Accidentally Amy(54)

He laid back on his pillow, looked out at the city lights, and texted: Goodnight to you, Starbucks Amy.

Chapter 18

Blake
Izzy: Two things. Number 1 - I miss gas station donuts and co-ed showers. Same, Blake thought as he stepped out of his car and hit the lock button on his keyfob. There was a chill in the early morning air, the subtle fall warning that winter was on its way, and he was glad he was wearing a suit jacket.
Izzy: Number 2 – Have a great day - we should pizza tonight.
Blake paid the parking meter and started walking toward Starbucks, wondering if it would be celebratory pizza, or something else entirely.


    “Are you kidding me right now?” Brad sat back in his chair, looking at Blake like he’d lost his damn mind as the sound of steaming milk suddenly seemed deafening. It’d been nice when Blake had been discussing Izzy - a foamy layer of privacy - but now it just added to the tension in his neck.
Blake cleared his throat and asked, “Which part are you referring to specifically?”
“All of it – shit, Blake.” The older man gave his head a shake. “You moved in fast as hell after the first draft, didn’t you?”
“I know, I know,” Blake said, remembering how he literally ran when he thought he was safe to date Izzy. He reached up and tugged at his collar, which suddenly felt tight. He hated sharing his personal life with anyone from work, but since he wasn’t willing to lie and hide their relationship, it was the only way.
He told Brad everything (well not everything) about he and Izzy’s relationship. The good thing was that he considered Brad a friend, even though he was his boss. He knew he could count on Brad’s discretion, regardless of what the man’s business decision would be on the matter.
Brad said, “You never talk about your personal life, so I’m assuming this must be important to you.”
“So important,” he said, a little surprised by just how strongly he meant that. “Honeslty, Brad, I wish it wasn’t, but it is.”
Brad crossed his arms over his chest. “Well, then, I have good news and bad news.”
Blake clenched his teeth - gnashed them together, really - before saying, “What’s the bad news?”
Brad’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Blake and said, “The same as the good news. As you know, we’re eliminating some duplicate positions, post-acquisition.”
“Yes.” Blake never liked letting anyone go, but the reality was that when Ellis acquired other companies, they usually ended up with redundancies within roles at all levels and certain uncomfortable decisions had to be made.
“As you know, most of the support functions for Danovich can be managed from here, instead of Boston, so most of the cuts will affect that location.” Brad picked up his coffee and said, “However, there are some support roles that we can split between our locations for efficiency reasons.”
Blake knew this already. “Brad, I was the one who--”
“Isabella Shay is a new employee, with far less experience than the generalists in Boston. Because we already have multiple layers of HR support here, unfortunately, she is one of the roles we’ve identified with multiple redundancies.”
Blake felt like he’d had the wind knocked out of him. “Oh, shit. No.”
“You signed off on the plan when you were in Boston, Blake.” Brad wore a patient smile as he took off his glasses and adjusted one of the bows. “But the spreadsheet only had employee numbers, not names.”
Fuck, fuck, fuck. “Holy shit, I didn’t know.”
“That’s right - you didn’t.” Brad put his glasses back on and glanced at his watch. “Think about that. You knew - and still know - that it’s the right business decision if you take emotions out of the equation. There isn’t a single solid reason why we would change the plan.”
Blake dragged a hand through his hair, frustrated because shit - Brad was right.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but maybe this is a good thing, since you really like this woman. Now you don’t have to worry about your professional lives getting in the way.”
Not helping. Blake seriously felt sick to his stomach because he already knew there was nothing he could do. If he tried to save her job, it would be seen - rightly so - as a conflict of interest and the byproduct of his emotional attachment to her. Brad might be his friend, but he wouldn’t overlook the obvious.
“Listen, I have to go.” Brad picked up his coffee and stood, “I’m sure I don’t need to remind you that regardless of your relationship, this is confidential until Human Resources executes the plan tomorrow morning. When do you plan on informing Pam about the cuts?”
“I was planning on discussing it first thing this morning,” he said, a huge knot in the pit of his stomach. “She should be informing her team about the acquisition right at eight, so I’ll try to catch her after they wrap up.”
Pam’s team…with Izzy. Brad left, and Blake just sat at the table, feeling numb.
What was he going to do? Blake wanted to slay the dragons in Izzy’s life, not become one. But he was the one who’d stared at the spreadsheet for hours before making the decisions. He was the one who’d be directing Pam on how the separations and severance packages would be handled. Ellis was generous with severance, and he was proud of the kind, helpful way his HR team provided assistance to departing employees. He hated layoffs, but the way the company took care of people had always made him feel better.
But only marginally. The way it worked - the way it’d always worked - was that everyone in the know kept it entirely confidential until conversations with hose affected began. That way no one could be tipped-off in advance and do something out of character they’d regret later; he’d seen it all. He knew firsthand that the key to separations running smoothly was keeping everything quiet until the meetings began. Confidentiality, respect and genuine empathy were required. After all, they were affecting the livelihoods of people like Izzy, who’d done nothing wrong but work for the company during an acquisition.