Miranda

Chapter 21

Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn't know you left open.

-John Barrymore

I was made to take two whole weeks off for doctors' appointments and physical therapy. I was more than ready to get back to work, I was going a little stir crazy just sitting around waiting for the car service Nate had set up to take me to all my appointments. I didn't really like having to rely on someone else to pick me up and take me places, but I wasn't able to drive with my arm still in the sling. Nate said that the law firm was just going to add the car service to the list of bills that Justin would be made to pay for so not to worry about it.

He had come by the Monday evening after my meeting with Mr. Parks to fill me in on what had happened at court that day. Justin was being held on multiple charges and would have to come up with $50,000 for bail money. Apparently, his wife was there and left the courtroom crying hysterically. Nate assured me that the firm would be notified if Justin managed to make bail, but the high bail amount meant that he probably wouldn't get out before the trial date.

The trial dates.

The first hearing was set for March 1st, just weeks away. I would have to get on the witness stand and make a statement about what had happened, all while Justin just sat there. I tried not to think about it too hard.

Despite my initial misgivings about accepting the phone, it was actually quite handy to have. Nate has helped me set up an email address, I had never had an email outside of college and they set that one up for me. The law firm was able to send me documents or ask me questions without bothering me at work, though I doubted I would have been in trouble for stepping away to answer if they did.

Nick was quite apologetic about the whole ordeal and had even made it against store policy to gossip in anyway about it. Valerie told me that the day before I returned to work, he had gathered the staff in a morning and evening meeting to basically tell them that it was none of their business unless directly asked and then only by authorized persons.

It didn't help the stares though; everyone seemed to know at least part of the story and had made up the rest to fill in the gaps. Problem was, they weren't far off. I did find out through the Joel's grapevine that Becci had been "let go" for unknown reasons. Most people just thought that it was because she was a horrible person, but given the proximity to the event with me, the gossip mill was running with it.

I didn't really care; I had been relegated to working the Cash Office and Customer Service Desk to open and close the store for the foreseeable future. Though the split shift worked out in my favor as I still had to go to physical therapy twice a week even though the sling had come off. I wasn't sure if I was being punished or if Nick just wanted to keep an eye on me. Either way, it kinda sucked. I was stuck in a box with only one other person to talk to. Valerie.

My first few days back were a little awkward as I realized that I had been using my position as Customer Service Manager to essential stay away from everyone. The only interactions I had with them previously had been work related or a general societal requirement to ask how someone's day was. I had never really bonded with anyone at work.

On my third day back, after many hours of uncomfortable silence Valerie whispered to me.

"You know... you weren't the first." My eyes shot up to hers, only hers were staring blankly in front of her. And her tone wasn't accusatory, more sad than anything.

"What do you mean?" I whisper back.

She looked at me then. "you weren't the first, he tried it with me too." Again, she stared blankly at the nothing in front of her. "He cornered me one night in the stockroom and was starting to get rough but one of the stoner night shift guys came in and almost caught us. I called my boyfriend to come pick me up that night and made sure that Justin saw him. He works at that CrossFit club down the street and is in really good shape. Justin told me that if I ever told anyone that I would be looking for a new job, but he left me alone after that." She turned away and went back to tagging clearance items.