Chapter 7 #2
“Why do we have to be quiet?” I asked as I pulled his hand off my arm.
“Maggie is back in the office. She doesn’t want us to ask questions. Just pretend she was never gone.”
“That’s ridiculous,” I said. “She couldn’t help it if there was a family emergency.”
“I get it, but that’s how she wants it. And she gave us a couple of new small clients to start a workup on for today, but she doesn’t want to be bothered.” He’d crossed his arms and looked at me funny.
“What?” I asked, wondering if I had food stuck in my teeth.
“You look different,” he said, studying my face.
“I, um, changed my makeup.”
He didn’t need to know that I secretly hoped to run into our boss’s boss today.
“Hmmph. So how was that dinner with Colin? Did he treat you like a lady?” He gave me a smirk.
“He treated me better than you did on our dinner date,” I said, pushing past him back toward our desks.
“That was cold,” Grant said as I sat down and turned on my computer.
It wasn’t until noon that Maggie emerged, and my original fascination with her disappearance returned.
“Oh, hello, Kate,” she said. Maggie floated from her door to my desk.
“Hi, Maggie,” I said. She didn’t have a hair out of place, and her Kelly green dress fit her as well as it always had.
“How are the new accounts working out?” she asked, as if she hadn’t been missing for an entire week. As if she’d seen me only yesterday.
“All good so far. Right, Grant?” I asked.
“Yup, no problems so far, Maggie.” He was facing both of us now. “We should be done by end of day.”
He was being optimistic. Or he was sucking up to keep Maggie happy since she’d been away so long. Not that Maggie was ever unhappy with our work. She’d always been tactful whenever she’d had to correct us or give feedback.
“No need to rush it. I have a meeting in ten minutes with the new vice president, and I’ll be going upstairs now. See you later,” she said, walking toward the elevator.
Grant and I shared a look. I wondered if he thought it was as weird as I did that Maggie acted as if everything was normal. I’d just gone on her work trip, after all, and there was zero interest from her in bringing it up.
When I turned back to my computer, I saw an email coming in. My stomach jumped when I saw who it was from. I slid over to block my screen from view and opened the email, my hand freezing on the mouse as I read it.
Good morning Kate, I hope you were able to rest after our trip. I’m about to go into a meeting and wanted to say hello. Is there a day that works best for you for dinner this week? I am free tonight and Wednesday night. – Colin
My heart was racing as I read his words. I hit reply and typed my answer before Grant might catch a glimpse of my screen.
I wasn’t expecting a response right away because he should have been going into the meeting at that time, but a reply popped up in less than a minute.
Glad you’re available tonight. I’ll send you the details later. I’m looking forward to seeing you again.
I read it twice, then a third time, smiling at my screen like an idiot. There was no flowery language, no poetic praise, or metaphors, but I was flying high. I closed my email, scared that someone else might pass by and see it, or worse—Grant.
I tried to imagine what Grant’s reaction might be if he found out that Colin and I were going on a date that evening. I wasn’t sure what he’d say, but I didn’t want to find out. There was zero chance he’d be as excited for me as Angie would be.
I texted Angie right away to update her. The number of happy face emojis and exclamation points that flooded my phone’s screen was outrageous. I put my phone away, not wanting her extreme expectations to infect me.
It’s just a date, I repeated to myself as I tried to focus on the account on my screen.
When Maggie returned, she glided straight into her office. I supposed we’d never get a full account of her lost week. What we did get were meetings added to our calendar for each day.
“What a waste of time,” Grant mumbled from his side of our corner.
“The meetings? I can’t imagine what we need daily meetings for now,” I agreed.
“Probably a requirement from the new boss. Looks like GQ is going to micromanage Maggie.”
“Don’t call him GQ,” I said almost immediately.
“What does it matter to you what I call him?”
“It—it doesn’t. Ugh. Grant. I don’t want him walking by here one day and hearing that. It’s not very professional.”
“Oh, excuse me, Professional Kate.” We were sitting facing each other by this time, the smirk on his face taunting me and in no hurry to leave.
“Maggie wouldn’t like it either,” I pointed out.
“Probably not. But Maggie’s in there. It’s only you and me here, babe.”
“Do not call me babe,” I said and got up to go to lunch.
When the elevator doors opened, I was both stunned and elated to find Colin and Kaitlin engrossed in a discussion.
“Hello,” I said, and they saw it was me. While Kaitlin’s indifferent smile didn’t affect me one bit, Colin Slade’s sudden change of expression was enough to make my cheeks warm.
“Hi, Kate. Having a good Monday?” he asked.
“Kate!” I heard my name being called. My shoulders dropped. Grant.
In a second, he was entering the elevator behind me.
“Hey, I’m sorry. I’ll—Oh, hello. How’s it going?” Grant pivoted upon seeing our VP and Kaitlin.
“Hi, Grant,” Kaitlin said. I didn’t have to look over to see that she was probably making sexy eyes at him.
I could feel Colin watching me. I stood diagonally from him, but I didn’t dare glance over at him. Grant was also looking at me, still trying to apologize for calling me babe. But I didn’t really care, especially not with Colin around.
I tried ignoring both of their stares and fixed my eyes forward at the door, praying for the first time ever that an elevator might plummet to the first floor so I could get out.