cringed, not understanding how people could be so horrible and shady. And poor Dani! Not only her husband, but her employee and friend? I was devastated for her.
“Wow. That’s just awful. I can’t believe––”
“There’s more.”
Lila looked at me, incredulous. “More? What the hell do you mean more? What kind of more?”
I reached into my purse for my cell phone, scrolling to the pictures of Kevin and Kamille kissing. I handed Lila my phone.
“This is Kamille, right? Bitchy front desk girl?”
I nodded. “I caught them in the back alley the same day I heard Kevin and Allie in the treatment room.”
Lila studied the pictures some more. “Well, this is solid proof, Al. Show these to Kevin. Or Kamille. They can’t keep doing this to Dani.”
“But–– what if I get fired? It sounds terrible, but besides all this crap, I really love my job. And I’m good at it. And it’s giving me the knowledge and possibly future references to go on to bigger and better things. I don’t want to go back to being a Tastie’s girl–– no offense.”
“None taken. But, okay. So you stay quiet for now. What happens when Dani catches them? Or another staff member or a client? Or–– what if Kevin starts making moves on you?”
I stayed silent for a minute. “I don’t know,” I answered quietly. “Honestly. I don’t know. I’m so confused. And I’m sad. I really thought Allie was a good person. And even though I may have had doubts about Kevin and Kamille, I never wanted it to turn out this way.”
Lila and I talked for another hour about Blissful and the closed-door happenings. We didn’t get much farther, only to discuss how disgusted we were with cheating men and women who agree to be “the other woman.” I still didn’t know how to handle my newfound knowledge about my boss and employees. Stay quiet and keep at my job? Spill what I knew and possibly lose it?
I went to bed that night uneasy about my professional situation. Could I really keep working for philandering Kevin? Would I crack and spill the secrets to Dani? Dani was my friend. She didn’t deserve to be kept in the dark. Lila agreed that if I knew Joel was cheating on her she would want to know. I said the same thing. It would be humiliating for everyone to know your boyfriend or husband had a wandering eye. Kamille seemed like she could be a bitch, but what about Allie? My thoughts about her were completely screwed up. How could I look her in the eye tomorrow and watch her smile and chat with Dani like she wasn’t screwing her husband on the side? What had I gotten myself into?
$$$
The next day, I asked Emma to take notes for me in Music Appreciation and skipped the class so I could head out to Blissful. Dani and Allie were both at the salon and ready to go by the time I got there just after noon, and the three of us piled into Kevin’s BMW and headed towards the mall. We were having lunch at The Bowl, a restaurant attached to the mall that specialized in salads and other healthy dishes.
We were seated promptly, and got a table by a big picture window. The view of the outside was desolate: gray skies, bare trees, and people bundled up in winter gear to protect them from the chilly temps. We placed our orders for various salads and drinks and Dani started the conversation.
“I wanted to get together to talk about the holiday schedules. Thanksgiving seems to be all worked out and that wasn’t an issue, but we need to figure out Christmas.”
“What is the store schedule like for then? Are we closed Christmas Eve and Christmas?” I asked, taking a sip of my Sprite.
“Well, we need to discuss that too. Christmas Eve is still a pretty popular shopping day, and the stores stay open longer. I think we should be open on that day, at least in the morning. Maybe nine to one or something? What do you think?”
“I think it’s important to know that we can be staffed before we decide on store hours,” Allie said. “Alex, what did the leave requests look like for the desk?”
I took a folder out of my briefcase, where I had been keeping track of the requests. “Kamille has requested the twenty-third through the twenty-eighth off. Sounds like she will be out of state visiting family. Julia requested Christmas Eve and