David leaned his forehead against Julian’s office window, the sweat from his brow trickling past the view. The city rushed around below him, unaware and uncaring that his life was evaporating in front of him.
Why is my life always ruined by the mistakes of others?
“I don’t care if you’ve had a major mix-up,” David shouted into his phone. “I don’t have time to go to the airport. Yes, I suggest you talk to someone. Fix! This! Problem!”
David breathed ragged and hard as the airline pushed him back into a holding pattern. He was going to lose his job because Baggage Services couldn’t manage the only task they existed to perform.
He was going to lose his job, his purpose—other than Caitlin, his sole source of happiness as he and his wife drifted apart. As Sharon had turned to another man while he worked long days to provide for his family.
David’s heavy breath fogged the window, partly obscuring his reflection of Julian, who stretched behind the polished mahogany desk and checked his Rolex. “Ten minutes. What’s happening?”
David shook his head and paced the office, aware of the snarl on his face, held in place by the airline’s automated customer service robot. “Thank you for holding. Your call is important to us—”
Right. It’s so important you refuse to take it.
With a glance, David could see Julian’s eyes following him back and forth across the office. “Can’t you wing it?”
David turned on his heel. “Sure, I’m second to none when it comes to thinking on my feet, but my financials paint a clear picture of the exact reason we shouldn’t be closed. If I don’t have them, all it takes is one question I can’t answer, and we’ll be dead in the water. The board will be looking for any reason to justify a decision they’ve probably already made.”
Julian cocked an eyebrow. “We’ll be dead in the water?”
David glared at his boss. The distance he placed between himself and David’s fate was becoming more infuriating by the minute. David strode back to the floor-to-ceiling windows before he said something that would make Julian’s decision so much easier. He glared at the city instead.
The robot was back in his ear. “Our passengers are our number one priority—”
“Like heck they are!” David thumped his fist on the window.
His breathing accelerated, and panic threatened to burst through his chest. He needed to get back in control, and there was just one way to do it. He closed his eyes and pictured his happiest memory—the day of the ferry cruise just twelve months ago, with Caitlin in pink princess ruffles and Sharon by his side. A rare day off with the wind in his hair and a smile on his lips. On all their lips. David’s heart slowed its pounding, unbalanced rhythm, and his breathing resumed normal transmission.
He spun around to Julian. Was the desperation he felt flaring in his eyes? “What chance is there we can move my meeting to later this morning? Or this afternoon?”
David detected the hint of a smile from Julian. Yes, his job would be easier with this monumental mistake. “Very little. We’ve got another eleven branches to fit into the day. I’ve stacked them around the building like an air traffic controller so they don’t run into each other. They’re just as anxious as you are about saving their branches.”
“But they’ll have everything they need. Can’t you at least try?” David succeeded—just—in keeping the pleading out of his voice.
Julian stood and shook his head. “It will be nearly impossible, but as a friend I’ll see what I can do. It’s the least I can do for one of my guys.” And with that, he charged out of his office.
My guys? One minute it’s “we” and “us” and now it’s “my guys”?
A click and a whir chirped down the phone line. “Thank you for holding, sir.” This young man sounded a lot calmer than the other frazzled disembodied voices David had reduced to tears.
“Well?” David’s panicked impatience resumed its simmer.
The guy stayed calm, in contrast to his colleagues. “There appears to have been a mix-up with your baggage—”
“So I’ve heard three times from you people. Tell me something I don’t know.”
The young man paused. “Well, you need to deal with your baggage, but you’re fortunate. We can arrange for it to be at our city depot inside the hour. You’ll need to bring with you the bag you’ve got. Do you have a pen and paper for the address?”
Heat flashed through David as he slammed his hand again against the window. “Fortunate? I have to make a life-or-death presentation in ten minutes, so no, I can’t go to some depot somewhere else—”
But the young man was cool and collected. “With respect, sir, it appears the wrong baggage was taken from the carousel, so some part of this situation has to be your responsibility. But let’s not argue about fault or blame. It would be good if you could—”
Julian charged into David’s conversation, forcing him to mute the call. “Here’s the deal: I can slide your presentation back by two hours, but that’s it. If you aren’t back by then, the leadership will make a decision about your branch without your presentation or your financials.”
David unmuted the call. “Give me the address.”
As the young man dictated the depot’s location, David searched Julian’s desk for a Post-it note and then scribbled it down.
“Once again, I apologize for this mix-up, sir. I will see you at the—”
David cut the call as he moved to the door. “I’ve got to find this baggage depot. They said it was in the Docklands development. That’s not far, is it?”
Julian shook his head. “It shouldn’t take you long to get there.”
David stormed out of the office, wheeling the suitcase behind him, muttering under his breath about incompetent airline staff, self-interested corporate shills, his wife, and just for the sake of it, the universe itself. As he marched toward the elevator, Julian’s voice echoed down the corridor after him. “You’ve got two hours, and that’s it! You owe me!”
I owe you? It took everything in David’s power to keep walking. He mashed the elevator button and stepped back as his phone rang.
Caitlin.
“Daddy!”
He smiled at her high-pitched squeak. “How’s my princess?”
“We’re going to see the princess show, and I’m going to be a princess, and it’s going to be the funnest thing to see all the princesses.”
A promise was a promise, even if he’d had to fly across the country to keep the job that would pay for the Disney on Ice tickets.
“That’s right, darling. When I get back home after my big trip.”
Still no elevator. Anxiety clawed at his neck.
“We’re going today, Daddy!” David imagined the set of her tiny jaw. She was definitely his little princess.
“No, honey, when I come back we’ll buy the tickets.” David again mashed the elevator button.
She giggled. “And I want to buy a princess tiara, and we’re going to have chocolates.”
David stifled a laugh before the shadow of panic swooped over his momentary sunny spot on a gray day. “I promise I’ll buy the tiara when we go.”
The elevator dinged its arrival, and David pushed his way past some exiting suits as he hammered the ground floor button.
“I’ve got to go, Caitie. I need to find my suitcase for my meeting.”
“Bye.” Click. In an instant she was gone.
David’s breathing sped up as the lights slowly flashed his descent. He just had to save his job.