fight worth winning? For what?
I look down on my phone then go to my emails. I’m not even going to explain myself to him.
To Steve Shepton
CC Human Resources
Dear Steve
Since you seem to be too busy to take my calls or respond to my messages, and since you have wasted no opportunity to tell everyoneIam worse than useless and thatI'm more of a liability than an asset, then my resignation can only be an improvement.
I resign.
Please consider my current leave in lieu of notice.
Best wishes
Elodie LeFevre
Before I can second-guess myself, I text Paul and ask him to arrange for my things to be collected from my bedsit and the keys sent to Andrew.
Then a case of the giggles hits me because Andrew is going to be furious at wasting six months’ advance rent when I’ve vacated after six weeks.
I laugh and laugh, quietly to myself. Despite the unknown future, despite the flutter of apprehension in my tummy, my shoulders feel as if a mountain has shifted off them. There is a wonderful lightness in my heart that won’t go away.
Chapter Seven
