meetings, he's been presenting them as his material without mentioning you," she finished.
I took a deep breath and released it. Then another. And another. Nope, not helping. I was still pissed as hell. I knew things like this happened a lot in the corporate world, but they'd never happened to me. My boss before Barnes had been a great guy who was more than happy to give me kudos when I solved a problem or found a way to save time and money.
I glanced at the clock on my computer screen. Ten-fifteen. I had forty-five minutes before the meeting started at eleven. Which meant I had some digging to do and quickly.
"Will you let me do some nosing around before you officially turn in your notice?" I asked her. "An hour or two?"
She nodded and got to her feet.
I waited until she was at the door before I called her name. When she turned toward me, I said, "Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I know it wasn't easy."
"It was a dick move," she replied. "I couldn't let you go into that meeting blind."
She disappeared out the door and I stared at my computer screen for a long moment. I didn't want to deal with this. I didn't want to fight. I used to love my job and everything that came along with it. The long hours, the problem-solving, the ability to work pretty much wherever I wanted.
But this morning, I'd dreaded coming into the office. I would rather be at Crave. I liked working with Cam at the shop. I liked living in Farley and seeing Colette and Malcolm every Sunday.
And I loved Ben.
It was like a bolt of lightning exploded in my brain. I couldn't imagine my life without him and I didn't want to. I didn't want a long-distance relationship because of a job I no longer felt passionate about. I wanted to go to bed with him every night and wake up with him every morning at an ungodly hour so I could watch him sweat his way through a workout. Okay, maybe not every morning, but a couple a week sounded good.
I wanted him to make me dinner and teach me to cook.
Fuck want. I needed him. He made my life better. He made me better.
I wasn't falling in love with him because I was already there.
As I came to the realization, a plan formed in my mind. I hesitated at first because I was about to burn every bridge I'd made in the company but I ignored the niggle of doubt and focused on logic.
Okay, so what I was thinking of doing wasn't just going to burn the bridges, it was going to be like setting off a nuclear warhead. I just had to find a way to shield Trudy so she could stay on if she wanted.
One more glance at the clock. Ten-twenty. I had forty minutes to get this done. It would be tight, but I could manage it.
I flexed my fingers and got to work.
18
I walked into the conference room one minute before eleven. My co-workers were already around the table, but Barnes wasn't there yet.
I was surprised to see Peter Connolly at the table. He was Mr. Barnes' boss. Apparently, the issue I'd been working on for Barnes was bigger than I'd realized.
He smiled at me when I came in and set a stack of handouts on the table. "Good morning, Ms. Watkins. You look refreshed after your vacation."
I forced myself to smile back at him. "Thank you. Does this mean I can no longer work remotely?" I joked.
"Definitely not. I thought Trudy said Thomas approved your remote schedule. Is that wrong?" he asked.
I shrugged. "Mr. Barnes thought it was important that I attend the meeting today."
Something passed over his face and it took me a moment to recognize it. He didn't like my boss any more than I did. What an interesting development.
"Well, it is lovely to see you."
It was so very tempting to tell him everything then and there. I didn't know Peter Connolly well, but I had been around him enough to know that he seemed like a genuinely nice man. I was withholding judgment for now though, because he may not be so nice if I did what I was planning to do.
When I stared down at the stack of paperwork in front of me, I thought of how sincere and kind Mr. Connolly had been all these years and I made a decision.