“Nathaniel, give Mateo my number, and I will get Uncle Nic or Luc to come meet him for coffee next week sometime, and text me an idea of style, and I will get Miles to do his thing.” There’s a pause, and I can hear someone laughing.
“Not that thing, Miles, Jeeze”, she’s laughing.
“Hey, why did you need to speak to me or Nic when our bossy princess is leading the charge?” There’s a thud.
“Ow, that hurt, and I thought I was your favourite uncle,”
“I’m not a princess; I will never become a Barbie,” Nate chuckles at the banter, rolling his eyes.
“Brace yourself, Mateo. It’s a tight-knit group here, but I have a feeling you will slot straight into our mad little jigsaw,” Nate snickers at her words.
“Thank you, and as for style, I’m thinking English country vintage kinda, but light wood, not dark,” I know I sound unsure, but there is a happy noise.
“Ooo fun, I’m on it”, a male voice says; he has a soft voice with a slight purr, maybe a feline shifter? They all say a familiar farewell.
Nate and I spend the next few hours sorting out my contract; I head down to pack up my desk; there isn’t a lot there. I head back to the elevator with my new ID badge so I can get to the upper floors. My new office is on the same floor as Nate’s, not as grand but better than my little cubicle.
“Natey has asked me up to his office; it must be about our dinner plans tonight”, Miranda is telling some young girl I don’t recognise. As Miranda and I step out of the elevator, she turns to me.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Her lip is curled, and her words are a snarl. Thankfully, Alice rounds the desk.
“Mateo, that was quick; Mr Prince has ordered you a company phone and laptop; they are waiting in your office for you; here’s your tablet I just finished updating it for you; they never come with the updated calendar on them”, Alice is a kind older lady, well I say older her hair is streaked with White, but her face looks like that of a 30 year old.
“Thank you, Alice.” I’m about to step away when she spots the painting in my box.
“That’s pretty. Who’s the artist?” I glance at it with a fond smile
“Thanks, a friend in college did it, and after she got it graded, she gifted it to me.” It was originally a sketch, but she went over it with watercolours and made the waterfall come alive; she was always sketching through boring lectures, before I had a chanceto say more. Miranda is demanding attention
“What office? What is the meaning of this?” I roll my eyes at Alice and move towards my office.
“Mr Prince is waiting on you, and you are 10 minutes late”, Alice snaps; gone is the sweet auntie tone she used with me; she is now a strict school ma’am; she knocks on Nate's door and then raises an eyebrow at Miranda.
I found out later that Miranda was demoted and given my old desk on a probationary contract, and everything she rejected was looked into. It seems there was a lot that went through her desk that was lostto other publishers.
EMBER
Miles dashed off, mumbling that things need to be perfect.
“Well, there goes my cuddle buddy”, I chuckle; the email from Princely Printing comes through, and I forward it to Devin, then send him a text to explain.
ME: forwarded email from publishers,
can you check it over, please?
I can’t see any problems, and it’s Nate’s company,
so it’s an amazing offer, BUT is it too amazing x
I clean up mine and Miles' snacks, and Uncle Luc helps me take them to the kitchen.
“What did Nate say to change your mind?” I glance at my uncle.
“Mateo is Miles' third mate; from something Miles said to him, he caught the scent off some paperwork, so Miles is aware, but I don’t think Mateo is.” I pause.
“Nate is not the type to drop bombs like that, so I’m going to have to do that when I meet up, so he’s not blind-sided when Miles’ heat hits”, he agrees with my view and heads off to sort the security checks on Mateo. I, however, head off to try and rein in Miles so Mateo isn’t scared off by the pretty kitty; my phone dings with a reply from Devin as I reach the room.
DEVIN: Looks good, too good, but I bet
