Page 15 of After Hours

“You just?”

“Never mind,” I said, clearing my throat and breaking eye contact “and yes, you can leave at 12:30.”

“Thank you,” she said and left the office.

The payroll got sent up for review and I noticed two errors.

One: Ms. Willis’ name wasn’t on it.

Two: The dates are wrong.

“Ms. Willis,” I shouted from my office.

She came running briskly with a confused look on her face. “What happened?”

“Did you take your name off the payroll?”

“No sir.”

“Get accounts and HR on the phone, please.”

“Good afternoon. Xander Communications Limited, and you’re speaking with Marissa, the HR director.”

“I’m reviewing the payroll and noticed two errors. The intern isn’t on it and the dates are wrong. Why?”

“I’m not sure.”

“You’re not sure?”

There was a pause on the line. “Yes, sir, I’m not sure. Her documents were not sent over to us and therefore, we couldn’t have added it to our system.”

“Noted, just get it fixed and sent to me in the next ten minutes.”

“Yes, sir,” Marissa said. “Our apologies.”

“No worries, just get it fixed.” And that’s exactly what they did.

After the phone call with HR, I sat back at my desk, feeling the weight of a long and tiring week pressing down on my shoulders.The room fell so silent that I forgot she was still standing right there.

“May I ask why you just did that?” she asked, her voice slightly hesitant, and her expression a mixture of curiosity and slight concern.

I glanced at her, taking a moment to gather my thoughts. “Well, Ms. Willis,” he began, “it’s related to the way we handle payroll here at the company. Payroll is curated every two weeks, and this week would mark the end of that two-week cycle. They need to finalize the list of employees and their hours worked so that the accounts can balance correctly. Even though you’ve just started this past week, they still need to account for your hours during this period.” This half-assed, bullshit response was the best thing I could come up with.

She nodded, taking in the explanation. “Oh, I see.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m gonna go now.” I nodded.

She smiled and made her way out of the office. As she left, I reached for a crystal glass on my desk, pouring myself a measure of scotch. I needed a moment of silence before the day continued.

The moment of silence lasted for about ten minutes.

“Ronan,” I said, rubbing my temple. Having a best friend like him was a lot of work. “Why are you calling me?”

He chuckled. “Because I love you. Why else?”

I groaned in exasperation. “Ronan, please leave me alone. I have businesses to run, and so do you.”

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