I followed him out, wondering why he was so irritable.
I didn’t find out much that day. Maggie stayed in her office most of the day, except when she had the scheduled meeting with the whole department. Grant and I sat on either side of her, unsure what the meeting was about. It seemed to be moreof a pep talk for the sales team. I made frequent eye contact with Grant, looks of suspicion and wariness passing between us regardless of what he’d said earlier about Maggie being none of his business.
After lunch, we ran into Kaitlin in the lobby. She was waiting for the elevator, and as soon as she perked up at the sight of Grant, I perked up too.
Kaitlin was the key.If I can persuade Grant to find his enthusiasm for the mystery again, he might realize that too.
If I could only get him to look up, that is.
He seemed to avoid eye contact with Kaitlin no matter how many hints she made about the warm weather and her plans for the weekend. I snuck myself into the conversation to not leave Kaitlin hanging, which elicited odd looks from her since she and I never made any small talk.
But Grant merely looked down at the floor or at the numbers on the elevator panel as we rode up.
When we sat back down at our desks, and I looked around to make sure Maggie’s door was shut and no one else was coming to our corner, I took hold of his chair and spun him around so we were facing each other.
“You have to flirt with Kaitlin,” I whispered.
He looked at me as if I’d asked him to search the building for wildlife.
“Are you out of your mind?” he asked.
“How else are we going to get information?” I tried widening my eyes to impress upon him how good of an idea it was.
“Yougo out again with Colin,” he said.
I paused, turning the idea over in my mind.
I nodded with the grim determination of someone about to walk into battle.
“Yes, I will,” I said. “But if something’s going on, he’s going to hide it, of course. Kaitlin might possess some useful information and let it slip.”
He shook his head emphatically.
“Why not?” I asked.
“She doesn’t deserve to be used that way,” he said.
Now I was the one shocked.
“What?” he asked when he saw the look on my face.
“I didn’t supposeyou’dhave moral qualms about using someone for a little information.”
“You think because we had one bad date that I’m a monster?”
“What about the incessant sexual harassment that I’ve never turned you in for?” I retorted.
“Well, why haven’t you?” he asked somewhat angrily.
I had to stop and consider his question. His behavior toward me had always crossed the line, but I didn’t know why I had never reported him. He’d always been there, irritating but reliable.
“Okay, so you’re not a monster,”I said, deflecting the question. “But is this really that bad? It’s not like you’ll be professing your undying love. It’d be one date. I suffered through one of your dates and never wanted to date you again, so you’d really be doing her a favor and have her fall out of love with you.”
He couldn’t help snorting a laugh and turned around. “You can forget about it,” he said.
I gave him an annoyed grunt. The ding of his email notifications throughout the afternoon further annoyed me, and I wondered why I wasn’t also getting email blasts.
Right before we were about to leave, Grant pushed his chair back next to me and said, “I’m taking Kaitlin out this weekend.”
