Chapter 24: Same Deal as Always

On Monday morning my badge beeped green at the front door.

The guard stood up behind the desk.

"Morning, Ms. Odell," he said.

"Morning."

"Heard you're doing something at stand-up."

"Word travels."

"It does in this building." He grinned. "Good luck."

The whole floor was waiting at the long table.

Every desk was empty, and every person stood around it, with coffee and phones. Somebody had put out bagels.

I took the head of the table, where Keaton used to sit.

I didn't sit. I put a single sheet of paper in front of me.

"Morning," I said.

"Morning, Jessamine," said the floor, raggedly.

"I'll keep this short. Starting today, the handbook has a new page."

A few people looked at their phones.

"Every employee gets three paid days a year, for anyone they love. A parent, a kid, a friend. Whoever needs them."

Nobody said anything.

"You don't bring a note," I said. "You don't explain. You tell me the day you're leaving, and I say, go."

A young man near the back raised his hand.

He was the newest hire, six weeks in, and he had never once spoken at stand-up.

"Does that include, like," he said, and went red. "Does everybody get it? Even people who just started?"

I looked at him.

It was almost word for word the question Sienna had asked in this room a month ago, in front of everyone.

It was a fair question, honestly.

"Everybody," I said. "Starting with you."