Page 24 of A Matter of Time

My head snapped up, and I realized Sonja was sobbing. “Jesus, what’s with you?”

“He’s ruining my life!”

“What?” I was confused.

“Jory, he⁠—”

“Oh, c’mon, Sonja.” I half laughed because it was ridiculous. “He doesn’t want you and you’re hurt for whatever reason. Just get over it already. Go home, and tomorrow you can start a new job with a new boss and forget all about Dane Harcourt.”

“I’m really crazy about him, though.”

And I looked at her and got it. She was one of those pretty girls who was used to having men fall at her feet. What she didn’t get was that she wasn’t even in his league. Even to date.

“Oh, for crissakes, get over it.” I sighed, tired of the topic. “You’ve got no chance with him.”

“Jory, I have⁠—”

“Please,” I scoffed at her. “He’s a fantasy. No one actually gets a man like that.”

Of course, just as I said it, Dane stepped into the office. We both realized that he had been standing just around the corner for several minutes. Heard everything. I sank into my chair, and Sonja slunk out of the room, mumbling that she was off to see Darcy at the temp service.

“Excellent,” he told her.

I finally looked up and found that he was still towering over my desk. I had to tilt my head all the way back to see his face. He was staring at me hard, his eyes searching mine. I saw the muscles in his jaw flexing, but he didn’t say a word, just looked at me. It was unnerving, having his full and complete attention, and I wasn’t at all sure I liked it. I felt myself start to squirm.

“You’re back early,” I muttered.

“Who knew you thought so much of me.”

“What?” I asked, pretending I hadn’t heard him, hoping he’d be a grown-up for once and give me the out.

“You heard me.”

No such luck. I took a deep breath. “Yeah, well,” I said, not looking away from his steady gaze. “It comes and goes.”

“So,” he said, finally looking away. “Do I get to eat?”

I sighed loudly so he couldn’t miss the irritation as I fished out his meal of hummus and couscous and falafel and all the rest of the stuff he liked. I then passed him the unsweetened iced tea he loved that they made there. The smile I got this time was his real one; the one you hardly ever saw, the one that did that killer thing to his eyes where they went all liquid and warm.

“Enjoy your lunch, sir.”

He looked down at me, and I had no idea what else to do, so I reached into the top drawer of my desk and pulled out my last pack of Pop-Tarts. I held it out to him.

“Are they Frosted Strawberry?”

“Aren’t they always?”

He took the foil package from me and walked into his office without another word. I sat there for a minute, thinking about what I must have sounded like when I was talking to Sonja. Like maybe I had a crush of my own going on.

“Hey,” Jill called out to me from the hall. When I looked up at her, she was smiling wide.

“Another one bites the dust, huh, baby?”

I threw up my hands, and she burst out laughing. And as I watched her walk away, I realized that while Sonja had not been accepted, I was. Me and the girls, we were in the grind together.

Celia and I had gotten close after six months, but Jill had been a tougher nut to crack. It took a whole year. In the end, though, it was one of those things. Both of them still coveted my job, but nobody wanted me to go anywhere, either. When Piper started and seemed immune to my boss’s charms, it felt like we were finally in the process of building a strong crew that was going to stick around. As I looked across at Sonja’s empty desk, I realized I would be meeting somebody new that week. I needed to call Darcy myself and see if she could send over a guy.

THREE