Page 105 of Family Affair

Chapter 23

Ever since the visit from Detective Smirnoff a week ago, the atmosphere in Heated Design’s production manager’s suite had been strained. Aaron shut himself in the office with little to no interaction with Coco and pretty much left her to her own devices.

While it was fine and dandy from her personal standpoint, it wasn’t a normal mode of operation between a manager and his assistant. She understood that she was Trouble but enough was enough.

The door opened suddenly, and Aaron’s head poked through the crack. “Come into my office now, will you?”

Coco jumped up and gathered her papers.

“Thank you. I’m glad you’ve got a minute. I have a few things I need your input on. First, the draft of the contract.”

Aaron took the contract from her and scanned the first page but she could tell he was distracted. He dropped the papers on the desk, produced his special little cloth and proceeded to polish his glasses with great precision.

“What else?”

As she enumerated all things big and small on her list, Aaron polished and polished, staring at her with the unfocused intensity of a nearsighted person.

Coco halted in the middle of a sentence. She had had enough of his mood swings and the sullen suspense in the air.

“Is something wrong?”

He perched the shiny glasses back on the bridge of his nose. “Do you know, Coco, that when you ask me ‘Is something wrong’ in that haughty tone of yours, it conveys a boatload of disrespect?”

“I don’t think I ever gave you a reason to call me disrespectful, sir.”

“See? Instead of apologizing for copping an attitude, you put the blame on me.” He rounded his desk and approached her, halting too close to be professional. If his intent was to loom over her to intimidate, the effort was largely wasted as they were the same height.

Coco gathered her papers in a neat stack preparing to leave. There would be no reasonable discussion with Aaron in his current mood.

“I am not putting any blame on you,” she said calmly. “As for apologizing, I will certainly do that if you help me understand what I have done wrong.”

He was standing close enough that Coco could see specks of dandruff on the collar of his shirt. She didn’t feel threatened by his nearness but she was slightly creeped out. Good thing it was time to go home.

“Take care, Coco,” he said softly, giving her a good whiff of poor dental hygiene.

“Will do. See you tomorrow.” She couldn’t get out of here fast enough.

“Wait. There’s no tomorrow. You’re fired.”

Coco paused at the door and turned back slowly. “I beg your pardon?”

Aaron looked smug. “You are fired!” he repeated louder and with relish, slashing the air with his hand.

“You can’t just fire me! There are procedures for that type of action.” The full implications of what he said sank in. She was losing her job, her main source of income.

“I can, I’m the supervisor!” His supervisory power had always been a sore spot, precisely because he had so little of it. “I can make this decision at my discretion! In any case, everything has already been approved.” He shoved some papers into her hands.

The top sheet wasn’t pink, but sure enough, it contained the conditions of her termination from Heated Designs effective today, signed by Aaron, their Chief of Personnel and CEO. Everything by the book. Aaron took no chances.

“On what grounds?” she asked through clenched teeth.

“Keep reading, it’s all in there.”

She flipped the page and skimmed over the contents of the package. “Insubordination? Frictions with co-workers?Poor time management?” With each line the bubble of indignation within Coco grew more and more, until it threatened to burst and flatten Aaron with the impact. She raised her eyes to his. He took a step back.

“This is a bunch of baloney, and you know it. None of these accusations are true. I will go to the upper management and contest these…” She waved her papers in front of his face, “…stories that you made up.”

“You can try, Miss Know-it-All, but let me warn you that the door to the upper management is closed to the likes of you. They trust the opinion of an honest manager with sterling reputation.” He thrust his thumb toward his chest to indicate that he was talking about himself. “You, on the other hand, discredited yourself by getting in trouble with the law.”