Page 80 of The Lessons

Huh. Sonowhe wanted to talk to me. I sat up against the headboard and debated calling him back, but finally curiosity got the best of me, and I dialed his number.

“Natalie?” he answered.

“Hey,” I said, my voice still husky from the night before.

“Are you okay? You sound strange.”

I cleared my throat. “Uh, no, I’m fine. Sorry. What’s up?”

“Natalie, have you talked to Cathy yet?”

Great,I thought sarcastically. Work stuff. Was it too much to want him to call me and apologize for being a jerk and profess his adoration for me? Apparently.

“No. I just saw that she called,” I said.

“Nat, I stayed late at work with Doug last night trying to figure out, well, you know—the photos.”

Ugh. Bringing up the photos was adding insult to my hangover injury. Wonderful.

“Yeah?” I asked.

“Yeah. Listen, you’ll never believe this.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “It was fucking Paulina!”

Time slowed down as I mulled over what he’d said. Paulina? What? Paulina wouldn’t do something like this. She was my—she was myfriend. I didn’t— That didn’t make any sense. “What are you talking about? Are you sure? Wait—”

“Oh, we’re sure. One hundred percent. We have her on security cameras coming in early yesterday morning, and then the images were sent via her IP address.”

I shut my eyes and contemplated what he was saying for a few seconds. I still didn’t understand. “Wait. But what about the photos? I mean, they weren’t me. You know that, right?”

“Right. We found the originals backed up on the server. She used her company Photoshop license to doctor them.”

“No way.”

“Yep. She’s in big trouble. Huge. Honestly, I’d be surprised if they didn’t fire her. She’s in talking with HR and her boss right now.”

I exhaled. “I don’t understand.” Then my mind started to put things together. “Oh, my God.”

“What?”

“I bet you anything she’s the one who’s been stealing my stuff…” I muttered to myself.

“Stealing your stuff? What?”

“I thought I was going crazy.”

“What are you talking about, Nat?”

“I kept losing stuff—nothing huge, just my printouts, my notebook. Usually right before meetings, too. I bet she was fucking taking everything.” I paused. “What the hell? Why would someone do that?”

He was silent for a second. “I don’t know. I mean, I knew she wanted your job.”

It took me a moment to process what he was saying. I was still pretty stuck on the fact that Paulina had tried to fuck me over, but Brad was right. It all made sense. The way my notes would disappear right before important meetings, the fact that she’d applied for my job. “Man, I was so stupid.”

“I guess jealousy got the best of her.”

“Right...wait. What?”

“Cathy really, really likes you. It probably made Paulina crazy.”

---