11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Ihad a two-day reprieve before it was time to suck it up and head back to work. As much as I wanted to give my notice or burn through my vacation days while I looked for another job, that wasn’t possible. I had a nice nest egg saved up but with a new baby on the way, that wouldn’t last long. I had to be practical because not many professional positions would hire an obviously pregnant woman. Plus, if word got out that I was pregnant with a married colleague’s baby, the only people who would hire me would be the unscrupulous bastards who wanted to take advantage, thinking I’d put out easily.

Looking at my office building from the outside made me want to vomit. That didn’t bode well.

“Oh look, it’s the office’s homewrecking whore,” a woman who worked the front desk said as she and another lady passed by me. The second woman gave me a pained look and I couldn’t tell if it was because she felt bad for me or worried that I might go after her man next. Either way, it sucked.

I had adopted a policy not to say anything. It was becoming harder and harder to keep biting my tongue. As luck would have it, I had to ride the elevator up with the bitch and her cowardly cohort, who was definitely giving me sympathetic faces whenever her friend wasn’t paying attention. I’d bet money that the silent friend was seeing a married man and she only now realized how that would play out if anyone found out. Why else would she have sympathy for me?

Still, I refused to judge her. Maybe she fell in love with him before she knew he was involved with someone. Maybe I was way off base and she was just a nice person who didn’t judge. There was really no way of knowing because I didn’t plan on talking to either of them long enough to find out. When the elevator doors dinged open, I moved forward at a quick clip, but not quick enough. The bitch with the mouth tried to push past me by throwing a shoulder into my back. It caused me to stumble. I would have fallen flat on my face if a man hadn’t rushed over to catch me before I landed.

“What in the hell was that?” He growled at the woman. It was then, I knew my day was about to get infinitely worse. The man who caught me was none other than my baby’s father. The man standing beside him, Jameson Porter, was the owner of the company we worked for. Fan-freaking-tastic.

“What was what?” Mouthy bitch asked snidely. She had a name, and I knew it, but I refused to pretend she was a human being any longer, since she couldn’t be bothered to treat me like one. It was clear from her attitude that she didn’t know who she was speaking with, since Mr. Porter rarely made visits to our office.

“We watched you push Aviva,” he accused.

“I did no such thing.” She turned to the other woman who had been on the elevator with us and smirked. “Did I?”

“She’s pregnant,” the woman hissed at her. “What is wrong with you that you would push a pregnant woman down?”

“She’s pregnant with a married man’s baby. She is a homewrecker, if she tripped, maybe it was karma coming to bite her in the ass.”

“That’s it!” The owner, Mr. Porter growled as he walked away, headed for Phillip, our Human Resources Director who was just down the hall talking to Cliff. Inwardly, I sighed. Outwardly, I yanked my arm back out of Rich’s grasp.

“Thank you,” I whispered to him.

“You don’t have to thank me, Avi. This is all my fault.”

“I know that,” I snapped at him.

“Looks like Karma keeps paying it forward. The big boss went directly to HR, there’s a company-wide meeting this morning, and look – trouble in broken home paradise for the cheater and his whore!”

“Mary Keaton!” The quiet woman from the elevator hissed. “You are overstepping and frankly, it’s an ugly look on you – worse than anything you’re accusing anyone else of in this office. Not only have you escalated to violence in the workplace, but this continuing harassment of coworkers, especially over something that is not your business, is not okay.” With that, the woman – whose name I didn’t know – walked off toward our largest meeting room.

I ignored the bitch and my ex and took off for my office, so I could get a jump on packing up my things. I would have to hope for the best because if I wasn’t fired for causing a disturbance in the office again, then it wouldn’t matter because I wasn’t about to stay somewhere everyone thought it was okay to get physical with me, especially knowing I’m pregnant, let alone all the verbal abuse I’d been taking.

I glanced around my office and sighed as I realized I’d probably need several boxes to pack up all my belongings. It was amazing how much personal crap had accumulated since I’d started working there two years ago. Still, I could at least fit a few of the more important things into my handbag, just in case they didn’t give me time to clear my own things out. Who knew what would get pilfered if I waited and they had someone else pack up my belongings. Once again, I found myself cursing the day they ever asked Rich to come here and help work on that stupid account.

