since Taylor could only work the hours when Chloe was in school.
Taylor answered right away. “Hey! You’re off work soon, right? I was
thinking, if you wanted to come over, we could order takeout. Maybe pizza?
Celebrate the first week completed?”
“Yeah. I’d love to— but…” Christina closed her eyes. “I actually have
to work late again. I have a massive stack of files that I need to get done.
I’m probably going to have to come in on the weekend too. It’s out of
control here.”
It would have been impossible for Taylor to hide her disappointment.
“Oh.”
“I’m really sorry. I know that I said that I’d have tonight off, but I just
can’t do it. All I keep doing is staring at these files and my stress level goes
way up. I can’t imagine coming in on Monday and starting a new week
when I’m already so behind.”
“You should talk to Michelle. If she’s booking you that many clients,
then it’s not really an efficient use of time. You shouldn’t have to put in so
many unpaid hours. She knows that you’ll do it because you’re amazing,
but that’s just taking advantage of you. There has to be other people who
could take some of the workload.”
“I’m sure there is. It’s like she’s making up for lost time or thinks that I
really do have this golden touch.”
“If you don’t want to talk to her, you should just let your work get
behind. Maybe then she’ll get the hint.”
“I wish I could.”
“I— I think that— are you sure that…” Taylor trailed off, but from the
extreme disappointment in her tone, it was obvious that she was going to
ask something personal. Like was Christina sure that it really was a problem
with work and not a problem with them?
“Yes. I’m absolutely sure that it’s a problem here. I’ll talk to Michelle
on Monday after I clear this off. I want to get it done. It’s not really fair to