Page 1 of About That Pact

Chapter 1

GETTING TO HAPPY hour on time was turning out to be more problematic than Charlotte had anticipated. Such was life as a human resources manager. It was like clockwork. Every Friday, employees came out of the woodwork needing her guidance—and all she needed was a glass of wine.

Today’s culprit was good old Linda from accounting. Her ramblings for Friday at five were about her lunch hour.

That’s right.

Charlotte was late for drinks with friends because Smudgy Glasses Magee didn’t appreciate how much time she received for lunch. She listened to her, mostly because it was her job, partly because she couldn’t believe the delusions some people had.

“Then my manager told me an hour means an hour.” Linda finally paused for dramatic effect. “Who can honestly only take an hour lunch when they leave the office? Does he expect me to be able to wiggle my nose and get there so I beat traffic?”

It was edging closer to five-thirty, and this meeting had reached its end. Enough was enough of Linda and her aggression toward lunchtime.

“Linda, I am going to interject. An hour for lunch is pretty standard. Not just here at Catch Me, but at other organizations as well. In our company policy, it is stated that is the length unless otherwise discussed with management.”

The woman who didn’t like an hour to eat her tuna sandwich flung all her frizziness over her shoulder. “Of course I can do that. I guess I need to schedule me time around my work schedule.”

Duh, like everyone else in the world. Charlotte had to hold back a snort.

“I think it would be best to do that, unless you want to use vacation time.”

“Well, since I can’t get my massage and lunch done at once, I may be cranky here at work. If you get any complaints about me, you better remember you told me to do this.”

“Jotted it all down. On Monday, I will email you my notes so you also have them for your records.”

Linda was fuming as she stomped out of the office. It didn’t bother Charlotte, though. Rules were rules.

Charlotte enjoyed work, but she had never been so happy for the work week to be over. She swiftly packed up everything in her desk and beelined it out of there. Her office was a convenient fifteen-minute walk from Barbarossa, the bar where she was meeting her brother and two friends.

As she walked in, she took in the bustling crowd, catching a glimpse of her six-foot-tall brother. With his blonde hair peeking above the crowd, he made it easy to find their table.

She patted her brother’s shoulder. “Jase, please, please, please order me the largest glass of wine on special. I need to run to the bathroom.”

As quickly as she’d made her request, she threw her purse and laptop bag on the table and hightailed it to the bathroom. With all the meetings she’d had throughout the day, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d been able to leave her office. After she washed her hands, she looked in the mirror, fluffing her blonde hair so it didn’t fall flat, then wiped some of the soiled mascara from under her eyes. If she was sweating off her makeup from a fifteen-minute walk, she needed to go to the gym more.

When she got back to the table, she gave her brother a gracious smile, then raised her brow. “Who put the straw in my wine glass?” Charlotte surveyed the table, staring him and her friends down.

“It’ll help you drink faster. You seem like you need it,” her brother informed her as if he was a drinking expert.

Sitting down next to her friend Rachel, she removed out the straw and took a generous gulp of her wine. “How did you manage to get the glass filled to the very top?”

“You haven’t seen our waitress yet. When Jada and I first got here, it took forever for her to even greet us. Jason shows up, and now she checks in every two minutes. She will basically do anything your brother asks. It helps to get speedy drinks with a heavy pour. Thanks for that.” Rachel high-fived Jason with gratitude.

“Oh, the benefits of having an older brother that women jump through hoops to get to,” she mocked, happily holding on to her glass of wine.

He grinned at a woman sitting at the bar, not shocking since picking up women was his favorite hobby, then turned back to Charlotte. “I would expect you to be a bit more appreciative. You didn’t even bother to say hello, just ‘get me a drink’ and adios.”

“I had to go to the bathroom,” she defended.

His brown eyes sparkled as he tugged a piece of Charlotte’s hair. “Well, you owe me one. You left me with you girlfriends for over an hour.”

Her brother had always been the life of the party. People were attracted to him like flies to honey. Jason had fun everywhere. There was no way he’d been bored with her friends. In fact, she was positive bored wasn’t even a part of his vocabulary.

Jada swatted his arm. “Please, the moment we got here, you dashed over to our table when you could have stayed at the bar and waited for Char.”

“You caught me. But you are both better eye candy than the old man I was sitting next to.” He winked. “Why was my always punctual sister late anyway?”

Attention turned to her.