AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
I’m gasping as I reach the water’s surface, flailing in my frantic attempt to get to the ladder.
The water isso fucking cold, and if I’d hoped this would help, would prove to betranscendent, I could not have been more wrong. I’m an idiot who somehow forgot a lake in northern California would be cold in late March, and there’s nothing transcendent about that at all.
I scramble up the ladder in panties and a camisole that are soaking wet, wishing I’d at least considered bringing a towel forthis fresh start of mine. I blot my eyes with my robe, but as I straighten to wrap it around myself…there’s movement.
Someone or somethingis standing behind the kitchen window inside Caleb’s abandoned house.
I could have imagined it, but no. There it is again, shifting shadows behind the glass doors. And whatever it is just watched me climbing semi-nude from the lake.
My new beginning was already off to a rough start. Now it’s the opening scene of a horror movie.
JEREMY
Don’t know who the hell will hire you. Turning on the TV and putting chicken nuggets in the oven seem to be your only talents.
HE’S DELIVEREDa near-constant stream of insults since Saturday night. You’d think he’d be too busy sleeping with our teenage babysitter to find the time, but he’s good at multitasking.
Unlike Jeremy, I don’t have the luxury of crafting pointlessly cruel texts. I had two kindergartners to get to school one town over, before hustling fifteen minutes down the highway to Technology Solutions Group, my new employer.
The massive brick building a bit north of Santa Cruz looks a lot more impersonal than it did when I came for my interview, but I doubt I looked at it all that carefully. Back then, I was more worried about Jeremy finding out I was job hunting than anything else.
Wiping damp hands on my pencil skirt, I walk to the front doors and head into the lobby, where a receptionist actively ignores me until she’s done taking pictures of her coffee.
“Hi—I’m Lucie Monroe, the new hire. I was told to ask for Mark Spencer?” She stares at me as if I’m still speaking, stillboring her, and hits a button. “Mark, someone’s here to see you.” She returns to photographing her coffee without missing a beat.
I’ve been hired to improve morale—a job I convinced myself I was perfectly suited for, because if you spend your days trying to persuade young children to bathe, eat vegetables and go to bed, you’ve got more experience enhancing morale than anyone alive.
If this girl is a typical TSG employee, it may be more of an uphill battle than I anticipated.
“Lucie, welcome,” Mark says, walking toward me. “Looks like you’ve met Kayleigh already. Let’s find you an office.”
He turns down the hall opposite the one he came from, and I follow.
“I know you’ve just arrived,” he says as we walk, “but the board is excited to hear your ideas and we happen to have a meeting tomorrow. I’d love it if you could swing by and tell them where you’ll be starting.”
My nod of agreement is weak. I came in for my interview spouting research about employee programs I’d found online, but that hardly means I’m ready to present aplanto the board.
He comes to a stop in a large room full of empty, silent cubicles. “You’ve obviously got your pick of offices.” He winces as he laughs at his own joke. “With all the staff turnover, we consolidated most of the teams and put them on the next few floors.”
“Turnover?” I repeat.
He shrugs. “I think I mentioned in the interview that a number of our employees have gone to competitors. Everyone wants to work from home since the pandemic, and the CEO is avidly against it. That’s where you come in…We’re hoping you can stem the tide.”
Mark never mentioned even once that they werelosingemployees. He said,‘We want to be a place where people love theirjobs,’ which is pretty different, and the insanity of what I’ve done is becoming clearer by the second.
He gestures to the nearest cubicle, and I step inside. My first office. It’s three felt walls—probably an eighth the size of the offices my half-siblings have, working for my father—but it’s mine.
Mark follows, perching on the edge of the desk. “Look, this isn’t the greatest way to kick off your first day, but I feel like I need to level with you. The CEO’s been out of town and he was never a fan of creating this position in the first place. But I only became aware this morning of howstronglyhe was opposed to it.”
Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God.
I put three grand into a new checking account before I left, but it won’t last long, and then what? Jeremy said I’d be crawling back in a week. Maybe he was right.
I sink into a chair. “So he could just…cancel this whole thing?”
Mark’s gaze flickers to mine and away. “Well, as you know… the initial contract is only for three months. I suppose if it doesn’t go well, he could conceivably decide to eliminate the position. But it won’t come to that. Why don’t we go sayhi? I’m certain he’ll change his mind once you talk to him.”
