Page 4 of Devil in the Details
“Seriously?” he prompted with an exasperated sigh.
“You acting like me forgetting is a sin to the world tells me that whatever you set up is probably not the least bit important.”
I heard him snort through the receiver and stopped as I waited for the crosswalk to light up.
“Olive, I got the blind date set up for you, remember, with David’s brother?”
Then it all came back to me. “You were serious about that?”
“Uh, damn right I was serious.”
“I thought that was just two friends shooting the shit over glasses of wine.” I should’ve known Michael wouldn’t have let it go.
“Olive, you know me better than that.” There was a moment of silence after he spoke. “So, you free Saturday or do I have to break the poor man’s heart?”
A car right across the street blared its horn, causing my ears to ring. “Break his heart?” I rolled my eyes. “Do I have a choice?”
Michael laughed softly. “You know you don’t. Besides, it’s at your favorite burger joint, and I’m sure he’ll be paying, so what’s the worst that could happen? Anyway, David’s a good guy, and I assume his brother is as well.”
I held off from rolling my eyes a second time. I didn’t bother telling him that serial killers had siblings as well.
I mean, having conversation with someone and just getting out of the house after everything that happened didn’t sound like a bad idea. It wasn’t like I had to see the guy again if it ended up being an awful night.
I walked across the street once it was all clear and exhaled slowly. “Fine, tell me the time and I’ll be there.”
Even if it was the worst blind date in the history of blind dates, at least I got to eat at my favorite burger place. So for that alone it couldn’t be very bad. Right?
After I got off the phone with Michael, I was about to put it back in my purse, when it vibrated. I assumed it was Michaelagain, because he’d forgotten to tell me something. Because it’s not like anyone else called me. I picked up the phone and said, “I promise I won’t back out. As long as he’s not a serial killer or look like my brother, we’re all good.”
There was a pause of silence, and I pulled the phone away, thinking maybe it got disconnected. But the number on the screen was most definitely not Michael’s or one I was even familiar with.
Feeling my heart race a little and embarrassment flood me, I put the receiver back to my ear. “Hello?” Maybe I was lucky and whoever was on the other end hadn’t heard me.
Yeah, luck was never really on my side.
“Miss Morris?” I moved to the side, feeling like maybe I should focus on this conversation, because the woman on the other end seemed pretty serious.
“Yes, this is Olive Morris.” I lifted my hand and used my finger to plug my other ear, trying to hear her better against the rush of the crowd.
“It’s Meredith Klein from the HR department at Brookwood Financial Holdings.”
For a moment, I felt my anxiety leave, this surge of hopefulness filling me. “Hi, Meredith.” Although I didn’t really remember who Meredith was, it didn’t matter. She was from HR. Maybe they were giving me my job back.
“Miss Morris, I was instructed by Mr. Brookwood to let you know that he’s offering you a month’s severance as compensation for your time, diligence, and hard work at Brookwood Financial Holdings.”
I blinked a few times, shocked at what I was hearing, but also a little bit annoyed. So instead of him hiring me back, the stuck-up suit was giving me a month’s worth of pay?
“Miss Morris? Are you still there?”
I clenched my teeth and nodded then felt like an idiot for the fact that she couldn’t see me. “Yes, I’m here.” I cleared my throat again and pressed my back up against the brick wall, staying away from the path of people. “A month’s severance pay?” I could hear the surprise and annoyance in my voice. But after that initial frustration left, I was left with the fact that Felix Brookwood was giving me a month’s pay after he humiliated and fired me in front of everyone.
I shouldn’t have been thinking about this as hard as I was, but either hell had frozen over or I was about to see pigs flying.
I listened to Meredith tell me the details about what I’d have to do for the severance package, and once I disconnected the call, I stood there for a moment still shocked as hell.
Huh, Felix Brookwood had just given me a half-assed apology that didn’t even come from him, but he was also paying me for a month, because maybe he realized what a prick he’d been? I mean, it sounded great, but if he really realized the errors of his way, he’d have hired me back.
But maybe things were looking up. I mean, it wasn’t my job back, but it was the next best thing, right?
