Page 27 of Love & Other Disasters

Twelve

Violet crossed the office, her conversation with J.P. replaying in her head. How did she get into this mess? Her coffee wasn’t on the desk; she must have left it in the break room after J.P. rattled her. Disappointment set in because it’d be long gone by now. Someone would have tossed it, but perhaps it sat cold on the counter. She debated looking or making another cup, then Monique and her gorgeous wild curls appeared over the wall. Her bangle bracelets clinking. Violet wanted to ignore her and find these spreadsheets, while alerting no one to any problems. But, ignoring Monique was impossible.

“You were in hottie CFO’s office for a long time,” she said.

“Ick. He’s a jerk,” Violet growled. “He fired half of us.”

“Maybe so, but that’s one cutie little white boy.”

“Haven’t noticed. He’s an arrogant butt faced jerk, and not my type.”

“Right,” she gave the word far more syllables than necessary. “Why were you in there so long?”

“Oh you know, new management. He wanted me to explain what I do all day long so he can micromanage me.” Why was she doing what he’d asked? She should tell Monique and make everyone aware. But they’d all been through an emotional rollercoaster, sounding an alarm before figuring out if it was legitimate wasn’t a productive idea.

Her cell phone alerted with an incoming text message. “Excuse me, my sister is texting me. She brought a disaster to our family dinner last night, and I’m guessing she’s angry at me.”

“What happened?”

“Dude is a condescending jerk. And I lost my temper.” She rolled her eyes looking at the message.

Jill: What is wrong with you? How dare you speak to my boyfriend like that? Are you on your period?

“Ah, yes. I emotionally wounded the love of her life, whom she’d met in the last seven days.”

Monique laughed. “When did you become such a badass?”

“I didn’t realize that suffering everyone’s crap until you snap is so ‘badass.’” She guessed somewhere between discovering the ill-advised one night stand that she snuck out on was now her boss, and him cutting half the department. This would have been so much easier if it’d been her job on the chopping block. Keeping it hadn’t been the relief it was for everyone else.

“Don’t sell yourself short, Vi,” she said and disappeared because Frat Guy walked up. Violet’s head throbbed. Was this a brain aneurysm? She rubbed her temples in small circles.

“Did you find that report I asked for, Ms. Murphy?” he asked.

“I’m working on it and will send it to you in a moment.” She smiled a sweet, fake smile.

“More working; less socializing,” he said, tapping her desk then walked off leaving her fuming. She added desk tapping to the list of things she despised.

Violet’s phone buzzed again, and she could not deal with Jill right now.

Jill: Now you’re not talking to me?!?!?

Then Violet’s phone rang, her mother. “Is everything okay?” she whispered into the phone.

“No, everything is not okay. You’ve upset your sister and need to make it right. Are you on your period? Is that what’s wrong with you?”

Violet counted to ten before responding. “Fine.” She disconnected and tapped out a reply to Jill.

Violet: I am at work and have a job to do. To answer your questions, nothing is wrong with me, because he was rude, and no I’m not on my period.

Now if everyone would leave her alone to find the spreadsheets and figure this out. Melvin insisted they prepare the financials on separate spreadsheets. And now the whole network folder was missing? Did new management pull it off the network? But J.P. seemed unaware of its existence and there was the question of why his information was different? Could he be the one lying about it all, or was it Melvin, or someone else? The temperature of the room rose as she found three months’ worth of spreadsheets in the deleted folder and attached them to an email for one Harper, Jordan.

J.P. stalked back across the office, two cups of coffee in hand. Violet’s cup from earlier sat on the counter, but he dumped it and brewed another, adding in the creamer from the fridge. Even pissed off at her, he didn’t like that she’d feared for her job when confronted about their personal matter. Without a word, he sat one cup on her desk and kept walking. Why the hell was she angry at him?

Okay, in part it had to do with his job, but she seemed mad over their night together. She’d been the one who snuck out on him, leaving only her underwear. Violet had zero reasons for her irritation at him. She’d lied to him while he’d told her the truth. Jordan had every right to revel in his pissed off state. He’d overanalyzed all of it until he whipped himself into a frenzy. He needed to work off the abundance of nervous energy in the gym or get laid. That seemed unlikely, since his only interest was still the lying Violet Murphy.

Back at his computer, he found an email from Violet. It contained three spreadsheet attachments and nothing else. No explanations, no apologies, nothing. He sighed. Was taking this job the worst mistake he’d ever made?

“Look,” the source of his irritation walked into his office without an invitation. “I know it looks bad, but there has to be a simple explanation for all of this.” Violet paced his office again, at this rate she’d wear a path in the carpet. “I know Melvin; worked with him for five years. He’s the sweetest. And I just can’t imagine.” Her plaintiff eyes begged him to agree, to confirm her belief.

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