Jake breathed a sigh of relief. He’d felt like such a stalker, but it was clear she didn’t mind.
And she was talking to him! The Ice Queen was finally talking to him. But he couldn’t give himself away just yet. He’d have to find a way to convince her to meet with him out of costume so he could finally explain his behavior at the picnic and convince her to give him a shot.
Thursday was not going well. Olivia was in the process of tweaking a new ad design for the side of a bus. The marketing department had said she used the wrong shade of purple. She hadn’t, she was using the very specific color palette that Marketing had developed, down to the exact HEX code. But when they printed the design, it turned out they hadn’t accounted for the CMYK ink. So, when her boss knocked on her cubicle wall at 3:35 p.m., she was already counting the minutes to Friday.
“Olivia, can you step into my office for a second?”
Had Marketing called and complained? She wasfixingit!
Ron, the head designer and her manager, led her back to his glassed-in office at the other end of the hall. “Shut the door behind you, I don’t want this getting out.”
Olivia swallowed her nerves. “Yes, sir.” She gently closed the door, and sat on the edge of a chair in front of his desk.
“Olivia, I’m not going to beat around the bush here. I’ve loved working with you. But there comes a time when a man needs to make some changes.”
Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. What had she done? Could she fix it? She couldn’t go crawling back to her parents’ house. Maybe one of the squad could let her and Kusanagi couch surf until her unemployment ran out?
“And the time has come for me to step down.”
Wait,what?
“Step down? I don’t understand.”
“I’m retiring soon, Olivia. I wanted to let everyone know before it’s official. That way no one is surprised. They’re supposed to make a decision on my replacement in a couple of weeks so that there’s no gap.” His kind smile held a hint of sadness. “I want to spend more time with the grandchildren and take my wife traveling.”
“Congratulations, Ron! I’m sure she’s thrilled.” He was a great boss and treated her almost like a close uncle would. If anyone deserved a nice retirement, it was Ron.
“The position will be posted on the website soon. And I want you to apply for it. I think you’d be a fantastic head designer. You do top notch work and you’re a stickler for details. I’ll even write a letter of recommendation for you before I go.”
Her heart raced as warmth spread from her chest throughout her whole body. “Thank you very much. I will certainly look into it. And we’ll miss you.”
The crow’s feet at his eyes deepened with fondness. “I’ll miss all of you, too. Now you better get Marketing that damn bus ad, or they’ll be hounding me tomorrow.”
Olivia jumped to her feet. “You got it!”
She marched out of his office and back down the hall to her cubicle, making a list of who she wanted to tell about this amazing development. Ron was retiring, and he wantedherto take his place! She had to tell the squad at girls’ night tomorrow. And of course she’d tell Kusanagi tonight, but she wouldn’t care since she was a cat. Her brother? Her… parents? No, they wouldn’t care, either.
