Chapter 27 - Day 9 Not a Date #2
"-so after the supplier sends the revised sample, I send it to Claire?"
I looked back at her.
"No. Adrian first."
"Right."
I clicked into the approval chain.
"He'll reject it."
Nicole blinked.
"You haven't seen it yet."
"I don't need to."
"That's concerning."
"He'll find something."
From across the office-
"Ms. Stone."
I looked up.
Adrian was still standing there.
"Yes?"
"I can hear you."
I smiled.
"I know."
Nicole lowered her head.
Her shoulders moved.
Adrian stared at me.
Then his eyes dropped to the transition folder again.
Just for a second.
When he looked back at me, his expression was unreadable.
"Continue."
He went into his office.
The door closed.
Nicole waited approximately two seconds.
"Was he offended?"
"No."
"How do you know?"
"He would've told me."
"Fair."
I looked back at the material schedule.
Then at the transition folder.
For some reason, Adrian looking at it had made the whole thing feel different.
Yesterday he'd said it himself.
He knew I was leaving.
He was counting.
But knowing something and watching someone else prepare for it were apparently not the same thing.
I picked up my pen.
"Okay. Where were we?"
"Adrian rejecting things."
"Right."
I scrolled down.
"So, basically, everything."
Nicole laughed.
And we kept going.
By one-thirty, Nicole had officially inherited enough of my Solara responsibilities to become mildly resentful of me.
"This is a lot."
"You wanted responsibility."
"I don't remember saying that."
"You implied it."
"When?"
"I don't know. At some point during your employment."
She stared at me.
"That sounds legally questionable."
"Take it up with HR."
Nicole picked up the folder and walked away.
I turned back to my screen.
Five minutes later, my desk phone rang.
I picked it up.
"Hello?"
"Come here."
I smiled despite myself.
There he was.
Apparently yesterday's three-second finger situation had not expanded his vocabulary.
"I was beginning to worry you'd learned another way to summon people."
"Ms. Stone."
"Coming."
I hung up and grabbed my notebook.
Adrian was behind his desk when I entered.
He pointed toward one of the chairs.
"Sit."
"See? That's another word."
His eyes lifted.
I sat.
He slid a drawing toward me.
"The conference room ceiling."
I looked down.
"What about it?"
"The lighting layout."
I studied the reflected ceiling plan.
Then frowned.
"You moved the fixtures."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"The original spacing was inconsistent."
"It was intentional."
"It looked accidental."
"To you."
"To anyone with eyes."
I looked up.
"You know, insulting the design isn't actually an explanation."
"I explained it."
"You insulted it."
"I did both."
I stared at him.
He stared back.
Yep.
Still Adrian.
Apparently holding several of my fingers yesterday had not resulted in a personality transplant.
Good to know.
I looked back at the drawing.
"You've made it too symmetrical."
"Symmetry isn't a defect."
"It is when the room wasn't designed around symmetry."
"The room works."
"The room is boring."
"The room is a conference room."
"That doesn't mean it has to look like it was designed by an accountant."
His eyebrows lifted.
"What's wrong with accountants?"
"Nothing. I just don't want them designing ceilings."
"I'm sure they'll be devastated."
"They'll recover."
His eyes moved to mine.
I stopped.
Oh, for God's sake.
Again.
His mouth shifted.
Barely.
"You've really taken that one."
"I have not."
"You've used it twice today."
My eyes narrowed.
"How do you know what I said this morning?"
A pause.
Then-
"I have ears."
"You weren't near my desk."
"I walked past."
"When?"
"Apparently while you were busy talking to your favorite coworker."
There it was.
I stared at him.
Adrian looked back at the drawing.
Very calmly.
Very professionally.
I leaned back in the chair.
"You read the mug."
"It was difficult not to."
"You read it several times."
His eyes lifted.
"Were you counting?"
"No."
"You noticed."
"I observe things."
"That sounds familiar."
"Because I've said it before."
"Still creepy."
"Still not concerned."
I smiled.
He looked down again.
"The lighting."
Right.
Architecture.
I leaned forward and pointed at the plan.
"Move these two back."
"No."
"You asked for my opinion."
"I asked you to review it."
"That generally involves having an opinion."
"Not necessarily a correct one."
"You are exhausting."
"So I've been told."
"By me."
"Frequently."
I reached toward the drawing.
At exactly the same time, Adrian did.
I saw his hand coming.
He saw mine.
Both of us stopped.
Not touching.
Maybe an inch apart.
My eyes dropped to the space between our fingers.
Yesterday flashed through my head.
His palm over the back of my hand.
His fingertips curling around mine.
One second.
Two.
Three.
I pulled my hand back.
Adrian did the same.
Neither of us said anything.
The silence lasted approximately half a second too long.
I picked up my pen instead.
