Page 26 of Love & Other Disasters

Violet rose. “You’re an asshole.” It came out before she could stop it. She clamped a hand over her mouth. Oh crap, she was so fired now. And then even more surprising, J.P. laughed. Oh, hell no. He did not get to laugh at her. “This isn’t funny. I will show you the spreadsheets…” It hit like a ton of statistics, and she sank into the seat, head in hands.

“What? I would like to see what you’re talking about.”

“Melvin asked me to delete them,” she whispered.

“You didn’t.” He sat.

“Only what he sent me. He sends us each separate spreadsheets to work on, then we upload them to the network accounting folders. He checks our work and balances the accounts before entering the numbers into the system.” Her stomach threatened to reject her breakfast all over his desk. “That wasn’t right?” The realization washed over her. “I thought it was a little weird. But each company is unique in their processes…”

“It might be legitimate,” J.P. said. “Show me where on the network you uploaded the files.”

Violet took several deep breaths, still trying to convince her breakfast to stay put, and finally looked up. “Yeah.” He turned his laptop to where they both could view the screen, and she walked through the steps for getting to the folder. It wasn’t there. She slumped, clutching her stomach that threatened to revolt from her body.

“Do you need a trash can?”

She shook her head no, but wasn’t positive about it. The thoughts scrambled in a jumbled mess around her brain. The guy she’d worked with for years, that she knew and trusted. It couldn’t be true. There was a reasonable explanation. But what? Violet needed to figure this out. “Can I see the last quarter P & L?”

J.P. took his computer back and in a few keystrokes turned it around.

“This doesn’t make sense,” she scrolled through reading numbers she’d remember. “Why would he have me delete…” Violet pushed the laptop back. “The deleted folder. I didn’t delete my deletes.”

“You still have it?”

“I should.”

“Then I need you to go find out. And if you have them, email them to me. And do not say a word to anyone about any of this.”

“Why?”

“There’s no need to cause a panic.”

“So I just go out there and pretend everything’s fine?”

“Yeah, you’re good at pretending.”

“Hey,” she stood, “you said we were putting aside the personal and you keep taking pot shots.” Violet marched to the door.

“Yeah, well, I’m an asshole.”

---