Page 19 of Crushed By Love

“What’s wrong?” Camilla pats me on the shoulder.

I look into her concerned eyes and crumble. “I think I might get fired.”

Her eyes flare. “Why would you say that?”

I can’t bring myself to explain so of course that’s when Mrs. King walks in. “Arden, we’d like to speak with you in the office please.”

She walks away, expecting me to follow, and I do. Time to face the music.

Eight

My nerves are threatening to overtake me as I follow Mrs. King into the office. Breathe, just breathe, I instruct, but the serpent is awake and coiling around my windpipe. Mrs. King folds her arms over her chest and stands next to her husband, seated at his desk. His eyes are on his computer screen for a full minute despite our presence. It’s as if I’m not actually worth his time and I shift awkwardly between my feet, waiting. Finally, Mrs. King clears her throat and Mr. King looks up.

“Arden, how are you enjoying your time here?”

I don’t know how to answer that, so I decide to go with the truth. “I think maybe I should put in my two weeks’ notice.”

Mrs. King smirks but Mr. King seems unfazed. “And why would you do that?”

I gather my courage. “I don’t think this job is a good fit for me.”

“Hmm.” He ponders that, a line forming between his brows. “You may be right. My wife informed me of two concerning things.”

He opens his drawer and places Cooper’s headphones on the desk. “What were these doing in your bedroom?”

It hits me like a battle axe. Mrs. King went snooping through my bedroom and I was foolish enough to give her something to find. “I was just borrowing these from Cooper to help me sleep through the party noise last night. I promise, I was going to give them right back.”

He sighs heavily. “Did you ask him?”

I shake my head.

“This could be considered stealing. These are expensive headphones.”

“I’m so sorry.” What else is there to say? He’s right. I wasn’t thinking clearly last night. I was too angry and tired. I never should’ve taken them without asking Cooper. What a dumb mistake to make.

“Thank you for your honesty,” he replies, putting the headphones back in the drawer. “I believe you. However, the principle of this incident is concerning. Do you regularly borrow things that don’t belong to you?”

I shake my head vigorously. “No, never. I didn’t think Cooper would care.”

“He wouldn’t but be sure to ask next time.”

Mrs. King is glowering at us and there’s no need to guess at what she’s thinking. She wants me gone and doesn’t like that Mr. King is being lenient on me. “And the second issue?” she snaps at her husband.

He eyes her sidelong and I can tell he’s getting annoyed with her. He turns back to me. “You’ve damaged the Brazilian rosewood flooring in the east hallway. Are you aware of that?”

I can feel the blood draining from my face. “Yes, I’m so sorry. I was going to tell you after dinner. I didn’t realize my mistake until an hour ago.”

“Care to explain?” He’s calm and collected, which throws me off. His demeanor is so unexpected because everyone else around here is a hothead.

“There was a sticky substance on the floor after the party and I tried to clean it with the natural products Mrs. King prefers but it wasn’t working.” I swallow hard, avoiding her laser glare. “So I used a different product on it, the stronger one I use for the bathroom tiles.” The image of what I did to those beautiful floors flashes through my mind and my stomach turns over. “I took some of the varnish off.”

“Yes, you did,” Mrs. King snaps. “Even if you weren’t going to quit, you’d still be fired for your complete lack of judgment. Do you have any idea how much those floors cost?”

I shake my head, absolutely mortified.

“Malory, you’re getting too emotional about this. Please leave us. I’d like to discuss the matter of Arden’s employment privately.”

“But—”

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