Chapter 17 #2
Emmy had to gather herself before she headed for the conference room, knowing the object of all her frazzle would be there
waiting for her.
When she arrived, Gabe had opened his snack and was crunching away.
“Still pretending to like rice cakes?” she said, and sank into the chair opposite his side of the table.
He turned to her and swallowed with a half grin. “I told you, I love rice cakes.”
She replaced her computer glasses even though she didn’t have her computer and eyed him over the tops of them. “No one likes
rice cakes, Olson.”
He looked like he had trouble swallowing his bite before he licked his lips. His Adam’s apple bobbed again, and she felt his
eyes hungrily outlining her glasses.
Payback , she mouthed as the rest of their team filed in the door.
Gabe chewed away, his grin stretching his lips as he flicked a brow at her.
They were used to challenging each other at work, but this was a new kind of competition. One Emmy knew she had the upper
hand in because all she had to do was look at him. And, apparently, wear glasses.
Soon Alice stood at the front of the room going over an update on the trade prospect analysis, and Emmy should have been listening. She should have been taking mental and physical notes, but even with her body swiveled forward, her eyes would not unglue from Gabe.
The arch of his cheekbones, the curve of his jaw. The hint of oranges and amber she could smell across the room, and the way
she knew how it would flood through her like an elixir if she pressed her nose below his ear and inhaled. She wanted to graze
her teeth on his stubble. She wanted to peel off his shirt and trace her fingertips over his chest. She wanted to remove every
layer of his clothing and—
“Jameson?” Alice’s voice cut into her fantasy like a cymbal crash.
Emmy flinched. Her face burned, and she felt every eye in the room on her. Gabe’s were searing hot, and he wore a victorious
grin on his lips. He cleared his throat to disguise a quiet laugh.
Goddamn it. Maybe she didn’t have the upper hand after all.
She took a breath and tried to focus. “Sorry, you were saying?” she asked Alice.
Alice gave her a suspicious look and paused for a few beats. “I said I want you as lead on this.” She nodded at the complicated
chart projected on the screen behind her.
Emmy sat up straighter and pulled her head back into the game. “Of course.”
“Thank you. Now...” Alice continued talking, and Emmy forced herself to pay attention. Even in the moments when she could
feel Gabe’s gaze traveling the terrain of her body like he too was undressing her with his eyes.
When the meeting ended a half hour later, Emmy and Gabe both lingered while Pedro and Silas slipped out the door. Alice remained
at the other end of the room.
“After you,” Gabe said, and gestured for Emmy to go first.
She side-eyed him with a grin. “You’ve never waited for me to leave a room first.”
“Well, I’ve developed a taste for the view from behind,” he muttered.
Emmy’s face flamed again. She stifled a laugh. “ Gabe ,” she warned right as Alice called her name.
“Jameson? Got a minute?”
Emmy froze, feeling caught.
Gabe took the cue to pretend like nothing had happened and slipped out the door.
“Of course,” Emmy said to Alice and tried to keep her voice steady.
“Good. Walk with me,” Alice said with a nod. She gathered her laptop and tucked it under her arm. Emmy followed her into the
hallway, jittery with nerves. Alice’s heels snapped off the concrete floor like little hammer strokes, each one pounding a
nail in what Emmy was sure would be her career coffin. They were being way too obvious.
Once Alice deposited her laptop in her own office, she led Emmy down the hall and into an elevator that carried them up to
the field level of the ballpark. All the while, Alice stayed quiet. Emmy was about to explode with anxiety when they crossed
into the airy breezeway. She could see the field as a lime-green strip between the deck they stood on and the one above them.
The maintenance crew milled around trimming every blade of grass and perfectly chalking the dirt.
“Thought we could use some fresh air,” Alice said with an encouraging smile.
Emmy still wasn’t sure what this impromptu walk-and-talk was about, so she simply smiled back.
They strolled past vendor booths being stocked for the game later that night: kegs on carts, trunks of ice, a towering trolley
of hot dog buns. To their right, the empty stadium seats stretched down to the field like a sheet of shiny blue plastic.
“How was the wedding?” Alice asked in a calm, casual tone.
The tight knot in Emmy’s stomach loosened.
“Oh!” she said, surprised at the topic, but of all her co-workers, Alice would be the one to ask.
“It was really great. Kind of perfect, actually.” Her cheeks warmed as she thought back to the sand and sea, her sister’s smile.
The warmth morphed into a full-on heat wave when she thought of Gabe in his suit.
