Page 7 of The Reading

The slamming of the adjoining suite room door cut off my words as Cash stormed through it.

*****

Cash~

Iwas so angry that my hands were shaking. I knew that Vivian was pissed off at me, her silent treatment announcing that loud and clear, but I’d had no idea that I was the miserable part of her job.

Fuck.

I paced my room, knowing that we had a lot of work still to do, but knowing that we weren’t going to get to any of it tonight. It wasn’t even about the job, either. I wasn’t upset that Vivian accused me of being cold because she hadn’t necessarily been lying. Some jobs needed composure before compassion, and my job was one of them. While I wasn’t a police officer in the line of fire, or a firefighter surrounded by flames, or an EMT with someone’s life in my hands, I dealt with rampant emotions all the time. I engaged with hysterical people a lot, and it wouldn’t do anyone any good for the both of us to act hysterically.

Why couldn’t she fucking understand that?

Why couldn’t she just tone her good cop to compliment my bad cop and leave it at that?

The adjoining door between the suites opened, and I clenched my teeth at the intrusion. Sure, I invaded her privacy all the time, but not when we were fighting, and we’d never fought like this before.

I turned to look at her. “What do you want, Vivian? I have a lot of work to do.”

While the woman was a lot of things, she wasn’t a coward. “I’m here to apologize,” she answered. “I…that was uncalled for, and I just-”

“Apology accepted,” I said, cutting her off. “Now, I really have to work.” It wasn’t that I didn’t want to accept her apology, but having Vivian work with someone else was probably all for the best. Even without this argument between us, it was obvious that my professionalism was compromised when it came to her, and that wasn’t going to help anyone.

Vivian just stared at me as I dismissed her, and it was hard not to want to apologize to her. However, I didn’t feel as if I had anything to apologize for. I was here to do my job, that’s it, that’s all, nothing more. I wasn’t the one complicating things by letting myself get roped in by our client’s emotions.

The fucked-up thing about it all was that Ididcare. I cared about what these people were going through, but I was a doer. I was that man that wanted to make shit happen, not drown myself in an emotional situation that would give me no answers. The best thing that I could do for these people was to get their claims underway and help get them into a new home as soon as possible. Patting them on the head the entire way didn’t accomplish that.

“So, that’s it?” she asked after staring at me blankly for a few seconds. “Apology accepted, so just be on my way.”

I lifted my chin, refusing to let my feelings about Vivian Morris dictate my actions right now. “Was there something more that you were expecting?” I asked. “No matter what, we still have work to do.” I waved my arm towards the briefcase on my bed. “We have hundreds of pictures that we need to sortthrough, and hundreds of dictations to note.”

“I know what we need to do,” she bit out quietly.

“Well, then, I suggest you handle your part, and you let me handle mine,” I advised.

She didn’t comment right away, but soon after, she said, “About that transfer-”

“No need to worry,” I assured her. “I’ll write it up as a promotional recommendation.” Her head reared back, and I went on, ignoring the wariness in her eyes. “I’ll report that I don’t feel as if I can teach you anything more, and that your experience and growth would be better developed by someone with more experience than what I have to offer.”

“You’re serious, aren’t you?” she asked, her voice firm but emotional.

I gave her a terse nod. “Now, since we still have two other homes that we need to look at, I suggest you get to work on your responsibilities of these claims and let me work on mine.”

“Fine,” she finally relented. “Do you want me to bring my stuff in here, or are you going to meet me in my room?”

I didn’t want to do either. However, that’s not how this worked. We were a team, and we needed to work as a team. To change shit up now, I’d have to eat crow on all my claims of professionalism. Besides, I hadn’t become a supervisor by not doing what needed to be done.

No matter how distracting Vivian Morris was.

No matter how fucking angry I was at her.

No matter how much she didn’t like me.

Chapter 4

Cash~

It was Thursday evening, and the week had been fucking hell. Tomorrow was also Valentine’s Day, so just fucking great.

---