My fingers curl into a fist.
I lead them toward my desk. Connor’s head pops up as soon as I’m in his eyeline.
I telegraph a silent plea for help. If there was ever a moment for him to read my mind, now would beit.
“What’s up?” he says, his focus darting between me and the two mysterious strangers behind me. “I was wondering where you’d snuck offto.”
“I had a visitor,” I tell him, my eyes bugging out to try and make him understand the enemy is among us. He stands, pushing back from his chair.
“Connor, this is my sister, Shannon. Shannon, this is Connor,” I hesitate, and then add, “my boss.”
A shadow crosses his face, there and then gone again. He turns, devoting himself to Shannon. I watch as the two of thembriefly exchange pleasantries, and I’m reminded once again of his good manners—he gave me just the same smile the first time I methim.
He casts a glance at Dan, then looks back at me, waiting.
“That’s Dan.”
His eyes widen ever so slightly, but he recovers immediately, shaking Dan’s hand with anice to meet you, man,which I sincerely hope he does not mean.
“They came early to surprise me,” I say to Connor. “Isn’t that fun?”
“So fun,” he rallies back, his eyes full of mirth. “You must be over the moon.”
“That’s one way of puttingit.”
“We wanted to see where Annie worked,” Shannon says. I get the impression she’s trying to save face.
“Annie’s always bragging about how cool her job is,” Dan adds, with the obvious intention of embarrassing me. “So far this place just seems like an office, though.”
“Well then,” Connor says, swiping his keycard off his desk. “We better give you the grand tour.”
—
When Connor said grand tour, he meant it. He leads Dan and Shannon around every floor, introducing them to department heads, showing them inside all our cool conference rooms, and even emptying out a merch closet that before this afternoon I didn’t know existed. Shannon and Dan are now the happy owners of a Taskio-branded pen, notebook, T-shirt, beanie, umbrella, and USB stick.
There were also Taskio tote bags in the supply closet—which would have been useful to help them lug around all this crap—but Connor, surprisingly, didn’t offer those. It is, in fact,the only branded item in the whole room that he didn’t gift to them.
Prior to this, I thought the overzealous tour was a reflection of his commitment to Taskio, but I gradually realize that Connor is demonstrating commitment tome.Shannon and Dan have long since lost interest, if they were ever even interested in the first place, and it dawns on me that Connor knows it. This tour isn’t a perk. It’s a punishment. He’s making Daniel eat his words. The gleam in his eye when our gazes connect confirmsit.
—
“Well, that’s pretty much everything,” Connor says after a lap of the engineering department. “Unless you want to see the server room?”
“That’s OK,” Shannon cuts in hastily. “We’ve taken up so much of your time already.”
“In that case, follow me. We’ve saved the best for last.”
One short elevator ride later, Shannon and Dan are staring out over the enormous cafeteria and the panoramic views beyond.
“Wow,” she breathes, for once not faking her enthusiasm. Even Dan looks impressed.
“And all this is just for Taskio?”
“Yep,” I confirm. “Cool, eh? And everything is free. You can have whatever you want.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously. They’ll even make you that weird skinny foam thing you like.”
