Love and Other Crisis | Season 1

Episode | 1

Kaliope Barnes was no stranger to trouble. No matter how hard she tried to avoid it, trouble was inescapable because dealing with other people in her line of work was part of the job.

Her latest dilemma placed her outside the Human Resources office, certain the outcome of her meeting might not end in her favor. Arms crossed, her leg bouncing, she waited.

The door to the office opened, and she scowled at the man who emerged. Larry Cooke, her team leader and garden variety asshole. He sneered at her as he buttoned his suit jacket and sauntered down the hallway. Kaliope wanted to take up her chair and slap him in the head with it. He deserved it. The man was a liar and an incompetent lout. He only had the team leader position because he was the nephew of the VP of Public Relations for the company. She cut her eyes from the man's departing figure.

Moments later, the secretary appeared at the door. "Ms. Barners, Mr. Blandchard will see you now."

Kaliope stood, adjusted her shirt, and marched inside, head held high. She had nothing to be ashamed of. She'd done the right thing. That lout was the one who screwed up their client's account, then he blamed his subordinate for it. They fired the falsely accused woman without due process. Thinking about it made Kaliope's blood boil.

Unremorseful about speaking out against the incident, Kaliope sat across from the HR Manager. Roy Blanchard was a middle-aged man with more gray than black in his hair, his wire-rimmed glasses always riding low on his nose. Kaliope fancied him as much as she did Larry.

Less, even. Blanchard was a shameless bootlicker.

Blanchard clicked his pen twice before he spoke. "Ms. Barnes, here we are again. And for the same reason—insubordination."

Kaliope held herself stiff. Her mouth shut.

"Nothing to say?" Blanchard raised a brow and waited for Kaliope to mount her defense.

She counted back from five, reigning in the slew of belligerent responses her indignation threw at her. "Larry—Mr. Cooke, lied." That summed up her entire defense. No excuses. No apologies. "He lied and blamed someone else for his incompetence. An innocent bystander was fired for no fault of her own." She had a son and a sick husband. Now she's unemployed. "It's unfair." But, of course, Blanchard knew that. Anyone with half a brain would. But to reprimand the nephew of a VP? He didn't have the balls or the integrity.

Blanchard reclined in his chair. Clicked his pen. "And the other cases of insubordination?" Click. Click.

With each click of his pen, Kaliope's eyes twitched. He was doing it on purpose to annoy her. Her hands fisted in her lap. "Those were also instances of incompetence on Mr. Cooke's part. He's the problem."

Another snippet of fact upper management overlooked.

A muscle in Blanchard's jaw twitched. Click. Click. "I'm afraid there is only one recourse left to the company—"

Kaliope sprang to her feet, pulled a crumbled letter from her back pocket, and slapped it on the desk. She'd burn in the rings of hell before she allowed these assholes to fire her. "You're all a bunch of spineless, incompetent jackasses only concerned about your lofty titles and bonuses. You don't deserve me, my loyalty, or my hard work." She reached across the desk, snatched the pen from Blanchard, and tossed it in the bin. "Grow a pair."

Kaliope stormed out of the office, satisfied with the stricken look on Blanchard's face. She could kiss any recommendations from her now previous employers goodbye.

Back in her office, Kaliope shoved her laptop into her bag and grabbed her coffee mug. The cup was the only personal effect she had in her cubicle. Kaliope wasn't one to form attachments. Plus, she'd realized early in her six-month stint at Baylor and Company she was not a perfect fit. And at this rate, she was running out of places she might.