Read Online Speed Dating by Nancy Warren - Free Book Online

though he wasn’t sure where to begin.
    Her churning stomach now had nothing to do with the alcohol.
    “Kendall, your speech last night was a, um, surprise to all of us. I…we…those of us in senior management had a meeting this morning, in person and conference call. We agreed that your speech—your behavior, in fact—was inappropriate.”
    Her feeling of being a kick-ass woman began to dissipate faster than snow beneath a blowtorch. “Perhaps you’re right. I admit I didn’t intend to say what I did. I should have taken more time to think it over.”
    “Yes,” Glen agreed. “You should’ve.”
    “As I’m sure you realize,” she said, “Marvin Fulford and I—”
    “Yes, indeed. A very distressing situation. Marvincame to us last night, very upset. He held nothing back. We want you to know, Kendall, he was candid that his relationship with Ms. Varsan made you very emotional.”
    Anger swept through her like a brush fire. “He broke our engagement less than an hour before the banquet. I wasn’t emotional. I was betrayed, angry, heartbroken.”
    “The situation, as I’m sure you can understand, is untenable. We simply cannot have these kind of personal dramas affecting our work.”
    “Of course not,” she agreed. “I assure you that I will do my job, as I always have, with the utmost professional integrity. However, I have been blind not to see what was going on under my nose. It was that lack of perspicacity in myself which made me refuse that award. It wouldn’t have been right to accept it.”
    “Nevertheless, your speech publicly embarrassed our company and one of our senior employees.”
    “An employee who has been humiliating me for months behind my back.” She had to stay calm, she reminded herself even as her voice shook.
    “Kendall.” Bob went for the avuncular tone. She supposed he thought he had the right to treat her like a child. “I’ve known you a long time and I believe you’ve got a wonderful future ahead of you.”
    “Oh, good.” She breathed out. “I thought for a second there you were going to fire me.”
    Bob cleared his throat and looked at the blank table as though searching for something to straighten or tidy. “Of course not. However, we are a respected firm. We cannot allow people involved personally to affect the workplace.”
    “Then you might want to separate Marvin and Penelope.”
    “We’re moving Ms. Varsan to Payroll. She’s accepted the new position.”
    “Where are you moving me? The mail room?”
    Glen spoke up. This was obviously his leg of the dog and pony show. “We’re transferring you to the branch office in Aurora. You’ll be assistant branch manager.”
    She blinked. “That’s a storefront insurance office that isn’t even open yet. I’m not an insurance clerk. I’m an actuary.”
    “I’m sorry, Kendall, but we think this is for the best. As you point out, the Aurora location won’t be viable for a few months. We’re offering you a three-month stress leave. When you return to work, you’ll report to the Aurora office.”
    “Stress leave?” She stared from one to the other. “You think I need a stress leave?”
    The silence was so thick she heard Glen’s shoes scrape the carpet as he shifted.
    “And Marvin?”
    “He’ll remain where he is. We feel we’ve solved the problem.”
    “But Marvin was the problem.”
    “This isn’t open to discussion, Kendall. The decision has been made.”
    She looked from one to the other, unable to believe what she was hearing. Marvin kept his job, and the two women he’d been involved with got demoted? She was sent off on stress leave for three months? “What if I refuse?”
    “Your position has been relocated to Aurora. You have no job in the Portland office.”
    All those years. All that training. The hours she’d putin, the loyalty she’d felt for the company. It was so blatantly unfair, sexist and wrong that she felt like screaming. An outburst that would only confirm their obvious