Chapter 40
Willow pulled into the nearly empty Kudos employee parking lot a little before nine on New Year’s Day.
She’d barely managed to drag herself out of bed because she hadn’t gotten home from watching the drone show with Scottie until two.
But she knew this was the perfect opportunity to catch up on the work she’d had to put aside while rebuilding that cursed PowerPoint presentation.
There would be no interruptions from colleagues today and no witnesses around if any tech glitches happened, so she had gotten Celeste’s permission to get into the otherwise closed building.
Suppressing a yawn, she climbed out of the car and locked it.
Two men were crossing the parking lot ahead of her.
She recognized one of them. With his dark, curly hair, Mateo was unmistakable even from behind. The man beside him was older and looked perfectly put together in a crisp suit and coat, his graying hair neatly parted.
Maybe he was IT management or one of the higher-ups from Finance or Sales.
Should she call out a greeting?
Before she could decide, Mateo’s voice carried back to her. “I’m starting to feel like a CIA agent on a secret mission. Will you finally tell me why we have to do this today? We could’ve upgraded Marketing’s monitors tomorrow.”
“Self-preservation,” the older man replied. “My mother-in-law has been visiting since Christmas.”
So he wasn’t Scottie’s boss. He must be Gordon, the elusive third member of IT support.
“And why did I have to come?” Mateo grumbled.
“I wanted to talk to you without Scottie being around. I’m worried about her.” Gordon kept his voice low, but it carried in the unusually still air.
Willow nearly crashed into a parked car. Her heart hammered against her ribs. Why was he worried about Scottie? What was going on?
“Me too.” Mateo sighed. “It won’t be long before Miles finds out what she’s been doing—or rather: what she hasn’t been doing. If she’s not careful, she’ll be the one they kick out the door.”
Gordon stared at the younger man. “You know about that?”
Mateo huffed. “Please. Of course I know. It wasn’t exactly hard to see when you’re expecting it. You know Scottie. Loyal to a fault.”
“Yeah. And that’s why she’s not going to stop. We’ll have to find a way to—”
The rest of Gordon’s words cut off as he used his badge to get them into the building, and the glass door closed behind them.
Willow stood rooted to the asphalt for a second, then darted after them.
It took her three tries before the card reader finally recognized her badge. When she burst into the building, Gordon and Mateo had already reached the elevator.
She sprinted across the lobby, her ankle boots squeaking on the travertine.
The two men entered the elevator, then turned, probably to see who was making such a ruckus.
Her heart raced as she jumped in after them.
Mateo froze with his hand still on the button for their floor. “Uh, hi, Willow. Happy New Year!”
Willow bit her lip. “Happy New Year.”
“Willow?” Gordon echoed. Through his wire-frame glasses, his gaze flicked to her ID badge. “Oh. You’re Scottie’s Willow.”
“Yes, I am.” She tapped the button for the thirteenth floor with her knuckles, ignoring the sharp zap, then waited impatiently until the doors closed. “Sorry, but…I couldn’t help overhearing your conversation. Is Scottie in trouble?”
Mateo mumbled something that sounded like a Spanish swear word. He and Gordon looked at each other and hesitated.
“Please. If something’s wrong and she needs help, I have to know. What’s going on?”
Gordon raked his fingers through his neatly combed hair. “Scottie would kill me if she knew I told you, but she’s like a little sister to me, and I don’t want her to lose her job.”
Willow gripped the railing that ran along the metal wall. “Why would she lose her job? She’s great at it!”
“She is. But she didn’t log a ticket for your Outlook problems, and our boss noticed. Luckily, he doesn’t know about any of the other issues you had lately, which she didn’t document either. But if he ever finds out…”
A dozen different thoughts rushed through Willow’s mind, all of them panicked. Scottie was in trouble with her boss—because of her. And Scottie’s colleagues knew about her issues. Had Scottie told them?
No. She wouldn’t do that. She’d protected Willow’s secret from the moment she’d found out about it. Apparently, she had even gone so far as to not document any of her tech glitches.
Gordon and Mateo traded another look.
“You didn’t know, did you?” Gordon asked quietly.
Willow shook her head, unable to speak. She had assumed Scottie wouldn’t document the times she’d helped her on the phone, because, technically, it had been Willow who’d resolved the problem.
Or maybe that she would downplay things in her reports.
But she had assumed Scottie would at least open a ticket whenever she’d actually shown up at her desk to fix an issue.
Scottie hadn’t filed anything at all, protecting Willow’s job, even at the risk of losing her own.
Of course that’s what loyal-to-the-bone Scottie had done. Willow should have suspected sooner. Instead of asking Scottie to make sure she wasn’t endangering her career, she had simply let her handle it, and that was so out of character for her! She had never allowed herself to depend on anyone.
The elevator chimed, and the metal doors slid apart on the tenth floor.
Mateo stepped between them so they wouldn’t close, while Gordon kept facing her. “I don’t know what exactly is going on, but is there anything you can do to—?”
“Yes,” she said before Gordon could even finish his question. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to let her take the fall for me. Thank you for telling me.”
He gave her a tense nod.
Mateo stepped back, and Gordon followed him out into the hallway.
Before any of them could think of something else to say, the doors closed between them.
Willow slumped against the elevator wall. The steel was cool against her back, but that was nothing compared to the coldness that gripped her inside at the thought of Scottie losing her job—because of her.
No! She would not let that happen.
Willow had spent her entire life dealing with her own messes. It was only recently that Scottie had made her believe that letting someone in was okay. That allowing someone to help wouldn’t end in disaster.
She had started to rely on Scottie to an extent that, now that she thought about it, was as shocking as it was scary. It was outright dangerous—not just for her, but for Scottie too!
Under no circumstances would she allow her goddamn tech jinx to get Scottie fired. She had to put a stop to it, starting right now.
No more texts to Scottie whenever her software glitched. No more calling her for help with the printer. No more running to her superheroine with the IT toolbox whenever her computer acted up.
From now on, she would go back to fixing her own problems. She would learn work-arounds, sneak in replacement devices, or watch hours of YouTube tutorials to figure things out herself.
She had done it for years, and she could do it again.
And if she had to admit defeat because nothing she tried was working, she would go through official channels and submit a ticket to IT.
If that got her into her boss’s crosshairs, so be it.
The elevator dinged, and the doors opened on the thirteenth floor.
Mind still reeling, Willow walked toward the frosted glass door leading to the Operations bullpen.
Everything was dark behind it, and the door was still locked. Not even Celeste had come in today.
Willow gripped her ID card and tapped it against the door’s sensor.
A red light flashed, and the card reader responded with a protesting beep, denying her access.
Two more tries yielded the same result.
Willow let out a sharp breath. “Okay.” No texting Scottie. She was faced with the first tech problem of the day, and she would deal with it on her own.
No more VIP girlfriend IT support. The thought made her ache, but she knew it was necessary.
She fixed her gaze on the stubborn card reader and tried to come up with a way to outsmart it.