Chapter 34
On Friday morning, Mateo gestured wildly as they entered the Kudos building together, nearly spilling some of his coffee—or maybe Gordon’s. “Did you see that all-company email fiasco yesterday?”
“No.” Scottie had been away from her desk for most of the afternoon, setting up a new computer in HR and then helping Willow with an Outlook glitch. “What happened?”
“Someone in Sales accidentally hit reply all on a department-wide email and told everyone in great detail about needing a mental health day off to recover from a disastrous Bumble date.”
Scottie groaned. “You’re kidding.”
“That’s not even the best part. As soon as they noticed their mistake, they panicked and sent a follow-up email.”
“Let me guess,” Scottie said. “The classic please disregard my previous email.”
“Yep.” Mateo rolled his eyes. “Which, of course, made people curious, so by the time their manager contacted us, wanting us to delete it from everyone’s inbox, almost the entire department had opened it.”
He fell silent as they squeezed into the nearly full elevator.
Katia, Mr. Sorensen’s executive assistant, stood near the back, scrolling through her phone. A couple of people from Marketing huddled in the middle.
The doors began to glide shut when hurried footsteps echoed across the lobby.
Since Mateo had his hands full with two paper cups, Scottie stuck hers out and caught the doors before they could close.
They slid open again.
Willow stood in the opening, taking in the crowded elevator. Her hair was damp from the light drizzle outside, the ends curling around her green scarf that brought out the greenish flecks in her hazel eyes. Her gaze instantly connected with Scottie’s. “Thank you.”
Mateo shifted to the side, making space for Willow between him and Scottie.
“Good morning,” Willow said, her voice low and intimate in the small space.
Several employees echoed Willow’s greeting, even though Scottie knew Willow had been talking mostly to her.
“Morning,” Scottie replied. She wanted to say so much more: How did you sleep? Did Mr. Sorensen send you his presentation draft? Want to come over to my place after work?
But a dozen Kudos employees would be listening to their every word.
Willow had said she was okay with being called her girlfriend anytime, but did that mean she was ready to reveal their relationship to their colleagues? With all the tech glitches that had happened this week, they hadn’t gotten around to talking about it.
Telling Gordon and Mateo about them would probably be fine. Willow knew they were more than co-workers to Scottie; they were almost like family.
But Mr. Sorensen’s EA was just two feet away. If she found out they were a couple and let her boss know, he might start to keep an eye on Scottie too—and find out she hadn’t filed a ticket or documented any of the tech glitches Willow had been dealing with since Monday.
So it was better to play it cool and act all professional.
But as the elevator started its ascent, Willow shifted her weight.
They were now so close that their coat sleeves brushed, and Scottie could feel the heat emanating from Willow. The faint scent of Willow’s apricot shampoo filled her nostrils.
Scottie struggled against the urge to lean toward her. Willow’s hand was barely an inch from her own. Scottie ached to extend her pinkie and make contact with Willow’s. Having her so close yet still not being able to touch her was torture.
In the crowded elevator, no one would notice…or if they did, they would assume it was an accidental contact.
But the risk of setting off a spark and drawing everyone’s attention was too great. So Scottie kept her hands to herself and her gaze fixed to the floor numbers above the door.
She could feel Willow peering at her out of the corner of her eye, though. Very likely, she was just as insecure about how to act around her in front of their co-workers.
Finally, the elevator stopped on the tenth floor.
Scottie let Mateo get out first. When she followed him out, she glanced back over her shoulder and caught a glimpse of Willow, who gave her a tiny smile.
Then the door closed between them.
Sighing, Scottie turned and caught up with Mateo.
He regarded her the way he would a server that kept crashing for no discernible reason. “Damn, that was painful to watch. You’ve really got no game. Zero riz.”
“What?”
He gestured back toward the elevator with the paper cup in his right hand.
“Didn’t you notice? She was giving you those secret looks.
Like she was trying to act chill, but her face was basically saying: ‘Ask me out already!’ You had the perfect opportunity right there, and you just stood there like a damn statue, missing all the signals! ”
Scottie bit the inside of her cheek to keep from grinning. If only he knew he was giving her flirting advice about her actual girlfriend! But it was good to hear that she hadn’t been the only one who’d been fighting her yearning. “Maybe I was just being professional.”
He snorted. “Yeah, right. Try being a chickenshit!”
They reached their office, and Scottie pulled the door open.
Mateo strode past her, still shaking his head. “Seriously. You need lessons, my friend.”
Gordon was already at his computer. He reached for the paper cup Mateo held out to him like a man dying of thirst. “Lessons in what?”
Mateo flopped onto his chair. “Asking out women. We ran into Willow in the elevator, and genius here didn’t even try to flirt or ask for her number.”
“Willow?” Gordon asked. He was hopeless with names…or faces…or anything to do with people.
“Yeah. Willow Greene, her girlfriend from Ops.”
