✅ My Cousin's Keeper [NaNoWriMo 2021]

56. My Last Resort

I was still tempted to ask for advice from people more technically inclined. Regardless of the reassurances from above, someone was trying to ruin my reputation. But knowing that the company didn't see a problem with my reading matter made it a little easier to push to the back of my mind. If they actually had the courage to come forward, I could tell them that The Tyrant had already decided it was fine, and that the company had a zero tolerance policy for bullying.

I did my best to push those thoughts to the back of my mind, and to focus on some of the extra work I would need to do this week to prepare before the Christmas break. The holidays were bearing down on us fast, and it was the busiest time of year for some of our clients, who logically wanted there to be absolutely no chance of a delay on our end.

I buried myself in my work. There was some creative stuff in there, but mostly it was making sure that the designers had crossed all the 'i's and dotted the 't's. I would probably have been staying a little late doing all this work any day, but I didn't mind too much when other people started to filter out of the office. I had too much to do, and I already knew that there would be nobody home yet if I clocked off at my usual time.

A little after five, I had a reassuring message from Tess. She said that they had sorted out lunch fine, and that a bunch of them were in line for movie tickets. She didn't say what they were watching, but I expected they would have at least an hour and a half for the movie, plus at least ten minutes of trailers, and another half an hour catching the bus back from Greater Ashfields. I would be home well before them, ready to make sure that my little girl had enjoyed herself. For a few minutes I allowed myself to space out, wondering if she would be slipping into littlespace already when she got home. I knew there was a chance today; I had already told her that she should have an accident if that little creep tried to sneak a kiss, and I doubted he would be able to resist the temptation in the darkness of a cinema.

Would she call me if she needed help to get home? I was confident that she would; and absolutely certain that in that case, Spike wouldn't be making any effort to bother her further. So I threw myself into my work, always keeping one eye on the phone beside my hand in case I needed to head out in a hurrry.

When it finally vibrated, the first thing that caught my attention was the time. My work had taken longer than I expected; whether that was because of momentary daydreams about welcoming a regressed little girl home, or worrying about whoever was spying on my browser history. When I glanced around I saw that the office was empty, and I was sitting in a tiny island of light amid the gloom. Ffrances could have been heading home already, and I hadn't noticed the time until Tess's call for help grabbed my attention. I quickly grabbed my bag and signed out of the computer system. I could finish that last budgeting forecast tomorrow. I didn't look at what Tess's message actually said until I was on the way to Ash Crescent for my car.

"You okay?" I read the message with some confusion. "I'm just heading home now. Hope I'm not too late."

I fumbled with my phone and composed a message back, glancing rapidly between the screen and the path ahead so that I didn't risk tripping in the darkness. I told her that I was about to go home myself, that I would pick her up, and that she wasn't in trouble no matter what happened, so long as she told me the truth. But I didn't get to send the message, because I could already see two figures standing on the path between me and the truck. I could just about make out the shapes of Tess and her favourite little creep. And before I could think of what to ask them, I heard her mumble something about romance.

"Romance?" I asked, and watched her babble in panic as she tried to come up with some lie. Of course she didn't want to admit what they'd really been talking about. I'd been just the same when I was her age, and it just reminded me that the sooner she was younger than this, the better.