The next afternoon, I left work a bit early to meet Alice at her store. She was the manager at a trendy boutique named Eclipse and she wanted me to edit an email blast that she was sending out to all of the customers about a big clearance sale they were having. Honestly we could have done it over email, but I think Alice just wanted to hang out, so I agreed to meet her.
As I neared the store, I saw her in the window, holding a plastic arm in her hand as she redressed a mannequin. I knocked on the window and she waved me inside.
"Hey, Izzy. Come to the back office and I'll show you what I have so far." She said, weaving through the clothing racks with the mannequin's arm still in her hand. When I sat down at her desk, Alice glanced at me and furrowed her perfectly groomed eyebrows.
"Izzy, you look…well you've looked better. Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I just haven't been sleeping great…and work has been kind of stressful."
"Well, maybe this will cheer you up…I called and made appointments for us at the spa on the Saturday before your birthday. Massages, facials, manis and pedis. You need some pampering."
"That sounds really good actually." I admitted.
"What are you and Emmett doing for your birthday?"
"We haven't discussed it." I told her.
"Are you two fighting or something?"
"No…I just…I don't know…" I sputtered, unable to complete a thought.
"Relationships are hard. Sometimes you're like insanely in love and sometimes you just want to claw their face off. I get it."
"How did you know that Jasper was the one? The one you could spend the rest of your life with?" I asked suddenly.
"I still haven't decided." She giggled. Then her face took on a serious expression. "I just knew. It's a gut feeling."
"And you never doubted?"
"I'm happier with him than without him. Simple as that."
"Are you talking about Channing Tatum again?" A voice drawled before a handsome face peeked into the open door.
"Of course. All of womankind is happier, simply because he exists." She said, sticking her tongue out at her husband. He walked over and kissed her on the lips. He bent his tall frame down and kissed me on the top of the head.
"Hey Izzy! Alice is putting you to work too, huh? She asked me to come down and fix one of the lights in the dressing room."
"Well, I tried to do it, but even on the ladder I wasn't tall enough." She said, pouting. Jasper and I laughed heartily, him holding onto his sides in merriment. He and Rose looked very much alike with golden blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. The only thing keeping him from being too pretty was the crooked nose caused by an errant ball while playing baseball in college. It gave him a rugged look.
"Fuck both of you. Bella, really? You are like three inches taller than me. So…whatever." She rolled her eyes. "And you?" she pointed at Jasper with the mannequin arm. "Just come on and fix the stupid light so we can get out of here." She walked out of the cramped office and Jasper followed her, smacking her bottom playfully.
~SD~
Thursday night, Emmett came over to eat dinner with me since I was making lasagna. It was the first time I had seen him since the retirement party so I wanted to discreetly get a little information about Aro. He was talking about work so I casually slipped Aro into the conversation while we ate.
"Is Aro married?" I sipped my glass of lemonade.
"I don't think so. Why?" he said absently, checking his emails on his iPhone.
"Just asking. I assumed he wasn't. He seemed awfully flirtatious on Saturday." I mentioned, moving my fork around on my plate.
"Flirtatious? He was flirting? With you?" he asked, looking up.
"A little, yeah."
He shook his head and snickered. "You've been hanging around Rose's stuck up ass too long. Every guy isn't after you. Maybe he was just making conversation. Did he ask anything about me?"
"N-no."
Emmett talked around a mouthful of lasagna. "He's pretty much a loner. A genius at business but he's not real social. The only reason that he would talk to you is to get information about me. I hope you were nice to him."
I ignored that last statement. "Is he your boss?"
"No, I don't report to him. I report to Caius."
"How about for the position that you want… Would you have to go through him to get it?"
"No, the board of directors would be the ones who would make the decision. He's not on the board."
I began to feel a bit better. He was one person and he wasn't even on the board of directors. Maybe Aro was simply having delusions of grandeur. I ate the rest of my lasagna with gusto, one less burden weighing on my mind.
~SD~
The following Monday, I was in the conference room at work with some of the interns and Tyler came in with a message for me.
"Izzy, someone called the switchboard and said that they needed to speak with you immediately and that it was an emergency." My heart started thumping in my chest as I imagined all sorts or tragedies. I went to my desk and Tyler transferred the call to me.
"Izzy Swan." I said in greeting.
"Isabella…didn't you like my flowers? You never called to thank me…" Aro snarled.
"Aro! You sent the flowers? How did you…" The hand holding the phone shook from the horror of hearing his sinister voice.
"Please, a simple internet search." He scoffed. "Isabella, I am growing impatient."
"I told you, Emmett doesn't need you to help his career." I told him, trying to control my wavering voice.
"You're that confident?"
"Yes I am." I responded.
"You'll be sorry." He said and hung up. I sat stock still at my desk in confusion. My phone rang again. It was Victoria.
"Hi Vicky."
"Izzy, I need you in the conference room." She commanded, leaving off the implied 'now.'
"I'll be right there." I told her. I tried to focus, but I realized that I had grossly underestimated Aro.
That night I was in my apartment when there was a furious banging at my door.
"Izzy! Izzy!" Emmett roared. I ran to the door and pulled it open and Emmett stormed through in a mad frenzy, his face twisted with fury.
"What is it, Em?"
"I was about to leave the office for the day when a human resources rep came into my office to see me. They put me on leave, Izzy. For an indefinite amount of time. They wouldn't even tell me why, they just had security escort me out!" He bellowed.
"What?" I cried in disbelief, my stomach dropping.
"All that fucking work, Izzy. Down the drain. And I don't even know why. Fuck!" he yelled, kicking the TV stand. The television toppled off of the stand and crashed onto the hardwood floor. He kicked my coffee table, shattering the glass and knocking its contents on the floor.
"Emmett, calm down, honey. Calm down." I pleaded with him, fearful of his destructive anger.
"How the fuck can I calm down? My career is over!" He raged at me.
"Call your brother! Call Edward. He's a lawyer. This can't be legal!" I insisted.
Someone knocked at my door while Emmett was dialing his brother. I opened it and Mrs. Santrini was standing in the hall. She was a sweet, grandmotherly widow and I wasn't surprised that she was checking on me.
"Everything okay?" she asked, her eyes looking past me and into the apartment.
"Yes. The television just fell onto the floor. Everything's fine." I responded, plastering a fake smile onto my face.
"Ok. Let me know if you need me, honey." She said looking at me pointedly before walking back down the hall to her own apartment. I eased the door closed.
Emmett was pacing the length of the living room while holding the phone up to his ear.
"I don't know…no, I didn't fill out any paperwork, they just escorted me out…Eddie, I have no idea what it could be…I'm at Izzy's…okay…okay." He said and then he hung up.
He took a deep breath. "Edward said that there might not be any legal recourse since they didn't actually terminate me. He said the only thing he can guess is they are launching some kind of investigation against me and they are putting me on leave until they finish the investigation. He wants to talk to some people at his firm who have more experience in employment law."
"But if you didn't do anything and the investigation comes up clean then you'll be fine." I assured him.
"The presumption will always be guilt, even if they find nothing. They won't fire me, but they damn sure won't promote me. Fuck."
He ran his fingers through his short hair and dropped onto the sofa. I sat down next to him and tried to comfort him but I knew that it was futile. Aro had Emmett and ultimately me right where he wanted us.