Before I could even get a better inventory done of all the things I needed to pack, my boss, Mr. Higgins, entered my office – without knocking – and stared at me as I put the letter opener my father had given me into my purse.

“Do you think you might need a weapon at the meeting?” He asked, amusement clear in his tone.

“Just making sure I have the things that mean the most with me.” He eyed me curiously and cocked his head to the side in question. When I said nothing else, he cleared his throat.

“I came to ask that you get to the meeting a little earlier than everyone else.”

I nodded, closed and locked my drawer, and headed in his direction. He moved so that I could walk out of the room first and then followed me to the largest conference room we had. It was the only one that would fit everyone, and even then, it would be mostly standing room as it wasn’t equipped to seat so many. When we got there, Mr. Porter and Phillip were already seated. Rich stood at the back of the room grabbing a coffee and bottle of water as I was guided to take the seat next to Mr. Higgins.

Maybe they had an ounce of heart and decided to fire me before everyone else showed up. Just as I thought that, the entire rest of the human resources team walked in and took a seat. Well, I guess that almost made it official.

One of them hadn’t sat down and instead came over to me and put her hand on my shoulder.

“I am a qualified emergency medical tech, with over two-years of experience working part time on an ambulance. I wanted to check in with you to see if you were okay. I heard you were assaulted on the way into the office today and took a spill.”

“I never hit the ground.” Despite her kindness in checking on me, my hackles went up. It was crazy that I questioned everyone’s motives these days. Here was a kind young woman asking if I needed looking after, and all I could think was that she might be doing it so I wouldn’t sue the company if anything happened.

“Be that as it may, sometimes just jolting wrong or forced movement can be enough to cause problems. If you experience any feelings of dizziness, bleeding, cramping, or other problems, please let me know. You can just raise your hand and I will come to you without you needing to say a word, okay?”

“Okay,” I muttered as my hand instinctively went to cradle my belly. She had me concerned about losing more than just my job now. I might hate my baby’s father, but I didn’t want to lose my daughter, especially not because some hateful woman blamed me for something that wasn’t my fault. She hated me for Rich’s situation like she was his wife. Meanwhile, his wife – the woman he actually cheated on – had basically become my closest friend and confidant. My world had become an increasingly strange place.

“That was why we wanted you in before everyone else,” Mr. Higgins explained as Rich came over and set a bottle of water in front of me. I glared at his gesture. If it wasn’t for him and his lying, none of this would be happening right now. I wasn’t stupid. This spur-of-the-moment meeting had been called on account of our affair and the blowback it was having in the office now that Rich had transferred to our branch.

I didn’t bother saying anything or touching the water Rich had given me. My eyes tracked him as he moved around the table and took the seat opposite mine. Great. Just what I needed. It would give everyone more fodder for the pitchfork brigade to talk about around the water cooler.

Once everyone finally made it into the room, the chatter immediately quieted as Mr. Porter stood up, yanked down his suit jacket to make himself look more presentable, as if the temporary crease or two from sitting for ten minutes had diminished his authority somehow.

“We have some staffing issues to talk about, new work guidelines, and a rather unorthodox announcement,” he admitted as his eyes met with Rich’s. My ex frowned and gave him a curt nod before standing as well. He also did the suit jacket tug that made me inwardly roll my eyes. So much pomp and circumstance for me to sit through just to get fired. Because – yeah – I just knew that I was the staffing issue.

“I asked to be able to address our entire branch at once, so there was no mistaking what needed to be said. I’ve heard that people are saying some pretty awful things about Aviva behind her back, and as I witnessed myself this morning, they’re doing it to her face as well.”

There were various snickers and chuckles throughout the room, as if it was a laughing matter. I wondered what they would think if they were to spend a day, week, or months in my shoes living with the fallout of someone else’s lies as if they had been my own burden to bear.

“When I came here, in a part-time capacity to work on a special account, it was never my intention to step outside of my marriage with anyone. My marriage wasn’t in the greatest of places at the time, but it was something we thought would resolve over time. It was implausible to me that I would ever cheat on my wife. Then I was paired to work with Aviva Acker.” Whispered conversations rose in volume with that last bit. It was enough that our boss stood and told everyone to be quiet and listen.

