Plans for the Weekend

I managed a crazy productive day and got this post written too!  If you didn't see yesterday's post, go read that one first.  The next post will be up at some point later this week...either Wednesday or Friday most likely.
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Through sheer force of will I pushed my anxiety out of my head to be present for my client.  As soon as she was gone, though, I sat nervously fidgeting and unable to concentrate on my note for the session.  It was already 10:01, and there was no sign of Jake.  The minutes dragged slowly by until I became aware of Jake standing in my doorway.  I looked up as he raised his hand to knock lightly.

"Come in," I said, before he could lay his knuckles to the wooden doorframe.  

He entered and sat in the armchair diagonal from my desk.  He chuckled and said, "This feels weird.  Don't diagnose me, okay?"

I forced a smile and a chuckle.  "I'll try.  Don't do anything diagnosable, okay?"

He laughed, then said, "I'll try not to.  Okay, so here's the deal.  I have a few questions for you.  I'm guessing you might also have a few questions, and I'll answer what I can.  Then I have some information to share.  None of it is anything for you to be worried about."  That did little to soothe my nerves.

"Okay," I replied, eager to just get to the point.

"Alright, let's start with the questions.  How often are you seeing the client that you recently took from Josh?"

"Weekly," I said automatically.  "I thought Josh had told me he was seeing her weekly, but she said he was only seeing her every other week and she wanted weekly, which is why we switched.  I thought we switched because Josh thought I was a better fit.  I'm not entirely sure though because I didn't write it down.  I guess he could have said every other week and I just remembered it wrong.  I don't know anymore.  I think--"  I stopped abruptly, aware that I was rambling.

Jake smiled kindly.  "You answered my second question too.  Thank you.  Now your questions."

"What's going on?" I said, asking the only question I could articulate right now.

"Fair question," Jake replied.  "Josh and Kelly are no longer employed here.  I'm going to give you some general details, and only because Josh tried to pull you into it, so I think you have a right to know what happened.  However, you are not to repeat the content of this conversation, is that clear?"  I gave him a worried look and nodded, and he continued.  "Josh was billing fraudulently and stealing intellectual property of this agency.   He tried to cover it up by saying you were the one billing fraudulently with the client he passed to you, but all of your billings check out.  Kelly discovered it and she didn't take the proper steps to deal with it, which resulted in her termination."

"Wow," I said.  "I..."  I stopped, not sure what else to say.

"I want to be really clear," Jake said when I didn't continue.  "We have no reason to believe you're billing fraudulently and you don't have anything to worry about as far as that goes.  Now, we can't tell you what you can and can't do outside of work with your personal life, but I can tell you that if Josh contacts you, you cannot give him any information about anything having to do with this agency or your work.  If you do give him any information, that will be considered sharing intellectual property and grounds for termination.  I also would like to remind you that any client information you share would be a violation of HIPAA and also grounds for termination."

"I understand," I assured him.

"Good, thank you," he replied.  He relaxed and little and asked, "Do you have any other questions?  I can't promise I can answer them all, but I'll answer what I can."  I shook my head.  "Okay, then let's get to the last little bit of information I have, because we're running out of time."  I glanced at the clock and saw that he was right.  "In light of this, we're doing a little restructuring.  We're adding a couple mid-level supervisory positions and will be posting them internally to start.  I'd like to encourage you to throw your hat in."

I blinked in surprise, not sure I'd heard him correctly.  "Me?" I asked.  He nodded.  "Can I ask why?  I've only been here 9 months.  It doesn't seem like a logical move."

Jake chuckled.  "Based on the length of your employment alone, I agree.  Which is why we made the requirement 6 continuous months of employment with us."  I narrowed my eyes, trying to process this information.  "Look, let me be completely transparent," he said.  "I obviously cannot promise you a position.  There's a procedure, and you'd have to go through it.  But normally, when we audit someone's file looking for potential issues, we find something.  Late assessments, late treatment plans--little things, but still things.  Your paperwork is in such good shape that it's damn near unbelievable.  Your client consistency and progress is impressive as well. That says that your organizational and prioritization skills are top notch.  You stay out of the gossip, keep your head down, and do your work, but hardly anyone has a bad thing to say about you.  That's exactly what we're looking for."

"Oh," I said dumbly.

"Are you interested in management, Olivia?" he asked, as if he'd just realized that maybe this wasn't even a thing that I'd want to do.

"I am," I said quickly.  And I was.  "This is just a lot to process all at once.  And the timing isn't the best."

"Yes, your wedding.  You'll be off for 3 weeks?"

"Right," I replied.  "Next Thursday will be my last day before I'm off for the three weeks."

"Well, the positions will likely be posted early next week.  If they don't get them up before you leave for some reason, but you're interested, send me an email and I'll make sure your name is added to the list of potential candidates.  We'd just have to hold off on your interview until you get back, which isn't the end of the world."

My computer screen flashed with a pop up from our staff status system, alerting me that my client was here.  Jake nodded to it.  "Looks like I'd better let you get back to work.  Contact me if you have any questions, please."

"I will," I replied.  I stood with him, ready to walk down to the reception area to get my client.  "Thank you," I said, smiling.  "Regardless of what happens, I'm really honored that you would even consider me for a supervisory position at this point in my employment."

"Hey, when you do good work, people notice," he said with a shrug.  "I'll see you around."  He strode out and down the hall, and I trailed him out and turned the other way, headed to the reception area.

