Chapter Six Josh
“That wraps up this meeting. Good work, everyone.”
Emma checks the time on her phone as I shut down the weekly update call that everyone at the company tunes in for, whether they’re in office or working remotely. Today, it’s just me, the guys, and Emma.
Which I don’t mind. At all.
As cool as our employees across the whole country are, my attention has been fairly directed lately to a specific person. Trust me, I’m trying not to focus on her, but trying to ignore Emma is like trying to ignore the sun.
She’s there, and she shines. It’s in her smile, in her work, and in her spirit. I think she’s the only one in the office who has at least tried to get into the Christmas spirit by adding little accessories to her outfits like reindeer earrings and a scarf with Christmas trees on it.
If we weren’t so busy, I would be celebrating more.
“I guess I should go,” Emma sighs as she stands from the conference table and starts gathering her notes.
“I’ll put them on your desk,” Ryan says as he motions for her to slide them across the table to him.
Emma flashes him a grateful look before pushing the papers over to him. She then looks at me, not at all in a rush to leave just yet. “Are you sure that it’s okay that I skip out early? I don’t have to be right on time for dinner.”
“Your parents like punctuality,” I tell her. I doubt I have to remind her of that, though.
“They’ll be excited to see you,” Max adds before nodding to the door. “We’re pretty much finished up for the day anyway.”
Emma huffs a little before nodding and leaving the room. Something tells me she was wanting an excuse to stay. I know that her parents can be kind of pushy with her, but I know they’ve missed her like crazy since she’s been gone.
One little family dinner can’t be all that bad, right?
It’s certainly more than what I got growing up.
“She didn’t want to go,” Ryan comments once she leaves in the elevator. He tidies up her notes and carries them out of the room.
Max and I follow him and close the door behind us.
“It’ll be fine. Andrew and Ethan will stick up for her like always,” Max replies before sitting down at his desk and tidying up some pens and documents on it.
Her brothers have shown that they’re not to be messed with. Of course, they’d never be disrespectful to their parents, who pretty much worship the ground that they walk on, but they scared off plenty of kids back in the day who weren’t nice to Emma.
Hell, they might scare off boyfriends even now.
“Do you think she has a boyfriend?” I blurt out.
Max raises an eyebrow at me. “I don’t think so. Why?”
“Yeah, why, Josh?” Ryan questions me as he places her notes on her desk.
I lift my hands innocently. “Just a random thought. Can you imagine her trying to bring a boyfriend to dinner?”
Max chuckles, and even Ryan cracks an amused grin. “Ethan would get a background check on him.”
“Andrew would threaten to see him in the emergency room,” Ryan adds, our laughter echoing throughout the office.
They’re not even bad, violent guys. They’re just super protective over family.
Personally, I don’t understand that, but I admire their devotion. It actually makes me kind of jealous.
When I hear the elevator open, I turn around and grin at the sight of Max’s mom walking toward us with a red Christmas tin in her hands. “Hey, Mrs. Harper.”
Mrs. Harper smiles and hugs her son. “I was just in the neighborhood and wanted to bring these sugar cookies by.”
Max takes the tin of cookies from her and opens them, showing off the homemade treats that are decorated as snowmen and Christmas trees. “She means that she made them especially for us and went through the trouble of delivering them personally.”
Ryan steals the tin from Max and lets Mrs. Harper pull him in for a hug. “Thanks, Mrs. H.”
“You’re so welcome, dear. I know you love sweets,” Mrs. Harper tells him as she pats him on the cheek lovingly.
I share an amused look with Max.
Ryan does love his sweets when he’s not burning the calories off at the gym.
Mrs. Harper turns to me and gestures for me to hug her. “I haven’t seen you and Ryan for far too long, Joshua.”
I hear Max and Ryan snicker at the sound of my full first name being said, making me roll my eyes at them over Mrs. Harper’s shoulder. “I know. I’m sorry. We’ve been really busy lately.”
“Oh, that’s okay. You don’t have to apologize. I’m just happy to see you.” She rubs my back and offers me a warm smile.
Her words are like a dagger to the heart, even if they’re incredibly kind. She’s kinder to me than my own parents, which stings.
I’ve always felt guilty for feeling jealous of my friends and their families. I always wondered if I did anything wrong, and now that I’m older, I still don’t have an answer. Maybe there isn’t one meant to be found.
“You just missed Emma, Mom. She’s been working with us for this project,” Max tells her.
Mrs. Harper gasps. “Emma Blake? Really?”
I shove down my feelings and smile. “Yeah, she’s amazing at graphic design. We pulled her in to help with this update.”
“Is she staying in the city?” There’s a hopeful look on her face. We’re not the only ones who missed Emma when she left.
“We’re not sure yet. She’s thinking about what she wants to do next,” Max tells her.
“Well, tell her to come see me! I at least want to see her once before she takes off again.”
I think Emma traveling while freelancing is badass. Our platform allows people working regular jobs to be on the move if they want to be while working. But there is a part of me that doesn’t want her to leave again.
Ever since she’s been here, there’s a warm, inspirational energy in the office that’s intoxicating.
We’ve been powerhouses lately, feeding off each other’s drive.
It’ll be hard going back to normal once the project is done, and it’ll be tough going through my day to day without knowing when I’ll see her next.
“We’ll tell her,” Ryan promises her before biting into a Christmas tree cookie. He eats three fourths of it in one go. He might as well inhale the whole thing.
Mrs. Harper checks her watch. “I need to get going before the bank closes. Enjoy the cookies!”
“Bye, Mrs. Harper,” I tell her, waving goodbye as she hurries to the elevator. Once she’s gone, I snatch a cookie out of the tin before Ryan can hog them. “Sucks that Emma had to leave early. She’ll be jealous.”
“We can leave her some,” Max suggests as he picks up a snowman cookie and bites off its head.
Ryan grunts at the prospect of sharing, but he reluctantly puts the lid back on the cookie tin to save the rest for later. “I should get going anyway. Gotta work off these cookies.”
“I’m going to finish up some coding work at home,” Max says as they both split off to grab their things.
My mind trails back to Emma as I stare at the cookie tin, slowly chewing on the last bite of my cookie. It’s sweet but not as sweet as I imagine her taste being.
I grimace at my own thoughts. I can’t see her the same way that I used to when we were all younger. Things have changed, and we’re different people.
She’s the definition of tempting.
Playful. Beautiful. Ambitious. Sweet.
Perfection with a bow on top, and I still have to behave myself because I respect the hell out of her brothers. They just don’t understand how tempting she is, but I’m pretty sure that Max and Ryan do. I’ve seen the way that they watch her across the office or even across a desk.
She’s what we want but can’t have, and that makes working with her exhilarating and tortuous at the same time. We can’t win. If we succumb to our desires, we risk losing her brothers as our friends. If we deny our desires, we lose the chance of being with her in the way that we crave.
And the first week has only just ended.