Chapter 1
“Morning, Naomi!”
Naomi looked up from the invoices she had been alphabetizing to see Betty, a cheerful, plump woman in her mid-fifties, walking through the front doors.
Naomi smiled back. Betty’s good cheer was impossible to resist, even when Naomi herself was in a bad mood.
Betty dropped a banana nut muffin on the reception desk. “I saw this at the coffee shop and thought of you,” she said. “Banana nut is my daughter’s favorite. She’s just your age, you know.”
“I remember,” Naomi said with a smile. “Thanks, Betty. This was really thoughtful. Next time, you’ll have to let me bring you breakfast.”
“Oh, don’t even think of it,” Betty said. “You know I just like to see a smile on your face.”
“Did you bring one for me?” came another, far less welcome voice.
Naomi turned to see Rick Darren walking toward them from his private office at the back of the building. When he gave tours to visitors from other companies or prospective employees, Rick liked to tout the merits of the open-plan office, with its cubicles and shared spaces. But Naomi couldn’t help noticing that that philosophy hadn’t stopped her boss from claiming a room for himself.
“Good morning, Mr. Darren.” Betty was the only one in the office who referred to Rick that way. Naomi thought it was probably a generational thing. “This is just a little gift for Naomi. Something to brighten her day.”
Rick’s smile barely flickered. “You’d better get to your desk now, Betty. The phones are already ringing.”
“Of course,” Betty said, hurrying away as if she’d been caught doing something wrong.
Rick frowned at Naomi. “You shouldn’t be having breakfast at your desk,” he said.
She nodded. “I’ll just wrap it up and save it for my break.”
Rick leaned on the desk. “We should really have a talk sometime about all the breaks you’ve been taking.”
“Is there a problem?” Naomi asked. She knew perfectly well that she wasn’t in violation of corporate policy—two fifteen-minute breaks per day were written into the employee handbook, along with a forty-minute lunch break.
“Our corporate culture is one of dedication and zeal,” Rick said. “In fact, those are our core values.” He pointed to the wall behind him, where the two words had been appliquéd in giant red letters.
Naomi nodded. She could hardly forget; she stared at that wall all day.
“Just look at Jason,” Rick said, indicating Naomi’s coworker with a wave of his hand.
Jason was tall and blond with perfect teeth, which he flashed at Naomi at the sound of his own name. He was leaning back in his chair, clearly on the phone with a customer.
“Jason has been our employee of the month for the past three months because of his dedication and zeal,” Rick said. “He arrives early. He stays late. He never takes breaks—or days off for illness.”
Jason works on commission, Naomi thought. The more he worked, the more he earned. She, on the other hand, was salaried. She would earn the same amount of money whether she took her breaks and sick days or not.
And by law, I’m entitled to them.
But that was an old argument between herself and Rick. Naomi would not have it again. Not today.
Rick knocked on her desk twice, grinning as if to suggest that he’d given her something to think about, and wandered off.
Feeling angry and rebellious, Naomi took a big bite of her muffin, letting the crumbs spill all over the invoices she had been working on.
He’s a horrible boss. I’ll never forgive him.
The problems between the two of them had come to a head six months ago, when Naomi’s mother had lost her long battle with cancer. Assuming she would be afforded some time off for bereavement, Naomi had flown from LA to New York to be with her sister Sarah after the funeral.
She hadn’t been gone a day when she’d received an email from the company informing her that she was using her own vacation time. The email had contained a very cold reminder that while employees were given ten vacation days per year, the use of more than five was grounds for the loss of your yearly bonus. Though you couldn’t officially be threatened with disciplinary action for using vacation days, it was well known around the office that Rick kept track of who forewent their time off. Those were the people who deserved praise. Those were the people who upheld the core values of zeal and dedication.
And Naomi had been afraid. Though she had ached for more time with her sister, time