Page 39 of Hidden Ties (Made Men #11)

THREE

S age barely made it back to her desk on time but tried to ignore the sick feeling in her stomach.

Resuming the task before she had been pried away from her desk, she worked on a new client’s file—two hard copy files, which would go to the lawyer who was representing the client; the other would go in a labeled box that would then go to the firm’s file room after she uploaded all the information to the firm’s management system.

All three steps were set in place in case one of files was lost or became inaccessible due the Internet being down or the lawyer’s hard copy file being misplaced.

The hard copy in the firm’s file room was never lost. It was harder to get into that room than Fort Knox.

Mrs. Parsons, the chief file clerk, had a strict protocol for allowing anyone admittance inside the room.

They would have to sign on the box and give a detailed explanation of why they needed access.

If they wanted to take the box, they had to have permission from the head of the firm.

Not even a senior partner was allowed to bypass the rules which Mr. Hollingsworth had been put in place to protect the clients’ files.

She wanted to hurry so she could take the box to the file room before leaving for the day but forced herself to slow down and be meticulous that all the individual forms were inside.

The only way she was going to move into a permanent position and stand a chance of becoming full time was for her work to be perfect. One mistake, and she would be fired.

Just in the short time she had been working at Hollingsworth and Partners, two full-time employees and one part-timer had been dismissed. All had been employees of the temp agency she worked for. She hadn’t known the full-timers well, but she had become friendly with Paige.

Paige had been like her, wanting to become permanent.

Unfortunately, she had been written up for being late three times.

After the third writeup, she had been terminated.

Sage thought they should have taken in the cause of her lastness due to mishaps that she had no control over—she had been in a car accident the first time; the second time, her ride hadn’t shown; and the last one, which had led to her being fired, was because she had a power failure at her house during the night and her alarm hadn’t gone off.

Paranoid at how easily Paige had been fired, Sage made sure she left for work a good hour before, kept a list of bus routes in case something went wrong with her car, and set an alarm on her phone.

She had two alarms for her bedroom, one which was battery operated.

Despite all her precautions, she thought there was little likelihood she would make it past her probation period.

After double-checking her entries, she closed the box and logged off the computer. Then she checked the time and carried the box to the file room. She had just enough time to drop the box off then go to Livvy’s office to ask for the money.

“Good afternoon, Sage. How are you today?” Mrs. Parsons greeted her warmly.

“Fantastic.” Sage was proud of herself that she had managed that fib with a straight face.

Mrs. Parsons eyed her disbelievingly. “Heard the diva squad suckered you for a free lunch.” The older woman gave her a compassionate look. “Don’t feel bad; you aren’t the first probie they duped and, sadly, you won’t be the last.”

Taking the clipboard back, Mrs. Parsons held an electronic device out for her to sign. “I was hoping to see their witches’ asses fired before I retire. Instead, those divas have outlasted me.”

“You’re retiring?”

Mrs. Parsons gave her a happy nod. “At the end of this month. My husband is, too. Jack and I are going on a month-long cruise to celebrate.”

“I’m going to miss you.”

She would. Glenda was only one of two people she worked with whom she enjoyed talking to. That she would never get to see the older woman again, even if she did get hired permanently, gave her a hollow feeling.

Glenda gave her gentle smile. “When we get back, we’ll have you over for dinner to show you all the pictures we took.”

“That’ll be nice.”

“Don’t sound so enthused.”

Sage forced herself to smile back. “It won’t be the same without you here.” She picked the box back up into her arms. “I won’t have anyone to take breaks with.”

Relaxing her normally austere facade, Glenda rose from behind her desk to take her free hand in hers.

“You’re such a sweet woman, Sage. I worry about you.

The world is going to eat you alive if you don’t learn to hide your feelings.

You’re the only reason I didn’t put in for my retirement before now.

I wanted to see you get through your probationary period.

I gave Mr. Hollingsworth my recommendation for you to replace me. ”

Not even hearing about Glenda’s recommendation eased the sadness she felt. Why was it that every time she drew close to someone, they would disappear from her life?

“Thank you, but it won’t make a difference. They won’t give me the job. Someone who’s been here longer will fill your position. Besides, I rather have you here.”

Shaking her head at her, Glenda went to the door behind her. She unlocked it, and they went inside the room. “You’ll have Brian to take breaks with.”

Taking the box from her, Glenda scanned it into the system before setting it down on a long oak table, then opened it, took out the inventory list to scan, and took out the contents to check if they matched what was on the list.

Sage waited until Glenda had finished and they had placed the box in an assigned spot before leaving the room to resume their conversation.

“I’m the one who has to cover for Brian when he takes his breaks,” she reminded her. “I’m not friends with anyone else here.”

“Keep it that way,” Glenda remarked, giving her a sympathetic glance as she resumed her seat behind the desk.

“You should have learned today that friends come with a price at this firm. Any friends at this firm ditched me within the first month after I got this job. They would try to use my friendship anytime they wanted to get into the file room without following protocol. I quickly learned to survive without friends here. Take my advice: keep your friendships out of the workplace and keep them where they belong—in your private life.”

