Work has never felt like such a chore before. Usually, when I’m busy, there’s not enough time in the day. But today, even as I correspond with half a dozen people, bounce from meeting to meeting, and process every document as soon as it lands on my desk, the minutes seem to crawl by.
I glance at the clock for the hundredth time this afternoon: three-thirty-five. I groan and drop my head into my hands.What do you mean I have an hour and a half left?All I want to do is rush home to see Euan again.
“Hey, boss, I was wondering—”
“No,” I say automatically, not even looking up at Felix.
“Aw, come on, you don’t even know what I want to ask.”
“You want to take tomorrow off, and the answer is no.”
Felix makes a noise of complaint, then calls over his shoulder, “Jazz, I thought you were working tomorrow.”
“I am,” she calls from the other room.
Sighing, I finally look up to find Felix giving me a disgruntled look.
“If Jazz is here, why can’t I take it off?” he demands.
“First, unless it’s an emergency, you’re supposed to notify me two weeks ahead of time before taking time off.”
His scowl deepens. “You never enforce that rule.”
“Maybe I should enforce it more often going forward.”
He stares at me for a moment, then very deliberately raises his hand to his mouth and coughs twice. “I’m sick.”
“Second,” I continue as if he hasn’t said anything. “I won’t be here tomorrow afternoon.”
Felix stares at me for a long moment, then slowly backs out of the room. “Jazz, I think our boss has been replaced by an alien replica of himself.”
Jasmine appears in the doorway next to him, her giant pink headphones resting on her neck. She narrows her eyes at me and says, “Or possessed by a demon.”
“Why would a demon have him take timeoff? Don’t you think it’s purpose of possessing him would be to infiltrate the college to corrupt everyone here?”
Sometimes, I wonder how much money the college pays them to read on the clock. Our office is one of the busier ones, but I know Jasmine usually listens to audiobooks rather than music. “I have not been replaced or possessed—I just need some time off.”
“For the second time this week,” Felix replies.
“And we had yesterday off,” Jasmine adds.
They both narrow their eyes at me, searching for some sign that I’m not really their boss.
My hand twitches with the urge to slap it over my neck. Euan hasn’t left any hickeys—I checked this morning and again at lunch—but I can feel the ghost of his lips across my skin, so tangible that I’m worried they’ll see the marks too.
Jasmine suddenly gasps and clasps a hand over her mouth. “I know what it is.”
I tense at her words.She can’t possibly know, right?I didn’t even explain to my boss why I need tomorrow off, I just said there’s a legal matter I need to deal with and that it won’t reflect badly on the college.
Felix’s head swivels back and forth between us. “Well, come on! Let me in on the secret!”
“He’s gonna propose to Theresa!” Jasmine exclaims, her voice rising to an excited squeal. “Of course you need the afternoon off! You have to make it absolutely perfect!”
The blood drains from my face. Both of my subordinates met Theresa when I brought her to college functions, but I generally don’t talk about my personal life at work. Certainly not enough to tell either of them that we broke up, or anything about Euan. There are plenty of openly queer employees at the college—Nick included—but that doesn’t mean I’m ready to be one of them. At least not while my identity is tangled up in a legal mess.
“I’m not—”
“Oh my god,” Felix interrupts. “No wonder you’ve been so distracted this week. That’s gotta be terrifying—what if she says no?”
