His Mystery Gem

19 - Judgement Day⚖️

19 – Judgement Day⚖️

It was a good day to fire someone. An even better day to frustrate Miss Davies into quitting. Mike was so excited he all but skipped to the office. He got to work an hour earlier than he usually did, the building was empty of everyone except for the gatemen and the cleaners. Even Emerald was not in her seat yet. Miss Davies was a great motivator, who would have guessed?

"Good morning sir," He nodded to acknowledge the greeting the gatemen and the cleaners echoed as he walked to his office.

Laser-focused, he moved to his desk and the pile of work waiting for him on his desk. He needed to finish his work quickly, so he had enough time to savour Miss Davies' twenty-course meal revenge. He also planned to spend the rest of the day celebrating his victory. He lowered his head and slugged away, trying to taper his excitement. By the time Emerald arrived for the day, he was on his third cup of coffee and had cleared off a great portion of work.

Lunch met his desk cleared. Anything that was left could be finished over the weekend. He took himself to a mini victory lunch, his excitement was through the roof. Immediately the clock struck 2 pm, he called Miss Davies to his office. Let the fun begin.

She took her sweet time and finally knocked on his office door five minutes later. At least it felt like he didn't bother checking, he was busy drinking her in.

She was dressed in a fire engine red dress that was made for her. It reminded him of her dress at the art exhibition, but it wasn't the same one. He had memorized that dress, the colour, and fit of it. If he ever saw her in again he would know, one didn't forget Dunni in a dress like that.

Starring at her made him realize this was the last time she would ever appear in his office. He felt a stab of grief, at the thought that this was the last time he would see her at work. He started second-guessing his plans, maybe he moved quickly. He should have drawn things out a little longer, just to torture her some more. He pushed the thought away and smiled brightly.

"Have a seat, Miss Davies,"

"Good afternoon sir," she smiled and did as he asked.

"Afternoon," he nodded at the file clutched in her hand. "Anything for me?"

"Oh this," she waved the file in her hand. Then she pushed it over to his side of the table with her smile in place.

He opened the file with a combination of excitement and dread, trying to appear nonchalant, but he was bubbling with curiosity. What did her designs look like? Was she as talented as Mum and Aunt Eve had painted her painted her out to be? Was she as good as Mom or even better?

He skimmed past the pages explaining the collection, eager to see the designs themselves. When he saw the first sketch, all he felt was disappointment. It was all there was to feel. Yes, he wanted to fire her for shoddy work, but he had expected better than this. He turned to the next page, hoping it would redeem the first one, but there was no redeeming factor. If it was possible, the second page was worse than the first. But he patiently turned the page, maybe she was keeping the best for last.

"Hmm," he said after he finished looking through the file. What else was there to say? He tossed the file in the trash can beside his desk and turned to face Dunni.

"Miss Davies," he steepled his fingers together and examined her. "Is that what you call an impressive collection?"

"No," was all she said.

"Oh, so you know," he exhaled with mock relief.

"If you recall, I only had," she raised three fingers. "Three days to get this collection ready and on your desk."