“Mrs. Albertson, could you hold on for one moment?” I said as professionally as possible as I rubbed my temple to try and rid myself of the growing headache I had there. I heard her sigh and I switched over lines.
“Geoffrey Stevens Realty, this is Megan Jennings speaking. How may I help you?” I said and prepared myself to write a note for my boss. Usually people ended up getting sent to my number because his was always busy.
“Megan, this is Anna from next door in your apartment?” I heard my neighbor’s stressed voice. I tried to soften my voice as much as possible; she was the one watching Avery today for me. My boss had called me in because his secretary was out sick with the flu.
“Hi Anna! Is everything okay?” I asked as I opened an e-mail that I had received from someone.
“Actually,” I heard her sigh. “I wish it were. Little Avery is terribly upset.” She said. I loved Anna. She had four children of her own, two of which were in high school, and two in middle school. She had agreed to watch Avery because she missed having young children at home. “She keeps asking for her mother.”
I sighed and rubbed my head some more. “I’ll come home, just give me a few minutes to talk to my boss, okay? Just tell Avery I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“Okay,” Anna said sympathetically. “Again, Megan, I am so sorry.”
“It’s alright, I’m sorry for the trouble in the first place,” I sighed. We said goodbye and both hung up. “Great, this is perfect.” I muttered and stood from my desk to go and speak with Mr. Stevens, my boss. I tapped lightly on the door.
“Come in,” I heard him bellow from behind the door. I opened the door and smiled warmly at him. “Ah, hello, Megan.” He smiled. However, his smile didn’t look as friendly as I had hoped. “How has your day been so far?”
“Fine,” I lied through my teeth. “But, you are aware of my situation at home and I just received a personal phone call and I need to leave for the day.” I tried to explain as politely as possible. He chuckled to himself. I wasn’t sure if it was a friendly laugh or an annoyed laugh.
“You see, before you go,” he spoke up. “We really need to talk about those personal phone calls.” I frowned, confused, and sat down.
“Mr. Stevens, you had said that with my situation you were okay with the personal phone calls if I used them for emergencies only,” I explained what he had told me when I decided to fill in for his secretary. “There was only one today.”
“Yes, I understand that, Megan,” he sighed. “But I also understand that you had left Mrs. Albertson on hold.” He said firmly. My heart fell and my eyes bulged nearly out of my head. “Leaving her on hold is one thing, but completely forgetting about her is another.”
“Mr. Stevens, I am so sorry,” I apologized.
“I’m just not so sure that’s good enough this time, Megan,” he folded his hands on his desk in front of him. “What exactly should we do here? You, obviously, don’t have the time or focus for this job anymore.”
“Oh, no, Mr. Stevens! I can assure you that’s not the case,” I tried to defend myself. He held his hands up and closed his eyes. He didn’t want to hear any of it.
“You have completely lost focus for our company over the past few months. You had personal time off a month ago and then again recently,” he said firmly. I bit my bottom lip gently. I had completely forgotten about last month. My boyfriend of six months had cheated on me and I took personal days. Then with Kate’s death, I was constantly taking off.
“Mr. Stevens --.” He cut me off with his hands again.
“This isn’t working out, Megan,” he sighed. “I’m going to have to let you go.”
I bit my tongue so the tears in my eyes wouldn’t pour out. I couldn’t believe this. This day couldn’t get any worse.
Author's Chapter Notes:
I promise the next chapter is ALL Nick. Review this one and I'll post that one!! Thanks for all the reviews so far! They really encourage me to keep writing!
