“No, same here,” he said. “I left a message. I hope she’s okay.” He looked worried.
“I’m sure she is,” I told him to reassure him. The truth was, I wasn’t sure that she was. I was a little concerned about her myself. After Gary went back to his station I went to Max’s office.
I knocked and he said, “Yeah!” It was a growl and I knew right away that he wasn’t having a good morning. I pushed open the door and he motioned me in with his hand. He was on the phone with someone and it seemed to be making him even grouchier. I sat in the chair opposite his desk and waited. “Get me that account information today!” he growled into the phone, before hanging up. He looked at me then and ran his hand through his hair.
“Having a bad day already, Max?”
“You could say that, yeah. What can I do for you, Robyn?”
“I was wondering about Hayley. She got called upstairs yesterday morning and she never came back to work. Do you know what happened?”
He sighed heavily and said, “Aaron didn’t talk to you about it?”
“No, is she okay?”
“Yeah, physically as far as I know, she’s fine. It’s an internal investigation that she’s involved in, but that’s really all I can say. You’ll have to talk to Aaron if you want to know what it’s about exactly.”
“Okay, I’ll do that,” I said. I was a little put off that Max was treating me like any other employee rather than a supervisor that was on equal footing with him.
He must have been able to tell because as I got up to leave he said, “Hey Robyn, you know that I trust you a hundred percent, and I’m sure that Aaron does too. This is just a really delicate situation so I’d rather you heard it from him.”
“Sure Max, thank you.” I went back to my own office more confused about what was going on than I was before I spoke to Max. I picked up the phone and called Aaron’s office. Janice answered the phone. “Hi Janice, it’s Robyn. I was looking for Aaron.” Janice told me not too long ago that she’d never seen Aaron so happy as he has been since he and I had been together. She had been very warm and friendly to me since then.
“Hi Robyn! I’m sorry sweetie, Aaron’s out all day today. He said he would be unreachable by phone unless it’s an emergency.”
“Oh shoot, okay.”
“Are you okay, honey?”
“Yeah, thanks Janice, I’m fine. We have plans tonight, I’ll just talk to him then.”
The rest of the day seemed to pass slowly. Max was locked in his office all day on the phone and poor Gary looked depressed every time I saw him. I didn’t know what was going on with Hayley but I was getting the feeling it wasn’t good. I was relieved when five o’clock rolled around. Aaron was supposed to be at my place by seven, I was making dinner for us.
I went home and got the lasagna ready to put in the oven. I’d gotten a pasta maker from Nadine for Christmas and this would be my first time trying it out. It looked pretty good when I had it all layered and ready to cook. Aaron arrived right on time with a bottle of red wine and a small bouquet of flowers.
“They’re beautiful! What’s the occasion?”
He kissed me and smiled, “I just adore you, that’s an everyday occasion.”
I put the flowers in water and took the lasagna out of the oven. Aaron joined me in the kitchen and poured us each a glass of wine as I got the garlic bread ready to put in. I slid the bread in the oven and then I said, “Oh! I almost forgot. I wanted to ask you about Hayley. She was called up your way yesterday and never came back. Max was in a foul mood today and he wouldn’t tell me what was going on. Can you tell me what’s up? I’m worried about her.”
“She’s a friend of yours?” he asked, taking a seat at the table.
“Yeah, we got to know each other in college. I recommended her for the job. What happened, Aaron?”
I took my wine and sat down next to him at the little table. He looked distressed as he said, “She was taken in for questioning. There is money missing from your department, a lot of it. Some of the expenditures that were made look like fronts to siphon money. They were made on a card that only Max, you and your intern have access to.”
I started shaking and I’m sure my face went pale. My palms felt sweaty and my stomach began to churn all at once. I could taste bile in the back of my throat.
“What’s going to happen to her?”
He took a sip of his wine and said, “Well, she definitely won’t work for us any longer. Depending on how the investigation turns out and what the court findings are, there’s a strong probability she will do some jail time over it.”
I almost didn’t feel it coming until it was too late. I covered my mouth with my hand and ran to the bathroom. This afternoon’s lunch, only partially digested, came out. When I looked up, Aaron was standing in the doorway looking at me.
“Robyn? I have to ask you something.” He looked really serious and I tried to brace myself for it, but I didn’t think it was even possible. I just nodded and he said, “Are you pregnant?”