I sit down again, beaming.
Sally leans forward, pushing through two other people to whisper, “And congratulations on the wedding.”
This time, my cheeks burn. I expect shock from everyone else, but instead, there are murmurs, joining in, and saying congratulations as well.
The meeting ends, and I make my way back to my desk, overjoyed and feeling prouder of myself than I have in a very, very long time.
Josiah is waiting for me.
He holds out his hand to shake mine. “Congratulations, your first project lead. One of many, I imagine.”
I grin and shake his hand. “Thank you,” I say confidently.
“I was thinking that we should set up a separate desk in my office where we can work together on this project specifically. We can leave the files and things on that desk. Then it won’t get mixed up with the other clients we are still managing."
“Oh, sure, that sounds like a good idea.”
But realization kicks in regarding just how closely I will be working with Josiah on this project. Sitting at the same desk? Working out complicated challenges? Can we do it? Is it going to be even more awkward, considering everyone knows we’re married?
My coworkers don’t seem bothered by the news, though. They were all treating me the same. So, I push my worries aside and decide to just focus on the tasks one at a time.
The week blurs into itself. Steadily, the project moves forward, and with each passing day, I realize how brilliant Josiah and I are as a team when we leave all of our differences out of it.
He has been treating me professionally and as an equal. When it comes to making decisions, we both put our thoughts into the mix and then hash out the best way forward together.
I’ve never had a chance to work with someone like this. To be a proper team in a way that benefits both of us. And somehow, every idea we have grows bigger and more defined when we discuss it. We feed off each other in a brilliant way.
On Friday after lunch, we’re both sitting at the same desk in his office with our chairs close together and our heads leaning over the same document.
“Don’t you think we should allocate more of the budget to the marketing team? I was doing some research, and in order to reach a younger market, we should make that app a primary focus,” I say.
Josiah looks at me. Our faces are close together. We’ve been this close almost all week, and he’s maintained such a level of professionalism that there hasn’t been one moment where I felt uncomfortable.
Yes, I’ve felt the pull. The need. The desire.
But he hasn’t put even the slightest pressure on me. No flirtatious comments. Nothing to distract me from our project.
“What age group with the app be targeting?” he asks.
“The way we’re designing it, we hope to pull in people between twenty-five and forty-five,” I say.
“Mm. And if you look at the way their website is set up, it looks ancient. They've had a lot of growth over the past decade, but their look and feel are in the past. Shall we revamp the site to match the app?”
“Yes, what if we integrated them?”
“Brilliant idea. I don’t think our engineers are going to be too pleased about the massive workload increase,” he chuckles.
“I don’t know…they're sounding pretty inspired by this project. I have a feeling they won’t mind,” I grin.
We keep working until late. Finally, I lean back in my chair and yawn softly.
“I need to call it a day,” I say.
“That was an incredibly successful first week!” he says, standing up and stretching.
My heart flips over in my chest as I watch him.
“Josiah?” I say his name, almost a question.
