Free Pretty Girls Don't Cry by Tony J Winn Page A

him?”
    “What now?” Nora's mouth dropped open. “Hang on, I'll be right back.”
    Nora dashed out of the office and went straight to Kylie's desk. Kylie had left in a hurry, thank goodness, leaving the drawer unlocked. Nora retrieved the notebook—the one with dates, times, and details of all Murray's offenses.
    When she got back to Don's office, he was tossing some Tylenol in his mouth.
    She laid the journal on the desk between them.
    “What's this?” He opened the book and scanned down one page, then another. After a few minutes, he slammed the book shut. “You're in violation of company policy.”
    “You're kidding me. Look. In one week alone, we heard about Murray's penis seventeen times.”
    “You should have brought this to me before things got to a boiling point. Punching someone is never the right thing to do.”
    “I didn't punch him, I slapped him. Huge difference.” Even as she said it, Nora tried to remember exactly what position her hand had been in when it had struck Murray. It may have looked like a punch to an observer like Stevey. She wondered if there was still a job opening at the ad agency.
    “You're on leave of absence, starting now,” Don said. He pushed the notebook back to her, a look of disgust on his face.
    “You're angry, with me? What about all those things Murray did?”
    “I am dealing with what happened today. Those other things, you should have told me.”
    “And be a tattle-tale?”
    “Nora.”
    “ Uncle Don.”
    “Some time off will be good for you. Do something fun. All this will be here when you return with some perspective.”
    As much as she was dying to get in the last word, Nora stood and left the office, her head bowed.
    *
    Nora's parents were more understanding than her uncle had been. They had heard about Murray's antics previous to this, and in fact, had been the ones to advise Kylie and Nora keep a notebook.
    Nora thought of telling her parents that Aaron Edward was back in town, but she didn't relish opening that package of bad feelings. They blamed him for the accident and the loss of her foot. She had never fully confessed her role in the events.
    Aaron probably wanted to demonstrate what a decent guy he was by apologizing again. What he didn't understand when he was a kid, before his family moved away to start fresh, is you can't keep apologizing over and over. It's like asking for forgiveness, and if people aren't ready to forgive and forget, apologies only make them feel worse.
    Nora's parents had been good to her, and she didn't want to put them through another apology, over something that could never be fixed or forgiven.
    Thursday morning, over breakfast, Nora's father tried to reassure her about her job at the radio station. He said, “Don will come around. It's not easy being the boss. That's why I've never been interested in management. If I'm going to deal with childish tantrums, I'd rather they be from actual children.”
    “Dad, I didn't have a tantrum.”
    Nora's mother looked up from the pancake batter she was pouring onto the griddle. “To me, it sounds like you did. I'm reminded of those fights you used to get into with the boys at school.”
    She said it the way only a life-long school teacher could.
    “I'm a grownup,” Nora said.
    “If you're such a grownup, why did you ask for Mickey Mouse-shaped pancakes?”
    “Grownups can like fun things.”
    “Since you'll be home all day, I've left you a list of errands.”
    “Mom!”
    *
    On Friday, the list of chores was longer. Nora did half of them and retreated to her room, where she curled up with Razzles and had a nap for the first time in years. The sunshine on her patchwork blanket felt good.
    Kylie phoned, waking her up. Apparently, things at the station had been strange with Nora gone. The whole schedule had been shuffled around to cover her shifts, and the official memo stated Nora would be on stress leave for six weeks.
    “Six weeks? Lucky me,” Nora said. “Thanks for the