AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“That’s their reputation. I don’t know how you’ve been able to stand it. It would be great to have you back.”
I held up fingers crossed for luck. “Let’s see what happens.”
“Maybe if I send out the right vibes, I can sway the boss.”
“You do that,” I said with a laugh, though I hoped it was just a joke and not something she really had the power to do. Getting what I wanted would ruin my scheme. I heaved a weary sigh. “Now, back to the salt mines.”
Although I was trying to maintain an air of unhappiness, I felt pretty good about how things were going so far. Unfortunately, now I had to start the hard part: Destroying my relationship with Owen.
We’d been pretty much inseparable since I joined the company, first as friends and later as more than friends, so convincing the world that there was trouble in paradise wouldn’t be easy. We were so well suited to each other that finding conflict would be difficult without either of us acting out of character. How would we convince people that we were falling apart so badly that I’d want nothing to do with him or the company he worked for?
I dropped by his lab soon after five to find him watching Jake giving a rambling monologue about music. Owen’s lips moved slightly, and his fingers looked like they were squeezing something. Abruptly, the sound of Jake’s voice cut off, even though his mouth kept moving. Owen mouthed some more words and spread his fingers, and Jake’s voice returned.
“Hey, that worked!” Jake said.
“But it’s not quite what we want here,” Owen said, frowning, as he bent over a notebook and jotted something. “It doesn’t have the practical applications I’d like.”
“I don’t know, I could think of all kinds of applications for a mute button for people,” I said.
“I know, right?” Jake said with a grin. “If movie theaters used this spell on the audience, it would improve the moviegoing experience dramatically.”
“But the spell is supposed to be for stealth,” Owen said, frowning. “Making others be quiet only makes it more likely that you’ll be noticed in a more quiet environment.”
“Unless you’re sneaking around with someone who doesn’t understand the concept of stealth,” I said. “There’s always that one person in movies who can’t help but step on a twig or blurt out something at a bad time.”
Owen made some more notes. “Maybe if we adjust this, and then do that, we can come up with something that muffles any sound the caster makes.” After writing some more, he looked up at me. “Was there something you needed, Katie?”
I looked at my watch. “Well, it is after five, and you seem to be at a stopping point, so I thought maybe we could get some dinner. You asked for a rain check the other day, and it’s not raining now!”
He looked pained, like he was actually physically ill, and my heart broke for him. I knew it had to be hard for him to even pretend to do anything that would look like it hurt me, and I felt awful for putting him in this position, but it would have been far worse not to bring him in on it. “Oh. But I’m not really at a stopping point. I want to test this next variation.”
“How long do you think that will take?” I allowed the slightest bit of edge to creep into my voice.
“I don’t know, an hour, maybe? It depends on how things go.”
“Mind if I wait? This is kind of cool.”
I could see the internal struggle in his eyes. He usually didn’t mind me watching him work and even appreciated my insights, so telling me he didn’t want me to stay would be a lie. He turned a shade of red I hadn’t seen before. “I’m not sure how long it will take, so maybe we can have dinner some other time?”
“Well, I had some things about the wedding we needed to discuss.”
“Then definitely some other time. I mean, when we have time to really work on it.”
“So, that’ll be when? Like maybe August?”
The sarcasm in my voice must have been pretty scathing because Jake took a couple of steps away from me before saying, “I, um, I’ll just go get the bubble wrap so we can test the stealth mode, okay?” He beat a hasty retreat to the supply room.
Owen wrinkled his forehead. “Definitely before August. Aren’t we talking about having the wedding in May?”
“Do you know when you m
ight be able to squeeze me in?”
“I don’t think I have anything scheduled this week. How about tomorrow?”
“I’ll hold you to it. Now, have fun with your spell!” I thought I did a decent flounce on my way out of the office, and I made sure I looked like I was leaving in a huff as I passed the various offices and labs on my way out of the department.
The worst gossip in R&D had turned out to be an enemy mole who was no longer with the company, so I didn’t have any absolute guarantees that word of my mild clash with Owen would spread outside the department, but I thought we’d given it a good show. In this case, while there was some element of truth in Owen’s workaholic ways, most of the time it didn’t bother me that much. We did need to plan our wedding, but normally I’d have happily stayed to watch the spell tests, and we’d have gone to dinner afterward. I supposed all this was a sign that we really were a good couple if we had to work to lay the grounds for a convincing breakup.
