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She leaned back and smiled. “I’m not sure I should answer that.”
“I’m not sure you should either.”
Jesska ran a finger along his jaw. “He’s nowhere near as gorgeous as you are.”
Kaspar had smiled and kissed her, settling her closer to him as they returned to the movie. She’d fallen asleep on him again, and woke up to find she was in her bed, tucked in, and without Kaspar. He’d arrived that morning with breakfast, which she could only manage a bite or two of, and drove with her to work, kissing her quite thoroughly before she left the car. She hummed as she rode the elevator to the eleventh floor and then headed to her cubicle.
“Hey, Jess,” Betty said, popping her head over the partition.
“Hi. You’re here early.”
“Yeah, no choice. You missed the drama Friday night.”
“Night?”
“Yeah, got pulled into the conference room after you left.”
“Oh, really?”
She nodded. “Yep, Tim’s on the warpath. He fired a butt-load of people.”
“Shut up. Seriously? Why?”
“Orders came down from corporate. Major cuts, I guess.” Betty frowned. “I can’t believe I’m still here, to be honest.”
“You’re the only one who does what you do, Betty. I can’t imagine them ever getting rid of you.”
“Jess,” Tim said from his office door. “Can I speak with you for a bit?”
“Sure.” Jesska stepped into Tim’s office and sat in the chair facing his desk. She was surprised when Paula from HR arrived a few minutes later.
“We’re going to have to let you go, Jesska,” Tim said.
“I’m sorry? Did you just say you’re firing me?”
Tim frowned and nodded.
“What? Why?”
“Budget cuts,” he said, evasively. “I’m sorry, Jess. It’s over my head.”
“But I just had a glowing review. You said you couldn’t live without me.”
Tim sighed. “I know. I’m so sorry. You’re amazing. I don’t know what I’m going to do without you, but it’s out of my control. I’ve spent the better part of a week trying to figure out how to keep you, but like I said, it’s over my head.”
Jesska forced back a laugh. Of course this was what her life had come to. Her fiancé was murdered, she gave up college because she couldn’t hack it emotionally, she was threatened by the murderer of the love of her life, and now she was jobless. Just fucking perfect.
She stood. “I’ll pack up my office.”
“You can come back and do that next week, if that helps,” Tim offered. “We’ve paid you through the end of the month and given you an extra month of benefits.”
Paula handed Jesska a file with her severance package.
“I’d rather just pack up my things and go now,” Jesska said. “I’m not really interested in coming back again.”
“Fair enough,” Tim said, and stood. “Let me know if you need me to carry anything down.”
“I’ll grab you a box,” Paula offered.
