Page 19 of Isolated
Sleep had been rather elusive last night as I found myself reeling most of the night over how my week had gone. It was as though everything that could go wrong did go wrong, and it all happened without any warning.
The week started off like normal. Monday and Tuesday had gone just as they always did, and nothing out of the ordinary had happened. But by Wednesday, it all changed.
I’d been in my office all morning, working on some campaign development and budget allocation. I was so focused and productive that by the time I had gone to lunch, I felt like I’d been sitting on top of the world. I didn’t think things could get any better.
But that’s when it happened, and the slow tumble into despair had started.
Steph, Kasey, and I were in the middle of a conversation I could even remember the details of right now when Nova, one of our PPC specialists, walked over to me with a stunned look on her face.
“Oh, Iris, I didn’t realize you were here.”
“Here?” I repeated. “As in, at lunch?”
“No. I mean,here,as in at work today.”
“Pardon?”
“Did you get here late?”
My brows pulled together. “No. What would make you ask me that?”
She shook her head. “Well, it’s just that you weren’t at the meeting this morning. Bryan was slightly irritated that you’d blown off the meeting, but someone said that you must have been out sick, because you never miss anything like that.”
Bryan Farmer was the current Chief Marketing Officer at Mono Mark Solutions. Once I started my new role as VP of Marketing, his position would be the only one I’d ever be interested in fulfilling one day. “There was no meeting scheduled for this morning. I have it on my calendar for this afternoon. Two o’clock, to be precise.”
Nova offered a slight nod of acknowledgement in return. “Yes, it was supposed to be at two. But then we gotthe email yesterday afternoon from Bryan himself. He pushed the meeting up to this morning.”
My stomach dropped. I hadn’t ever missed a single meeting. Not the ones I’d led, and certainly not the ones led by my superiors. My eyes darted several times between Nova and my two closest friends, who were sitting across the table from me. Steph and Kasey looked just as surprised—and alarmed—as I felt. Had I really overlooked an email from one of my bosses?
Finally settling my gaze on Nova, I said, “Thanks for letting me know.”
Before she walked off, she shot me a look that told me this was the greatest thing that could have happened today. While I generally got along with everyone at work, there were certainly a few who I decided to keep my relationship with strictly professional. Nova was one of those people. She was good at her job, but she thrived on gossip. Any hint of adversity, and she was in her glory.
Disbelief settled in, my gaze dropping to my lunch as I tried recalling the emails in my inbox. There hadn’t been anything from Bryan. Not one.
“Are you okay?”
Kasey’s voice cut through the panic that was building. I lifted my chin, focused my attention on my friends, and said, “I… I don’t know. I never got an email from Bryan about the meeting.”
Steph didn’t seem the least bit concerned. “I’m sure it was just an oversight. Maybe Bryan forgot to add you to the email.”
I could only hope that was the case. It was the only thing that made sense.
“Yeah,” Kasey agreed. “Just go talk to him about it after lunch. It was probably just a mix-up.”
I felt so uneasy. “Nova said he was ticked.”
“And Nova’s not happy unless she’s starting trouble,” Steph reminded me. “You’re worried for nothing, Iris. Honestly, I’d wait to freak out until after you’ve spoken to Bryan yourself.”
My friend had a point. While I didn’t doubt that I’d missed the meeting—something I’d profusely apologize for—Nova probably made it out to be worse than it actually was just so she could get a rise out of me.
I glanced across the room and saw her sitting in her usual spot with Madison, and both women were looking at me as they talked and laughed with one another.
Mean girls.
They were nothing more than that.
As much as I wanted to rush back to my office to go through my emails, I refused to give Nova the satisfaction. Plus, it wasn’t like I’d find Bryan in his office until after lunch anyway.
