Dish

I saw Suzy and Dina at a table near the back of the restaurant. Suzy saw me immediately and waved me over.

“Hey, Faith. I ordered for you, an orange chicken and two eggrolls.” Dina smiled at me as I got settled.

“Thanks, you sounded…harried on the phone earlier, Suzy.”

Dina was laughing at Suzy’s paranoia and I couldn’t help but look at them with confusion.

“We want in.” Suzy finally managed to say.

“In on what?” I asked.

Suzy immediately shushed me and sat straighter in her chair, the waiter had come with our food. He gave Suzy a questioning glare as he left after laying out all of our plates.

“What Suzy is very poorly asking you, Faith, is if there are any openings at your new job…ones that would specifically suit our qualifications.” Dina shot Suzy a warning glance as she popped a spoon full of beef fried rice in her mouth.

I shook my head, “No…we just hired so many people, we won’t be looking to expand for at least a few months.” Their facial expressions, which were full of hope quickly became sullen and sad, “Why are you guys looking for new jobs? Dina you’ve been with the paper forever.”

They both sighed. Something on Dina’s face told me that she had hoped I wouldn’t ask.

“Well…our…boss is kind of the problem. We both want out.” Suzy exchanged a glance with Dina as soon as she’d finished; it’s like they’d rehearsed what to say.

Something about the way Suzy worded that sentence didn’t seem right.

“Alright…spill it. What are you trying not to say?” I crossed my arms against my chest and sat back in my chair; glaring at them.

“Nothing,” Dina said, “We don’t like our boss and just wanted to know if there was an opening at your paper.”

“Well, I can’t help you there, but I’ll be sure to let you know when something opens up.” I said lulling them into a false sense of security.

“That would be great Faith, we hate working for-“

“Yeah thanks Faith.” Dina said interrupting Suzy, I had a feeling she also kicked her under the table.

“Cut the crap. Who’s your new boss? Why are they so awful to work for?”

Suddenly, both of them were shoving food into their mouths, raving about how good it was.

“Guys…it’s me…I thought we were friends.” I was impressed with myself, I didn’t think I was capable of such a convincing guilt trip.

“Aw….Faith…Dina…she has a right to know if she’s going to help us with the getting a job thing.” Suzy turned to Dina who was twisting her napkin around.

A chilly silence fell over the table. I went to get up.

“Okay….” I sat back down as Dina yelped the word out, “Faith…we don’t actually have a new boss.”

“I don’t really understand.” I said trying to make sense of what that meant.

“When you left Kevin was fired, we all saw him packing up his things with his banshee of a fiancée.”

I nodded remembering Dina tell me about Hannah coming to help him clean out his office and the pity I had felt for her shortly thereafter.

Suzy jumped in, “We got George back and everyone missed you, but Scott was taking your place just fine. Things were going really well. But then George left and Kevin came back, a month later. All of us were really confused but it was a permanent decision and no one knew how he’d managed it.”

I was pretty shocked by this news but I smiled at Suzy. She was the gossip columnist at the paper, I just knew she got the dirt.

“How’d you figure it out?”

“I didn’t…Dina broke into Scott’s office, your old office, and looked up Kevin’s personnel file.”

I looked at Dina absolutely shocked.

“Dina…that’s illegal. You could be fired if anyone found out.”

“I had to Faith. I wanted to know what he did to get his job back. He sexually assaulted you in his office, as a woman and a potential victim, I felt I had a right to know why the board was giving him his job back. Besides, everyone hates him, they won’t rat me out.”

I looked at Dina and could feel the waves of anger rolling off of her.

“And?”

“He basically blackmailed them,” she said, “He used his relationship with you as a way to sue the paper for sexual harassment. If he’d won the paper would have gone under and all of us would be out of a job. They negotiated a settlement with him. They agreed to pay him a certain amount of money and give him his job back as long as he agreed to drop the lawsuit completely and attend a 30-day rehab program for his drinking. There were a few other conditions, like he would be terminated immediately if he drank on the premises or showed up to work drunk and a bunch of other stuff.”

“George only came back while Kevin was in rehab. His wife’s been doing a little better, by the way. She opted out of the hospice care at George's request when their youngest daughter got engaged. They think she’ll make it to Christmas.” Suzy said quietly, there was a sense of sadness in her voice.

“That’s nice to hear about George’s wife,” I said momentarily distracted by the news. I loved George and was truly sorry to hear about his wife. It looks like she’ll be able to attend her youngest daughter’s wedding this October. My thoughts quickly moved on to something Dina had said, “Wait…I gave the board a statement about our dating, how is he suing them for sexual harassment?”

“It basically turned into a he-said-she-said thing. Kevin claims that you came into his office to try and get back together. He claims you were trying to seduce him and he was trying to prevent you from taking off anymore of your clothes.” Dina said. It suddenly became crystal clear why they were so reluctant to tell me about Kevin’s re-hiring.

“But that’s a lie! Herb and Wesley saw him trying to take off my shirt. He had me pinned against his desk and had his tongue down my throat!”

“The board asked them both for statements but they couldn’t really remember enough details to be reliable witnesses. Kevin hired a lawyer that would have torn them to shreds. Kevin claimed that they walked in while he was trying to keep you from taking your shirt off and misread the situation.” Suzy said looking down.

I was silent for a minute. It was a lot to take in.

“That’s not even the half of it, Faith,” Dina pounded her fist on the table, “he’s a jerk to everyone. He makes all of our jobs harder and gets away with so much crap because he knows the only thing to get him fired would be alcohol-related. The board is too afraid to do anything about it. It’s awful. Scott doesn't know what to do or how to handle Kevin. Herb and Wesley get the worst of his wrath.”

I looked down. I was sorry that Herb and Wesley were being punished for being decent human beings. Maybe there would be room for them at my job too. I looked up, aware that I had gotten lost in my thoughts. Dina and Suzy were looking at me with concerned eyes.

“I will do whatever I can to help you guys when my paper starts looking for more people. I promise.”

Relief washed over both their faces and after a few minutes our conversation turned to more frivolous topics. I realized how much I missed both of them and immediately felt bad for not keeping in touch. To be fair…the whole situation with Kevin tainted so many things I had previously loved that I think, subconsciously, I didn’t want to be reminded of him ever again. Dina and Suzy were both reminders. Both of them seemed to understand, though.

We said our goodbyes after catching up and I couldn’t help feeling bad as I walked to my apartment. The three of us used to be really close but after I started dating Kevin I kind of separated myself from my co-workers to reduce the gossip pool that had been going around with us. I was a horrible friend to them for not staying in touch after I left and I will make it up to them.

(Author's note: There will be a post every day this week [including weekends] so come back often!)