✅ My Cousin's Keeper [NaNoWriMo 2021]

20. My Bonus

Author's Note: The chapter is called 'My Bonus', but really it's Alyssa's bonus. Thank you Alyssa, for supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to you, everyone gets to see an extra chapter today. And I hope everyone is going to thank you!

The following Friday, I found myself working late again. I called Tess, and let her know that she would have to sort out her own dinner for once. I felt bad about not being there for my little one, but she was still showing a lot of pride when she had to do grown-up things by herself, so I didn't think she would mind. As the day drew to a close, I considered picking up the phone and teasing Ffrances about whatever plans we might have for later. But I immediately remembered that she was working a night shift today; keeping an eye on some of her more troublesome patients. Before that kind of work, she would probably be sleeping until some time in the afternoon, and I didn't want to disturb her.

That was why I was still sitting at my desk, furiously typing, when Jessop strolled through the office. He was theoretically in charge of us, but it was rare to see him actually in the office as long as all of our clients were satisfied enough to pay their bills promptly. Now there was no way I would get away with checking in with Tess, or wishing Ffrances good luck. I just hoped that I hadn't made some mistake to draw his attention; a hope that slowly faded as he walked over to my desk and stood right behind my shoulder.

"Claughton wants to be sure that our team fully understands their corporate culture and their role in the world of the arts," he said, without any kind of preamble.

"I've only been working on their kit for a week. Is there something in the samples they would like to change?"

"Apparently not. They seem satisfied with your first drafts, enough to have very high expectations for the next iteration. And so they have requested that I pass these to the team leads. Although it seems you're the only one still in the office today. Where are Reznor and Heeling?"

"They were working earlier. We thought that there was something of a bottleneck in the process. If they start running up swatches before I finished this, we might have to repeat a good part of it. Wouldn't want to bill the client for extra hours spent waiting on me." I was bluffing, of course. Ken Heeling had bailed early because he was going to some swanky restaurant with one of his ex wives, hoping that she might be persuaded to spend more time with him again, and I hadn't seen the new guy today, but had some degree of confidence that the hours he'd entered on the system corresponded to actual work done. One of the first rules here was that you don't drop your team in it unless they're actively screwing you.

"Well, perhaps they should get a some token of the client's satisfaction. But as you are here now, I think it only makes sense for you to take these. It isn't mandatory, but it might give you a taste of why it would be beneficial to keep on satisfying the people from CI."

Just like that, he was gone. He left a small envelope propped against the side of my computer, and I couldn't contain my curiosity for more than a few seconds. I tipped it out onto the desk, and found three small pieces of card with a corporate logo embossed in them. I turned them over, and saw what seemed to be theatre tickets. The Grand, it seemed, was filling out it's regular schedule of chamber music and experimental Shakespeare adaptations by screening a couple of movies. On the down side, the tickets were for the following morning, which would be pretty awkward to get to, and I got the impression that it would be the kind of affair where the audience were expected to dress up and be seen.

The good thing was the movie they had chosen. Claughton Innovative were one of the sponsors, and I was sure that there would be a good deal of product placement in the show. It also explained why they were able to reward us with tickets to a movie that hadn't even been released yet, and I knew that Ffrances was already excited. I texted her right away, asking if she was likely to be free for something fun when her shift at the hospital ended. It might mess up her sleep cycle a little more, but I doubted she would have any problem with staying up a few hours extra to see something she had been so excited about.

I brought up FriendSpace on my computer, having checked that Jessop was out of sight. I was really excited, but I didn't let myself take too long on it. I typed out a single line: "Client gave me tickets for Tags in the morning. You want to come?" A second later a second line joined it, estimating the time we would have to be out of the house if we were going to make it. I sent the same message to Tess and to Ffrances, and then turned back to my work.

It was only half an hour before I could head home, but during the drive home I realised that this theatre trip was going to take more planning than just bundling everyone into my car. It was presumably some kind of exclusive pre-premiere screening organised by the sponsors, and the Grand Theatre was already one of the poshest venues in the area. We would have to dress in style, and I was starting to realise that I would be representing the company, not just myself. This was a PR stunt in a way, and I knew almost nothing about this type of event, or what we would be expected to say or do. I just knew that I had to make sure I didn't embarrass the company; and made a good impression with any Claughton Innovative representatives who were present. And I didn't even know if Tess had anything suitable to wear. There would be a lot to sort out.

By the time I got home, I was really starting to worry about things going smoothly. Perhaps I should have called around my coworkers, and seen if any of them were in a better position to attend. But then I opened the door, and she smell of good food drifted out to reassure me. We were a family, we had each other's backs, and I knew that my little girl would do everything she could to make it go well.