Conflict of Interest (Employee Relations Book 1) (6 page)

I slump back into my chair and blink at the vacant seat across from me with my mouth hanging open, trying to process what just happened.

Did I imagine that?

The limited progress I’ve made in unscrambling my thoughts in the ten minutes since Lucas left is lost when the 1991 DJ Jazzy Jeff and Will Smith anthem,
Summertime
, fills my office.

I slide my finger across the screen of my cell phone absentmindedly, and lift it to my ear.

“You there?” Summer asks, car horns blaring in the background.

“Uh,” I reply, still distracted.

Seconds pass.

“Earth to Gabby,” she says, sensing that I’m not paying attention. “Did I catch you at a bad time?”

“I’m not really sure,” I answer, because I have no idea what the hell transpired.

Summer laughs. “What’s going on, Gabs?”

I kick my shoes off and pace my office. “I just had my first meeting with my new business partner,” I tell her, pressing the palm of my hand to my forehead. “And it didn’t go so well.”

“Why would you say that?” she asks.

“For starters he barely looked at me, and not even fifteen minutes into our conversation, he advises me that if my input’s required or something like that, he’ll let me know, and ‘he’s got this’…then he up and left.”