All This Time // H.S. // A.U.

Chapter Eighty-One

RILEY

For some reason, Tuesdays were cursed.

It seemed like everything that could go wrong went wrong on those days, and when it was only two days into my work week, it really fucking sucked. All company projects were on a strict timeline leading up to the holidays. That included Hanukkah, Christmas, and New Year's, so everyone got an extended break. It also meant that once the new year started, we worked overdrive to get everything back on track.

And that required us to be prepared ahead of time. Meaning now. Which was hard to do when one of my designers wasn't doing their job correctly.

Part of my anger and frustration was for myself. I had been putting off firing her for months, hoping that my numerous talks with her would finally sink in. I had been lucky enough not to have to fire anyone since opening my business, but now it looked unavoidable.

But how much of an asshole would I be if I fired her right before the holidays?

"Fuck," I mumbled to myself, hands covering my face.

It was already four in the afternoon, technically two hours before I was supposed to leave for the day, and now I would be stuck for hours until I got this design proposal done for a client who needed it by tomorrow morning. Everything my junior designer handed in was unusable, so I would be starting from scratch.

That familiar build up of stress was starting to tumble over, causing hot tears to form along my eye-line. I shook my head, breathing in and out to stop myself from crying. Stress tears were my least favorite type of crying.

A knock at the door had me quickly gathering myself. Ella popped her head in, instantly noticing my current state, and closed the door behind her as she entered.

"What do you need?" She asks carefully, frowning.

I sigh, "Um, I'm gonna be here for a while. Can you hold all my calls? I'll deal with it all tomorrow morning."

She nods, "Of course. What's going on? Anything I can help with?"

"No, it's the design proposal for Mrs. Whitmore."

Ella grimaces, "Oh, she seemed... picky."

"Very." I say.

"And I'm assuming Connie didn't do shit?" She took my silence as an answer, "She needs to go."

"I know that, Ella."

She pauses, then sits down opposite of me, "She's making your life harder when it doesn't need to be. There are a ton of capable designers looking for stable jobs. Why keep her on when you end up doing all her work anyways?"

"Ella-"

"I get that you don't actually want to fire anyone, but she's-"

"Ella," I interrupt, "I know. I've already spoken to her many times about this issue, and she hasn't fixed it. I've made my decision. I just need to figure out when to do it."

She looks relieved, "Oh, thank god. I thought for sure I would have to convince you."

"No, I can't do this anymore."

"Good." Ella says, "And what do you mean, you need to figure out when to do it? There's no day like tomorrow."

"I mean, it feels a little harsh to fire her right before the holidays." I bite the inside of my cheek.

She sends me a look, "Riley, this isn't a relationship. You don't have to keep putting off the break up because you don't want to hurt the other person's feelings. She is your employee who has not done her job after fair warning. If she loses her job before Christmas, that's no fault but her own."