2

A Painfully Average Morning

It’s been flagged. That was all I could think as I quietly stared at the computer screen. My stomach lodged somewhere in my high heels.

A blinking cursor clicked on the account I’d quietly been skimming from, over the last year.

He noticed.

I swallowed hard. My eyes roving over the numbers before sliding to the man sitting behind a desk across from me, then dropping back to the screen in alarm.

He seemed oblivious to the fact that I was nearly pissing myself behind my desk.

How did he find out?

I need to see the hardcopy. I decided frantically. Panic climbing with every loud boom of my heart.

What if he tells the CEO?

This wasn’t how I had expected my morning to go.

It had been so normal when I woke up. I’d had no idea that my entire life might crumble with the click of one email.

Nor that Porter, of all people, would be the one to destroy me.

---

40 Minutes Earlier:

I woke that morning to see that I had seven missed calls from Mike the night before. Not uncommon. He’d been being an asshole since I broke up with him a month ago.

Doesn’t want to take ‘no’ for an answer.

I groaned and rolled onto my back. Dragging my tail out of bed against every fiber of my being. I shivered as my apartment suddenly felt far colder than it had been when I went to sleep.

I took a quick shower. Hair-sprayed my hair and did my makeup complete with bubble gum colored lipstick before sliding into a pink blouse that strained over my large breasts and didn’t tighten enough around my narrow waist.

Nothing ever fits right when your boobs are bigger than melons. I grumbled inwardly as I tugged it side to side to adjust it enough the buttons didn’t look like they were crying, before I stepped into a fitted gray skirt that was slitted along my calf. Pulling on my matching gray heels. I pulled my wavy blonde hair up into a long bouncy pony and put on my gray suit jacket. Then I went around the corner to the kitchen to pour some creamer into the bottom of my thermos before adding some rich chocolate flavored coffee from the automatic-start coffee, then tightening the lid.

I stepped to the Living Room and saw that the leak dripping into a five-gallon bucket was alive and well. But, on the positive side, it didn’t look like any more of the ceiling had fallen. I blew a frustrated breath and headed for the door. Reminding myself to email the Apartment Manager since the Maintenance man had not been by in over a week.

I opened my door and stepped out. Not realizing the roses were there until my heel crunched on them.

“Ugh.” I grunted as I caught myself. Looking down at them and deflating.

Again?

He’s not getting it.

“Mike.” I shook my head as I picked them up. Dropping them in the trash at the top of the stairs before rushing down and walking the block, high heels clicking to the bus stop. It came by and I stepped on, careful not to slosh my coffee onto my blouse.

The bus driver gave me a nod.

“Hey Bill.” I greeted.

“Hello, Angel.” He let the five people behind me board before he pushed the lever to close the door.

I slid into an empty seat.

It wasn’t a long trip to the office. But it was another three-block walk to the office from the bus stop. I sipped my coffee and walked quickly, entering the office to find two of my best staff already there. Teresa, the raven-haired woman that was the closest thing to a friend I had.

And Porter. Porter was an unassuming quiet accountant that had promoted to Oversight to review the work of the others. He was very good at what he did and was a self-starter. He never asked for anything, rarely spoke at all. As long as his cup of black coffee was full, he hardly moved at all. Flicking through spreadsheets.

Rita usually filled his cup when she got the pot to fill hers as her addiction was every bit as bad as his.

I took off my suit jacket and slid into my desk chair. Clicking through spreadsheets as I inspected those, Porter had already sent over this morning. I was very quick to get through them which was probably why he came in so early. Trying to get a jump on me for the day.

His thick silver glasses tended to slip down his nose throughout the day and he often pushed them up. His rusty brown hair was always perfectly swept back and his suits tailored and unwrinkled. He was a good model for the company.

Barely human. I thought as I returned my gaze to my screen. But I was thankful for his skill.

I peeked into the Meridian account.

It was my dirty secret, so I found it being the first thing I checked every morning. It was the one I’d been quietly skimming from.

It was the company partner’s accountant.

Logan Walker.

Who also happened to be my piece of shit, cheating, ex-husband.

I pulled it up and blinked rapidly. Realizing it had been flagged by Porter for being 20,000 shy of what it should be. What?

I’d been so careful!

And what’s more, I had only skimmed a little under $10,000.

So where had the other $10,000 gone?

And that brings us to where I was now. Sitting staring at the screen. Panicked that Porter had somehow noticed what I’d gotten past him for a little over a year.

He noticed because it suddenly jumped to $20,000 missing.

I had been so careful to cover my tracks.

He’d have never caught it.

I stared at the cursor and the undeniable number behind it that told me one important thing.

I have to find that money.