Professional equipment.
Much safer.
I circled the fixtures.
"These two."
Adrian looked at the circles.
Not at me.
"I'll consider it."
I blinked.
"Excuse me?"
"I said I'll consider it."
"Are you feeling okay?"
His eyes lifted.
"Perfectly."
"Should I call someone?"
"Ms. Stone."
"You usually reject my ideas first and reconsider them secretly later."
"I don't reconsider them secretly."
"You absolutely do."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
I smiled.
"There you are."
Something changed in his face.
Tiny.
Almost nothing.
But I saw it.
His eyes stayed on mine.
And suddenly I remembered another room.
Music.
His hand at my waist.
Oh.
I'd said it to him this time.
Neither of us moved.
Then Adrian looked down at the drawing.
"The revised layout before three."
Wall rebuilt.
I stood.
"Fine."
I reached the door.
"Angelica."
I turned.
He was looking at the plan.
Not me.
"Your handover document."
My smile disappeared slightly.
"What about it?"
A beat.
"I need a copy when it's finished."
Of course he did.
He was my boss.
This was normal.
"Okay."
I opened the door.
"Before I leave?"
His jaw tightened.
"Yes."
I nodded.
"Okay."
I walked out.
And somehow the inch of space between our hands followed me all the way back to my desk.
By four-thirty, the office had started winding down.
Emails were being answered.
Drawings were being saved.
Ben had already announced twice that he intended to leave at exactly five because he had "a life."
Nobody believed him.
I finished the last section of my handover document and leaned back.
Thirty-seven pages.
I stared at the number.
Okay.
Maybe Claire's nothing excessive and my nothing excessive were different things.
I scrolled back to the first page.
There it was again.
I saved the file.
Then attached it to an email.
My finger hovered over Send.
This was stupid.
It was a document.
Not a kidney.
I clicked.
Sent.
Done.
Another piece of me officially ready to be handed to someone else.
I looked at the clock.
4:37.
Twenty-three minutes.
Then five days.
"That's depressing."
I looked up.
Ethan was standing beside my desk.
Again.
"Do you actually work?"
"Sometimes."
"Adrian might disagree."
"Adrian disagrees with oxygen if it enters a room incorrectly."
I laughed.
Ethan looked at my screen.
"Finished?"
"The handover? Yeah."
He nodded.
Then his eyes went to the mug.
Still sitting beside my monitor.
"You know, I'm impressed."
"By?"
"You've kept it on your desk all day."
"I told you. It's functional."
"You could've put it in a drawer."
"I might tomorrow."
"You won't."
"You're very confident for someone who appointed himself my favorite coworker."
"I have documentary evidence."
I picked up the mug.
"You understand I can throw away the evidence."
His expression became serious.
"You wouldn't."
"Try me."
He reached for it.
I pulled it away.
His eyes narrowed.
"Give me the mug."
"You gave it to me."
"And now I'm protecting it."
"From me?"
"You're unstable."
I laughed.
"Go away."
He smiled.
Then his expression softened.
Just slightly.
"Five days after today?"
The laughter disappeared.
I looked at the clock.
4:42.
"Yeah."
Ethan nodded once.
No joke this time.
"That's going to be weird."
"What?"
"You not being here."
I looked at him.
There was nothing dramatic in his face.
Nothing that asked anything from me.
Just Ethan.
"I'll miss you too."
His mouth curved.
"I didn't say I'd miss you."
"You heavily implied it."
"Dangerous assumption."
"There's a mug on my desk that says you're my favorite coworker. I think we're past subtlety."
"Fair."
He smiled.
Then looked toward the other side of the office.
His expression shifted.
I followed his eyes.
Adrian was standing near Claire's desk.
He had a print set in one hand.
Talking to her.
Or he had been.
Now he was looking at us.
At Ethan.
At me.
At the mug in my hand.
Our eyes met.
This time, he looked away first.
Claire said something.
Adrian answered her.
I turned back to Ethan.
"Go work."
"Fourteen minutes left."
"That's fourteen minutes of productivity you're stealing from the company."
"Vale has corrupted you."
"Apparently."
He started walking away.
Then turned.
"Don't break my mug."
"My mug."
He pointed at me.
"Exactly."
I shook my head.
At 4:56, I looked at the Solara files still open on my screen.
Then at the list beside my keyboard.
Three things left.
Of course.
Apparently my workload had not received the resignation memo.
At five, chairs started moving around me.
Goodnights crossed the office.
Ben left first.
Nicole followed a few minutes later.
Daniel stopped beside my desk on his way out.
"You staying?"
"For a little while."
He looked at my screen.
"That's disgusting."
"Thank you."
"Goodnight, Angelica."
"Goodnight."
Maya appeared next.
"Don't stay all night."
"I won't."
"You said that before."