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“Nothing at all, boss.” He put his hands up in defense.
I looked at him deadpan, not impressed by his terrible lying.
“What is it?” I asked once more, not letting him sneak away with this one when his general attitude had been bothering me for the past thirty minutes.
“Fine,” he said, finally sitting down on the sofa. “So, what exactly did you say to Olivia?”
He finally asked. I knew that was what he was going to ask, but I was kind of hoping that it was going to be something else.
“Why does it matter?” I turned my attention back to the document I was trying to read.
“Did you fire her?” Eric’s tone was more serious now. He wasn’t just interested in office gossip.
“If I did, you would be the first to know.”
“Then what did you say to her? Come on, man.”
After signing the last of the papers, I capped my pen and put it aside, still ignoring Eric’s questions.
“Again, why does it matter?”
“Oh, don’t act all coy,Mr. President,” Eric responded. He only brought in the formality when he was annoyed with me. “You never ask anyone to stay behind. Olivia just yawned, for fuck’s sake.”
“Yes, while I was doing my duty, trying to help everyone step up their game. We’re on a tightrope every single election season,” I said, defending my actions. “You know as much as I do that this time is crucial for us. One wrong move, and our credibility will go down the drain. Her yawning is a sign of disinterest in what we’re doing.”
Eric’s lips pressed tightly together. After a few seconds, he let out a breath.
“Okay, but still, this was entirely out of character, even for you. I never thought you’d change your methods so much for the new girl.”
I froze, thinking about how Eric worded his sentence. There was something there that I wasn’t quite certain of, but I was pretty sure he was hinting at something.
“I gave no thought to how long she’d been working for us. If Lucy had yawned, I would have treated her the same way. Even if you had yawned, I would have done the same thing.”
I really wanted to be done talking about this. Eric was circling something, and I didn’t know how I felt about it.
“If you say so, boss,” Eric said, standing up and leaving me alone in my office.
Deep tension was knotting the muscles of my shoulders. Maybe Eric’s pacing hadn’t been the elephant in the room after all. Maybe it was Olivia.
Chapter 6
Olivia
WheneverIcametoplaces like these, I was often full of joy and excitement; of childlike wonder. The amusement park should be a place of fun and thrills, after all. But today was a different day. I entered the park with Mark, resolute that I would absolutely blow this story out of the water.
“Oh, are you the people from OVT? Welcome, welcome! My name is Amanda, the manager here.”
Amanda looked to be just a few years older than me and was full of kindness and warmth. She gestured for us to follow her.
“Welcome to Coaster Paradise! We’re thrilled and honored to be featured by you all. I hope your drive up here to Syracuse was smooth.”
I offered her a warm smile, but honestly, my blazing want—no,needto prove myself to Ben Oviatt was overshadowing my emotions.
“Thank you for having us! I can’t wait to start my report!” I replied with a lot of enthusiasm. Maybe too much. Manager Amanda was taken aback. I guess she was used to being the fun one, being a manager of an amusement park and all. I cleared my throat in an effort to tone it down.
Mark set up his camera as he watched me carefully.
“Are you doing okay there, Olivia? You seem more excited than usual,” he said with a slight smirk, as he adjusted the settings of the recording.
