Rise of the Desperate: Billy Wood's Save and Restart System

Chapter 2: Leaving Work Early

Seeing no reason to lie, Billy said, "Yeah. Where did you hear it from?"

Jacqueline shrugged as she said, "I heard some of the other people in our department talking about how you were denied a day off for your anniversary even though you put in your request several weeks in advance."

Billy winced. So much for it being confidential. That kind of information shouldn't be allowed to spread. It was a breach of privacy. It didn't take a genius to know who spread it since there had only been a few people involved in the process. The manager immediately came to mind, but he had no proof, so he couldn't accuse him of sharing private information.

"Anyway, do you still want to leave early to get some things for your wife?" she suddenly asked.

He blinked. "Of course. I want to get her a couple things to celebrate our six year anniversary."

"I still can't believe you've been married for so long," she mumbled. "You're only twenty two."

Ignoring her mutterings, he asked, "Why do you ask? You wouldn't be bringing it up for no reason."

She scowled as she crossed her arm and said, "Well, I think I can help cover you so you can leave early to be with your wife."

His eyes widened as he asked, "Are you serious?"

Jacqueline raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't bring it up if I wasn't. Well, do you want me too?"

"Won't you get in trouble?" he asked with a serious expression.

Billy couldn't imagine it would end well for the both of them if it got out that he left work early while Jacqueline covered him. They could both lose their jobs, which was something he wouldn't allow. Jacqueline didn't deserve to lose her job trying to help him out, and he didn't want to disappoint the family by losing the job.

"It's fine. I already have a plan," she said as she pointed at herself with a thumb. "You have nothing to worry about."

"You seem to have everything under control," he said. "Did you maybe plan this ahead of time?"

She looked away and muttered something, but he couldn't hear it. He was tempted to push her for an answer when he heard their number being called. Jacqueline immediately took the opportunity to grab the receipt with the order number on it and rush to the counter. Billy followed after at a slower pace and reached the counter just as she tried to grab everything.

"Here, let me," he said as he grabbed two boxes of coffee, leaving her with only one.

Jacqueline gave him a disgruntled expression. However, she didn't push him to hand one over to her. She seemed to understand that she couldn't carry more than one box at a time. Instead, she followed Billy as they walked out of the cafe to head back to the company.

After several moments, Jacqueline asked, "So what do you think? Should I tell them that something happened and they couldn't stay?"

He was still hesitant to take her offer, but he really wanted to spend time with his wife. Lately, they haven't been able to spend time together. Their schedules just didn't synch up, which frustrated him immensely. After fighting with himself, he finally came to a decision.

"If you're sure nothing bad is going to happen, then I'll gladly accept your help," he said as they stood in front of the company building.

She nodded. "Okay. Follow my lead."

Allowing her to go first, he followed her as they returned back to their section. As soon as they made their appearance, the manager swooped in like a bat, even though he should be doing his job. Billy grimaced as the manager made a show of taking the box of coffee from her.

"You shouldn't strain yourself. Let me take it from you," he said as he reached out to grab the box from her.

Jacqueline shifted the box away from him as she said, "I'm good. You must be really busy, so I can't take too much of your time."

"It's fine. I'm not busy right now," the manager said as he got into her personal space.

Billy had expected her to say something or put up more of a fight. What he didn't expect was for her to smile and shove the box of coffee in the manager's direction. Not expecting the action, the manager stumbled while holding the box. Luckily, he didn't drop it and spill the contents everywhere, but it was a close call.

"Thank you," Jacqueline said, dusting off her hand. "I have a lot of things to do, so please take care of them. Oh, and take the coffee from Billy. He has a lot of things he needs to do."

Bewildered, everyone stared at the duo in confusion as the manager voiced what everyone was thinking. "What are you talking about?"

"Billy was assigned a job to do, so he won't be in the office all day. In fact, he needs to get going right now, or else he'll be late. Let me take those from you," Jacqueline said as she reached out for the boxes.

Going along with what she had planned, he gave her the boxes. She grimaced as she struggled to balance the coffee so none of it would spill. Immediately, several men raced to help her. Billy took a step back to watch the scene as the coffee was quickly taken from her.

Once she finished the coffee, she turned her attention to Billy and said, "What are you doing? Get going already unless you want to get in trouble."

Silently thanking her for the cover, he said, "Right. See you later."

As he turned to leave, he briefly caught the ugly expression on the manager's face. He looked like a wrinkled tomato from just how angry he was. Billy made sure to get out of there before the manager started screaming after him. Once he retrieved his things, he was out the door with thoughts on what to get his lovely wife.

He needed something to make up for how much he was neglecting her. It needed to be something amazing. That's when he spotted something out of the corner of his eye. Retracing his steps, he stared into the story as his eyes focused on a certain item. He had just found what he should give his wife.