Chapter 5
The clouds settled in the early night sky as Steph attempted to catch up on the work she fell behind on while she escaped the wrath of Hurricane Anna. Her pile dwindled as she finally reached the case files she had been working on for Amanda and John. There were still people she was tracking down and contracts that needed to be negotiated. Her only goal for the night was to make sure her part was done. A light tap on her door brought her out of the stack sitting in front of her.
Mr. Bailey had a concerned expression on his face, “You know you can call it a night. This work will be here tomorrow. I know it’s been a funky kind of day for you.”
Steph sighed angrily. She hated being pitied. “That’s okay, Mr. Bailey. Thank you. I really shouldn’t have taken off like I did, and now it’s time to pay the piper. A wise man recently told me to stop letting the actions of others dictate what I do. I’m starting to listen.”
Mr. Bailey’s silent exit let Steph know he was done being sorry for her. He waved as he made his way to the elevator. She knew the men in the office were sympathetic toward her because Anna was an all-around bitch. She made no attempt to hide her disdain toward Steph.
Steph’s mind drifted off to snappy comebacks she should have told Anna instead of running off. Emotional adrenaline would be the death of her. Someone mumbled outside of the door. Speak of the devil. Anna grimaced as she ran her tongue over her teeth with her arms crossed in front of her. Her coat hung over her purse and Steph wondered why she had stopped in front of her office before leaving for the day.
“Well look who decided to finally come back to work,” Anna sneered as she stepped inside the space.
“Good night, Anna,” Steph grumbled hoping she would leave without provoking her any more.
“You got a lot of nerve coming back in here, especially after taking that long ass lunch! I’ll be sending my complaint to HR in the morning, since that’s what we do around here,” she rolled her eyes.
“Do whatever you want, Anna,” Steph sighed as she thumbed through her papers. “Things can’t possibly get worse as long as we’re working together.”
Anna narrowed her eyes, “Ha, ha, very funny. You won’t be laughing when your little, ghetto friend gets hit with an order of protection and harassment suit.”
Steph had no idea what she was talking about, “I think that would be a useful waste of your time, you fucking dingbat. If nobody heard you, or you don’t have some recording of the alleged threat than what are you planning to do? Make up shit like you did about me. Good luck with that and good night, again!”
Anna didn’t want to argue with Steph. Her dismissive tone made her appear unaffected and where was the fun in goading her if she was unaffected. She sucked her teeth, rolled her eyes, and headed toward the elevators.
The presence of yet another person hovering around her door distracted Steph from her work once again. She was growing tired of the interruptions, “You know Anna, if you really want this beat down you’re doing a fine job of pissing me off.”
“Yikes, I’d hate to be Anna,” John said snickering. He came inside the office as Steph blushed from embarrassment.
“I’m so sorry. I thought you were,” Steph began to explain.
“I know,” he laughed again, “You thought I was Anna and looking for a beat down apparently.”
Steph shook her head as she buried her face into her hands. John pulled out the chair in front of her desk to sit down as he waited for her to regain composure.
Steph finally looked up at her boss’s boss, “I’m really sorry. I’ve just been having a really combative day with her and-”
“It’s alright. I know all about it. But what I don’t understand is why,” John’s expression changed from humorous to curiosity. “I’ve never so much as heard a peep out of her prior to your arrival. Now, in these last few weeks, my desk has been riddled with memos about employee conflicts and disruptive behavior. Granted it seems a bit one sided, but I just want to know what spurred this on. Why has she chosen you to target?”
Steph pondered his question for a moment. She wasn’t sure either, “I don’t know what I could have done to garner so much hatred from her.”
Steph reminisced out loud to the day she got hired by Mrs. Cartwright. It wasn’t any day that stood out. She remembered acing the interview and practically skipping out of the office. She took the elevator up to see where her new office was going to be and that’s when she met Anna. The office space had an impersonal touch. There were the law books on the shelves, but no pictures hung on the walls. Anna was in there looking for a particular book when Steph introduced herself. Anna stared her up and down before responding and going back to what she was doing. Steph shrugged her shoulders and closed the door behind her so Anna could get back to work.
“Oh shit, that was you?” John burst into laughter.
“What was me? What’s so funny?” she asked in confusion.
John shook his head, “You locked her in here.”
“What are you talking about? That door doesn’t lock,” Steph was still confused.
“It doesn’t anymore,” John continued to laugh. “That was the day the she put a hole through the wall. All the offices are sound proof to protect attorney client confidentiality. This office used to serve as a makeshift library so no one cared that the door lock jammed. She was locked in here for hours before it occurred to her to break through the wall. It wasn’t the prettiest sight. I got down there after the destruction and she was cursing to high heaven about some bimbo who locked her inside. No one knew who she was talking about and had no idea you’d been up there. Everybody thought she was crazy and was just making excuses so it wouldn’t look like she locked herself inside.”