“Nice shoes,” he said.
“They’re really nice.Thank you for them, and for the tip.I’ve got to ask, what do you do for a living that you can give that much away?You said you’re in the business district, but didn’t specify with which company.You’re not going to go hungry for the next month, are you?”
His smile made parts of me warm—parts that had no business warming.
“I won’t go hungry.I promise.As far as work goes, I’m in management, so I can afford to spread a little financial kindness to balance some of the unkindness I’ve handed out over the years.”
“Balancing your karma is always a good thing.Then, I’ll stick with it being a tip—at least for now—to help you out.”
“I appreciate that.”
The look in his eyes continued to melt my insides.
Barely an hourinto the new day, Whitney leaned back in her chair to look at me.
“Your phone keeps vibrating.”
“Does it?I was so locked in on the report that I didn’t even notice.Sorry about that.I’ll silence it now.”
“Is something happening at home?”
It was the first personal question she’d ever asked about me, and I took it as a good sign.
“My estranged dad of eight years is trying to worm his way back into my life.I want to block him completely, but my occasional replies are the only thing preventing him from harassing my mom.”
My phone vibrated with another incoming call, and I pulled it out of the drawer to silence it.
“Try not to bring your family drama to work.”
“I haven’t.I’ve only brought my phone, which I can ignore.Sorry you weren’t able to.It’s silenced now, though, so that should help you.”
She stared at me for another second, probably trying to weigh how much of a passive-aggressive dick I was being.A big one to match her big dick energy.
“Anything else I can do for you?”I asked.
She turned back to her work, and I did the same—I was under a deadline.
Tuesday’s calm hadn’t lasted.Yesterday, after lunch, Lianna dumped another labor-intensive task on me: a marketing comparison report that would take eight hours to compile, but with specific instructions that I couldn’t stay past five, and it needed to be finished by lunch today.
I’d learned from Monday’s vanishing email trick, though, and backed everything up with two thumb drives before going home yesterday.Since I was working with sensitive financial data, I knew not to take either with me.One, I’d hidden under my cup.The other, I’d hidden in my fake plant.I’d also emailed an unfinished copy to Shana and Whitney for “feedback.”
This morning, the obvious drive had been gone, and my sent emails had vanished.I’d asked Whitney and Shana to send their copies, but theirs had gone missing, too.After I retrieved the hidden drive, I reported the “computer issue” to IT and got to work.
Before the deadline, I sent the report to Lianna and called IT to verify delivery.They confirmed that it reached her inbox and promised to monitor the situation.Since Whitney and Shana had both received yesterday’s email, it suggested a server issue rather than a computer glitch.
Pleased with the outcome, I left to meet Miranda at a cafe down the street.
“You look happy,” Miranda said when I sat across from her.“Who put that smile on your face?Mr.Angel?”
“His name is Konni, and no.Well, kind of.I’ll get to him in a minute.This smile is because I’m smarter than whoever is trying to set me up.”
“Someone’s trying to set you up?”
I explained what had happened on Monday with the report, and running late for my Lunar shift, and finding the file gone in the morning.Then about the newest mysterious missing data.
“The thumb drive was actually gone from your desk?”
“Yep, which proves someone is trying to set me up and it’s not some random server glitch.”
