Subject: Red
Since I know you check this first thing because you’re OCD, I wanted to start your day off by telling you that I’m wearing something red today. And it isn’t my shoes, although I could add my red heels to the mix later. ;)
xo,
Kari
It wasn’t the first time she had emailed me in the morning and I loved it when she did. I clicked the arrow.
Subject: Blue
Since you just planted vivid images in my mind, I want you to know that because of your email, I’m starting the day off with something blue and it isn’t my shirt. Your skills will be required to rectify this situation this evening. Stay at my house tonight?
A few minutes went by before I heard the ping.
Subject: Pink
Only if rectifying your blue requires the use of some of my pink.
I hit REPLY.
Subject: Purple
Keep it up, sweetheart, and you’re going to be fucked so hard you’ll be purple tomorrow. This is not a request—be at my house after work.
A knock on the door ruined the moment.
“Come in,” I said, clearing my throat. I hated firing people, but it was better in this case that I did it than Cane.
Dan opened the door. “Hey, Max. Lucy said you wanted to see me?”
“Shut the door behind you and take a seat.” I found the termination papers that Hilah had placed on my desk.
Dan Collins was younger than me—mid 20’s and had just gotten married. He had sandy brown hair and green eyes that always looked like he was confused. But he did good work . . . until last week.
“Something wrong?” he asked, looking at my face as he took the seat across from me.
“Yes, there is. I had a call from Mr. Fifer at the City of Mesa this morning. The bid bond was not attached to the bid and we have been disqualified.”
His face fell, an ashen color washing over it. He readjusted himself in the chair. “What? You’re kidding me, right?”
“I wish I was.” I folded my arms on the papers. “What’s going on, Dan? This isn’t like you.”
He fumbled around, his eyes scanning around the room. “I . . . uh . . . I don’t know. I swear I put it in there, Max. I know I did. Oh, God . . .” He put his head in his hands.
“Alexander Industries needed that job. We all had a lot of work in that bid and to lose a job of that size to something so avoidable is asinine.”
“I know, Max. And I’m sorry. It’ll never happen again.” He looked me right in the eye with everything he had. I knew he was trying to prevent me from saying what we both knew came next.
I took a deep breath. “I’m going to have to let you go.”
“No!” he said, his voice bouncing around the room. “This won’t happen again. I can’t lose this job, Max. I can’t. I just got married. I . . .” He looked at me, begging me to rescind my words. “Please, don’t fire me.”
“I don’t have a choice,” I said with more conviction than I felt. It had to be done, but I still hated it. “Here is your final pay. I had Hilah pay you for the vacation and sick time you had accrued, which I didn’t have to do and normally don’t.”
“You are seriously letting me go?” he asked. He sat upright, his mouth forming a grim line.
I sat back in my chair, putting a little distance between us. I had one guy come across the desk once and it was a lesson painfully learned. “I am. You have a family to take care of, but so do the rest of us. This was a careless mistake that we can’t afford to have repeated and I can’t justify it to the rest of the guys that work their asses off.”
“I work my ass off, too!”
“I’m not saying you don’t. I’m saying you made an error that cost us a huge contract and I can’t overlook it. Word travels fast around here. Once the other guys know what happened, especially if we don’t get another job soon and we have to start laying people off . . . I don’t have a choice. ”
He was on his feet in a second, grabbing the papers off my desk. “Fuck you,” he bit out, his eyes on fire. “This is bullshit.”
“Losing that job was bullshit that didn’t have to happen.” My sympathy was being replaced with anger quickly. “And now the rest of us have to fix it.”
“You wanna fuck with me?” He smiled menacingly. He swung the door open and it hit the filing cabinet behind it, causing my hardhat to fall off the top and hit the ground. “You’ll regret this. You hear me?”
“I hear ya and I’m going to assume you’re spoutin’ off at the mouth because you’re angry. I get that. But I’m going to have to ask you to leave the premises immediately and not cause a scene. Do you hear me?”
His eyes widened for a split second, a little taken aback at my tone. He started to say something, but I beat him to the punch.
“Don’t bite off more than you can chew, Dan.”