“Yes, please,” Charley said. “I’ll be here for a while. This mountain of paperwork isn’t going to file itself.”
“We need to get you a clone.”
Charley laughed. “Trust me, if I could clone myself, I would in a heartbeat.”
They exchanged goodbyes, then Alyvia disappeared down the hallway. Suddenly, the building fell very quiet.
Charley pulled up a music app on her phone that played a variety of music. With an upbeat pop song filling the silence, Charley’s eyes drifted back to the paper lying on her desk. She reached for it, flipped it over, and stared at the three names written on it.
“What are you trying to tell me?” She said aloud as she turned toward her computer and typed in the first name on the paper, Calvin Henderson.
Within seconds, listing after listing for the name Calvin Henderson popped up on the screen.
She shook her head and sighed. This wasn’t going to help. There were too many to look through, and she didn’t have time right now to start down a rabbit hole that she wasn’t sure would even pan out.
She folded the paper up, slid it back into the envelope, and placed it in the top drawer of her desk. She’d come back to it later.
Turning her attention back to the stack of papers on her desk, she focused on sorting them into smaller stacks.
As she flipped through invoices and contracts, she thought about what Alyvia had said about calling Pierce.
She took another glance at the phone.Ugh!She knew she wouldn’t stop looking at that thing until she did something.
She nibbled on her bottom lip as she contemplated whether or not she should call him. What really had her holding back was that she didn’t want to bother him, knowing he probably had his hands full with recruits.Maybe a text would be better than a phone call, she thought to herself. She could send something short and casual. She didn’t want to appear too eager, like she’d been sitting around waiting to hear from him, but enough to say she hadn’t forgotten about him.
“As if,” she muttered to herself. There was no way she could forget him, especially that sexy dimple of his, and those light brown eyes that looked like they could see deep into her soul.
Snapping out of it, Charley gave herself a mental eye roll. Daydreaming about sexy dimples and soulful eyes wasn’t getting her anywhere.
“Fuck it,” she said, as she reached for her cell phone and pulled up Pierce’s contact. Before she could talk herself out of it, she typed out a short message.
Charley:Hi Pierce, hope your week’s going well. Any chance you’re free for that coffee soon?
She hit send before she could overthink it. It was simple, friendly, and direct.
She set the phone down, fully expecting it to sit there for a while because she was pretty sure he wasn’t sitting around waiting for her to contact him.
But less than a minute later, she heard the ping, and her heart jumped.
Pierce:Hey Charley. How did you know I was thinking of you? Coffee sounds great, though this week is a little crazy for me. Can I give you a call this weekend and we can set a date?
Charley stared at Pierce’s reply, reading the message.He was thinking about me?
The only thing she had going on over the weekend was moving into her apartment. But she would make the time for him.
She typed her reply back.
Charley:Perfect! I’ll wait to hear from you.
Pierce:Great! I’ll give you a call on Saturday once I’m finished here on base.
Charley:Sounds good.
Pierce:Later
A warm feeling spread through her chest. She was smiling like an absolute idiot as she placed her phone beside her coffee cup.
She chuckled. “Alyvia would be so proud of me,” she said out loud.
