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I told him about Steph coming for a long weekend as we were standing side by side at the bathroom sinks, brushing our teeth before bed.
"What's the occasion or is it just an excuse to get together?"
"We plan
to spend the weekend shopping for a wedding dress and stuff for the penthouse."
"That's good," Josh said, nodding. “I'll finally get to meet the famed Bestie. Do you think I'll pass muster?"
"You already have," I said. "She's the one who talked me into going to meet you for the meatballs, so I credit her with our romance."
"I already love her, then," Josh said with a laugh.
"So, what happened of interest today at work?" I asked.
"Oh," he said and hit his head, his eyes closed. "I forgot to tell you. I got a call from the rehab facility in California. I guess Penny left the program with only a week left. She relapsed with another patient and just decided to leave rather than commit to detoxing and starting over. I would have paid for another six weeks, if that's what it took, but maybe she needs to hit rock bottom before she'll really be ready."
"I thought she had hit rock bottom," I said, sad at the thought that she was back on drugs.
"No, not quite. She never had to sell herself for her drugs. That would be really hitting rock bottom. Luckily, she had family and friends and had a job until recently that she managed to keep even when using. I'm afraid she's really going to crash this time -- bad."
"Oh, Josh, I'm so sorry."
He put his arm around me when we were both finished brushing and pulled me against him. "No, I'm sorry. It's me who has the drama in my life. First, it's the potential of being a father to another woman's baby. Now, it's a former sex partner who needs rehab. Oh, and did I tell you some hackers broke into MBS and stole a bunch of emails and other documents? We're just waiting for them to try to blackmail us or extort money from us."
"That's terrible," I said and frowned. "How did they break in?"
"It's called phishing. They mimicked an email from one of the System Admins and asked people to click the link and sign in. One of the new hires in finance was dumb enough to click the link and sign in. The hacker used her password to get into the system. Unfortunately, it was an admin who had access to her boss's email and so the hacker got access to some really important financial information."
"What can you do about it?"
Josh exhaled. "It forced us to get new servers and email clients."
I shook my head, thinking about how easy it was for hackers to get into a business's system. "Why would anyone want to do that? Do they think they'll get access to what you know about a particular story MBS is working on? Are they trying to get dirt on the company to hurt it?"
Josh shrugged and slipped into bed, holding the blanket open for me.
"Your guess is as good as mine. If it was blackmail, I'd think they would have done something by now but so far, nothing. I haven't received any threatening emails or demands for millions of dollars in bitcoin to be deposited into some account."
I crawled in beside him and he covered us both with the heavy down-filled blankets. They'd just been cleaned and smelled of dryer sheets. I reached over and turned off the light on the night table and then snuggled down into his arms. The sheets felt cool against my skin, but Josh's body was so warm.
It was comforting.
"Do you have to tell the police?"
Josh shrugged. "It's not a crime, unfortunately, until they try to extort us. If they do, I'll be on the phone, but until then, I'll just assume it was a kid trying his or her hand at hacking a big company. That's done all the time."
We lay in the darkness for a moment, and I closed my eyes. Then I remembered the tests and decided to broach the subject.
"One day down and one day closer to getting the verdict," I said and leaned my face up for a kiss. Josh complied, kissing me tenderly.
"I'll be so damn glad when this is all over," he said, his voice sounding exhausted.
"Me, too," I said. "What are you going to do about Penny?"
Josh exhaled heavily, clearly upset at this turn of events. "Whatever it takes," he said finally. "I'll make some calls, see if her parents know where she is. I'll offer to pay for another six weeks, when she's ready."
"That's so generous of you," I said and stroked his bare chest. "She's lucky to have you in her life."
