Chapter 32
I haven't told anyone of what happened with Axel and Dean, not my sister, not even Hailey. Whenever I think about it, it makes me feel like an idiot. So that means I have been feeling like an idiot for almost a week now.
Really, I tried to make sense of what happened but the only thing that resonates the most is that Axel is just an utter ass that I need to cut ties with.
I buried myself in work, preparing for the Sydney audit. Every day for the past week, Cassandra, Dave, and I were the last ones to leave the office.
Harper gave us the schedule and tonight, we're whipping up an analysis from previous audit findings. We gathered data from the last 5 years to give us a basis for the results of this year's audit.
Dave stretched his back on the chair and yawned loudly, "Branch audits are definitely a love-hate relationship."
"Yeah, it's both a pro and a con," Cassandra said, slack-jawed with one hand typing away.
I didn't say anything because, in reality, I don't mind it. It keeps me occupied and weirdly enough, sane.
"Let's take a 5-minute break," Dave announced.
Cassandra's hands fell on her lap, eliciting a slapping sound, "I'm up for that."
I looked over to them, "What do you have in mind?"
"Well, there's nothing much we can do in 5 minutes. Just look away from the screen, I guess."
"Okay," I replied and awkward silence consumed the room for a couple of seconds.
"Okay, this isn't gonna work," Cassandra said, exasperated. "Let's talk about something, anything, other than work."
"Alright," I nodded.
"Hm..." Dave placed his thumb under his chin in thought. "Oh, got it," he said then turned to me, "How's your date with Axel James, Lauren?"
"What? Why?"
"What? It's the most interesting thing to happen in this office."
"I agree," Cassandra nodded.
"And you keep to yourself so much we can't even ask you about it."
"Yeah, and the only thing we know about is the crazy paparazzi from last week. Thank God, they stopped. You went to their Charity thing, right?"
"Yeah," I replied nonchalantly.
"Oh, come on. We need deets." Cassandra grinned. I looked at their hopeful faces and became a little sad that I will have to let them down.
"I'm sorry, I can't really talk about it."
"Can't or won't?" Dave squinted.
"Both?"
Cassandra gasped, "Oh my God, is your relationship so next level that they had you sign an NDA?"
"Hm..." my lips turned upwards in a sad smile as I pinched my ring finger. "No. Um, it's just that certain people aren't who you think they are." I nodded and tried to focus back on the spreadsheets.
They looked at each other then went back to work.
Great, now I'm that one person in the office who's difficult to work with.
* * *
The weekend couldn't come any faster and now we're at JFK with our suitcases and laptop bags. Cassandra and I were sitting at the Business lounge, with her typing away in her laptop, checking last-minute details, and me sipping from my coffee cup, giving all care away.
"Hey, do you have the sampling working papers?" she was shuffling through papers in her briefcase.
"No," I placed my coffee on the table. "Dave's in charge of the sampling papers."
"I'm here!" Dave rushed to us with a neck pillow already on his neck.
"Hey," Cassandra said as she gave the papers a once-over before giving up. "Dave, do you have the sampling working papers?"
"Yeah, of course, I have them here." He placed his bag and neck pillow on the couch then opened his attaché case. "Give me a moment," he said in sing-song then took folder after folder and placed it on the table. As each folder passes, the worry in his face progresses.
"Dave, where is it?"
"It was just here!" His voice started to sound panicked.
"Dave."
He stopped his shuffling and held his breath, "It's not here."
Cass opened her mouth but no words came out, closed it again, and tried one more time, "What?"
"Oh my God, we can't miss that, Dave."
"I know, I know. Can you check yours? Maybe it's with you."
"Well, I know it's not with me, but okay?" I opened my files and tried to find the paper. I shook my head, "Uh-uh, not here."
"Oh my God," Cassandra exhaled exasperatedly. "Please tell me you have the soft file."
Dave opened his laptop and searched the paper up. He looked at us with a worried look on his face and shook his head.
"But we worked on that all week..." I ran my fingers through my scalp. "Maybe we can ask someone to find it in Dave's apartment?"
"Passengers for Flight QF18 to Sydney, please go to gate 43."
"No time," Cass replied.
Dave lowered his head in apology, "I'm so sorry."
Fuck. This could not get any worse.
"There you all are," Harper appeared in front of us in her oversized sunglasses.
"Heyyyy... Harper," Dave said in shock.
Nice save, Dave. Could you be any more obvious?
She raised her sunglasses to her head, "Why are your papers on the table?"
Cass and I looked at each other. "No matter," she said quickly. Almost too quickly. "We're just checking if we have everything."
"Oh," she nodded. "Well then take care of it, these are confidential documents and it's crucial to not misplace anything."
"Ha-ha, yeah..." Why did I do that? Sometimes I just want to slap myself in the face – shut up, Lauren!
Harper's brows knit in confusion or suspicion? Maybe both? "You didn't misplace anything, right? You know you have to tell me if there's a problem."
"Passengers for Flight QF18 to Sydney, please go to gate 43."
Dave exhaled loudly. "The sampling papers are missing," He blurted out as he shook his head, "I'm so sorry, Harper, it's all my fault."
