Chapter 1 - THE WOMAN IN THE DOORWAY
“Mr. Collins,” Catherine said, one hand resting over her pregnant belly, “step away from my employee’s paperwork.”
For a second, Derek didn’t move.
Neither did I.
The warehouse outside his glass office had gone so quiet I could hear the high whine of a forklift backing alarm in the far loading bay. Men who had been pretending not to watch now stood frozen, their eyes fixed on the woman in the doorway.
Derek’s mouth opened, then closed again.
“Ms. Vale,” he finally said.
That was when the name hit me.
Vale.
I looked from her face to the black folder in her hand, then back to Derek, who had suddenly lost all of his usual color.
Catherine Vale.
The CEO of Morrison Supply Chain Management.
The woman whose tire I had changed on Route 9.
She stepped fully into the office and looked at the termination form on Derek’s desk, then at my torn work pants, the grease on my hands, and the red groove the tire iron had carved across my palm.
“You were telling me on the roadside that you would probably be punished for helping me,” she said. “It appears you were correct.”
Derek straightened his tie. “This is a personnel matter.”
“It became my matter the moment you tried to fire the man who kept me from being stranded on the side of Route 9 while pregnant.”
I still hadn’t spoken.
I was too busy trying to understand how a morning that had started with cereal bowls and bus schedules had turned into this.
Derek gave a stiff smile. “Harrison has a documented attendance issue. This is not about one good deed. It’s about repeated lateness and operational reliability.”
Catherine took one slow step forward, picked up the termination form, and studied it.
“It was already printed before he entered your office,” she said.
Derek said nothing.
She looked at the date. The time. The signature line.
Then she lowered the paper and asked me, “Did he give you an opportunity to explain before placing this in front of you?”
“No,” I said quietly.
“He didn’t need one,” Derek snapped. “The facts are the facts.”
Catherine’s eyes hardened.
“No, Mr. Collins. Facts are things we verify. This,” she said, lifting the termination form between two fingers, “is what you had decided in advance.”
Then, right there in front of me and half the warehouse watching through the glass, she tore the paper cleanly in half.
May you like
The sound was sharper than shouting.
“Harrison is not terminated,” she said. “You, however, are done speaking until Human Resources arrives.”
