She considered his words before nodding. “I’m more than ready to do the same with you.”
Chapter 11
Layla’s stomach growled so loudly it echoed in the conference room. Heat spread up her cheeks as she looked up from the tangle of AV cables in front of her to one of her IT technicians in the room. Erin raised her brows as she tapped one of the microphones around the conference table for a sound check.
“Hungry?” Erin asked in the microphone.
Layla groaned and pressed a hand to her stomach as if that would suppress the noise. “I just remembered that I didn’t eat lunch.”
“Boss lady, I told you coffee and a pack of peanut butter crackers doesn’t count as a complete meal.” Erin moved down to check the next microphone.
“It’s the end of the quarter and every department is meeting to get their information together before the board presentation in morning. No one cared if I didn’t have lunch as long as the conference rooms are set up, their computers are functioning and the network runs faster than lightening.”
Erin snorted and laughed. “It has been a busy day.”
“Busy is an understatement.” Layla checked her watch. Three forty-five. Once she got this conference room set up then she would be able to wrap things up and get out of there. She still had to pick up Jasmine and make sure she was dressed and ready for the pageant. The girls had been so excited about the pageant and were ready for the big night. Layla was just as excited for them. She just hadn’t realized that the end of the quarter madness coincided with the day of the pageant.
“At least the network didn’t go down,” Erin said crossing her fingers.
Layla mimicked the gesture and raised her crossed fingers to the sky. “Thank goodness.”
Carolyn rushed into the conference room. Her eyes were wide as she clutched a laptop in her hands. “The network has gone down!”
Layla looked at her friend and scowled. “Do not play with me, Carolyn. It’s the end of the day, I haven’t eaten and I need to get to Jasmine’s pageant.”
Carolyn shook her head as panic filled her eyes. “I’m not playing. I’m serious. The entire network just went down.” She rushed into the room with her laptop held out.
Hunger was forgotten as dread filled Layla’s stomach. “No, no, no, no, no!” Layla took Carolyn’s laptop. The network disconnected icon hit her like a punch to the gut. Her work cell rang at the same time. She shoved the laptop back to Carolyn and pulled her cell out of the pocket of her wide leg trousers.
“Layla, we have a problem,” Kevin, the IT Director said in a strained voice before she could say “hello”. “I don’t know what happened, but—”
“The network is down. Carolyn just told me.”
“Good, you’re caught up. I need you up here to help me figure out what happened. There are still several departments working late before tomorrow’s board meeting. Not to mention we need to make sure the directors have access to their files when they come in tomorrow.”
“I just wrapped up in the seventh-floor conference room. I’m on my way.”
Carolyn tapped the screen of laptop and looked as if she were ready to cry. “What am I going to do? I was just putting the finishing touches on my HR report for tomorrow. My team still needs to get their parts added tonight.”
Layla placed a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Just take a deep breath. We’ll get this figured out. It’s probably just a glitch somewhere and we’ll have you all back up and running in no time.”
“You think so?” Carolyn asked hopefully. If this network crash had her typically calm friend on the verge of a breakdown, then Layla could only imagine the level of crash outs happening with some of the other directors.
“Let me go upstairs and see what’s happening.”
Ten minutes later and Layla wanted to kick something. The “glitch” in the system was a shut down in response to an attempted malware attack. How many times did they have to tell people not to click the link in suspicious emails? Once she and the rest of the IT team identified the problem they immediately began working on the solution to remove the virus and get the system back up. The problem was something they could handle, but the time it took would mean she wouldn’t be able to leave in time to get Jasmine before the pageant. Her long day was about to turn into a long night.
She hated to do this because she knew Elijah was just as busy at his job getting this budget numbers together, but she needed him to be on pageant duty tonight. He answered her on the second ring.
“Hey, what’s up?” He always sounded happy when she called. She shouldn’t be so surprised by that, but she was. She’d asked him to find joy and still couldn’t believe she was part of the joy he’d found.
“I’ve got a problem?”
His voice immediately turned serious. “Is this a problem you need a solution for or do you just want me to listen?”
She loved that about him. He didn’t automatically try to fix her problem when she said she had one. He’d listened when she said sometimes she just needed to vent.
“I need a solution and a big favor?”
