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Hope
Flying out last minute to meet the designer necessitated leaving Brayleigh with my parents over night, which they loved, and missing practice with my dance troupe, again, which they did not love.
I hated all of it.
I flew out before Brayleigh woke. It was still dark when my parents arrived with Tim Horton’s coffee and a donut for me to take on the go. I avoided my mother’s accusatory eyes and my father’s pitying glance. Even the donut couldn’t sweeten the bile in my stomach.
While the supply house and designer turned out to be valued sources, the designer made it crystal clear that there had been no need to rush and urged me to relax. He explained he said as much to Ratcliffe, but Ratcliffe told him I needed the confidence boost.
Seemed the ratman had no qualms about disrupting my family life. Adding insult to injury, the flight home late Thursday night was overbooked, and I got kicked. There was no point in finding a hotel for five hours. By the time I stepped onto the first flight Friday morning, I was a zombie. I arrived home just in time to go in to work to report to Ratcliffe.
The meeting with HR the day before seemed promising though she barely bat an eye after hearing my complaint. Frankly, she looked tired.
“I’ll issue a warning letter. Also, and this will be worded in such a way that it appears we are looking out for his best interests, he will be advised that until this complaint is rectified, he must not meet with female employees on his own. I’ll tell you, off the record, that every woman who lodged a complaint against him eventually withdrew it.”
“Why?”
She rubbed her fingers together in the universal sign for money.
I shook my head. “Why is he so damned untouchable?”
She shrugged, her eyes jaded. “Deep pockets.”
In response to HR, Ratcliffe took Alex, one of the junior employees, under his wing from that day. Alex accompanied him as he made his rounds and to all meetings, not just those with the female employees.
Which was simply his way of saving face.
During my first meeting with them, I watched as Alex’s round face reddened with surprise at the harsh and condescending manner Ratcliffe spoke to me.
Frustration at my inability to respond in kind burned. Maeve’s words haunted me. I knew, with Alex as a witness, I would not escape the consequences if I lost my temper.
Thankfully, we only met formally every couple of weeks. The man could retire tomorrow, and it would make no difference to the daily operations. The weeks I traveled, I didn’t see him at all. It almost made me want to travel more.
Cheated of part of my week with Brayleigh, I fought tears as I dropped her off at Lucky and Minty’s Saturday morning. At their insistence, I stayed for breakfast. Briefly, I desperately missed my previous routine. But I’d only to look across the table at Lucky and Minty to be reminded I would return to being a third wheel.
I needed my own life.
Milling around my condo for thirty-six hours while I waited to fly out again boldly underlined that truth.
Ares
Hope, like me, occupied the window seat. Her apparent seatmate, a belligerent older woman, stood in the aisle complaining bitterly about not getting a window seat of her own. Hope looked up at her, lips parted, ready to laugh.
I stood. “Ma’am, I can offer you my seat and I’ll take the seat beside my colleague.”
Hope’s eyes swung to me, her brows knitting together.
“Does that work for you, Hope?” I asked.
“Well, of course it does,” the woman answered for her. Turning to the flight attendant, she demanded, “Get my bags and bring them over here. And bring me a drink menu.”
Hope did laugh out loud at that point, and the woman looked down at her disapprovingly.
“Hope,” I interjected before Hope could go off on her. She was the type of money who could make problems for people. “Could you grab this for me?”
I handed her my laptop then retrieved my bag before settling in beside her.