“If you can’t remain quiet for this, then you’re fired.” The look on his face brokered no arguments. He meant exactly what he said.

Rich cleared his throat and allowed his guilty eyes to glance around as he made contact with everyone in the room who would give him that respect. I was not one of them. Fuck him.

“Not only did I cheat on my wife, and did it very stupidly, openly, and publicly by carrying on with someone we all work with here, but I also lied to Aviva the whole time. She never knew that I was married. She certainly didn’t know that I had children, or that my wife was pregnant with a baby that might not even be mine.”

I stood up and pointed a finger at him then. “Don’t you dare stand there and make it sound like another woman you lied to is a whore. She is not the reason you cheated. Her pregnancy came after she found out you were stepping out on her.”

He hung his head, knowing he’d been caught trying to come off like a martyr – cheating because his wife was knocked up with some other man’s child. Mel was going to hear about this as soon as the meeting was over.

Rich sighed before speaking again. “Aviva is right. My wife, in an alcohol-induced moment of hurt and weakness after finding out about my affair, slept with someone else. She wasn’t the first to step out of our marriage. That was me. Again, I lied to my wife and cheated on her. I lied to Aviva and basically cheated on her with my wife – whom she didn’t know about. Neither woman in this scenario is at fault. If you should be abusing anyone physically, verbally, or otherwise, it should be me. Aviva did nothing wrong. She fell for a liar and cheater who never gave her the option to make an informed decision about the real situation.” He took a moment to look around the room again. There were so many people who wouldn’t meet his eyes that time. Whether it was because they no longer respected him, or were embarrassed of their own behavior, I couldn’t say.

“Aviva is pregnant. She already has enough stress knowing she’ll be a single mom because she won’t, under any circumstances, take me back. She then has been stressed out by people harassing her at work. When my family told me Aviva was being abused by our coworkers, verbally and apparently physically as well, I didn’t believe it. And yes, my family told me because my wife and Aviva are friends. That should tell you everything you need to know about who was in the wrong here. My family hadn’t been mistaken when they told me what was happening to Aviva. Despite me thinking it might have just been her overhearing some very wrong office gossip, I witnessed just how vile and violent things got this morning when Aviva was not only harassed and insulted by an employee, but she was physically assaulted when stepping off the elevator.”

Rich glanced around, searching for the same bitch that I looked for. When I found her across the room, she appeared to be shaking in her too-high heels. Good. It served her right, since she believed in karmic justice. She deserved to be called out for pushing an innocent pregnant woman down.

“On that note,” our owner said as he stood once more. He shot his gaze to Rich. “Thank you for being good enough to clear up some misconceptions for everyone.” Rich nodded and took his seat again. I could feel him staring at me, but I refused to look at him and instead focused all my energy on our boss. “Rich shouldn’t have had to clear up any misconceptions. Aviva should have never been treated poorly by anyone in this company, for any reason. Her job performance certainly didn’t warrant it, and if it had, she would have been dealt with in a professional manner, not a toxic or abusive one.”

He stood there for a minute and shook his head, disgust written all over his face as he stared down so many of his employees. “I am beyond disappointed that you all would treat an esteemed member of our team this way. I was completely taken aback by the act of violence and verbal abuse I witnessed this morning, but I was glad to have been present for it. I don’t think I would have believed a second-hand accounting of what happened. That brings me to the aforementioned staffing and policy changes. Mary Keaton,” He called out. While I don’t think he meant for his voice to convey the anger and judgment that it did, there was no missing it. Disdain dripped from her name as she took an uneasy step forward.

“Yes, I’m Mary Keaton.”

“What is your position here?”

“I work the front desk, answer the phones, schedule appointments, and…”

“That’s enough,” he called out, cutting her off. She stepped back, as if it would help take the heat off her. “You not only verbally abused one of my employees today, in a most vile manner, but you actually shoved a pregnant woman out of an elevator. Had Rich and I not been standing there for him to catch her, she might have been hurt. Her unborn child might have suffered injury or been lost as a result of that attack. That happened on my property, in my company. It is not now, and never will be, the type of behavior that is tolerated here.”

“Yes, sir,” Mary stated in a shaky voice.

