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Good going, putz.
There was no goodnight kiss. She didn’t want to be walked to the front door, much less up to her apartment. It was polite rejection but rejection, just the same - and already, he was debating if he should keep trying. Then again, how could he not?CHAPTER FIFTEENJaycee
“How did your date go?” Val asked on Monday as they stood in the break room waiting for a new pot of coffee to brew. Jaycee had forgotten she had even mentioned it to her.
“Bombed. Not much in common.”
“That’s too bad. Story of my life.”
“It’s okay. I wasn’t expecting much. It was our second date. I guess I was just hoping it would go . . . differently.”
“What’s wrong with him?”
“Nothing. He’s damned near perfect, but he’s older and he wants to get married and have a family. I don’t.”
“Ever?”
“I don’t know. Maybe someday.”
“Oh well, there are other fish in the sea. You’ll find one for that when and if you’re ready.”
Other fish in the sea, but are there other wolves in the woods?
“I suppose so. Gotta go!” she replied, holding up the freshly poured cup of coffee she was fetching for Nasteau.
If anything had come of last night, it was confirmation that Thad wasn’t for her. She had given him two chances. One had gone completely off the rails, thanks to their predetermined physical compatibility. The other had not been horrible until he started spouting off about their places in their society. He was older and he was old-fashioned. She needed someone who would always view her as their equal, their partner.
“Did you have to go pick the beans yourself?” Nasteau barked at her as she sat it down on his desk.
“Yep. In Columbia.”
He looked up at her with a single eyebrow cocked. She stood her ground, not backing down from having made a snarky remark. If she’d gotten one thing from her dinner with Thad last night, it was a new perspective on her boss. He was a nasty piece of business, and she was taking no shit from him anymore.
She’d talked to enough of her coworkers now to know that he had seemed hell bent on breaking every last one of them. Whether they completed their internship with him or not, most were picked up by other departments. Her discussion with Thad last night had confirmed she’d never have a place directly with Nasteau, as he was on his way out. There was a good chance, the entire company would go down with him, either due to his declining reputation or absorption into whoever he was selling out to.
The best she could do was to do her job and get the attention of others who would stay behind in their current capacities or go elsewhere and possibly take her with them as a fellow combat survivor in the Nasteau trenches. It didn’t mean she had to be docile and servile, though. As long as she served her sarcasm with a smile, she’d be fine.
“You can go,” he said in a dry tone.
Non-plussed, Jaycee returned to her office to find a delivery had been brought up for her from the front desk. She looked at the large vase filled with white roses and sprigs of lavender. It was gorgeous, but she knew who had sent it without reading the card. Sure enough, she pulled off the small card and pursed her lips as she read it.
Thank you for dinner last night. I hope to see you again soon. - Thad Ulrich
She stuck it back into the plastic holder, the message side facing in, so it wasn’t readily available for anyone to read from a casual glance. It was amusing that he felt he needed to sign his last name as if she wouldn’t know it was him from the first. After all, she’d known without even looking at all. She left the office and made her way down to legal to pick up the final copies of the Hutchins deal, complete with notarized signatures of associated internal departments and such.
While she was there, she asked Keith if he knew anything about Nasteau’s last-minute contract changes. He looked stricken, glancing around to see if anyone had overheard before pulling her away from other cubicles and nearer the copy area where the noise would drown out their conversation.
“Don’t mention that. It’s a sure way to get fired, but yeah. We all know. No one says anything because they don’t want to lose their job.”
“It’s not illegal?”
“No. Just unethical. If people sign something without realizing what the changes mean, it’s not his fault. It doesn’t make it right, though.”
“So, they are just letting him do it without saying anything?”
“No one is going to slit their own wrists just to climb onto some moral high ground. This world doesn’t work that way. I know you are fresh out of college and new here, but it’s a lesson best learned early.”