“Ah.”
Scottie lifted her hand to intervene. This was getting ridiculous. “Guys—”
Mateo cut her off with a wave. “Yeah, yeah, we know. She’s not your girlfriend. You’re not interested in more heartbreak, yada, yada.”
Okay, she had to tell them now. Otherwise, she’d be lying to them, even if only by omission. She cleared her throat. “Actually… She is.”
“Interested?” Mateo asked. “Yeah, that’s what I’ve been trying to tell you!”
Scottie stretched across her screens to turn on the tiny Christmas lights on the bonsai above her desk. She took her time turning back around before she said: “My girlfriend.”
They both whirled toward her and stared.
“What?” Mateo asked. “Seriously?”
“How did that happen? And when?” Gordon added.
Scottie smiled. When had it happened? She thought back to every encounter she’d had with Willow, from the moment she had first spied her behind and her shapely calves sticking out from under her desk.
“I guess during the practice dates Barb talked us into, we both realized we didn’t want to practice for dating other people,” she said, skipping over the kiss they had shared when they had gotten stuck in the elevator.
“We wanted to date each other. It just took us a while to admit it. I finally asked her to go to the office holiday party together—and she said yes.”
Mateo leaned over and slapped her shoulder. “Smooth move! Real slick. Maybe you’ve got some game after all.”
“Thanks, I guess.”
Gordon raised his brows. “So you’ve been dating her for a week and didn’t say anything? Oh, wait! That’s why you spent so much time in Operations this week! Outlook issues!” He painted quotation marks in the air with his fingers. “Is that what they’re calling it these days?”
Scottie faced their teasing with a good-natured smile. “She really had Outlook issues.” And printer issues. And SAP issues. Not that she would ever tell them that now that she had to protect Willow’s secret. “But I admit I didn’t mind that it gave me a reason to see her. I really like her.”
Gordon and Mateo fell silent and traded a long look.
Scottie sobered too. “But please keep it quiet for now, okay? Now that Mr. Sorensen is breathing down her neck because she’s assisting with his presentation, she doesn’t need more gossip about her.”
Gordon nodded right away, all teasing gone. “Of course. No one will hear it from us. Right, Mateo?”
Mateo mimed zipping his lips. “Promise. But I gotta say, I did not have you starting an office romance on my bingo card! I thought you’d stay single forever.”
“Yeah,” Scottie said. “So did I. Guess my heart rebooted faster than I expected.”
Her phone buzzed. It was a message from Willow. Hey. Sorry if things were a bit awkward in the elevator. I wasn’t sure what to do.
Me neither, Scottie texted back.
I’m fine with telling people about us if you are, came Willow’s next message. I have enough secrets. I don’t want you to be one of them.
Warmth filled Scottie. Willow was pretty reserved, always keeping people at arm’s length, never revealing much about herself—and, of course, Scottie now understood why. She hadn’t expected her to be so open about their relationship, but it came as a wonderful surprise.
“Ooh, judging by that grin on her face, the girlfriend just texted!” Mateo said.
“None of your business,” Scottie replied without looking up from her phone.
“That’s a yes,” Gordon said.
Scottie ignored them and typed, If it were up to me, we’d shout it from the rooftops. But maybe we should wait until after the presentation. You don’t need any extra attention on you right now.
After a short pause, another text from Willow popped up. You’re right. And so thoughtful it’s unfair.
Scottie’s mouth curved into a grin. Unfair?
Yes, Willow replied. Because keeping our relationship quiet for now probably means no more kisses on our lunch break.
Ugh. Scottie grimaced. Willow was right. Sharing kisses on a bench across the street from Kudos was not exactly discreet. She slumped against the back of her chair and replied with a string of crying emojis, then added a broken heart, hoping the dramatic flair would make Willow smile.
When Willow sent back a hugging emoji, Scottie countered with a hamburger.
A string of question marks popped up a few moments later.
Want to head over to Lloyd Center for lunch? Scottie typed. If we can’t have kisses, we can at least have burgers.
Burgers it is, Willow replied.
Scottie hesitated only a moment before sending her next text. Just so you know, I told Gordon and Mateo about us. Hope that’s okay. Don’t worry, they won’t say a word.
Of course it’s okay, Willow answered. I figured you’d tell them. You spend half of your life with those two after all.
Jealous? Scottie shot back teasingly, then winced. Jesus, she had to slow down. Yes, they were officially together now, but maybe it was too soon to talk about spending half their lives together—even though what Scottie really wanted was to spend her entire life with Willow.
Three dots appeared. They seemed to hover on her screen for ages before Willow’s message finally popped up. Maybe.
Scottie grinned. She could live with maybe. For now.
Gordon glanced over. “Everything good?”
Scottie sent a quick Talk later, then finally turned toward her work. “Yes,” she said, unable to hide the smile tugging at her lips. “Everything’s great.”