“I have already spoken to Human Resources and because of the grave infraction and physical altercation that could leave my company liable for a lawsuit, you are hereby dismissed from your position – terminated with cause. Security is waiting in the hallway to escort you to collect your things and leave the premises. You are not welcome back to this building for any reason. I also encourage Ms. Acker to not only press charges, but obtain a protection order against you.”

Mary’s shocked gasp was audible, because aside from that sound, you could hear a pin drop in the room. It was that quiet. I wondered how many others were waiting to be fired right along with her. Slowly, the woman made her way to the door to the conference room, which happened to be right behind me. “I’m so sorry, Aviva. I didn’t realize.” She spoke her apology so low that only those people sitting near me could have heard her. It wasn’t in me to acknowledge her apology and I certainly didn’t accept it.

After she left, our boss continued with his news, including the policy change that if any married employee started an affair in the office, and it was found out, they would find themselves unemployed, too. “Before any of you gripe about how unfair that policy might be, since we would be delving into your personal life, I want you to remember what just happened here today as a result of a married man having an affair with another member of our team. I won’t punish Rich because this policy didn’t exist and he wasn’t even technically employed at this branch when it occurred. Rest assured; this will be a policy that covers every branch moving forward. We do not have time for personal dramas spilling over into the workplace.”

My face flamed bright red at the implication that my personal drama had been causing so much strife at work. My boss’s hand came down on my shoulder and he squeezed once before letting go. “You hold no personal blame in that, Ms. Acker. No need to feel shame or embarrassment, despite what you may have been led to believe by people in this room who acted out of ignorance.”

He looked around the room again before speaking. “I am putting you all on notice now, this is the end of your speculation, blame game, shaming of any of my employees for their personal choices, or abuse of any kind. If you are caught doing so, this meeting will serve as your warning prior to being fired. All of you are required to sign that you acknowledge this with one of our HR reps prior to leaving this room. If you fail to sign, then I will take that as your resignation, as you will no longer work here.” He turned around toward the door, as if ready to leave, but seemed to think better of it before he turned back around. “One more thing, I don’t want any of you who treated Aviva poorly to bombard her with your apologies. All the guilty parties here have done enough to add to her stress when she was already dealing with things that should have never been her burden to bear. I will not tolerate anyone attempting to make yourselves feel better about your behavior at her expense.”

There was a knock on the door before anyone had time to process that information, and a security guard opened it to stand aside for a man bearing a beautiful bouquet of flowers. “This man has been waiting for thirty minutes, said he had to get a signature from the recipient before delivery could be completed.”

“Who are they for?” My boss asked.

“Aviva Acker.”

My face heated again as I wondered who could have possibly sent me flowers. As I turned and signed the clipboard the man carried, the card dropped out of the bouquet and my boss picked it up. “Mind if I read this out loud?” He asked. When he saw the look of horror on my face, he smiled kindly at me. “After everything I just had to say, do you honestly think I’d read something awful or embarrassing?”

I shook my head, but dread still filled my belly anyway.

“Avi, I know you were dreading going back to work today and that it might be your last day there because of those dicks you work with, so I wanted to give you something to brighten your day no matter which way things go. I’m only a call away if you need someone to come break some necks or bring you ice cream. Your choice. XO, Brax”

Some of the women chorused, “Aww,” in the background and I couldn’t help it when my gaze drifted up to meet Rich’s furious face. His shoulders were stiff and nostrils flared. His hands that had been resting on top of the conference table were balled into fists so tight, it was a wonder if any circulation was going to his fingertips. I would have laughed if this morning hadn’t been such absolute shit.

“The behavior of my employees almost cost us one of our best and brightest. That is unacceptable. Aviva, I hope you will come speak directly to me, in future, if you are unhappy for any reason. This has been a rather difficult morning for you, if you would like to take the rest of the day to go home and relax, you can have it, with pay.” He turned back to the gathered crowd. “The rest of you, sign the damn HR acknowledgment or leave my building and don’t come back.”

Part of me felt the need to stay, to have to force all those people to look me in the eye all day, but the other part of me was wrung dry and ready to leave. For the sake of my daughter’s health, I chose to err on the side of caution and take my beautiful bouquet of flowers home with me to enjoy.