Chapter Ten
Jamie
The shades in my office window were up all the way, and I couldn’t help noticing that people kept walking by. Normal enough, people walking down this hallway during a work day.
Not so normal were the furtive glances they kept sending my way. I was being watched.
I wasn’t a very paranoid person but I couldn’t help but wonder whether Francis Marsh was spying on me. Then I shook the thought off as unfounded and ridiculous.
When a couple of interns wandered by, I stood up and glared at them. They scurried away. What the hell? I walked out of my office and down the hall, then looked around the corner. Liz wasn’t at her desk. Amy wasn’t at her usual work table, either.
I looked back to Liz’s desk, but when I turned to go back to my office, I noticed several heads swiveling. They’d noticed me as I’d looked at Liz’s desk. And now they were whispering.
Shit. Office rumors. Office drama. I’d seen enough of this with Joshua’s and Allison’s relationship at Scintilla to recognize it when I saw it here. Someone had gotten wind of my relationship with Liz, and now they were talking.
I frowned, then walked back to my office.
Did I come clean with everyone? Or did I double down?
It all depended on what kind of proof they had. If this was just idle speculation fueled by a couple of instances where Liz and I disappeared once or twice, and maybe that argument we’d had in my office, then it really wasn’t worth arguing over.
I sat at my desk and picked up my office phone. I dialed Everett, one of the other project managers who was a senior to Liz. “Can you come in here for a minute?”
“Be right over,” he said.
When Everett came in, I steepled my fingers on my desk. “I noticed that Liz Mason isn’t here today.”
“She’s in,” Everett said, pushing his glasses up higher on his nose.
“I was just out in the open office,” I said. “She wasn’t at her desk.”
“Oh, she must have stepped out.”
I gave an exasperated sigh. “Does she take these sorts of breaks often? We have deadlines coming up. How is she getting her work done?”
“I, uh… I think she’s on task, overall.” Everett cleared his throat and opened his mouth to say something, but then stopped.
“What is it?” I asked. “If there’s something going on, I’d like to know.”
“Well, there are some, uh… rumors.”
Sitting up straighter, I said, “Tell me. I need to know what kind of things people are saying about my employees.”
He looked distinctly uncomfortable, staring down at his feet. He took off his glasses and polished them with the end of his untucked, button-up shirt.
“What is it?” I asked, trying not to sound too impatient.
“The rumors… uh… they concern you, too.”
I was expecting that—but I was going to play dumb. “They’re about me?” I paused. “Oh. They’re about me, and Liz. Together.”
Everett nodded. “I mean, I don’t believe them, sir. Or rather, it’s that I don’t put much stock in rumors.”
“Then you’re smarter than everyone else,” I said. “These rumors are inappropriate and absurd.”
Everette nodded again. He was starting to look like a bobble head.
“What are these rumors based on?” I asked. “I need to know what I’m dealing with.”
“Oh, it’s just speculation based on a fight you supposedly had with Liz yesterday. A few people saw it and said it looked kind of personal.”
“It looked personal?” I asked.
“Well, yeah. So, just that and a couple of other little things.”
I shook my head and closed my eyes, the picture of exasperation. “This is ridiculous. That fight we had was about deadlines.” I took a deep breath. “Okay, rumors, we don’t have time for. The real concern here is that Liz isn’t getting her work done. Please make sure that she’s informed she still has a job to do and that silly office rumors always die down. If she’s being harassed, she needs to report it to HR. Otherwise, she needs to get back to work.”
“Yes, sir,” Everett said.
“Great. See you around.”
Everett all but saluted, spun on his heel, and left my office. The door closed behind him, and I let out the big breath I’d been holding.
This wasn’t good—none of it was. I couldn’t have our relationship outed before we were ready, and while Marsh might still get wind of it. I had to figure out a way to lay those rumors to rest—make everyone sure that it had just been their imaginations, whatever they’d thought they saw or heard.
An idea began to take shape in my mind. It wasn’t foolproof, but it would do a damn good job dispelling any further speculation amongst the team.