It’s only temporary. I’ll just be the best cog they’ve ever had.
But wasn’t that what everyone said about their crappy job in the beginning? I dropped my phone in my lap and leaned forward, kneading my thumbs against my forehead. I was doing the right thing, wasn’t I?
“You okay?” Jenny asked.
I looked over and saw her watching me. “Yeah. About as good as anyone can be on a Monday.”
“I have to lead a team meeting this morning,” Jenny whispered.
“You nervous?”
She nodded. “I’m always nervous. What about you? Any first day jitters?”
“Yeah. I have a few of those.” I studied her as she went back to applying blush. Despite waking up to me pressed against her side, she’d noticed my distress and attempted to pull me out of it. She was such a better person than me. I didn’t deserve a second chance with her, but man, I wanted one.
“How come you’re so tired this morning?”
Jenny paused with her makeup brush in hand and then shrugged. “I’m just getting used to my new roommate.”
“Is she a night owl or something?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
I wanted her to elaborate, but just like on our date, there were details of Jenny’s life she was no longer willing to share with me. I guess there were things I didn’t share with her either, like how much I liked seeing her transformation from fresh-faced girl-next-door to girl-next-door’s hot older sister. Yeah, I’d just keep that observation about her makeup routine to myself.
“What do you do for lunch these days?” I asked.
“Grab something at the deli.” She eyed me, waiting for my follow-up invitation with badly disguised dread.
“Cool. I don’t even know when my lunch hour is, but maybe we’ll cross paths.” I looked down at my phone as if the thought of asking her to meet up hadn’t occurred to me. I wasn’t playing games. I was baby-stepping my way back into her life, just as I’d planned. The next baby step would be the note I planned to slip halfway into the day planner she kept in her purse so she’d see it when she reached her desk.
It would be tricky. Jenny’s purse was a disaster version of the Mary Poppins handbag. If I didn’t sneak the note into the right spot, she’d end up using the back of it as a gum wrapper six months from now and never even open it. Man, I missed teasing her about stuff like that.
“What are you smiling for?” Jenny asked me.
I smiled bigger. “No reason. Whoa. Check out that cloud out your window. It looks like a poodle chasing a ball.”
Chapter 6 – Jenny
As soon as Dan got off on the third floor, I turned to Sadie in the elevator. “Okay, what happened while I was asleep in the car? Was that a dare or something?” I hated that I felt like I had to ask her and not Noah. Sadie and I had never been that close. She just wasn’t warm and fuzzy, and I wasn’t one to press my way into someone else’s life without a clear invitation.
“No dare.” Sadie took a roll of mints from her purse and ripped open the package. She popped one in her mouth, and went to put them away before offering me one as an afterthought. I declined. Saying her mints were strong was like saying whiskey had a slight kick to it. “Noah thought the mask thing was weird. He said he didn’t peg you for a sleep mask kind of person. So he was sort of staring at you and adjusting your blanket like this hovering weirdo.”
“I got the sleep mask as a bridal shower favor,” I murmured, feeling dumb. I slept better with it on and I’d been using it ever since, except for the last two nights because I was afraid of my roommate and wanted my eyes uncovered. Bringing it this morning was my kick of rebellion against caring what Noah thought of me. Turns out I still cared, based on the flood of embarrassment washing over me.
“You’ll have to ask him about the laying his head against you thing, but I’m pretty sure it was because your head was flopping around everywhere. You move a lot in your sleep.”
My head was flopping around? Never mind. I didn’t want to have this conversation anymore. And I absolutely had to get sleep after this. Somewhere no one could see me. No more sleeping in the car.
The elevator opened to my floor, and I gave a goodbye wave to Sadie before heading out and to the right, passing rows of cubicles until I reached mine.
I let out an instinctive sigh of relief to see no one was at my desk waiting for me. My old boss used to hover the second I arrived, half in censure for always getting in before me, and half in smarmy friendliness. I didn’t want the expensive coffee Chandler brought in for me with the expectation I would gush over his thoughtfulness, or the advice on how I could do my job better, which I was also expected to thank him for. I hadn’t realized how much it all stressed me out until he was gone.
The company had been very hush-hush about his departure. One day he was there, and the next day there was a canned email in my inbox saying Chandler Howard had parted ways with the company for new opportunities. Of course, there had been no details on what those new opportunities were. Maybe he was off playing good cop to someone’s bad cop at the FBI. He would be incredible at it. Criminals would give themselves up out of sheer guilt and a need to please him.
I’d scheduled an email reminding everyone about the team meeting, but I still double-checked it before waking my computer and opening up the bottom file drawer to store my things.
A white folded paper was sticking out of my day planner, and I pulled it out, recognizing my name on the front in Noah’s handwriting. He used to leave me notes like this, but I had mixed feelings about him taking back up the habit. What did he want now? I didn’t have the time or bandwidth for distractions this morning.
