Sometimes Saying Goodbye is Easy!

Lately, every time Carla submitted a new suggestion to her boss, she was told that someone else had already submitted the same suggestion. Her boss was losing patience with her, thinking that Carla might not be able to “cut the mustard” any more

Carla assured her boss that her ideas were original and that she had no idea how someone could always be two steps ahead of her with the same thoughts. Then, as she ruminated on the situation, she remembered that the only person who could have had access to her reports was Jeff, her boyfriend, when he stayed overnight at her place or she at his apartment.

Carla set up a trap. She wrote a fake report and placed it in her briefcase. At breakfast the next day, she invited Jeff to spend the night at a hotel, to celebrate his recent promotion. When they arrived at their room,  she feigned having to take a shower.

With the water running to cover the sound of her footsteps, she looked out of the bathroom door, and she caught Jeff rummaging in her briefcase, hungrily reading her latest report. Before he could see her, she stepped back into the bathroom.

With a bathrobe wrapped around her body and Nat King Cole crooning in the background, Carla confronted Jeff with what she had seen. He did not even have the good grace to look ashamed, stating that she had no proof it was him. He got up and left her there on the sofa.

She dressed, then wept as the music faded away. But, as she walked home, she laughed at the thought that without her reports to use, his recent promotion would be a short one. He really wasn’t very smart!

Written for the Daily Writing Challenge from The Haunted Wordsmith: breakfast, hotel, caught. Also, written for the December Writing Prompts of Putting My Feet in the Dirt: She dressed, then wept as the music faded away.