Page 76 of Room to Breathe

“Indy, I don’t want her back!” He threw his hands in the air. “I was going afteryouthat night Lucy kissed me on the porch. You left and I was chasing after you. I wantyouback.”

Chapter 32

Then

I knocked on the officedoor, even though it was open. Lana looked up from her desk.

“Oh hey, Indy, come in. Have a seat.” She pointed to the chair across from her.

I sat.

“What can I do for you?” Lana had always been a nice boss. She was young and funny. Liked to interact with us. But this still wasn’t going to be easy for me. Actually, liking her probably made this harder.

“Has Beau talked to you…about me?” If he was so worried about me going off the rails that he talked to the principal, he’d probably talked to our boss too. Told her that a cheater and a thief couldn’t possibly tutor kids.

“No,” she said. “About what?”

Didn’t that prove everything? That he wasn’t worried about me at all, just his place in the class rankings. “I was hoping you could arrange the schedule so that I never have to work with Beau.”

Her eyebrows rose clear to her hairline. “Oh. Wow. That’s a big ask.”

“Yeah,” I said.

“You know that’s not really how it works around here. You all have your desks and the clients that request you. It all depends on what works best withtheirschedules.”

“I figured,” I said. I knew walking in here that this was a long shot. “I need to quit, then.”

“Wait, what?” she asked, turning completely away from her computer now.

“Yeah.”

“You’re giving your two weeks?”

I cringed. “No, I’m giving my five minutes.”

“Indy,” she said in disappointment. I was kind of used to the disappointed voice at this point, it didn’t affect me. “That’s really going to leave me scrambling. Don’t you have clients today?”

“I do.”

“Can you please work today and I’ll get the rest of your schedule covered?”

I took a deep breath and nodded. “Fine. I’ll do today, but that’s it.”

“What’s going on?” she asked. “Is it something we can work through?”

“It’s really not,” I said.

She must’ve seen the emotion in my eyes, because I could feel it stinging there. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“You and me both,” I said, standing and walking toward the door.

“Indy, you’re one of my best employees,” she said.

I turned. “But notthebest, right?”

“What do you mean?”

I meant that if she had to choose, just like everyone else she would choose Beau. Because he was everyone’s best. “Nothing,” I said. “Thanks for this job. It’s been really rewarding.”