Sage couldn’t help but tease her friend. “Then why did you make an exception for me?”

Glenda eyed her balefully. “I knew I’d be retiring.”

Her teasing attitude vanished at Glenda’s reminder. “You just put the cherry on top of my sucky day.”

“I thought you said you were having a fantastic day?”

“I lied. I didn’t want to complain about my crappy day to you and ruin your day. But since you’re leaving me, I thought I’d share the misery.”

Glenda broke into laughter, then opened her desk drawer to take out a miniature bottle of liquor and give it to her. “I was saving that to celebrate at the end of my last day. Enjoy this when you get home.”

Sage grinned as she stared down at the bottle in her hand. “Banana tequila?”

“Drink that, and you’ll be in a much better mood.” She winked.

“I didn’t even know someone makes banana tequila.”

Dropping her voice, Glenda leaned forward. “Step on the wild side, and you could learn a lot of stuff that exists.”

During their many breaks together, she had confided in Glenda about the details of her life. A few times, she had regretted opening up when Glenda would urge her to get out more.

“Every time I take a step on the wild side, I get stuck with the check,” she said ruefully.

Glenda’s eyes narrowed on her. ‘How much did those divas stick you for?”

“Two hundred and eleven dollars.” Saying the amount aloud made her stomach give a sickening lurch.

“Want me to talk to Livvy?”

Firming her shoulders, Sage shook her head. “No, I’m going to go ask for it now. Who knows? Maybe she will give it to me. I could be worried about nothing.”

“Sure.” Glenda gave her a pitying look. “And my farts smell like eau de parfum.”

Rolling her eyes, Sage palmed the small liquor bottle tightly in her hand, not bothering to argue. She knew the chances of getting her money back were just as likely as Glenda’s fart smelling like an expensive French perfume.

“See you Friday. Thanks for the tequila.”

On her way back to the offices from the file room, she had to cross the front of the reception area. Usually, she was able to take a more direct, shorter route, but maintenance workers were installing new fire detectors and had the hallway blocked off.

As she passed the reception desk, she saw Brian making a face at her while he was talking on the phone. Not understanding the look, she changed direction, walking closer to his desk.

When his pale complexion turned red, and his chin jerked out, she realized he was trying to get her to look behind her. Swinging around, she found herself bumping into a man who was coming up to the desk carrying a cup of coffee.

Her jaw dropped when the cup jerked in his hand, spilling the contents onto the front of the man’s shirt and suit.

“Oh my gosh!” she exclaimed. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize you were behind me.”

Frantically looking around then back to Brian, she asked, “Do you have any napkins?”

Brian was already taking some out from a drawer to hand to her.

Setting the bottle in her hand down on the counter, she turned back to the man and began trying to sponge off the dark liquid. “I’m so sorry. Did I burn you?” she babbled out, not sure how she would pay for the cleaning but was determined to do so, even if she had to sell one of her kidneys.

The man flashed her a charming smile. “Don’t worry; my hide is too thick to burn.” Taking the napkins from her, the man started patting them on his stained shirt.

“When you get your suit cleaned, just give the bill to Brian, and I will reimburse the cost.”

The man shook his head at her. “No need. I was already going to have it cleaned. I had a flat tire on my way back from lunch.” He gestured down at his slacks.

Sage looked down to see an oil stain on his trousers. As she raised her gaze, she couldn’t help but appreciate the athletic build of his body. The expensive slacks had been tailormade to fit his body, and they did the job they had been designed to do.

Flushing, she hurriedly raised her gaze, realizing she had been unconsciously staring at him longer than she’d needed to, to figure out what he was referring to.

Clearing her throat of the embarrassment she felt, she spoke out in a rush, not knowing what to say. “Uh … Still, I want to pay. This is all my fault.” She bent down to pick up the coffee cup, then rose, this time making sure she kept her eyes to the side of his body.

When she met his amused gaze, she felt herself memorized, blocking out Brian behind the desk and others coming and going through the lobby.

“If you insist.”

Her eyes fell to his lips as he talked, sinking into a fantasy where he was doing more with his mouth other than talking.

Shaking herself out of the unexpected fantasy, she latched on to his words to divert her mind.

“Since it was an accident, on both of our parts, I’ll split the cost with you,” he drawled out with laughter dancing in his eyes.

“I suppose we should handle this like any accident and exchange cards.” Reaching into his suit jacket, he took out a black card holder, then took a card out and handed it to her, giving her an expectant look.

“Uh …” She stared down at her empty hands, as if a card holder would miraculously appear. “I don’t …” Turning back toward the desk, she leaned over the counter and snagged an ink pen and a Post-It notepad.

She briefly noticed Brian’s rapt expression but turned back to the man she had soaked. After scrawling her name and phone number onto the pad, she tore it off and handed it to him.

“Just text me the amount I owe you, and I’ll leave the money at the desk for you to pick up.”

She felt red rushing into her cheeks when he took the paper, his gaze moving to the writing.

“Sage,” he said, tucking the paper into his suit jacket. “I’m Kent Bryant.”