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“What’s that?”
“The knowledge that I don’t have to go to work tomorrow morning. The knowledge that I am going to wake up with you in my arms, and a full day of hiking ahead of us, followed by another night spent under the stars. That might be what I love the most.”
“I don’t know whether or not I should be offended or enamored.” She laid back down and curled in even closer to me. “But actually, I know what you mean. When I’m with you, in moments like this, I feel like the luckiest woman in the world. I love you, David.”
“I love you too, Lily. And I always will.”
* * *
My alarm clock brought me out of a deep slumber, and I ended up hitting the snooze button twice before actually throwing the covers off and getting out of bed. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, and I got ready faster than I normally did. I thought about the dream I had the night before, in which Lily and I were on a hiking trip together, and a big smile spread across my face.
I wonder if Lily likes the outdoors…
I took my coffee to go that morning, and on my way into the office building, I saw someone walking their dog down the sidewalk. I bent down to pet the German Shepard mix, and she happily licked my hand a few times. “She’s really sweet,” I said.
“Thanks,” the woman walking him responded, nodding. “She likes you.”
I laughed and then let the woman continue on her way. I walked into the building and took the stairs up instead of using the elevators, then sat down in my office and waited patiently for an update from our legal team on Mark’s case. Chances were, Lily was in a meeting with the guy and his lawyers right then, and it was protocol for her to do a follow-up with the rest of the legal team when she got back. Then, what usually happened was someone would put together a summary of Lily’s summary and send it over to me. At which point—I had it all planned out—I would go to Lily’s office, congratulate her on what I assumed would be a job well done and show her that things didn’t have to be awkward between us.
I didn't know how she was feeling after our time together on Friday, and while I had some idea whatIwas feeling, I didn’t think any of it needed to be said out loud just yet. We had a good time. At least, I know I did, and I am pretty sure she did as well, and as long as I could keep myself from saying the wrong thing to her again, I thought it was perfectly reasonable to think we might hook up again. There could be strings attached, or not, that was all stuff that would be worked out down the line.
For now, all I wanted her to know was that I liked her and that she didn’t need to feel embarrassed or nervous about liking me back. Which—she obviously did.
An hour into the workday, the office was starting to come alive with the sounds of the rest of the 9-5 crew, and I answered a few emails and returned a few calls just to keep myself busy while I waited for news from the legal department. No news came, however, even a couple of hours later as my stomach began to growl, and I realized it was lunchtime. I decided I would get something from the food trucks parked down the block, but first I would pop my head into Lily’s office and see if she could just give me an update in person.
I walked over there, trying to act casual, and nonchalant. I put one hand in my pocket as I approached the open door to her office and used the other to lightly knock as I stepped inside. “Hello? Lily?”
“Uh, yeah?”
She was at her computer, typing furiously and frowning at her screen. She hadn’t even looked my way, and I wondered whether or not she knew who her visitor was yet. “Just give me one second,” she said. “I just have to finish this last line… okay! There!” She pushed the return key extra hard and then spun around in her chair and smiled at me. “Hello Mr. Becker, how can I help you?”
It was sexy, having her call me Mr. Becker, but I also worried about the meaning behind the formalities. “Well, I was just coming to see how your meeting with Mark and his lawyers went this morning.”
“It went great,” she said. “He isthis closeto backing down. I could hear the panic in his voice as I showed them some of the evidence we have against him. He said he was still going to take us to court, but then his lawyer whispered something in his ear and the meeting was quickly adjourned.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means his legal team wants to pull out of the case,” she said. “They took one look at the sexual harassment reports filed against Mark, and I could tell from the expressions on their faces that he hadn’t mentioned any of this. They don’t want to take this any further, they know it’s a waste of time and money, so now I’m sure they are going to come back with another settlement offer.”
“Do we take this one?”
She shrugged. “That depends. If it’s low enough, this whole thing could go away for very little money, and if people do hear that he was paid off, the sum could be so insignificant that it won’t give any other disgruntled employees any ideas. On the other hand, it’s what I told you before. Settling makes us look weak, it makes us look like we think this man has a case against us. Which he doesn’t.”
“You don’t think people would just assume we settled so we could be done with him altogether?”
“It’s hard to know what people would think,” Lily said. “What really matters is whatyouthink.” She stood up and walked to the other side of her desk, leaned her weight back, and crossed her legs. She was wearing tight black pants and a top that was slightly see-through. I could make out the shape of a tank top underneath the blouse, but it was what was underneath the tank top that I was really interested in. “Do you think this man deserves to get any money out of us?”
I shook my head. “No way.”
“That’s what I was hoping you were going to say.” She smiled. “And I’ve got plenty more ammo to throw at them. I think I will have Mark running scared by the end of the week.”
“Fantastic,” I said. “Is there anything else you need from me?”
She smirked. “Oh yeah. I need you to look over quite a few files. Make sure nothing I am going to bring up at our next meeting is confidential, and if it is, then we need to go through redacting what I can’t say, and I’ll see if I can still use it.”
I frowned. “What could you possibly be getting into that would be confidential?”
She licked her lips before answering, a gesture that drove me a little wild. “Let’s just say, I’m really digging here. I want to find more than just a few silver bullets. I want to find a bomb, and I think I’m onto one.” She walked closer to me and lowered her voice. “I think Mark was defrauding the company.”
