The Boss's Office
"Well, that was odd," Cadence said after having received Aaron's cryptic message. Her breath caught in her throat as she tried to figure out what he’d meant. Why had he been so short with her and then turned his IAC off?
"What's that?" Christian asked. “I can tell from your shifting expression that something is going on with you IAC, though I have no idea what it might be.”
She realized she’d been making the same sort of faces they all gave Eliza a hard time about. “Aaron wants to see me in his office at 1:00,” she replied, her brow furrowed. “What in the world do you think that's about?”
“I have no idea,” Christian said, but his eyes widened slightly, and he was having trouble looking at her. He had already been spinning his coffee cup around, but now, he was doing it faster.
“Are you all right, Christian?” she asked.
He nodded. “Yep, yeah, I’m fine. Just fine.” He looked up at her and gave a nervous laugh, but she could tell he was lying.
She just didn’t know why. And she didn’t have time to find out.
Shaking her head, she glanced at the time. "Well, it's past noon and I walked, so I think I should probably head that direction," she said, gathering her purse and phone as she slid out of the booth.
Christian stood as well. "Do you want a ride on my bike?" he asked, lightly grabbing her arm.
"No, that's okay," she replied. "I think a walk might do me good, help clear my head," she explained.
"Okay," he stated, nodding his head. He didn’t look her in the eyes. "Well, uh, hope everything is okay," he said, giving her an awkward hug.
She patted him on the back a few times and then wiggled away. "I'm sure it will be fine," she replied. "I can't imagine what this is about. I haven't done anything." She honestly couldn't think of anything--anything at all--that she could have possibly done to upset Aaron.
"Yeah, I’m sure you didn’t do anything. It has to be something… benign.” She nodded at him and lifted a hand before she began to head toward the door. “Be careful," he yelled as she walked away.
Thinking that was an odd thing to say, she nodded at him before she paused to toss her empty cup in the trash and gave him one more look before making her way out the door and back to LIGHTS. He definitely looked uneasy.
Did Christian know what this was about?
Cadence took a deep breath of the fresh winter air. The Christmas decorations all around her lightened her mood. It was Christmas Eve, after all. While she was a bit concerned at Aaron's sharpness, she really didn't feel like there was anything to be worried about. As she made her way to his office, she was actually feeling a bit excited that she would get to see him sooner than she had originally thought. Noting she just had on a pair of old jeans and a red sweater beneath her coat, she wished she would’ve put on something nicer.
When she arrived back at LIGHTS, she headed to the building Jamie had told her Aaron’s office was located in when she’d taken her tour. Since she had never been to his office before, she had to check the board next to the elevator to see exactly where she needed to go.
It was no surprise he was on the top floor. The elevator arrived the moment she hit the button, and she stepped inside, taking deep breaths and blowing them out slowly.
This couldn’t be anything major, could it?
She made her way to the top floor and exited the elevator. She was about ten minutes early, but that was fine; rather early than late.
A short, older woman sat behind a desk, visible through the glass doors. Cadence entered the office, with a smile "Hi," she said, the color beginning to fade from her cheeks as they warmed to room temperature. "Aaron asked me to be here at one o’clock."
The woman had a bright, friendly smile. "Hi, you must be Cadence. Have a seat, dear, and I'll let him know you're here."
Cadence nodded and sat down as the gray-haired woman, whose name plate identified her as Mrs. Carminati, disappeared into what must have been Aaron's office. She returned a second later, but this time, when she smiled at Cadence, her lips were tight. She walked back to her desk to complete what seemed to be important work. She didn’t lift her eyes from it again for several minutes.
Cadence hesitated to ask anything because she didn't want to interrupt, but she also wondered what in the world was going on. "Excuse me, Mrs. Carminati," she said quietly, "but, do you know how long he's been back?"
Without pausing in her typing, she replied, "Not long, dear."
Cadence nodded, wondering what the word "dear" really meant. Did she feel sorry for her for some reason? She hoped the older woman would elaborate regarding Aaron’s arrival, but when she didn't, she attempted to ask a follow-up question. "Is he--"
"Angry?" Mrs. Carminati supplied.
"Yes," Cadence confirmed.
Mrs. Carminati stopped typing and peered at Cadence over the top of the rather high counter that surrounded her desk. "Did you have an orientation, dear?" she asked in an almost sickeningly sweet voice.
"Yes, ma'am," Cadence replied.
"With who, dear?"
"Jamie."
"Ah, yes, Jamie. He's been here a long time, dear," she responded thoughtfully. "And, did Jamie point out Aaron's office to you, darling?"
Cadence just nodded.
"And, do you remember what Dr. Joplin said about visiting Aaron's office, dear?"
Cadence swallowed hard, remembering precisely what Jamie had said. "Yes... he said... he hoped I never had to be called in here."
Mrs. Carminati flashed a sympathetic smile, her eyes crinkling with sympathy. "There you go, dear."
Suddenly, Cadence felt her stomach drop like a rock. What had happened? What had she done wrong?
Her first instinct was to start sending out IAC messages to all of her friends to see if anyone had any idea why Aaron might be mad at her. Would Elliott know? Would Jamie? But she thought better of it. Whatever it was, it had to be a misunderstanding. She hadn't done anything wrong. Involving her friends would mean they’d be worried for no reason.
He left her waiting for what seemed like an eternity. That didn’t seem like Aaron, to keep someone waiting, not when he was always so punctual. In fact, it was about 1:15 when Mrs. Carminati finally said, "He'll see you now, dear," and gestured toward the door. The secretary didn't get up, and Aaron didn't come out, so Cadence took a deep breath and approached his door, holding back the anxiety she felt fighting its way up her throat.
When she opened the door, she had a long way to go to reach his desk, which was all the way on the other side of the room. He wasn't looking at her, not at first, his chair turned away from the door, only his profile visible to her. She couldn't tell if he was on the phone, on the IAC, or just ignoring her. So, without saying anything, she made her way across the great divide and found a seat in one of the chairs across from his desk. After what seemed like another eternity, she finally said, “Hey…. You wanted to see me?"
He didn’t acknowledge her at first, and she couldn’t see him at all now that she was seated. When he finally swiveled his chair to face her, she could tell by his expression that he wasn’t just angry—he was heartbroken about something. His eyes were a little red, and the way his lips were pressed together, she didn’t know if he was going to shout at her or break down in front of her.
Alarm rang through her body as she wanted to do whatever she could to make him feel better. Whoever had hurt him was going to have to answer to her. She couldn’t imagine the stoic leader being reduced to tears over anything, though she imagined he had cried before.
Like maybe when his wife died.
Had someone died?
She quickly checked the IAC to see if all of her friends were available, and they were.
So what was it?
“Aaron, you’re scaring me. What’s wrong?” Her eyes were wide as she stared at him, begging him to speak.
He held his breath for a long moment, his eyes piercing through her as she felt every thundering beat of her heart. When he finally opened his mouth to speak, the words were quiet, barely controlled, and there were only two of them.
“How’s Christian?”
