Office Politics; You’re In, You’re Out Or You Take What’s Yours.
Day 123 of The Andie Chronicles
Perhaps I had spent too long crying in my office. Or it was the way I had moved through the office with fog-like vision. Whatever my reason, it took until today before I realised Douglas’ floor had three meeting rooms.
The first two were large and important, with twenty-seater ornate oak tables occupying the centre. They were right by Douglas’ office, conveniently situated next to mine. His orchestration, not mine.
And as I felt temporarily disorientated making my way back from the kitchen, I discovered the third. Intimate, with a smaller eight seater table, every wall made of glass.
It caught my attention immediately. Not the size, but the way the people in my life I used to trust filled most of the seats. The people I called family. And allowed into my confidence.
Douglas had Sophia and GG on either side of him, with James opposite them. I could see them talking, their mouths moving.
What were they saying? What were they talking about? Why do they keep doing this to me?
And why do I keep letting them do this to me?
I didn’t even wait to listen to what they were saying or eavesdrop. Instead, I pushed my way into the room, my bracelets crashing into the glass door, resulting in an echoing ringing.
It was inelegant, but I didn’t care.
This was the last time I would let them meet without me, make decisions without me, or exclude me from their world. From my business. From my future.
“What the hell, you guys?” Douglas didn’t look impressed, but I couldn’t have given even one shit about his thoughts. James rose to his feet.
“Andie, please, we were just — ”
“Don’t lie,” I demanded. I felt my hand raise like a crude stop sign. It was almost as protection for my soul, for my heart.
“Don’t feed me with some excuse for whatever the fuck is happening here. And don’t even think about apologising, if you don’t mean. Start with the damn truth.”
“Andie, why don’t you sit down?” suggests GG, who was already trying to rise from her seat and come to my side.
Sophia grabbed her arm and pulled her back down. “No. Don’t. She’s got every right to be mad.”
Sophia looked at me. “I don’t know why you weren’t included in this meeting. A stupid decision.” She winked at me, but I didn’t understand.
Did she mean Douglas was behind this? She continued.
“We were discussing and finalising the idea of me and GG working here full time. Quitting our jobs. Going all in with Highway, full time.”
Inside, I couldn’t contain my delight. This was all I wanted; the four of us working side by side, every day, building the business. Not like this, though. It was all not the way I wanted it, dreamed it. And it was forging ahead without me.
“Well,” I said, “It sounds like a great idea.”
I turned on my heels and took myself out of the meeting room. With every step back to my office, I felt this surge through me. Anger mixed with determination, mixed with sadness.
Returning to my desk chair, I contemplated my next move. It was all very real now, everyone putting their everything on the line.
I had two options; get on board or get out.
Yet, as I stared at the ornate office, without what I needed or asked for, or what I wanted, I thought of a third option.
Take back what is mine.
You’re reading The Andie Chronicles, the 2023 romance-fiction series from the 1 Lovelock Drive (1LD) universe.
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