Chapter 2

Life at the front desk turned out to be even more relaxed than I had imagined. The heaviest part of my day was signing in visitors, transferring calls, and setting out bottled water in the conference rooms.

Back when I was a director, I used to wish there were forty-eight hours in a day. These days, my schedule went something like this.

I clocked in at nine and made coffee. At nine-thirty, I watched an episode. At ten, I signed in a visitor, and at ten-thirty, I went back to my show.

At noon, I went out for lunch and came back for a nap. At two, I woke up and watched some more. At six, I went home and cooked dinner.

It was perfect, right up until the third day.

It wasn't because anyone came looking for trouble. It was because too many people came looking for me.

At ten that morning, Kevin Lowe from Admin slipped over to the front desk, glancing left and right like he was about to rob the place. "Tessa?"

I took out my earbuds. "Yeah?"

"So, the Crestmark Realty proposal you handled last week? Derek, the new director, says he can't make sense of it. He sent me down to ask how you set up the whole approach."

I raised an eyebrow. Derek Vance was the one who had taken my job, and Vivian had put him there herself.

Word was he'd been poached from another firm with a polished résumé, but three days in, his real level was already showing.

I thought about Walter Ford, who ran Crestmark, and how he liked things done. "That one? Walter wants the data first, then the framework, then the execution plan, in that order. Tell Derek to plug it into the slide template I left."

"Thanks, Tessa! You're a lifesaver." Kevin lit up like he had struck gold and took off.

At two, Tyler Hunt from Marketing showed up. "Tessa, Ashford Group is pushing for the Q3 co-marketing plan. Derek says we should put it together ourselves, but their account manager says he'll only sign off on yours."

"Have him text me. I'll send him some ideas when I get a minute."

"You got it."

At four, Linda Moore from Finance came down. "Tessa, how did you work out the payment structure with Crestmark? They won't accept the terms Derek gave them."

"Tiered payments. Thirty percent up front, forty on delivery, and thirty at the end. They care about the payment window, not the split. Tell Derek to cut the terms from sixty days to forty-five, and they'll sign."

Linda's eyes lit up. "You really know your stuff."

By the fifth day, the front desk had turned into an unofficial help desk. People kept dropping by to chat over coffee, one after another.

Some of them wanted real help with work, and some only came to see how I was holding up and whether I had been crushed.

Annie had been taking it all in, completely stunned. "Tessa, you're busier down here than you were upstairs."

I sighed. "Believe me, I didn't see it coming either." I took a sip of my coffee and found it had gone stone cold.

On the sixth day, things took a turn. At eleven that morning, the elevator doors opened, and Diane marched straight toward the front desk with two people from Admin behind her.

The smug smile she had worn all week was gone, and in its place was the irritation of someone who felt insulted. "Tessa." She slapped a folder down on the desk. "Do you have any idea what your job is now?"

I looked at her. "Front desk reception."

She raised her voice so everyone passing through the lobby could hear. "That's right, front desk reception. So what's your job? Signing people in, greeting visitors, transferring calls. Who told you to stick your nose into the business side?"

Annie shrank down in her seat.

I sat back and met Diane's eyes. "I didn't stick my nose into anything. They came to me, and I answered a few questions."

Diane gave a cold laugh. "A few questions? Derek told me everything. You're going behind his back, recruiting your old team, and undermining his authority. Tessa, do you not understand where you stand now?"

A few coworkers crossing the lobby slowed down. I saw one of them pull out a phone and pretend to read a message while hanging on every word.

I didn't move. "Diane, I've been sitting at this desk the whole time. Your people came down here on their own. If that's my fault too, send out a memo banning everyone from talking to the front desk."

That shut Diane up for a second. She took a deep breath, pulled a sheet of paper from the folder, and slid it over. "This comes from Mrs. Shaw. Starting today, you'll also clean and restock the executive break room on twenty-six, every day."

Annie gasped and clapped a hand over her mouth.

Twenty-six was the executive floor. They were sending a former Director of Strategy up there to fetch coffee and wipe down counters. This wasn't a demotion anymore. It was a public humiliation.

Diane watched my face, and the corners of her mouth curled up. She was waiting for me to fall apart.

I picked up the paper and looked it over. Sure enough, Vivian's signature was on it, the same big flourish as on the transfer order. I folded it and put it in my pocket. "What time?"

Diane blinked. "What?"

"The break room. What time do I restock it? Is there a set schedule?"

"Ten in the morning and three in the afternoon."

"Okay. Got it."

Diane stood there while the smugness on her face turned into something I couldn't name. She probably couldn't understand how I could stay so calm.

What she didn't know was that the reason was simple. My brother's flight landed the following Tuesday, six days away, and I planned to treat those six days as field research.

After Diane left, Annie looked at me with red eyes. "Tessa."

I stood up and rolled my shoulders. "Don't cry. I've been in that break room on twenty-six. There's imported chocolate in the snack cabinet, and I used to sneak some during meetings."

Annie didn't say anything, but the way she was looking at me had gone from a lunatic who had found inner peace to a saint who had completely lost her mind.