Chapter 22 Lincoln
LINCOLN
@pancakesareelite:
I’m struggling to understand something and it’s making me mad
@theanswerisno:
Do you wanna tell me about it?
@pancakesareelite:
It’s very niche. But thank you
@theanswerisno:
Hm… Unsolicited advice from an internet stranger: Take a break and then start at the beginning, even if the beginning isn’t the problem.
@pancakesareelite:
Internet friend*
@pancakesareelite:
Favorite internet person*
@pancakesareelite:
Internet soulmate*
@pancakesareelite:
And thank you.
In that case, I’m off to bed
@theanswerisno:
You got this and good night, Pancakes
@pancakesareelite:
I’m waiting for you to say something about how I’m your favorite person too
@theanswerisno:
Good night my B otherwise Simucon will be left with a bunch of clueless engineers when we retire.” Clenching my jaw, I continued.
“Elizabeth has shown improvement and a willingness to learn. Plus, technically, her design is sound.” The fire in my voice was foreign, but I liked it.
“A good engineer knows their limitations.” I leaned forward, dropping my voice.
“Otherwise, we have structural engineers who think they can design roads and vice versa.”
Anders blinked twice, his mouth opening and closing with a sharp inhale as I’m sure the memory of a multiyear, multimillion-dollar court case came to mind.
“This isn’t a school assignment,” I said. “I needed her to know and understand what she was doing, and now she does.”
Anders considered me, swallowing once before regaining composure. His eyes narrowed, but my emotions were running high and rational thought had all but left me for dead as I stared him down.
“Has she gained any site experience?” he asked.
I shook my head. If Elizabeth was going to struggle in any aspect of civil engineering, it would be the site work. At least at first.
“Put her on Disselweed with you. We don’t have much more for her to do here.”
“Why is that?” I asked. “Why hire seven interns when we’ve only ever had work for six or less?”
He ignored my question and said, “No more mistakes.”
“I’m certain she won’t make any,” I said, entirely uncertain because it was impossible not to make mistakes and he knew that.
I huffed out a breath, but it did nothing to arrange the thoughts zooming through my mind. Instead, I shoved myself upward and made for the exit.
As I reached the door, Anders spoke. “Carden, you know relations between senior engineers and their employees are against company rules. There’s an imbalance of power, and I’d hate to see a pretty face ruin a career you’ve been building for years.
I wouldn’t put it past her to use the assets she’s been blessed with. ”
“Careful.” I clenched my jaw until my teeth hurt. “I am well aware of the rules. My statement stands.”
I left his office, and when I passed by Cedric and the other graduates, I considered giving them a piece of my mind and letting them know they had no place watching my movements or deciding who I could and could not help.
But I wasn’t looking for a fight. Confrontation was at the bottom of the list of things I enjoyed doing.
A sense of calmness hit me the second I walked into my perfectly curated office, but I immediately noted Elizabeth’s absence.
I peeked at her side of the divider. It was personalized with flowers, hearts, and glitter. But like my side of the office, there were no photos or ticket stubs, and her trinkets gave me very little insight into her mind.
Although there was a sticker of Zelda. She likes The Legend of Zelda? A chuckle escaped me, along with some of the residual anger.
Elizabeth Gordon-Bettencourt would keep surprising me in the best of ways.
But Zelda reminded me that I’d left Lily’s message unread. Well, not unread. I could see the preview, but I was too afraid to open it, too afraid to reply.
I’d been up most of the night staring at it, and this morning, I’d have stared at it more had it not been for Elizabeth, who stole my focus so effortlessly.
Pulling out my phone, I looked at the message again. Lily wanted to meet me. My chest caved under the pressure of living up to the idea of me she may have. I wasn’t anything like Link.
And what if she was nothing like Lily? Then what? Would I lose the person I had whenever life got too noisy?
I nearly dropped my phone when Elizabeth barreled into the room in a blur of copper curls and a beige coat. Her chest heaved, and her eyes darted around in a way I hadn’t seen before. Her hand shook around a takeaway coffee cup. I took a step toward her instinctively, and she held out the cup.
“For you.” Her voice was uncharacteristically small.
I took the cup. “I spoke to Anders.”
She grabbed her phone, uninterested in what I was saying.
“Elizabeth?”
Her stormy gaze met mine. I didn’t like what I saw.
Fear. Shame. Anger.
She looked away, her chest rising and falling as she blinked away tears. I nearly reached for her chin to tilt it upward. Instead, my hands pressed against my chinos. “What is it?” I asked, my voice low so only she could hear me.
Her mouth opened and shut. I could see the wheels turning in her head as though she were trying to decide whether she could tell me.
Whatever it was, I could fix it. I would fix it.
“Uh… someone from my past,” she eventually said, swallowing hard and pulling her hair up into a tight bun.
An ex-boyfriend?
Jealousy climbed my throat. I did all I could to keep it out of my voice. What the heck was it doing there in the first place? “Is everything okay?”
She shook her head and blew out a few quick breaths. “It’s fine. I, um, told security not to let him in, so it’s fine. I just… I don’t like that he’s here. I don’t like that he found me.”
“Who is he?”
“It doesn’t matter.” She sat down at her desk, but her skittering eyes and wringing hands let me know that was untrue. Whoever this person was had left her frazzled.
“Elizabeth.” I walked up to her and knelt beside her chair. I needed to see her face when she answered. “Are you in trouble?”
Again, she shook her head. “No. He’s just an irritation, and I want him to leave me alone.” She inhaled deeply, finding some of her calm, and the light energy that generally surrounded her returned. “But thank you. Anyway… you mentioned speaking to Mr. Anders?”
I wanted to know more, but it was none of my business. “Yeah.” I took a seat at my desk. “He was being petty, and I’ve seen to it.”
“Oh.” Her voice was so soft. “You didn’t have to do that.”
I took a beat and thought of how I’d phrase the next bit. “Unfortunately, he’s going to keep testing you, and I think it’s because he’s testing me.”
She popped up, her head sticking above the divider. That little frown returned. “That’s not fair.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No. It’s not fair to you either,” she grumbled, her eyes darkening with anger. “I’m sick of these petty men in power. You deserve that promotion, and if it’s up to me to be better, then I’ll be better.” She let out another little grumble and spun around to face her computer.
I turned my focus back to my laptop, actively trying not to think about how cute she looked when she was angry.
I lifted my headset, trying to straighten my thoughts, but her voice carried over to me.
“Lincoln?”
“Hmm?”
She wheeled sideways to the end of the divider and looked at me. “Will you help me become as good as you are?”
The seriousness of her voice and the blush on her cheeks sent heat flowing through me. “Impossible,” I teased, “but I’ll try.”
She disappeared again, and I heard her chuckle.
Wretched divider. It ruined my view.