Damnit, Dave.
Harper released a breath but tried to remain calm and composed. "Okay, calm down, you can always reprint at the Sydney office. Although it's not practice."
"That's the thing." Dave scratched the back of his head, "We... we technically don't have the soft file."
"What do you mean 'technically'?"
Dave gulped, "It's in the office."
"Your laptop is linked with your office computer," Harper said as a matter of fact.
"Yes, but I saved the file in Cassandra's."
"Well, then it should be at Cassandra's laptop."
Cassandra shook her head lightly. We already know it's not in hers.
Dave let out a nervous laugh, "Not really. I saved it on her desktop."
"What?" Cass demanded.
"But all our files should be saved at the shared drive," I spoke mostly to myself.
"Exactly," Harper said. "How did this happen?"
"Well... I was trying to get home early and Cassandra's desktop was the only one open so I printed the files using her printer."
"And that was the original file? No copies? No old version? No back-ups?"
Dave lowered his head, "Yes."
"Maybe we could ask someone to get it?" I suggested.
"There's no one in the office. It's Saturday," Cass replied.
"The guards are there?"
Harper squinted, "Surely, you're not suggesting we let the guards open Accounting files."
"Oh, yeah, of course not." What a silly suggestion, Lauren.
Silenced filled the otherwise still bustling airport.
"Final boarding call for passengers flying to Sydney on Flight QF18, please go to gate 43 immediately."
Harper closed her eyes for a second and inhaled, "We have to go."
"But what about –" Cassandra started.
"Well, then it's a good thing the flight would take 19 hours."
"You don't mean –" Cassandra started.
"Oh, yes, I mean it. When I told you all files should be ready before we land in Sydney, I meant it." Harper spoke firmly.
Our mouths ajar as she walked away with her suitcase to the gate.
I've never seen her like this before. It made me realize that despite all of her friendliness, she's still our boss. And Cassandra being the team leader of this audit gets most of the wrath.
"Let's clean this up," Cassandra said and we all picked up the papers sprawled out on the table.
After boarding, we started working on the sampling papers. It would be easy if it was just the questionnaire, but no, these papers included the number of samples to be tested per account, the types of tests to be conducted and their extent to minimize detection risk. All these require consolidation of different documents yet again to come up with the sampling plan.
"You owe us so much, Dave," I said as I was trying to remember the substantive tests we've decided on a few days ago.
"I agree, and it's Saturday. I shouldn't have to do actual work," Cass spoke.
"Amen, sister!" I raised my palm and she slapped it for a high-five.
"I know, I know... Dinner's on me when we get to Sydney."
Cass and I looked at each other, brows raised suggestively.
"Oh, please. Not every dinner. I'd be broke." Dave exhaled.
I shrugged, "Hey, you can't blame a girl for trying."
It took us almost six hours to get to L.A. but we barely noticed the time because we're still trying to figure out the document details.
"God, my butt is numb," Dave approached us with his tray of food as we were eating dinner.
"Gee, Dave, we're trying to eat here," Cass placed her fork down.
I laughed as I picked on my salad, "Wait for the 13-hour flight."
"Is it really gonna be that long?"
"More or less. But I'm betting on more," I chomped on the cherry tomato.
He groaned dramatically, "This is endless."
"Yeah, and you losing the document didn't help," Cass said idly.
"Hey, I thought we were past that."
"We're not even finished yet. So, no, we're not past that."
My bottom lip stretched as if to say yikes. Dave just shook his head.
Thirty minutes later, we're on-board again and after all the brainstorming, we finally finished up the document in the fourth hour. Re-checked it for two more hours and made sure we got absolutely everything covered. I thought it would take us the entire flight but I underestimated the distance from L.A. to Sydney.
Thank God, the company paid for Business class seats. I thought they were only good for laptops and getting work done, which, as it proved to me, they are. But my legs can stretch nicely and the perks are pretty great.
It was dark out when we started to land. I checked my phone and it says it's 9:30 in the morning. Huh.
"Welcome to Australia. The local time in Sydney is 11:30 PM on Sunday, the 24th of October."
What?
I turned to Cassandra, "We missed an entire day."
"It's the time difference, Lauren." Her voice still a little husky from her nap. "Hey, wake up." She patted Dave's shoulder and he jumped a little.
"We're here," I said and he just groaned and slumped back into his seat.
Harper met us at the luggage belt, gave us instructions for tomorrow morning, and told us that the hotel driver was waiting outside.
It's so weird that my body is ready for the day and yet it's already night. I don't know if I could sneak in some sleep when I practically just woke up.
* * *
"Lauren, wake up!" Cassandra shook my shoulder.
"What?" I asked groggily.
"We overslept." Panic rising in her voice.
I reached for my phone on the nightstand to check for the time. "Oh my God!" I immediately sat up.
"Hey, guys," Dave knocked on the door. "The driver's waiting downstairs."
Cassandra and I looked at each other in horror.
"Okay, use the bathroom first and I'll prepare my things," I said and Cassandra disappeared into the bathroom.
"We'll be in a minute!" I shouted to Dave.
Sydney, here we go.