One Kiss: An Office Romance

“Because I knew she would do exactly what she did,” he slurs overconfidently. “I knew she would bleed this place dry, and I knew you were in on it!”

Frank chuckles behind his hand and I shoot him a warning look. There’s nothing funny about this.

“Nobody’s in on anything,” I answer slowly.

I can feel that all of our employees have gathered around us now, but there is no point in stopping them. If people don’t realize what kind of person he is by now, there is nothing I can do.

“Excuse me, sir?” the security guard asks, coming up quietly beside me. “Is this person disturbing you?”

“Don’t you dare!” Greg objects. “We were friends! I brought you champagne!”

“Yeah, thanks for the champagne,” I answer politely, picking up the bottle as security escorts him back to the elevator.

Frank and Fred glance at each other, and I catch them and stop. I pause until they both look at me, sullen as teenagers, eyebrows raised.

“You guys have something you want to say?” I offer, giving them each one more chance.

“No, course not,” Frank shrugs.

“Okay, then pick up your final checks from Anita. You’re both fired.”

They both look at Hillary in horror, who simply shrugs. I had told her weeks ago that they were both on thin ice, and Hillary assured me that from an HR standpoint, I was in the clear to drop kick them out the front door anytime I wanted to.

That felt good. I have to admit it.

“Okay, everybody!” I call out. “This is a party! Drink champagne, have fun! The entertainment for the evening has ended!”

People laugh nervously, then with more vigor, and in a few seconds they return to their drinks. The DJ turns up the volume and switches to a thumping rendition of a Journey tune from the 1980s.

“It’s not a big deal,” I say preemptively as I walk back over to Clarissa.

She rolls her eyes at me. By the tight set of her lips, I see that she is annoyed beyond what she can tell me.

“He’s just a jerk. And now he is gone. I had him banned from the building.”

“But I didn’t do those things!” she objects. “How could he say that about me?”

“From what I hear, when you took those clients back from him, his whole business collapsed. That was all he had. They closed their doors last week.”

She raises her eyebrows. “Seriously?”

“That is the word on the street,” I confirm.

She chews the inside of her cheek thoughtfully. “Is it wrong of me to enjoy that?”

“Probably,” I smile.

Standing next to each other, we take a moment to enjoy this entire scene. Our employees, drinking and smiling together. Landry and Avery, standing beside a window. Landry ducks her head to talk to the baby, though he is only months old. She points out the window as she smiles and coos at him. Our newest employee, Nayala, sharing flirty glances with Trevor. She has a gift for sales and her family connections don’t hurt either.

Finally, the conference room door opens and Lou sneaks out, grinning like a fool. Sunny follows right after, a regal smile on her lips even though her lipstick is slightly smudged and her braid has come undone.

“Did you hear about those two?” I nudge Clarissa, pointing at Lou and Sunny.

“Oh, yeah, they are crazy! The things Landry tells me…” She shudders dramatically.

“Looks like they are crazy in love,” I c

huckle.