“So?” she said, looking at me.
I nodded. “Okay.”
—?—
Before lunch, I reviewed one of Harley’s reports. There was a small section that needed revising, not major, but enough to flag.
“Can you recheck this part?” I said, pointing at his screen. “The numbers are shifted by one row.”
He glanced at it, then nodded. “Got it.”
Afterward, we went to lunch at a small café near the office, a place we’d been to so often the staff didn’t even need to ask for our order.
Midway through the meal, Jessica finally asked, “So, where are you headed?” She glanced at Harley. “Why quit so suddenly?”
Harley smiled faintly and shrugged. “I’ve got something lined up.”
“Come on,” Jessica pressed. “Give us something.”
“Nah,” he said with a grin. “If I tell you now, you might quit too.”
Jessica huffed but laughed.
I smiled quietly, watching them over the rim of my glass.
Then Harley turned to me. “How was Florida?”
“Fun,” I answered.
“Fun how?” he asked.
I laughed softly. “You’re just being nosy.”
He laughed too. “Obviously.”
I paused for a moment before answering. “It was fun. It felt like… going back in time.”
I didn’t say anything more, but I could feel Harley’s gaze linger on me a little longer than before. Not intrusive. Just… observant.
Jessica noticed too.
“I don’t know,” she said, squinting at me. “But somehow you feel different. Lighter.”
I shrugged. “I’ve always been like this.”
Jessica glanced at Harley, then back at me. “Yeah... sure.”
Before I could respond, her phone buzzed against the table. She checked the screen and sighed as she answered, “Yeah? Okay, got it. No problem. We’re almost done anyway. I’ll head back now.”
She hung up and looked at us. “Boss,” she said. “Calling me back in. I’ll head out first.”
She stood, grabbed her wallet. “Don’t talk about me behind my back,” she joked before leaving.
That left just Harley and me, and we finished our meal in silence, the quiet stretching between us. After a moment, he cleared his throat. “The new hire who’ll be under you,” he said, almost too casually, “go easy on them, will you?”
I smiled. “They’ll survive.”
“Barely,” he muttered.
