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Diana went pale, and she pasted on a smile. “That’s not necessary; this was just a little scuffle.”
Mr. Hern pointedly gestured to the door. “The sheriffwillbe hearing about this, so you can stop batting those eyes at me. I don’t allow anyone to assault my employees, and you should have thought about that before doing so. Now leave.”
She did, but not before sending me a putrid glare as if I’d forced her to attack me. Once she was gone, Mr. Hern looked back at me and grimaced.
“Let’s get you fixed up, Jen.” He said, waving for me to follow him. I did, ignoring the dozens of eyes on me and the harsh stinging on my cheek. Once we were safely tucked away in his office, he pulled out a first aid kit and handed it to me.
“Here, I’m going to go make sure she actually left, but you should call that man of yours. The gossip grave vine is fast, and if he hears it from someone else, it’ll be blown all out of proportion.”
Then he left, leaving me sitting at his desk and staring at the first aid kit.
Oliver was at work, so he probably wouldn’t even see the message for hours. Was it really worth bothering him with?
Though Mr. Hern was right about the gossip, it did travel quickly... At least if I sent a message, then he’d know what really happened and that it wasn’t that bad.
Deciding, I ignored the first aid kit and pulled out my phone. Scrolling to Oliver’s number, I hit it and typed.
Hey, I just wanted to let you know that something happened while at work. It was nothing major; just a bit of a confrontation with Diana. It wasn’t too bad, but I know the gossip will probably paint it as much worse. She managed to catch me with her nail, so I have a welt on my face, but other than that, I’m fine. I’ll talk to you later, once you’re off work.
I added a heart at the end and then sent it.
Putting my phone down, I nodded. That would be fine, though knowing Oliver, he’d still worry. Hopefully the message helped, if only a little.
Gingerly running my fingers over the stinging scratch on my face, I winced. That was going to leave one heck of a mark until it healed.
There was no blood, thankfully, and once I used some antiseptic on it, I could go back to work. Taking the bottle out of the kit, I dabbed some onto a cotton ball and gently disinfected the cut. My eyes watered, but after a minute, it was done, and I closed the kit up again.
Leaving it on his desk, I walked out and moved to start taking orders again, but I barely made it three steps before Mr. Hern caught my arm and herded me back toward the employee lounge.
“Little lady, you need a few minutes to rest before throwing yourself back into the rush.” His voice was stern–almost like a parent–and it was only after he made me sit that I realized my hands were trembling. Had I been shaking this entire time?
I guess it made sense. I never would have thought she would attack me, and I’d never been good with confrontations like this. Pressing both hands into my lap to hopefully stop the tremors, I met Mr. Hern’s eyes and spoke.
“I want to go back to work,” I said, and he barked a laugh.
“You’re shaking like a leaf.”
I tried again to stop the shakes and when I was mostly successful, I nodded. “It’ll only take me a few minutes to be back to normal.”
I didn’t want to sit here and do nothing for the rest of my shift. Yes, Diana’s hostility had rattled me, but the scratch wasn’t that bad and once I had a chance to breathe, I could go back to work. I needed that stability right now, and Mr. Hern must have realized that too, because he sighed.
“Take your lunch and make it an hour-long one. If you’re not shaking and pale as death by the end of it,thenyou can go back to work. The lunch rush has already died down, so we can more than afford for you to take a break.”
Looking around him through the open door, I realized he was right. Most of the customers had already left or were in the process of leaving. I had to take lunch, and it wasn’t even that far off when I normally took it…
Sinking into the chair, I nodded. “I’ll be better by then.”
He waved, walking away and leaving me alone to stew in my thoughts. Apparently I now had a new worry to take into account, on top of Harvey.
Diana.
When Oliver told me about her he hadn’t mentioned she was crazy enough to attack me, but maybe he hadn’t thought she would, or maybe this was a recent thing. Whatever the case, something told me that Diana was far from done intruding on our lives.
Hopefully, she won't try this at work again. If how pale she’d gone was any indicator, Mr. Hern’s threatmightbe enough to keep her away, but I wasn’t holding my breath.
My phone blared, nearly making me jump out of my skin. It was Oliver’s ringtone and immediately, curiosity burned through me. Usually he had his phone off when he worked…
Answering, I barely got a word out before he spoke.
