An American Cinderella

“You will find a way to get it done,” Audrey informed me, taking a sip of her latte. “Or you know the consequences.”

I stared at her dumbfounded.

“Also, I am rather perturbed at your lack of progress in other areas,” she said before I could come up with a protest. She gave me a stern look. “I hope that you aren’t holding back on me.”

I thought of the document still laying on my desk.

“I just finished the backlog,” I told her. “So far, it’s just been introductions and going over the previous administrations policies. There’s been nothing that you asked for.”

“I find that hard to believe,” Audrey replied. “I’m going to need something to know that you are keeping your end of the bargain.”

I cast about desperately for something I could give her. Something that would buy me some time.

“They had an emergency session last night,” I blurted out. “I’m going to receive more boxes of documents this afternoon with the work done most recently. It sounds important.”

Audrey’s eyes lit up. “Now that’s more like it,” she cooed. “Tell me more.”

“I don’t have much more than that,” I admitted. “I’m not exactly important to the process. I just know that they had a huge emergency session last night and they want the files scanned as soon as possible.”

It was more than I should have told her. Jaqui hadn’t said that the information was confidential, but I knew that wouldn’t hold up in a court of law. Still, it was better than actually giving her files. It was something. Something that got me off the hook for at least another day.

Audrey sat thoughtfully with her coffee. With the rainy window behind her she looked like a painting, everything perfect and posed. She would have made a perfect politician’s wife. She was beautiful and knew how to work an angle.

“Keep me updated,” Audrey said after a moment. “And I am expecting results. I hope you understand the gravity of the situation.”

I ran my fingers through my wet hair. “Believe me, I do.”

“Good.” She stood up. “We’re done then.”

She scooted out of the booth and dropped her mostly full coffee into the trash. I stared at it and shook my head. It was yet another way to annoy me.

She typed something on her phone and waited a moment, looking out the window. If she asked for the umbrella, there was no way I was giving it back to her. After a minute, a car pulled up next to the coffee shop and a man hopped out of a car with an umbrella to escort her out to his still running vehicle.

I waited for the car to drive off before turning off the recorder. My head throbbed. There was so much work to be done. Not only did I have to scan all the new documents, but I had to come up with the research for Anastasia.

I checked to make sure the app had recorded our conversation. It had. I then checked the email she had sent me. I hadn’t said anything to Audrey, but it was the research I had been working on before they fired me so I wasn’t as far behind as I had made out to be. I still had a ridiculous amount of work ahead of me, but I was just glad I had a starting point.

I put my phone away and stared out at the rain. It hadn’t let up since we left my office. If anything, it was raining harder now than it had all morning.

I sighed and headed back to the office.

At least I didn’t have to walk back to the office with her. And I had an umbrella this time.

Chapter 11

“I’m not going to make it to lunch today,” Henry said over the phone.

A little of the light inside of me died. It was the one thing that I was looking forward to today. Between the rain, my stepmother, and now the extra workload, lunch with my boyfriend was supposed to be the high point of my day.

If he even was my boyfriend. I wasn’t quite sure what we were yet.

“I understand,” I told him, trying to keep my voice bright. “It’s okay. I’m totally swamped today anyway.”

“No. I promised you lunch and you’ll get lunch,” he replied. I could hear people talking in the background behind him. “It’s just that I won’t be there.”

I frowned slightly. “What do you mean?”