Page 39 of The Emma Special

“Transferring you now.” He pressed a couple buttons and hung up.

Emma was halfway to standing to insist he take back his chair, but he pressed his hands on her shoulders, sat her down, and rolled her to a stop in front of her keyboard. “Stay.” He patted her on the head while she glared at him. “Good girl.”

“I’m not a dog.” Emma tilted her head to maintain eye contact in an attempt to be stern.

“Okay.” James flashed his I’ve-just-won-an-award smile as he leaned over the back of her chair. Well, his chair.

“As long as we understand each other,” she murmured.

“I understand nothing.” He stood behind her, and with her head resting on the back of the chair she had a flash thought of Spiderman hanging upside down in the rain. “I always wondered what an upside-down kiss would feel like.”

James held his smile. “Might be fun.”

Yep. Her insides were officially on fire. “Yeah,” she answered as if he’d asked if she liked ketchup with her fries.

“Probably shouldn’t try it out at work.”

“That wouldn’t be good for my resume,” she added breathlessly.

“Mine either.”

One spark and poof, she’d ignite like a dried-out Christmas tree.

She sucked in a startled breath when he stepped around her to her computer. “So, it’s pretty simple. When you drag the file like this…” He grabbed her mouse and clicked to open and close windows on her desktop. “It saves it directly to the, um, hard drive. And that’s all there is to it.”

Mr. Anderson slapped a folder on the corner of her desk. “Anna, I need this file updated.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Her name is Emma.” James called to Mr. Anderson who was already leaving the lobby without bothering to look at either of them.

“James, it’s fine–”

He put his hand on her shoulder when she started to get up. “It’s not. I’m going to talk to him. You think with his level of management he can’t remember his assistant’s name? Nuh-uh. I’m not going to let him get away with that.” Then James was off, pushing her empty chair down the hall back to his office.

Emma sat in his comfy chair staring at her monitor until the screen saver began dancing. Whew. What a wild five minutes.

She unlocked the bottom file drawer where she kept her purse. Two ibuprofen and a granola bar later she was marginally better, but she still felt like she’d just stepped off the tilt-a-whirl at the county fair and wasn’t sure if she’d ever be able to walk in a straight line again—and that had nothing to do with her knee.

“What was that?” she whispered, the image of James’s smile bending over her still clouding her mind.

The lobby was empty. The phone wasn’t ringing. The hallway was mostly quiet. She could hear the regular hum of the attorneys in their offices, but the building was calm. Too calm for the way her pulse was thrumming.

Emma wasn’t allowed on her cell phone during work hours, but she pulled up the messaging service on her computer and opened the group chat with the girls.

Emma: Something has happened. I’m calling an emergency meeting! Same place and time. Who can come?

She massaged the muscle above her knee hoping it would help with the pain. What she needed was a bag of ice and to elevate the troublesome leg. She rolled her eyes thinking of what Miss Joy would say if she walked in and saw that.

Summer: I’m in. FYI, I’m planting all afternoon, so I’ll be a mess.

Allison: I’m in.

Emma: Oh! Aren’t you taking a big test today?? How’d it go?

Allison: Starts in fifteen.

Summer: You got this.