“Sorry, Beryl, for stealing your job. I hope the boss doesn't hold it against you. I really do feel bad about it.”
I didn't even spare her a glance. I turned and walked away.
But I should've known Kathy was the type who didn't need to bite to get under your skin.
Before long, she came looking for me with a whole pack of coworkers in tow.
The first words out of their mouths nearly knocked me off balance.
“Beryl, you need to pay us back!”
I blinked, half-convinced I was so overworked I'd started hearing things.
“Pay you back for what?”
I ran through everything in my head, making sure Derek hadn't mentioned any employee reimbursements recently.
Before I could say another word, Sarah Rowe shoved her way to the front. She was Kathy's closest friend in the office, and it showed.
She jabbed a finger right in my face, practically shaking with righteous fury：“We trusted you! Every time we had a team dinner, we let you handle it. You charged us eighty bucks a head! And look at Kathy, only twenty, at a top-tier restaurant. Have you no shame?”
My expression went stone cold.
Someone caught the shift in my face and tugged lightly at Sarah's sleeve：“Drop it, Sarah. Maybe there's been a misunderstanding?”
“What misunderstanding? She was skimming off the top. Disgusting. Ripping off the company wasn't enough, she had to rip off her own coworkers too.”
I wasn't about to stand there and take it. I smacked her pointing hand away and cut her off cold：“Sarah Rowe, accusations require proof. You come at me with nothing but your mouth running, and I will see you in court. I'll sue you for defamation.”
“I still have every receipt and every payment record. We can go through them line by line.”
Sarah, so full of fire a second ago, shrank back and shot a look at Kathy.
Only then did Kathy step forward to smooth things over：“Oh, come on, I only got the twenty-dollar rate because I know someone at the restaurant. Maybe Beryl just doesn't have those kinds of connections, that's all!”
Someone latched on immediately：“For a rate that low, it's gotta be someone high up. Don't tell me your family owns the place?”
Kathy didn't deny it. She didn't confirm it either.
She stomped her foot in mock annoyance：“Oh, stop asking! My family told me to keep a low profile.”
Just like that, every pair of eyes in the room looked at Kathy differently.
The flattery came pouring in：“I knew it the first time I saw you, Kathy. You've got that old-money aura about you.”
After all, anyone who could run a high-end restaurant downtown had to come from serious wealth.
These were the same coworkers who'd always punched down and sucked up. Now they were practically wagging their tails at Kathy.
And naturally, they looked at me with even more contempt than before.
“If you can't get the job done, don't volunteer. You couldn't land a decent deal, so we ended up overpaying for lousy food. Thanks for nothing.”
That was Gina Palmer. At every dinner, company or otherwise, she was the type who'd eat everything in sight and pocket the leftovers just to feel like she'd gotten her money's worth.
“Nobody volunteers for extra work unless there's something in it for them!”
“Exactly. No wonder she fought so hard to be the one planning everything. Secretary brains, right?”
I rapped my knuckles on my desk and said flatly：“If you have proof, show it. If not, get back to work.”
The crowd around my desk drifted apart, slowly, though the looks they threw me on the way out were anything but friendly.
Like I was the rotten apple poisoning the whole team.
Saying it didn't sting would be a lie. When they needed me to find a cheap, decent restaurant for their little get-togethers, they couldn't say enough nice things.
And when the check came, they'd drag their feet splitting it. Some of them still owed me to this day.
