What a Fool Believes by Carmen Green Read Free Book Online Page B

hairs on Tia’s neck stand up. “Sign these.”
    Tia squeezed her hands before turning around and taking the papers. The other meteorologists and various assistants were all huddled in their cubes like frightened kittens.
    The papers outlined her action plan and the performance review she hadn’t seen. She leafed through it and saw the low scores. “I’d like the opportunity to read this over. On my own time, of course. May I return this to personnel tomorrow?”
    Tia knew she was pushing her luck, but Chance couldn’t skirt the law, no matter how much she hated her.
    â€œNine a.m. sharp. Sign the other one now.”
    Furious, Tia scribbled her name and thrust the action plan back at Chance, who grinned. “Ah, so the peacock awakens.” She snatched the papers. “Get to work.”
    Tia turned to her desk and looked at the reports she needed to complete. The worst part of her job was that sometimes it was just plain boring. Her assignment for the past month had been to review data from Alaskan meteorologists, who, on a daily basis, measured glacial melting. Not exactly her dream job, but someone had to do it.
    She tried not to think about it as she plugged in figures for the next three hours.
    She typed in numbers that resembled her bank PIN and realized she needed to check her account balance. Craning her neck to see if Chance was around, Tia typed in her banking institution and accessed her account. $897.04. That was all the money in her checking account. She already knew her savings account was empty.
    Her heart rate increased by ten beats a minute as she memorized the withdrawals, closed the screen, and returned to the weather Web sites before getting her checkbook out of her purse.
    The card for the anger management class fell out.
    Damn. She still had to face that awful music.
    â€œWant to do lunch with us?” Ronnie/Rhonda asked.
    Tia fumbled with the checkbook. “You need to make some noise and stop sneaking around, scaring people.”
    â€œThe guilty always protest too much,” Ronnie/ Rhonda said, with a sweet grin, his eyes bright blue. “Hungry, peacock?”
    Tia glanced at the card, knowing somehow that the class wasn’t going to be either free or cheap. “I’d better not, but thanks.”
    â€œDon’t let that Morticia freak get to you.” Ronnie/Rhonda’s voice rose a bit.
    â€œI’m not,” Tia said to quiet him. “I’ve got something to do, that’s all.”
    Tia didn’t fold under the intense scrutiny. The last thing she needed was to cause a scene. That would surely get her fired. And she’d make Chance’s day.
    â€œAll righty then. Come on, girls,” Ronnie/Rhonda said to the two station interns who stood dutifully behind him. “We’re lunching on the outdoor patio at Blanco’s so we can babe watch an hour of our life away. Ciao.”
    â€œCiao,” Tia said, as the group weaved to the elevator and left her in miserable silence. She and Ronnie/Rhonda had never been close friends, but the cross-dressing man was always good for a laugh and gossip every now and then.
    Not for the first time, Tia wondered why he’d been kept on at the station. Two years ago, he’d started as a man and then one day showed up as a woman. The staff had been aflutter and his parents hadn’t been happy, but Ronnie/Rhonda had endeared himself to the people at WKTT and now he was a treasured member of the staff. The truth was, he knew something about everything and that made him invaluable.
    Tia eyed her checkbook again. The state had cashed her thousand-dollar check in a hurry.
    She dialed the number on the card for the class and waited. Instructions were given, and then her mouth fell open. She pressed ONE to hear the message again. “Registration for the anger management class is $295. If you are registered before five p.m. eastern standard time tomorrow you will be