In the reception area sat a man. He looked fiftyish. She’d recognize him anywhere. Her father who had turned his back on her all those years ago. She used to see him occasionally after the split from her mom and he even used to support them for a little bit till he did a complete 360 and barely kept in touch. It’s been years since they last spoke. Their last conversation was a huge mess. She needed money to take an exam that was crucial to her career but he told her he couldn’t foot the bill because he’d already promised his new family a trip and he didn’t want to let them down. He said she was a big girl and she should stop running to daddy to fix all her problems she needed to make her dreams come true on her own just like he did in the old days. She remembered how crushed she was when he hang up and how her mom held her throughout the night as she sobbed uncontrollably. But someway somehow everything had worked out. They haven’t said a word to each other since that very awful conversation three years ago and she didn’t know what brought him here but she was not going to let him stop her bag.

As calmly as she possibly could, “What are you doing here?” she questioned causing a lot of heads to be turned towards them

“Baby girl, I-”

“I am not your baby girl and as a matter of fact, I don’t care for whatever reason dragged you here but I ask that you leave right away before I ask security to escort you out” she stated through gritted teeth. Without waiting for a response, she turned on her heel and walked off.

With the exception of Kitty, everyone who had witnessed the interaction was perplexed. Turning to the staff, “Please get back to work” she instructed

And to the man who had wounded her best friend so deeply, she said “Sir, please leave voluntarily or I would call security to drag you out of here. I wouldn’t come back if I were you”

The man kept staring in the direction of his daughter and sighed deeply and walked out of the building.

Taking a deep breath, she moved in the direction of the washroom to check on her friend.

“Kay” she called

“Is he gone?” Kara responded with sadly

“Yes, he is. I made sure of that”

“Thank you, Kitty”

“Us girls got to stick together”

She smiled but it didn’t reach her eyes.

“Wanna take the day off?”

“No, I just got the job and speaking of job, I need to go do it”

“Carla would understand. Come on let’s play hooky”

“I know she will but I need to be distracted right now.”

“Okay, closing time drinks on me”

“Girl, you don’t drink and neither do I” she chuckled

“And my work here is done” Kitty smiled contently.

The two ladies exited the washroom and went back to work.

The rest day went on uneventful. Surprisingly, she actually enjoyed working with Paul. They turned out to like the same things. At the end of their meeting he’d apologised and asked her out but per company policy, she was obliged to decline the proposal. She was finishing up in the conference room which was her makeshift office when Kitty came in signalling that it was time they left. She tidied her desk and they turned to leave marking her first workday.