They waited until they saw me enter the building like they always did, and I found myself smiling as I forced my way through the apartment door that always stuck, ditched my shoes, and grabbed one of the sweet, barely-counted-as-a-granola-bar things I kept for moments like these.
Not even me dropping my keys twice while I tried to hang them up brought me down.
I still couldn’t quite believe I’d done that. And I had zero regrets.
It wasn’t until I was about to fall asleep that I realized I had no idea where that scrap of paper with Logan’s phone number had gone.
CHAPTER EIGHT
_____________
TRINITY
My elbow knocked a bunch of papers off the edge of my desk, and I groaned. “Fuck.”
It was Saturday, and the office was pretty empty, so I wasn’t worried about anyone hearing me curse the heavens for my own clumsiness. I dropped things and knocked them over so often that I needed a warning label.
I glanced down at the papers. Did I need those?
Not right this second. But I did need…that. I grabbed a bright pink sticky note from the grave of sticky notes that was my desk and typed in the email address.
I didn’t want to let my memories settle, so I came into the office to write up at least some of my questions for Amber. If I stayed in my apartment, I wouldn’t do it. Sometimes I worked from home, but I’d never been good at working in spaces where I also relaxed. My brain simply didn’t see the point when it could be doing somethingfun.
Then again, my job was a lot more fun a few months ago than it was now.
Brushing the thought aside, I focused on the email, promising myself that I would go over to Dad’s and use the pool. A good reward for working on a Saturday.
A knock on the door made me jump out of my skin. I looked up to find my boss, Edgar, standing in the door. Edgar was an older Beta that reminded me of a classic old-school newspaper man. He was tough as nails, took shit from no one, and hated technology with a passion. But he was also kind to a fault and relentlessly protective of his employees.
“Edgar. You startled me.”
He coughed a laugh—coughing was his main mode of laughter after a lifetime of cigarettes—and stepped through the door. “You too. Didn’t expect to find you here on a weekend.”
“Won’t be here too long. Just wanted to get some thoughts down and couldn’t focus at home.”
“Your piece on Element?”
I nodded.
“How’s it going?”
“Early stages still, but once I hear back from this source, I’ll be able to get through it pretty quickly.”
“Sounds good. I won’t get in your way. I was wondering if you still had the files from the animal trainer exposé Tracy worked on last year? We’ve got some interest in a follow-up.”
“Yeah, I think so.”
I grabbed the keys to my filing cabinet and unlocked the bottomdrawer, mentally preparing myself. This drawer always stuck, and I sometimes had to put my whole body weight behind it to get it open.
It resisted, and I swore under my breath.
“You got it?”
“Yeah.” I said the word through gritted teeth a second before it gave way and threw me back on my ass. Even then, it didn’t open all the way. “It always sticks.”
Edgar looked at me. “You know you’re allowed to order another one if it’s broken.”
I shrugged. “I don’t use the bottom drawer that often since it’s mostly Tracy’s old files, but I will if I need to.” I flipped through the folders and found the one he needed. “Here you go.”
