AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Mari
“I hate leaving you here like this,” Laurie, one of my coworkers said, wincing at me. But she already had her bag up on her shoulder and her keys in her hand.
She hated it.
But not enough to stay.
I was trying not to be upset about it.
She had a family and husband to get home to. One who she constantly complained could barely manage their two children when she ran to the grocery store, let alone when she was at work.
I couldn’t fault her for wanting to go home before it imploded.
But a small part of me couldn’t help but feel resentful at being left alone at work so soon after my attack.
I mean, when I’d come back, all there had been was concern. And promises about my safety.
It was probably predictable, but no less upsetting, how quickly people went back to their lives as normal, when yours was forever changed.
I mean, it was nighttime, too. October meant that the sun was setting a lot earlier than it had been over the summer. And one of the lights in the lot where we had to park was flickering most nights, casting most of the area in shadow.
“Don’t worry about it,” I insisted, forcing a smile that ached it was so fake. “Get home to those babies,” I added, casting a look toward my client in the other room, doing the slowest set of reps known to mankind.
We were technically supposed to be closed.
He should have been gone fifteen minutes ago.
But it wasn’t like I could walk over there and tell him to get lost.
Our clients were ‘top priority,’ our boss was sure to remind us daily. Because our clients were the upper echelon type of people. All the money and power to completely destroy this business if they wanted to.
So we had to tolerate guys like Luis. Who was back for his third round of therapy following a ‘very serious’ squash-related ankle injury.
He rolled the damn thing.
But, apparently, it wasn’t back to normal yet.
So here we were.
“If he’s not gone in ten more minutes, call Tanya. I’m sure she will tell you it’s okay to tell him you have to close up.”
Yeah, fat chance of that.
If I got murdered standing right here behind the front desk, her only concern would be if they could get the blood out of the carpet quickly enough to open at our regular time, as not to inconvenience our clients.
“Yeah,” I agreed, giving her another fake smile.
But she wasn’t even paying attention.
Her gaze was on her phone, typing frantically, likely to her husband, and ignoring me.
“See you Wednesday!”
No, she wouldn’t.
I wasn’t working Wednesday.
I’d been stressing about that too. Home alone all day. I was thinking about bringing Tilly to a busy park and wasting a few hours there. Then maybe a walk around the pet store. Before heading home when there was no other choice.
