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Why is she not better than this…?
Or, one of my other favourites…
How can my kid be like this…?
‘You’re smart enough to keep a change of clothes here, so go and change immediately.’
Hoping we were done, I kept my face expressionless and held back my tongue from saying that was exactly what I was trying to do earlier.
‘After you’re done, go to William Carter’s office. He wants to talk to his team alone.’
My heart lurched in my chest. ‘He wants to talk to me?’ I squeaked out.
My dad gave me a brief glance.
‘I said his team. Not just you. If you had listened in the meeting you’d have more information. You’re in his team now, I don’t want you to handle clients on your own anymore.’
At a loss for words, I just sat there. Eventually, he looked up and met my gaze. ‘Anything you want to say?’
Oh, where should I start, Dad?
‘Did you say that in front of everyone?’
He let out a short, sharp sigh as if talking to me alone was too much work for him. ‘Say what, Charlie?’
‘That you didn’t want me to handle clients alone anymore?’
‘Yes, why?’ His focus went back to his laptop screen again as if it weren’t important that he’d just broken my heart a little.
‘Did I do something wrong, dad?’ I could feel the heat rushing to my cheeks. As much as we had our problems, I was still trying to make sure I worked hard and did my job better than anyone so he’d be proud of me. ‘Did one of the clients complain?’
He dismissed my questions with a wave of his hand. ‘There will be some changes all around so don’t be difficult about it. I wanted to talk more about it in the meeting, but you and your antics got in the way.’
My shoulders sagged. ‘Who else is in this team?’ I asked, feeling defeated. ‘Kimberly?’
‘Your sister has her hands full already. You’ll find out who you’ll be working with when you get there. Make sure you change before you join them. I don’t want William’s first impression of my daughter to be this.’
I knew when I was being dismissed, but I wasn’t done yet.
‘Can I ask the reason for this specific change? I have my hands full with clients as well.’
Sighing yet again, he leaned back in his seat and studied me. ‘You’re not working as hard as your sister. And I…’
Shocked, I rose from my seat. ‘I’m not working as hard as Kimberly? Dad, I’m doing more than my share of work. I’m working longer hours than her. Forget about that, I’m taking on some of her work as well. I barely have any life…’
‘Charlie, do we have to do this now? Please. I have a meeting to prepare for. This is my decision and it’s final.’
I squeezed my hands into fists and forced myself to nod. ‘What about the clients I’m working with now? Who is going to take them? I’ve committed hours on…’
He rubbed the bridge of his nose and cut me off. ‘Later, Charlie. We’ll talk later. I have work to do. Tell your sister to drop by my office on your way. Unlike you, she is working hard to get somewhere.’
Feeling the familiar annoyance rise in me, I put one step in front of the other and left his room without uttering another word. I had to remind myself how much I otherwise loved my job and my family. Because I was a rebel, I didn’t knock on Kimberly’s office since we were barely on speaking terms. Keeping my eyes down, I made it to my small office space, walked to my desk and opened the last drawer to take out my extra shirt, only to notice that I didn’t have an extra shirt. Only a graphic tee-shirt that had Jack and Rose from Titanic on the front. A very fitting tee-shirt for a very tragic day. I was definitely sinking.
Without any other options, I held my chin high – as much as I could – avoided everyone’s curious and mocking eyes and headed back to the bathroom to change.
A few minutes later I was wearing my tee-shirt tucked into my black pencil skirt. In my opinion, I actually looked okay – maybe not that professional, but not that bad either. But also, because of whose office I was about to walk into, I couldn’t have looked any worse.
I reached William’s door and started to pace right to the side of it, which, with the limited space I had from his door to the wall (two steps) wasn’t very much of an impressive pacing. That is when Rick showed up and cracked open the door I was very carefully staying away from, gesturing for me to go ahead.
Chivalry. Completely overrated at times.
I heard murmurs from inside, which meant the meeting had already begun. Second one I was going to be late to in a day. A first for me.
