A Heart to Trust by A.L. Brooks (best english novels to read .TXT) 📕

and looked over their heads at the rest of the production department. “Okay, everyone, back to work, please.” With a rumble of voices, the rest of the staff did as they were told. Zoey dropped her hands and returned her gaze to Olivia and her colleagues. Zoey’s expression was calm despite the storm that had just occurred. “Can I ask all of you to join me in a meeting room, please?”

Chapter 26

Zoey waited until the three of them were all seated before she started speaking. “I know that wasn’t pleasant to witness, and I apologize for any distress it may have caused.” She meshed her fingers together. “Ejecting someone from the premises is never a nice thing to have to do. But, in this case, I’m afraid it was necessary.” She leaned forward and folded her hands together on the table before her. “We received a complaint earlier this week about an inappropriate relationship between Ms. Gillard and Mr. Flanigan. After investigating, we discovered a number of breaches of company policy of a serious enough nature that they both had to be instantly dismissed.”

Olivia flicked a glance at Jenny and Maxwell. He looked as shocked as she was but—

Her heart skipped a beat.

Jenny didn’t look shocked. She didn’t even look surprised. God, did she know? Wait, was she the one who complained?

“So,” Zoey said, “this obviously means that our process for selecting three production assistants has been simplified.” She gave a small, mirthless chuckle. “Congratulations, you all have permanent roles with C&V beginning Monday. We also have a new vacancy for a production manager. We will initially be advertising that internally and we encourage anyone who feels they have the relevant experience to apply.”

She looked pointedly at all three of them, and Olivia’s heart skipped another beat. Production manager? Now that was something to think about.

“Now, if any of you need some time to deal with everything that happened this morning, I will completely understand. Make sure you’re not leaving anything not done that needs to be but take all the time you need. Have a good weekend and come back ready to get to work on Monday, okay?”

Olivia’s mind whirled with everything she’d been told and everything she thought she’d deduced from everyone else’s reactions. Before she realized it, Zoey was leaving, with Maxwell and Jenny following.

Olivia stood and rushed after them. “Jenny, can I talk to you for a sec?”

Jenny took a moment to turn around. When she did, her eyes were so haunted, it was all Olivia could do not to pull her into her arms. “I’d like to—”

“Can we go for coffee? Out of the office?” Olivia said. “Please?”

Jenny shoulders slumped and she nodded, almost imperceptibly.

Jenny took a deep breath as she sat at their table. They’d found some space in one of their local coffee shops, away from the tourist crowds and only half-full. She knew Olivia would ask her about the Chrissy situation. On the one hand, it would be great to tell someone. But on the other, the shock of seeing both Chrissy and Derek marched out of the building still hadn’t worn off, and she’d rather not talk about it at all.

You could have said no, a voice in her head said. Except, somehow, she couldn’t. Not to Olivia.

“Want to tell me what’s going on?” Olivia’s voice was gentle. “You didn’t seem shocked by the news that there’d been a complaint about them. Did you know?”

Jenny wasn’t actually sure what to say, so she did the next best thing and pulled her phone from her pocket. She scrolled to the photo Roz had taken and slid the phone across the table toward Olivia.

“Oh my God. When was this?” Olivia stared up at Jenny.

“Monday night.” Jenny ran a hand through her hair. “I was downtown with some friends in a bar and spotted them across the room. My friend took this pic and sent it to me. I didn’t know if I would do anything with it, but then everything came back to me. Everything you’d said about how she manipulated us.” She toyed with the phone where it lay between them. “I didn’t want to believe it. That she would go this far. I thought she was my friend. But you were right.”

“I’m so sorry,” Olivia said. “I really am. I never wanted you to be hurt by any of this. And I honestly thought she was only after me.”

“I don’t even know just how much she did or to who. I just knew her being with him was wrong. She’d definitely be able to influence him into making sure her job was secure. And that got me thinking about whatever else she could convince him of.” She sighed, embarrassment at her gullibility creeping back. “I fell for all her crap and I feel pretty stupid as a result.”

“Oh, wait, no! She was, unfortunately, exceptionally good at this. Everything she did to me left no trail, and I had no way of proving it, even though I knew she’d done it. Hell, she practically admitted it to me on Monday morning and I still couldn’t do anything with what she said! You have nothing to be embarrassed about, trust me.” Olivia tentatively laid her hand over Jenny’s. The touch was soft and warm, and—

Jenny snatched her hand away. “Don’t. Please…don’t.” She couldn’t bear Olivia toying with her too. Olivia had kissed her, then told her to back off, and now she was being all nice to her again. Even being in her presence got harder and harder by the minute. All Jenny could think about was that damn kiss.

Olivia’s face fell. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…” She exhaled loudly. “For what it’s worth, I’m very impressed by what you did. Going to HR must have been hard. Not only because you’d considered Chrissy a friend, but because I suspect you wondered if HR would even believe you. You were incredibly brave to risk it.”

Jenny shrugged and tried to act