Gabe in his bathrobe. Gabe in nothing at all.
“It was actually the best weekend of my life,” she quietly added.
Alice shot her a coy smile. “You’re not going to run off to Mexico on me, are you?”
“No,” Emmy said with a laugh.
“Good.” Alice stopped walking and leaned on the rail they’d approached. Emmy joined her and gazed out at the field.
At face value, it was a diamond of dirt and some grass on which a bunch of grown men threw and hit a ball around, but it was
so much more than that. It was dreams and goals and aspirations. A place where the highest level of a profession was carried
out. Where legends were born, and records set. It may have been just a game, but it was also a community. A place that brought
people together and gave them something to care about. Something to believe in. Something that made the rest of life a little
better for the moments of delirious celebration because a collective goal was reached. Emmy’s love for the sport thrummed
through her as she stared out, and she knew by the look on Alice’s face that she felt the same.
The significance of them standing there as two women was not lost on her.
“Emmy, the reason I brought you out here to talk...” Alice began, and Emmy’s nerves jumped again. Alice turned to her with
a serious look in her eyes. “I wanted to let you know that as of now, you are the front-runner for the senior analyst position.
Olson is great, but your leadership qualities give you an edge that I would love to see continue to grow as you advance through
the organization.”
Emmy’s breath hitched. Her heart soared. Alice’s straight-to -the-point delivery almost knocked her off her feet. “Um, thank you. That’s great news.”
Alice nodded. “Of course. And you shouldn’t be surprised. In fact, don’t be. You deserve this, and you know you do, so act
like it.”
Emmy wiped the shock off her face and heard what she was really saying. Her discreet reference to the steel backbone of confidence
they needed to make it as women in their industry. “Yes, I do deserve it. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Part of the reason I’m telling you this now is that I need you focused. You are the front-runner, and with
one week left until Director Allen makes a decision, you need to bring it home. That’s why I’m giving you lead on this project.”
She said it all with the subtext of Don’t let me down .
Emmy heard her loud and clear. She knew Alice advocated for her where she could, and her giving Emmy a heads-up that the job
was all but hers meant she’d cleared a path for her. She had to make it to the finish line. “Understood,” she said with a
nod.
“Great. And on that note, you seem a little distracted today. Everything all right?”
Embarrassment leapt up and gripped Emmy with two hands. Apparently, it had been obvious. She trusted Alice and had confided
in her before, but she didn’t feel like she could confess to her that her distraction came from the explicit fantasies about
her cubicle mate playing on repeat in her mind.
“Oh, it’s just some... relationship stuff. Sorry about that. I’ll keep it in check.” She knew it was a lie even as the
words left her lips.
“Ah. Well. I will be the first to admit I am not a font of knowledge on that front,” Alice said with a light laugh.
Emmy shot her a smile, knowing she was single and in her own words married to her career .
Alice was someone she aspired to emulate.
When she’d sworn off dating after Jacob, she’d reassured herself she’d made the right choice many times by looking to Alice as inspiration.
She’s happy. She’s thriving. She loves her job, and that’s enough for her.
But now that her own world had been turned upside down by a fake number text, Emmy wondered if it was enough for her .
If maybe she truly could make room for the joy that had unexpectedly filled her life for the past several weeks and make
things work with Gabe.
“Alice,” she said, hearing the timidity in her own voice. “Don’t answer if this is too personal, but do you ever wish you’d
done things differently?”
The look Alice gave her said she knew exactly what she meant, and also she didn’t find the question too personal at all. “This
career comes with sacrifices, but the best ones often do. Sure, sometimes I think about what it would be like to come home
to a husband and kids instead of a quiet—blissfully quiet, I might add—house.” She paused for a sly smile. “But then I remember
why I got into this career and what I want out of it. For me, that’s what drives me. That’s what gets me out of bed every day. Getting to come here and be part of something big and influential, to help build a legacy—and
to get to do it as one of so few women.” She gave her a dazzling smile, and Emmy felt it shimmer through her body. They were
so alike.
“But it doesn’t have to be an either/or, Emmy,” she went on. “Plenty of people find ways to make careers and families work.
And you’re still young.” She nudged her with her elbow. “Plenty of time to figure things out. Hell, I’m still young. We better stop talking like I’ve got one foot in the grave in case we manifest it.” She laughed, and Emmy joined
her.
“Thanks, Alice.”
“Yep. Now, let’s get back to work on getting you promoted.”