Page 48 of Small Sacrifices

Reid is about to respond to that when he hears footsteps advancing down the corridor. From then, he has just enough time to hiss "I don't know why Ms. Contreras isn't here" and go to sit down at his desk.

When Mr. Wright enters the office, Reid is lining up his highlighters on his desk to get ready for the day.

He takes a certain amount of satisfaction in seeing the man balk when he sees Lieutenant Governor Coleman, in watching his eyebrows draw together as she steps into his path.

They end up almost face to face—but it's not Mr. Wright who gets too close.

He comes to a stop at a respectable distance and then Coleman takes a deliberate step forward.

"Where is Ms. Contreras?" she asks. "We were meant to have a meeting. Even Mr. Maxwell doesn't know where she is."

Oh. Reid tries his best to make his face smooth and expressionless. She remembers his name? He hadn't expected that.

"A meeting about what?" Mr. Wright sounds polite enough, but his voice has an edge to it. He looks like he's tasted something sour.

"Oh, I just wanted an update on the Agrifarm situation. She was kind enough to oblige me. Or at least I thought so."

The smile that spreads over Mr. Wright's face at that answer looks sticky-smug. It makes Reid want to shake himself.

"Well, I'm sorry to say, but I had to let her go. She obliged a few people a bit too much."

There's a stinging pain in his palm where his nails dig into it.

Reid uses it to distract himself from his fury, tries to widen his eyes and slacken his jaw.

This is not the time to be scowling, not when he's not supposed to know anything.

He wonders what Mr. Wright means by a few people, though.

Is he just lying or did he actually recruit people to corroborate his story? That's a scary thought.

"What do you mean by that?" Ms. Coleman doesn't sound like she finds that statement as funny as Mr. Wright wants her to.

Mr. Wright waves her question aside with a dismissive sweep of his hand. "Eh, you know. Point is, she ain't here, and she ain't coming back. I'll update you later today. Four p.m.?"

The look on the lieutenant governor's face is not one of satisfaction. Her right eyebrow is raised so high that it lays her forehead in folds. "You're going to need to give me actual answers this time."

Mr. Wright nods, promising to provide all the information she needs. It's clear from the skeptical set of her eyebrows that she doesn't believe him. Yet she agrees, offers a tight smile, and walks out.

Reid watches her retreat with a pang of sorrow in his gut.

Is this the end? Will he ever get another chance to speak with her?

He understands why she has to leave—she doesn't want to draw Mr. Wright's suspicion.

But it feels like a cold dismissal. Did she grasp that there's more at stake here than just the harassment?

Once she's out of sight, Mr. Wright clears his throat so loudly that Reid flinches.

"Well, Mr. Maxwell," he says, "do you want to follow me to my office?"

Oh, goddamnit.

Reid’s heart is almost beating out of his chest as he trails after Mr. Wright. When the man carefully pulls the door closed behind them, Reid has to force himself not to freeze.

This doesn’t feel good. God, he knew he should have driven off sooner on Friday.

They saw, didn’t they? He and Everett weren’t alone in the parking lot.

Someone saw them kiss, and now Reid is going to be let go as well.

That thought doesn’t engender the panic it would have a week ago, but it still makes Reid feel a bit woozy. What is he supposed to do now?

"Alright," Mr. Wright says when he’s stepped behind his desk and noisily sat down in his swanky office chair. "I’m sorry you had to find out about your colleague like you just did. That’s not the way I wanted to do this.

But I need you to understand that Ms. Contreras was incredibly unprofessional.

We can’t give people leeway to make the sorts of mistakes she did. "

For a moment, those words just ping around in Reid’s head like it’s a pinball machine. They make even less sense in that combination than they would individually.

"I’m sorry."

"Me too, boy. I really thought she had potential. But you need to be careful with women like that. Sometimes, they’re just too ambitious." Mr. Wright nods. The look on his face would be profound if it weren’t for the little quirk to his lips.

"I don’t understand," Reid says.

Now, Mr. Wright outright smiles. "I can’t explain too much. You know, for privacy reasons. But I just want you to know that your friend did this to herself. I’m sure you’ll miss her, but these things happen. Do you know why I called you in here?"

"No." Unless it was to gossip about Marisol without actually saying anything. Still, it’s dawning on Reid that he won’t like this even if it doesn’t end in him being fired.

Mr. Wright leans over his desk with his fingers steepled together. "Well, we’re a few hands short now. I’m sure you can see that this is an excellent opportunity for you. We’ll need someone to fill Ms. Contreras’s position until we find a replacement for her. And you’re perfect for that!"

He looks at Reid expectantly. Reid can only nod. Opportunity. Yeah, right. Opportunity to do what, exactly? Benefit from his colleagues’ sexual harassment? Just the thought sends a shiver down his spine.

"I know you worked well together. That means you already have a lot of the knowledge you need to sub in for her. Isn’t that great? And you can really prove yourself by doing well now. We need you."

Mr. Wright’s smile is so saccharine that it makes Reid’s teeth hurt. Reid wonders what he means. Sub in and fill her position sound a lot like he wants Reid to do Marisol’s job. All of it, with all the responsibility attached. But in return for what?

Reid knows it’s useless to ask if they’ll pay him.

Dangerous, even. He’s an unpaid intern, they’re not suddenly going to start compensating him no matter how much they purportedly need him.

Asking about that will just make him look difficult.

Nothing Reid can do about that. But credit?

If he does this, are they going to allow him to say that he did it?

Even that feels like it’s too much to ask. And that’s what makes Reid stop in his mental tracks and reevaluate. If he can’t even ask this question without fear of reprisal, then he shouldn’t do the work, should he?

This cannot possibly be what his father meant when he talked about sacrificing for the job.

At least if you arrive early and stay late, you can still claim the work you did as yours.

And here Reid is, scared to ask a simple question for fear of reprisal.

Because one thing he knows for sure: If Mr. Wright was willing to fire Marisol just like that, he’ll do the same to Reid.

Reid clenches his teeth to keep in any snarky remarks.

This is what he’s compromising his personal ethics for?

They could and would fire him at any minute for the flimsiest of reasons.

And still, he’s staying. Under a boss who tries to blackmail his employees into sleeping with him.

And under that boss’s boss who keeps his son in the closet and poisons children to make himself look good.

"I quit."

The words are out before Reid has fully registered them in his head. But their effect is immediate. He feels light and untethered, like a large weight has just been lifted from his shoulders. And Mr. Wright looks like he’s just bitten on a lemon.

"What?"

"I resign from my position, effective immediately."

"No, you don’t!" Mr. Wright hisses. "What are you doing? Be smart about this. We really need your help right now. If you play this right, you could get a job when your internship ends."

Reid almost snorts. Sure, that’s definitely going to happen after what he just said. Mr. Wright keeps talking. When cajoling doesn’t work, he starts to threaten. Says he’ll put Reid on a blacklist and make sure he never works in politics again.

It makes Reid want to scream, but he doesn’t. He stays professional, hands in all his materials, and says his goodbyes. When Mr. Wright shouts one last threat after him as he leaves the office, he understands why Marisol was giggling earlier. This feels liberating.