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“Uh, sure,” she said. “I can do that.”
Immediately after she said it, she regretted it. All those walks in the park, the time spent outside of the office with Georgia, the hours she would spend decorating the house this holiday season, they all drifted away.
“ April, can I see you in my office?” Maxwell asked as the others began to filter out of the conference room.
She hated those words the most. Not only did he ruin her weekend, but he had to give her a talk for daydreaming during work hours. The office didn’t have room for things like joy and dreams.
Max’s office was just like the others. Bland, beige, and boring. She took the seat opposite his tall office chair.
“So, April,” he began. He stared at her with a smile that she didn’t return. “This needs to be perfect. I know you’re the person for the job, but I’m just reminding you that Reed Industries is one of our most important clients. I trust you to put in what it takes to get this done.”
April didn’t expect any thanks for picking up the extra work, but she wanted some kind of understanding that she would be making sacrifices for the job. “Of course.”
Maxwell smiled. “Great. I think in ten years’ time you’ll be sitting in this chair, talking to your own team about clients.”
Ten years? After everything she did for the firm, she would still need to wait ten years to become a partner?
Her life began to flash before her eyes. Her daughter’s graduation, vacations, anniversaries, birthday parties. It was all replaced with time at her desk or at home on her laptop.
All those sacrifices for another ten years. Maxwell was less than ten years older than April and he’d been partner for the past five years.
“April?”
Her eyes snapped back up to her boss. Another ten years of this.
“Happy to be here,” she lied through her teeth.
CHAPTER TWO
As April walked into her house that same evening, it felt like every other day. She’d stopped for groceries on her way home, even though it was late. She couldn’t eat fast food every night like when she was twenty. No, at twice that age, she thought she should at least try to maintain a somewhat healthy lifestyle.
The lifestyle where you would work hard, come home, and cook a nice meal, maybe workout and then grab wine with some friends on the weekends. April thought about that perfect life as she grabbed her own bottle of wine from the wine cooler built into her kitchen island.
Carl had always said they didn’t need one, but April argued that she did. And now she was glad she became a lawyer. Apparently, fighting for corrupt companies wasn’t all she fought for, considering this chilled glass of Reisling that quenched her thirst.
She drank a glass as she cut up vegetables for the stir-fry. The veggies slipped into the containers she put out, then she took the time to sip her wine. At least she could enjoy a normal meal, instead of the typical frozen dinners she threw together when it was her night to cook.
April looked at the bottle of wine and smiled as she read the description on the back. When the food was prepared, she put away everything, including the bottle.
And she sat in her chair, wondering if she would even finish cooking the meal before her husband got home. It’d been a long time since she’d done that. She finished her glass of delicious wine. She took in its smell as the last of it fell into her mouth.
It was something she didn’t do much of when Georgia was home. She was too preoccupied with spending time with her daughter than having a little bit of liquid joy after a tedious day of work. Still, April would have taken time with Georgia over a few glasses of wine any day.
The door at the other end of the house slammed shut as Carl entered. “Welcome home,” April yelled from the kitchen. “It’s been a long day, so I have quite a bit to tell you.”
Carl said nothing as he threw off his shoes and began to make his way to the kitchen. “There is something in the air today. Because,” April mumbled through a full mouth of recently chopped bell pepper. “Everyone at work was just crazy. They’re giving another company the outs by blaming it on consumers. I don’t even think their plan is going to work. Honestly, I think it might backfire on us this time.”
“It never backfires,” Carl said as he came into her view. There stood her tall husband. The man was dressed in a nice suit, but his posture made it look as if it was about to fall off his shoulders. His eyes were glazed over like he hadn’t slept in days, though April wouldn’t notice because she was focused on the meal ahead of her and the work day behind her.
“But this time I think it will! I seriously don’t understand how these big businesses can keep doing this. I mean, someone is bound to get caught eventually.”
April frantically cut up prepped chicken breasts that had been sitting, cooked, in the fridge for a few days. A smile on her face, she didn’t even hear the chair squeak as Carl sat down at the table. “Anyway, it was all so frustrating. And then, to put the cherry on top, they asked me to head the whole thing!”
“April?” Carl said with his head in his hand.
But April didn’t hear him; she continued her rant, adding some more chopped veggies into her mouth. Pans clanged together as she prepped their meal. “Man, I’m starting to really wonder if I belong there. I never agree with their decisions. All day, I just sit and think about-”
“ April!” Carl said louder, so loud that it startled April. She jumped, snapping her head to look over at him. She knew that her husband was acting strange by not talking this entire time, but now she could tell that something was truly wrong.