I tried calling Brody on my lunch break, but he didn't answer.  He called me back that afternoon when I was with a client.  I returned his call after work, on my way to Lauren's house.  He didn't answer.  Hopefully we'd be able to connect at some point, but I shoved my phone in my purse and let myself into Lauren's house.

"Laur?" I called.  No answer, and then I heard the shower running.   I busied myself opening the bottle of wine I brought and pouring two glasses.  Lauren came down a bit later, and I cocked an eyebrow.  "You should probably lock your door while you're in the shower.  Any random weirdo off the street could just walk in."

"Right, like you," she replied, taking the glass of wine I offered.  "I knew you'd probably be here while I was in the shower so I left it open.  I don't usually, so don't be so paranoid."  We ordered some food and I told Lauren about my crazy day at work.  "Well, you're going to do it, right?  Apply for the position?"

"I'll probably at least apply," I said.  "I need more information.  I'm interested in management at some point, but I feel like I have a lot of skills to gain right now just as a therapist, and I'm not sure this would be the right route to take."

Lauren considered this.  "That's actually really logical," she said, finally.

I cocked an eyebrow at her.  "Thanks," I said sarcastically.  Coming from anyone but Lauren, I would have been offended at the unsaid suggestion that me being logical was surprising.  But I knew she didn't mean it that way.

We spent the rest of the evening catching up, and I briefly wished I had brought clothes for tomorrow and just planned to spend the night at Lauren's.  Knowing that Josh was pissed off and had tried to drag me into his mess, plus that he knew where I lived, was making me a little nervous.  But around 8:30 I headed home anyway.

When I got home, I tried to call Brody.  He had called me back while I was with Lauren.  We had a hell of a game of phone tag going on.  He didn't answer, and I sighed as I hung up and tossed my phone onto the couch.  But my phone rang just seconds later, and it was Brody.  "Hi," I said, answering right away.

"Hey, sorry.  I just didn't get to it in time this time.  Is everything okay?  You called so early today."   I filled him in on my day, and he listened quietly.  Then he said, "Well, I knew something was off with him.  But that's really great that they want you to apply for the promotion.  I'm really proud of you."

"Thanks," I replied.  "I agree.  I'm not sure I want it though."  I explained to him what I had told Lauren.

"Just because you apply doesn't mean you have to take it if it's offered, but you sound pretty sure that you don't want it," he said, matter-of-factly.  "I have to be honest that I'm having a hard time picturing you in management right now anyway."

"It's my fear of confrontation, isn't it?" I asked, laughing.

Brody chuckled.  "That's exactly it," he admitted.  "I think you could develop it and be a really excellent supervisor, but I think you'd be really uncomfortable with that aspect for awhile."

"I agree," I said.  I appreciated Brody's ability to be honest but still supportive.  "I think I have quite a few skills I need to develop more before I can be a good supervisor."  We wrapped up our conversation about 10 minutes later.

Brody came back on Wednesday, but ended up having to leave again on Thursday.  He was gone all weekend and didn't get back until late on Monday.  That weekend, Lauren put together a mini-bachelorette party for me.  Lauren, Kinsley, Kendra, and I met at Lauren's house where we ate and drank and hung out for a little while before we headed out.  We hit a couple bars and returned to Kinsley's house to spend the night.  We got up and went out to brunch in the morning.  I had told her that I didn't really want a traditional shower or bachelorette party, and this was absolutely perfect.

I saw Lauren on Monday for long enough to go out for dinner, then headed out to the airport to pick up Brody, who had essentially been gone for over a week at this point, minus the 14 hours he was home Wednesday to Thursday (8 of which we both spent asleep) before he had to leave again.

We now had less than two weeks before our wedding, and we both spent an inordinate amount of time at work that week.  Brody was desperately trying to catch up from being gone, plus get ahead as much as possible before he was off for the wedding and honeymoon.  I was helping out by doing some crisis management with some of Josh's clients that were having a hard time with their therapist suddenly being gone.

On Thursday, Brody and I were eating a quick, late dinner together around 8pm at his office.  "I guess you'll probably be working all weekend too, huh?" I guessed.

"No," he said, shaking his head.  "I'm going to stay here tonight until I'm done with everything that needs to be caught up, then I'm taking the entire weekend, including tomorrow, off to spend with you.  I'm sure we have wedding stuff to do, and your parents will be here next week.  I'd like to spend a little time with you before we're married."

"Really?" I asked excitedly.  "The whole weekend?"

"Really," he replied, smiling.

"Oh, wait," I said, frowning.  "I'm working until 2 tomorrow to help out."

"Then I'll do a little work from home while you're gone," Brody said, shrugging.  "And our weekend will start when you get home."

I left as soon as we finished eating so Brody could get back to work.  As I drove home, the wheels turned in my head.  Brody spent so much time doing thoughtful things for me, and that kind of stuff wasn't something I was good at.  However, I was perfectly capable of planning a nice weekend for us to enjoy together.

As soon as I got home, I grabbed my laptop and put my plan into action.  I got everything planned that I needed and headed to bed.  I'm not sure when Brody got home, but I do know that when I woke up around 3am, he wasn't in bed.  He was there when I got up, sleeping soundly next to me.  I got up and ready as quietly as possible so he could sleep.

Before I left, I scribbled a quick note that said, "I'll be home around 3.  Don't plan anything for dinner, I have it under control.  Love you.  PS, pack an overnight bag for the weekend."

I leaned the note against the Keurig, knowing Brody would go straight to it for coffee when he got up, and left for work.