“Until a doctor explicitly tells me I can’t, I’m going to assume that one cup in the morning is perfectly safe. Who knows if it’ll even stay down.” I grumbled.
We moved to the back deck and sat in silence for a few minutes. Lily watched me with a concerned expression as I glared at the hot tub.
“I really want to light that on fire.”
“We can call someone, and have it removed?” Ever sensible Lily suggested.
“I guess.” I rolled my eyes, “You could let me live a little… it’s just a tiny bit of arson.”
Lily snorted into her cup.
“Your honor… it was just a tiny bit of arson.” Lily mocked in a high-pitched voice.
“Fine. We will call a removal company.”
“I was thinking, does your security system have camera’s or just the doorbell viewer?”
“Both. The doorbell camera records constantly, and we have motion activated property camera’s.”
“Good, that’s good. Where do the recordings go and for how long are they saved?” Lily attempted to appear nonchalant with her line of questioning, but wasn’t great at being subtle.
“They go to my brother’s company… are you going to get to the real question soon?” I teased.
She scowled and muttered “rude”.
“Fine, my real question was, is there a way to get the house footage from when you were gone? If there’s evidence of hisaffair,” she said it with a disgusted expression, “then the lawyers will want it before he has the chance to get rid of it.”
I knew she was right, but I also knew that we only had access to footage from the past 24 hours. Anything further, and I would need to submit a request to the security company, which meant my brother would be notified.
I cringed.
“I can get the footage from yesterday but anything earlier I’ll need to make an official request and then my brother willfind out. I really don’t want my brother to watch my husband fucking some girl in the hot tub.”
“Is there anyone else in his company that you could talk to that would keep it a secret for you?” Lily bit her lip. “Or should you just warn your brother?”
“His partner is probably running things while he’s home dealing with the funeral. It’s not like he lives in North Dakota, so…” I often talked to myself when I went into problem-solving mode. “I don’t know if Griffin will lie to Kyle though…”
“You don’t really need him to lie; you just need him to not bother your brother. Kyle won’t even know to ask as long as he doesn’t get a notification about your request.”
“True.” I nodded. It felt good to have a plan. “Alright, first we call someone to come get the tub.”
“On it.” Lily said and pulled out her phone.
“I’ll call Griffin instead of submitting a request. And then we pick a lawyer.” I finished my coffee and smiled. “I’ve got this.”
“Yes, you do.”
7-Angela
I really wasn’t surprised to find myself being called into HR the minute I walked into work Friday morning. I also wasn’t surprised to see Ben and Peter sitting there. I was a little surprised to see that Ben had brought a lawyer. When we spoke last night, he hadn’t said a word about needing representation.
Maybe he found a different way to protect us?
“Good morning, Ms. Reed.” The frigid-looking HR lady said in a brisk voice. She was in her late thirties, wore her dark hair in a tight bun, and already had frown lines starting.
“Good morning,” I said in a timid voice. Before settling as a receptionist, I had come to L.A. with dreams of being on the big screen someday. Other than starring in a panty liner ad and a speed dating commercial, that dream had crashed and burned. The skills I had learned from endless classes and theater clubs, however, were going to come out today.
“Do you know why I’ve called you in today?” Janine- no Jane… no Janice-What the hell is her name?- asked with an eyebrow raised. I shot a quick glance at the name plate on her desk.
