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“No need to explain, Lucille. You’re allowed to take a break as anyone else here.”
“Well then, thank you,” I said awkwardly as I took a small sip of hot coffee.
“So, how are you enjoying working here, Lucille?”
“Very much so, Ms Beaumont.”
Then I waited in silence. The woman may be small in frame, but her penetrating gaze sure was intimidating.
“It has been brought to my attention that there have been some changes in your department since you joined us. Your leadership led to three projects being completed a week before the deadline. Usually projects are still being polished the day before the deadline. But since you joined us, there’s been nothing but praise for your brilliant results. Everyone at the Creative Department seems happy to work with you, which in return resulted in better performance by your whole team. Well done. This achievement has reached the board’s ears too. They’re quite captivated by you and they’ve been reviewing your progress intently.”
I couldn’t hold back my grin. “Glad to hear that, Ms Beaumont.”
“Yes, you would say so.”
Erm… Did she just announce how everyone was complimenting me but subtly, she was implying thatshedidn’t? Now to think of it, Ms Beaumont hadn’t even smiled at me once yet.
Ms Beaumont stood up. Her posture was perfectly straight and mightily lofty as she came around the desk, her high heels click-clacking along the way and then she stopped near me to lean back to the desk while nerve-wreckingly looking down on me.“I saw your boyfriend in the lobby the other day.”
Boyfriend? Oh, she must mean Joe. We kept in touch. He texted me every day. To make sure I had someone to talk to. To make surehehad someone to talk to. Sometimes he visited me here too when he had to travel here for work.
“He’s my ex– I mean he’s just a friend. Is that a problem? Should I ask him to wait outside next time?”
“Not at all. The lobby is a waiting area after all, right?”
“Right.” Now that was quite the turn of a conversation with the boss. A really strange one.
“I had thought I recognized the man from somewhere. But you know, being in my fifth century, shuffling through my memories takes a while longer than it used to. Until it struck me. I used to teach the man at business school. Joe Parker. Last I heard of him, he was partnered up with his sidekick Samuel Webb. Two very brilliant students indeed. Top of the class.”
I hope she only mentioned this to ask me to pass on her regards to her former students.
“It got me thinking.” Ms Beaumont crossed her arms under her breasts. “If you are his friend, you could have worked for him instead of here.”
“That company does not exist anymore.”
“I know. I did the research. Which is how I know that he started his own after his fallout with Samuel.”
“I never worked for Joe. He’s my ex-boyfriend and naturally, we didn’t want to work together.” I explained without elaborating. Or rather, I lied. A tiny white lie.
“But you did work for Samuel Webb.”
Oh-oh. Now this might just be the very definition of super shitty.
I gulped the tiny knot of uneasiness forming in my throat. “I did, yes. It was a delight to work under him. I mean, not under. With him. With his company. It’s the best in town. So is he. I mean, he was a good boss. I mean, it was great working there and… and… yes, it was great.”
Great, Lucy. Excellent choice of words to ramble on.
Ms Beaumont’s brows had furrowed by the end of my rant. She appeared to be derisive. Even more so when she smacked her lips in apparent distaste. “I pulled out your file again. And boy, am I glad I did. Seems like I was left unaware of one of your initial requests here. You asked to skip getting a reference from your last former direct superior. You cited the reason as being that you had a disagreement over creative differences in your last few days, which made you concerned that he’d leave a lousy reference irrespective of all your previous hard work.”
Oh, shit. During my initiation with the company, I had given the HR’s contact details at Sam’s company instead of his. I had bribed the HR lady with a sack of coffee beans that she loved to bypass that step. My action was another way to cut ties with Sam and withhold from revealing where I went.
“There was a disagreement, yes.” If only she knew the extent of the whole story of how he lost my trust.
“Well, since you did sign the initial consent for us to get the references in your contract and our HR conceded to your request on their own personal benevolence, I went ahead and contacted Mr Webb myself. Just to dispel my thoughts that there wasn’t another motive to your reasoning for that request, you know.”
“And?”
“And what a glowing reference Mr Webb has given you.”
