Search Party

Stepping out of the bank into the busy street, I stopped for a bit to look at the missed messages on my phone. Holy shit, that's a lot of missed messages and calls.

-Janet was letting me know she'd rented a truck to help Karen, Amber and I move to her place on Saturday.
-Ellen was obliquely threatening me with a lawsuit if I was still in the building come Sunday.
-Amber was asking what my schedule was like this week, and if I'd be able to meet her on campus.
-Hannah was dropping not so subtle reminders that I needed to be back in time for the announcement of my promotion.
-Karen had also noticed the strange limo parked outside our building too, and was saying something about the driver looking like she was looking for someone.

There were more messages too, but I noticed the time and realized I needed to get moving. My "short trip to the bank" had run more than a couple hours past what I had expected. Firing off a couple responses as I double timed my way back to work I was not paying a great deal of attention. Tripping over a couple e-scooters, getting caught up in a overly ambitious dog-walker's mess of leashes, and full on running into a parking meter almost convinced me I'd be better off focusing on where I was going. Almost.

I did try and pay a little more attention to where I was going. It's one thing to walk into one parking meter, but two? It's likely a short jump from that to a straitjacket and a padded room. That being said despite my relatively elevated focus, half a block from the office I still ran right into someone else.

In my defense, I was completely taken aback by a message from Dana. "Done. Coffee shop lady no longer hates me. Who's next on the list?" Before I could properly respond with my disbelief, I collided with something significantly softer, and more vocal than a parking meter. "Eep!"

"Mike! I was looking for you!"

"Mary-Jane!" The redhead in front of me was one of my coworkers from Haute. She was one of the main designers who was responsible for some of our most popular items. She was also the woman who I had been planning to go out with last week. But, when Dana tried to cut my legs out from under me, Mary-Jane fell for her con job and canceled our date.

Though...that might have been the best possible outcome. Had my world not crumbled that Friday afternoon, I never would have had that chance encounter with he old guy in the park. Still, I had been looking forward to that date, and getting the rug pulled out from under me had stung.

"I'm so glad I found you. Something weird is going on at the office. First, you just up and disappeared this morning, then Dana ran out the office mumbling about 'making things right with the coffee lady.' Hannah's been grinning like a goddamned madwoman all day, as if she's got a secret she can't wait to spill. Lindsay's been whispering into her phone all day, something about hiring a new assistant for someone. Do you know what the fuck is going on?" One of the things I liked about Mary-Jane was that for such a sweet, innocent looking woman, she had a tendency to swear like a one-eyed carpenter.

"I had an...appointment at the bank. As for everyone else, I'm not sure MJ. I know Hannah has an all hands meeting today. Maybe that will explain at least some of it?" Okay, so that was not the most honest response I could have given. "Speaking of, it's about that time. Shall we?" Opening the door to our office building we started heading towards the elevator. Once we started ascending to our floor, Mary-Jane looked like she wanted to say something, but didn't know where to start.

"You okay MJ? You look like something is bothe..."

"I'm sorry Mike! I can't believe I was such a cunt to you last week. I had been really looking forward to our date on Friday. But I let Dana fill my head with a bunch of bullshit about you selling my designs to the competition. I was so pissed at you. But then, I heard Hannah talking to some of the other designers, about how Fred was to blame for the designs getting out and how you had nothing to do with it. I'm sorry I fucked everything up, do you think you could forgive me?"

Reflexively, my hand went to my pocket, I could feel the smooth metal of the coins, it almost felt as if they were getting warmer, but that was my imagination. Right? While part of me wanted to exact some petty ****, another part of me understood why she had reacted that way. "I won't lie. It wasn't fun, but I get it. You believed I had screwed you over, and turned what should have been a super fun victory lap into a frantic dash to redesign a whole new line. I'll tell you what. Let's get something to drink this week and catch up. Sound good?"

"YES! I mean, yes. How about the coffee shop? Hearing Dana freak out about apologizing to the baristas or whatever the fuck that was has my fixated on their scones."

"Sounds like a plan. Now let's find out what this meeting is about." As much as I tried to play it cool, Hannah's frenzied waving at me as we walked in the door belied my claim that I knew nothing about what was going on. "Uhh...I guess I'll see you later?" I said as I crossed the room to stand by our boss, leaving a bewildered looking Mary-Jane staring at me.