Copyright © 2006 Damien Roth
All rights reserved, Freya's Bower.
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Shannon wiped her eyes and pulled a sheet of paper from the printer on her desk. She waited until her hands stopped shaking to begin drafting her resignation letter. Writing the letter felt terrible. The sound of the pen scratching against the paper, and the knowledge that it was likely her last letter drafted at AS&B drew more tears, but she kept writing anyway.
There was a quiet double-tap on her office door, and before Shannon could protest, the door swung open, and Julia peeked into the office. “Ms. Strafford, is everything okay?”
Shannon knew she couldn’t speak without starting to cry again, so she just shook her head.
“No, everything’s not okay,” Shannon said, sniffing. “Not by a long shot.”
Instead of shutting the door and walking away as Shannon expected, Julia stepped inside the office and closed the door. “Um...if you want someone to talk to, I’d be glad to listen.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m okay.”
Julia glanced at the paper on Shannon’s desk. Shannon saw that she was trying her best not to read it, and that brought a smile to Shannon’s face for the first time since the events of that morning. She’s always so respectful, Shannon thought to herself. She always makes me feel like I am important. Shannon decided to tell her assistant the whole truth; she deserved to know what kind of people she was working for at AS&B. Julia had turned to leave, but Shannon stopped her and motioned for her to close the office door. Julia did, then took a seat across from Shannon.
“I lost the Jenkins case today. Or, rather, it was taken from me.”
“The Jenkins case?” Julia sounded as if she were genuinely upset. “But...but we’ve worked so hard on that case... I mean, you’ve stayed late so many evenings and taken work home on the weekends—”
“I know. It’s gone though, and I don’t see much point in staying here at AS&B. I imagine any chance I had of making partner just went down the drain.”
“I’m really sorry. People here can be such assholes.” Julia clapped a hand over her mouth as soon as the last word was spoken. “I...I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
“No, you’re right,” Shannon replied, smiling at her. “The people around here are assholes most of the time. Can’t seem to focus on the work and instead have to go around talking about people behind their backs.”
Julia met Shannon’s gaze, and for a second, Shannon saw a glimmer of something— curiosity? excitement?—in her assistant’s eyes. She looked like she wanted to say something, but instead Julia turned her gaze toward the left side of the office. She appeared to be studying a painting on the wall with great interest. An uncomfortable silence hung in the air now, seeming to stretch on forever.