There were platforms in various spots around the space, and tall cabinets. Benches. Golf carts in one corner. Machines I couldn’t identify.
Keir dragged a bench close to the edge of the dais. “Let’s eat first.” He dropped his bag of food on the seat.
As we ate in front of the magnificent craft, we talked shop. He asked me more questions about my cloaking equations and ideas that I’d been working on this morning. I brought out my phone to show him stuff I’d been working on. I wasn’t trying to brag,but I was so proud of some of my work. And excited. Nothing lit me up more than this subject.
Keir and I had been sharing knowledge since the moment he’d hired me. He was one of the first people I’d met who understood me. Even in online classes I was mostly on my own.
After we ate, he took me on a tour all around the sleigh, explaining everything, then we sat on the soft leather couch again and he turned on the dashboard. I could barely breathe. I was actually sitting in Santa’s sleigh and helping with technical details to improve it. This was my element. I was safe and comfortable. Working beside a man I admired. And who was beautiful. I tried not to look directly at Keir, which was a challenge. His long silken hair and bright eyes made me breathless and then I would forget what I was thinking about.
I let the analytical parts of my brain take over. Problem solving. Leaning into solutions that had the cloaking program working perfectly by the time we were done.
I looked up at the big Christmas clock over the hangar entrance. It said it was late in the afternoon. We’d stayed long past the lunch hour.
A small gasp went through me. “Lunch has been over for a long time.”
“Yes.” Keir smiled.
“I should get back?” I framed my statement as a question.
“We’ve been working. You don’t have to worry.”
“But I work with the team.”
“Of course. I understand. But today I think you worked better away from there.”
Had he seen my discomfort? Did he know Clea was unhappy with me? Had they spoken? My mind began flash with different scenarios, always starting with the worst case. It was the way my brain worked. Taking over when I was confronted with a mistakeI might have made. It wasn’t like this for me all the time. Only about things I really cared about. Like this job.
“What do you mean when you say I work better away from there?” My heart rate revved up.
“Honestly?”
“Yes, please. I don’t understand.”
“You’re a think tank all by yourself. A bit above the others.”
“But I’m not above anyone. I just started working here.”
“I meant it only as a compliment. The others see it. It makes them unsure.”
“I can work with others. I promise. I get along with everybody.” Back home, that was the truth. I simply hadn’t hung out with reindeer shifters much.
“Fallon, don’t overthink what I said. I’m glad you’re here. And you’re welcome to work in Control with the others. But I think you do better directly one-on-one with me.”
My heart fell. Did this mean I was going to be sent somewhere else? I wanted to work here. For Keir. And Santa.
“I want to work for you,” I blurted.
“No.”
“What?”
“I didn’t say work for me. I said workwithme.”
“Huh?”
“I’m thinking about the office right across from mine. It’s perfect. We’ll have immediate access to each other’s work. No interference from a public room with lots of—noise.”
I thought about Clea and Drake and some of the others. They were not going to react well to this. I had always been an outsider, raised by elves when I wasn’t one, working for my mom and having to deal with other elves thinking I was getting special treatment.
