Betting on Bailey

Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Bailey:

“Then what happened?” I lean forward, totally engrossed by Daniel’s recounting of the day’s events.

“The board voted unanimously to ask for Cyrus’ resignation,” Daniel replies.

“And Juliette?”

He gives me a sidelong look. “I was going to talk to you about that,” he says. “She offered to quit the team.”

“She can’t,” I exclaim. “Or you’ll lose your bet.”

Sebastian rolls his eyes at that. “Yes,” he says dryly. “Daniel Hartman is going to notice losing fifty grand in a bet.”

“I don’t like losing,” Daniel reminds him mildly. “Although in this case, I’m more concerned about what Bailey thinks.” He looks at me. “It’s your call,” he says. “The way the brackets are set up, if we win, we’ll meet Trevor’s team in the finals. If Juliette quits the team, we can’t replace her, and we might not make the finals.”

“Oh no,” I tell him grimly. “You tell her to show up tomorrow night and play her heart out. Fuck, I’ll tell her to show up. She owes me. I need to beat Trevor.”

Both Sebastian and Daniel chuckle. “That’s what I thought you’d say,” Daniel grins. “She’ll be there.” He shakes his head ruefully. “Remind me never to piss you off, Bailey.”

“And the restaurant?” I turn to Sebastian. “When can you re-open?”

He grimaces. “Six weeks, as predicted,” he says. “Still, the damage wasn’t as bad as I’d feared.” He shrugs. “It’s not a terrible thing for the team to take a break,” he adds. “We’ve been working our fingers to the bone to get the second star.”

“They’ll still get paid?”

He nods. “I’d be crazy to do anything else,” he replies. “My competitors were salivating at the idea of my team being out of work.” He snorts. “They were hoping to poach my staff. Not going to happen.”

“And Ben’s pulling through?”

He nods, though this time his expression holds sadness. “His hands are damaged,” he says quietly. “His career as a chef is over.” He sighs. “It’s probably for the best. It takes skill and temperament to cut it in a kitchen. Ben had the skill, but he couldn’t cope with the stress.”

“What’s going to happen to him?”

“I’m paying for rehab,” Daniel cuts in. “Then, after that, if he’s better, we’ll find him a job.”

They are both such good people. I feel really lucky that they are mine.

“You still have to tell us about your review meeting,” Sebastian points out. “Your ‘I didn’t get fired’ text message was a little short on the details.”

I make a face as I think about the meeting. “I was a bit anti-climactic,” I tell them. “I had a speech rehearsed about ethics and morality and all that stuff, but I didn’t get a chance to use it. They just told me I wasn’t getting fired, and that was it.”

“What are they going to do about the plagiarism?” Sebastian asks. “Are they going to fire Landrieu? Or reprimand him?”

“Who can tell?” I’m a little disillusioned. “Does the university have enough balls to create a hue and cry about Landrieu’s work? I doubt it. They were transparently grateful that I was going to spend the next semester on leave in Argentina, and there was no mention of my tenure window.”

“You don’t think they’ll offer tenure?” Daniel’s voice is sharp.

I shake my head. “Don’t interfere,” I warn him. “Not this year they won’t. They’ll need to wait for this to fade away.” I grimace. “Still, I didn’t get fired today. That’s a win, right? You take what you get. I was disappointed during the meeting, but I got over it.” I grin at them. “I have other, more interesting things to distract me.”

“Do you?” Daniel’s voice is amused. “You mean things like pool practice? Stone has assured me that the game room is free of any recording equipment. Want to play?”