“Well, I don’t care if she’s self-taught,” he adds. “Maybe she’s good because she did it all herself. Can’t we amend her resume and pretend we employed her on that basis?”
I chuckle. I’ve always liked the way Des thinks. A sort ofFuck the rules, let’s just do it. Relief that he’s thinking like me about this streams through me.
“You have to talk to Jo,” he says, “but, for God’s sake, don’t fire her. And I want to be in on it. Patch me into the call.”
“I’ve got no intention of firing her. But I think I might need you to handle this.”
“What? Why?”
I clear my throat. “Sadie and I have kind of got involved.”
There’s a long silence.
“Are you kidding me?” he whispers. The phone goes muffled for a second or two, and I hear a conversation in the background. Then his voice comes back. “I’m doing a little jig over here in Korea.”
“Get out of here.”
“Congratulations. Sadie’s one of the loveliest people I know, even if Alex does think she’s too quiet. But then he likes lively people, like me.”
“People misjudge her all the time. She’s a quiet hero.”
He laughs. “Not something I’ll ever understand.”
“There’s a high likelihood she won’t even speak to me after all this. That’s kind of what I wanted to talk to you about. Couldn’t I just talk to her?”
He makes a noise like he’s sucking on his teeth. “I’m happy for you to do that, but I don’t think you can say anything until we’ve agreed how we’re going to handle it with Jo. We have to have a process. It’s vital with staffing issues that you cover the legal side with Priya in HR.”
I groan to myself. “If she advises firing Sadie, then I’m leaving, too.”
Sadie might have lied, but we need programmers like her; they’re not exactly thick on the ground. She never knew her dad; she’s got a violentand abusive stepfather, and the only thing she cares about, her books, have been junked. I want to save her from all of it.
“Calm down, buddy. I’m sure it won’t come to that,” Des says.
“Well, you have to talk to Jo and Priya first thing in the morning, your evening, and then I’ll take it from there. I want this all wrapped up by tomorrow lunchtime.”
He chuckles on the other end of the line. “When did you become so dictatorial about things? Can I change my mind about you running this business?”
My lips curl up. “Definitely not.”
Chapter 29
Sadie
When I wake up at 3 a.m. to go to the bathroom, a light is still burning under James’s door. I saw him briefly last night when he emerged from his bedroom after a long call. He apologized, kissed me on the forehead, and said that he was going to work late to make up for the time he’d lost today, so I curled up in my own bed. I hope he’s not regretting what we did: I know he’s got to catch up. When I lie back down in bed, it’s like an elephant is sitting on my chest. Jane won’t be thinking about him at all. It strikes me all over again that someone looking out for him is long overdue.
When I arrive in the office in the morning, James is tied up in meetings with Jo and Priya, the HR lady who sent me my contract when I first joined, and I flick through my phone for about the hundredth time. James didn’t text this morning … and the lack of messages is a little odd. It must be so weird being with somebody else after so long. I tap “All okay?” into the box for about the fiftieth time and stare at it, my thumb hovering over the send button. Gah. I can’t interrupt his meetings. Something gnaws at my gut, so just before lunchtime, I head out through the glass doors of 90 Water Street with my sandwich clutched in my hand, the red lines and errors in my code dancing through my head. Am I achieving any of the right things at the moment? I’m just putting my cheap Chinese earbuds in my ears when a hand lands on my shoulder.
Goddammit. Jake.
But when I swing around, Jane is standing there, one arm in a sling, and all I can do is gape at her. What’s she doing here? James said she was struggling at home and that she asked him to stay. Maybe his lack of communication is because he’s having second thoughts about what we did and wants to get back together with her? Her glossy lips are pursed, her brown hair swinging in a high ponytail, still looking like one of those perfect New York downtown women despite the injured arm.
“You don’t have a degree from CUNY, do you?” she says.
Oh my God!Heat builds in my chest, moving up my neck and into my cheeks.What the fuck do I say to that?
“You’re a total fraud,” she adds, eyes narrowing. “How did you persuade Williams Security to take you on?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I say as I shove the second earbud in my ear and turn away from her.
