Annette Broadrick – Married Or Not?: Married or Not? / Ian's Ultimate Gamble (страница 2)
She was horrified. And embarrassed. No matter how Brad phrased it, each of them was being fired.
Sherri struggled to come to grips with the whole idea. She had never been fired before. Sherri had always received praise for the work she did. Why would they choose to let
Her thoughts were bouncing around in her head and she broke out in a cold sweat. What was she going to do? How was she going to face Joan and tell her she’d lost her job? The reason Joan had asked Sherri to be her roommate was because the rent was too much for Joan by herself.
“To make the transition a little easier for each of you…” Brad continued. Sherri forced herself to listen. She had to concentrate. She couldn’t display her despair in front of everyone. “…you will each receive a check for two weeks’salary and any vacation leave you have coming.
“You’re talented people. Remember that. This is strictly a business decision.”
He looked around the room. “Any questions?”
No one spoke. Finally Sherri raised her hand.
“Yes, Sherri?”
“Uh, Brad, you know the manual I’ve been working on? I’ve been getting it ready for the printers next week. Do you want me to finish it before I leave?”
He shook his head. “I appreciate your offer, but no. We’ll have to deal with this without you.” He looked around the room. “Any others?”
No one said anything.
“In that case—” He reached into his coat’s breast pocket and pulled out a sheaf of envelopes. “When I call your name please pick up your check from me. There will be someone waiting at your desk to help you clear out your things.”
The ultimate humiliation. She would have to clean out her desk while someone looked over her shoulder to make certain she didn’t take something that wasn’t hers.
With all the dignity she could manage, Sherri walked to the head of the table when her name was called, took her check and returned to her desk. A smile was beyond her.
No one was talking. Those remaining with the company had their heads down, working. Had she been in their place, she would no doubt have done the same. She was now separated from them. They worked here. She didn’t.
Numbly she found a box and began to strip her desk of reference books and other odds and ends she’d accumulated over the past three years.
She was escorted out of the building and once in the parking lot, Sherri hurried to her car, at the moment the only escape and sanctuary she had. The inside of the car steamed with heat and she quickly rolled down the windows while she placed the box on the backseat. Inside the car, Sherri placed her hands on the steering wheel and stared blindly through the windshield.
Panic surged through her. What about her part of the rent and utilities? She had money put away for emergencies, but nothing like this. She’d have no income to take care of bills.
The money left for her by her parents had enabled Sherri to pay for her college education and to buy herself a car. She’d been thankful not to have to worry about student loans and very grateful for their foresight.
What was she going to do? She had to get another job, but where?
She’d have to go through interviews, which she detested. She’d have to tell them she’d been laid off. Would that be a black mark against her?
Her eyes finally focused on a few people standing near their parked cars, discussing what had happened. She didn’t want to discuss what had happened with anyone. What she wanted to do was go back home and hide under the bed, or at least hide her head under her pillow.
Her life had been so carefully structured. She’d believed that working hard and honing her skills would protect her.
Tears trickled down her cheeks. She turned the car on and waited for the air conditioner to blow some cool air before raising the windows.
She couldn’t sit in the parking lot all day. She had no place else to go but home. Thank goodness school was still in session. She wouldn’t have to face Joan until later today.
Joan planned to spend most of her summer with three of her teacher friends traveling around Europe. They were leaving the latter part of June.
Sherri knew she was being cowardly, but she wished that this could have happened after Joan had left. She could have used the time to pull herself together and make some kind of plans.
She felt sick to her stomach. She had to get through this, somehow.
Sherri flipped the visor down and stared at herself in the mirror. “So. What do you intend to do now?”
The image in the mirror, with its dark-brown hair, green eyes and pasty white skin stared back blankly.
“Try not to panic. You can do this.”
She flipped the mirror up and eased the car forward. As she pulled out of the parking lot, Sherri thought of one positive…at least her car was paid for. That was one less worry. It was a few years old but she took good care of it. She only prayed nothing major broke down until she had a steady income once again.
She glanced back for a moment before getting on the access road of the freeway. Happiness was
Sherri followed the access road until she could merge with traffic on the highway. She glanced at the car clock, amazed to discover it wasn’t even noon yet. Had it only been a few hours ago that she’d been home sipping coffee and reading the paper?
She shook her head. There was definitely a time warp going on. Nothing seemed real to her.
Once on the highway, Sherri headed for home. Traffic flowed smoothly at this time of day, which was a blessing. She had to force herself to focus on her driving.
After a few miles of traveling at seventy, she realized that, once again, luck was against her. Brake lights showed up ahead of her and she began to slow down. There must be an accident up ahead.
Out of habit, she glanced in her rearview mirror and froze.
A tractor-trailer rig had suddenly appeared at the top of the rise behind her and was bearing down on her.
Couldn’t he see all the red brake lights ahead of him? Couldn’t he see that she had come to a complete stop?
Time slowed down for her as she watched him attempt to slow down his rig. She could hear his brakes screaming as he moved inexorably toward her.
Sherri felt a certain calm fall upon her as she waited for him to hit her. Maybe this was the way her life would end. At that moment, she really didn’t care.
The last thing she remembered was the sound of screeching metal as the rig plowed into her car.
Sherri roused at some point, wondering where she was. She felt as though she were floating. She vaguely heard voices that didn’t seem to have anything to do with her. Excited voices. She lazily wondered what they were excited about.
A voice near her head yelled. “This one’s trapped in her car. We’ve gotta get her out of here. Now!”
“Is she alive?”
“Can’t tell. I can see her, but can’t reach her.
She wondered who they were talking about.
Loud sounds echoed around her, which was irritating. How rude. Couldn’t they see she was trying to rest?
She faded away, the voices in the distance, until she felt a hand at her throat.
“There’s a pulse. Let’s get her out of there.”
The seat shifted. Why was she under the dash? Compact cars were too small to be playing games.
Then more hands touched her, moving her.
She screamed and blacked out once again.
Two
Greg Hogan was returning to the police station when dispatch called him to come in. As a homicide detective, he spent as little time at the station as possible. As it happened, though, today he needed to run some information through the station’s computer. He was investigating the murder of a young photographer, and evidence he had gathered pointed to a person who knew his victim well enough to have invited him into his home. He had a couple of suspects in mind. Now he had to follow up on some leads in order to get the necessary evidence for an arrest.
He wondered why he’d been called in. Maybe he’d irritated the captain. If so, it would only be the third time this week. The captain didn’t like Greg’s attitude toward work. He wasn’t a team player. He was a maverick. The problem was, Greg solved homicides and the captain had trouble arguing with his success.
Not that Greg’s success ever stopped the captain from griping at him. Greg had grown so used to it that he’d long ago tuned him out, figuring that while the captain was going after Greg, he was leaving the others under his command alone.
Last week Pete Carter had pointed out how altruistic Greg was, protecting the other men from the captain. Pete was a sergeant on the force and had been around longer than any of them. Greg promptly suggested that since all the men were better off with him taking the brunt of the tongue-lashings, they owed him a beer. And darned if they hadn’t taken him out one night and wouldn’t let him pay for anything.