Page 20 of Isolated
Even though I wasn’t very reassured, I sent a half-hearted smile to Steph and Kasey. “You two are right. Nova’s just evil. I’ll talk to Bryan after lunch.”
They quickly shifted the conversation to whatever we’d been discussing prior to Nova’s interruption, but I was completely distracted. In fact, despite feeling ravenous ever since my workout session with Landen on Monday, I couldn’t bring myself to finish my lunch.
I’d wound up heading back to my office ten minutes early, just so I could sift through all my emails and find the one from Bryan. But it was nowhere to be found. Not even in my junk folder.
Confident I hadn’t screwed anything up, I waited until five minutes past the time that I suspected Bryan would have returned from lunch before I made my way to his office. I knocked on the open door and waited.
Bryan looked up, and the moment he noticed me there, I saw the mask of disappointment fall into place. “Iris.”
I took a few steps into the room as I spoke. “Bryan, I wanted to come by and personally apologize for missing this morning’s meeting. I had it on my calendar for this afternoon, but I saw Nova at lunch, and she mentioned the meeting had been moved up. I never received the email about the time change, but I’m so sorry I missed it.”
His brows shot up; disbelief was written all over his expression. “Well, your name was the first one in the queue to receive that email.”
“With all due respect, sir, are you sure?”
While I wanted nothing more than to prove I hadn’t purposely avoided attending the meeting, I immediately regretted questioning him. Because where Robert could be stern, he was reasonable. He’d admit to making a mistake. Bryan was not the same. He seemed to be in a perpetual state of annoyance, and me questioning his competence wasn’t something he appreciated in the least.
Bryan turned his focus to his computer, hit a few keys on the keyboard, and clicked with his mouse a couple of times. He turned the monitor slightly, crooked a finger, and said, “Come here.”
Stomach trembling, I walked closer to his desk. Though I was still standing on the opposite side of it, I leaned over just enough to see the screen. And there it was—the email telling everyone about the change in time forthe meeting and my email address as the first listed for it to be sent to.
Feeling nothing but frustration and confusion, I stood up straight. “My apologies, Bryan. I honestly do not know what happened, but I never received the email.”
There wasn’t an ounce of understanding or sympathy in his expression. “Did you delete it?”
I shook my head. “Not that I’m aware of.”
Bryan studied me in silence for several beats, the air between us growing more and more tense. “I know Robert has gone ahead and offered you Howard’s position once he retires at the end of this year. I’m not sure if that promotion has already gone to your head, making you think you can do as you please, but rest assured, I will be speaking to Robert about what happened this morning.”
Although I wasn’t expecting him to take it easy on me, I thought it was slightly unreasonable for him to be so crass about it. He had not an ounce of understanding, especially when he knew I wasn’t the kind of person who cut corners or made excuses when it came to my job. I always did my best to go above and beyond the call of duty each day I came to work.
But fighting with him would get me nowhere, so I merely nodded in response. “I understand. Again, I’m sorry for the oversight.”
Bryan barely acknowledged me with a jerk of his chin as he slid his attention back to his computer. I turned and walked out of his office.
Realizing there was nothing I could do about having missed the meeting, I did my best to let it go and move on.
Sure, it bothered me for a bit, but I eventually brushedit off. And I told myself that it was merely just a freak thing, but when things went sideways on Friday, I gave up hope of luck still being on my side.
Except for a few individuals like Nova, Madison, Warren, and Tanner, I generally didn’t have any issues with anyone at work. Even when it came to those four, I didn’t necessarily have specific problems with them. I simply didn’t find myself interested in speaking with any of them about anything unless it pertained to us being able to do our jobs.
But when I walked in to have lunch on Friday, I could feel dozens of sets of eyes on me. And everyone was looking at me in that way that indicated they were trying not to be obvious about it.
An uncomfortable shiver ran down my spine as I crossed the room and sat down with my friends. I took one look at their faces, and I instantly knew they were aware of whatever it was that had everyone looking at me the way they were.
“What’s going on?”
“Are you joking, or do you honestly not know?” Steph fired back.
My eyes were bulging, and I shook my head. “I have no idea what’s happening, but I’m willing to bet it’s something big.”
My friends hesitated, looking at one another as though trying to decide if they believed me before they returned their attention to me, and Kasey spoke. “They’ve started the meetings.”
Oh, God. Not more meetings I had missed.
“What meetings?”
Steph sighed. “With the consultant.”
