Federal Affair

Chapter 24

"Come on. You should feel confident and empowered," Monica said in a sing-song voice, waving her hands in the air dramatically as I drove through the parking garage looking for a spot close to the elevators.

"You're not listening to me," she complained, poking my shoulder. "You're supposed to be listening to me. I'm your best friend. I'm your personal cheerleader. I'm practically your fairy godmother and you just haven't realized it yet!"

I giggled at her choice of words, maneuvering the SUV to back into a space next to a bright red Corvette. After lunch, we'd gone back to Monica's house so she could drop off the massive amount of paperwork that was inhabiting her passenger seat. She'd begged me to take her with me to Hampton, Burns and Hampton, claiming she should be there for moral support. I knew she mostly just wanted to be there to watch me rip Derek a new one, though I wasn't so sure that's what was going to happen. The more I thought about it, the less confident I felt.

"Carrie," she whined, tapping my arm rapidly.

"What?"

"Do you feel confident?" Monica raised her eyebrows expectantly.

I nodded my head yes. "No."

"That... well I'm thoroughly confused," she frowned.

As we walked to the elevators, the nervous pit in my stomach continued to grow. I started regretting having seafood for lunch, knowing that was a bad combination with jittery nerves. After talking about it half the time we were eating, Monica had finally convinced me to go confront Derek. I wanted to get it over with but I also wanted to run the other direction and ignore him until he forgot who I was. Fat chance.

"You can do this," Monica grinned like an idiot when we stepped inside the elevator. "You're like the Hulk."

I looked at her like she had four heads. "The Hulk?"

"I don't mean you look like him," she said, scrunching up her nose and frowning like she was rethinking what she'd just said. "I mean you should have his attitude."

"Oh," I nodded slowly. I wondered where on earth she came up with these things.

"Yeah," she smiled and pressed the button for the forty-sixth floor. "Cause you're not green."

I groaned, feeling a headache in the works as I leaned against the wall, nauseous from the speed of the elevator carrying us to the executive floor.

The elevator doors opened with a ding. It had been awhile since I'd been to Derek's firm. Derek didn't like being disturbed during the work day so I rarely ever went to his office. I glanced around at the admins in their cubicles. Hampton, Burns and Hampton generally chose tall, thin, blonde women who looked like runway models as secretaries. Supposedly it gave off a better image of the firm. I thought it made them appear picky and rude. There were plenty of attractive girls who weren't tall, thin and blonde that would be great employees if they'd just give them the opportunity.

Opposite the sea of cubicles were the partners' offices. Twelve extravagant offices with floor to ceiling windows and glass walls lined the top floor. On the far right were Derek's and his father's offices. Monica gave me a light shove when I hesitated to move.

"Remember," she whispered in my ear. "Be like the Hulk."

I groaned. "You're insane, Monica. You really are."

Walking toward Derek's office, I told my nerves to shut the hell up. Monica followed a few feet behind. All the white plastic blinds were shut on the glass walls making it impossible to see inside Derek's office. I reached up to knock on the door and heard a muffled sound from inside. I looked to Monica with a frown. She motioned for me to go ahead so I threw caution to the wind and swung the door open.