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He made aharrumphnoise. “We have closed office spaces at Intellix. Less distractions. More privacy. Never been a fan of this open space concept.”
“It takes some getting used to,” Rory allowed, acutely aware of the stares from all angles, especially the Digicore executives.
“How do you like working here?” Edward pulled his eyebrows together.
From over his shoulder, Brad glared at Rory, as if warning her to watch her response.
“It’s challenging and…interesting.” That was somewhat true, at least. “Well, I’ll let you continue your tour. Pleasure seeing you again.”
“Do you have my number?” Nathan took out his phone. “I assume Grant didn’t give it to you since he doesn’t even know what it is.”
Rory unlocked her phone and quickly exchanged numbers with Nathan. After they’d said goodbye and continued walking, she sat back down.
Whispers rose around her. She didn’t want to know what they were saying.
“Dude. How’d you know them?” Douglas asked. “Are you, like, dating him?”
“Shut up, you disgusting little toad.”
“Whoa. Harsh.” He held up his hands and rolled back to his workstation.
After the Taylors had left the office, a message from Edward popped up on her phone.Join me for lunch. Italian restaurant over on Fourth Street. One o’clock.
Though she appreciated the invitation, she hesitated. She didn’t want him to know the first thing about the hostile atmosphere surrounding her. She couldn’t risk him stepping in on her behalf, and if things got really convoluted and it ended up affecting whatever business prospects Digicore had with Intellix… God. She’d be totally vilified, like Yoko Ono breaking up the Beatles.
Then again, she was a small cog in a vast wheel. The unpleasantness affected every part of her work and life, but the reverberations wouldn’t impact Digicore’s upper management. Certainly no one at Intellix had reason to get involved.
She agreed to the invitation and returned to work.
Close to one, she drove to the Italian restaurant and found Edward seated at a quiet table beside a window. He rose when she approached and pulled out her chair for her.
“Thank you.” She looped her purse over the back of the chair and sat down. “Where’s Nathan?”
“Back at the office.” Edward sat across from her. “He tends to come in early and leave early so he can get back home to Alice.”
Rory ignored a faint pang at the idea ofgetting back hometo one’s love.
She and Edward placed their drink and food orders and talked about the weather and local happenings. Edward had purchased tickets for him and Joanna to a Bay Area music festival, which reminded Rory of Joanna’s remark about how much she and her husband had loved watching music shows when they were first married. It was nice to think that perhaps Joanna’s wish for a “second honeymoon” had taken root in Bliss Cove and was continuing to flourish.
The server brought their plates over and refilled their water glasses before departing.
“So, my wife tells me you’re still in a relationship with Grant.” Edward took a swallow of his gin-and-tonic and studied Rory.
She nodded and draped her napkin in her lap. “It’s working long distance.”More or less.
“She hoped that you living here would bring Grant home more often.” He shrugged, his forehead creasing. “Hasn’t happened.”
“I know. Honestly, I don’t get to see him as much as I’d like to, either.” She took a bite of chicken piccata. “I haven’t managed to get back to Bliss Cove at all, and Grant is so busy running the Mousehole that he can only come up for a few hours at a time.”
“You haven’t convinced him to quit?”
“I don’t want to. I would never ask him to quit doing what he loves. His dedication to the tavern, to his customers, is just one of the many,manyreasons your son is so well-regarded in Bliss Cove.”
He frowned and sliced into his filet mignon. “I didn’t raise either of my sons to be a chef.”
“But that’s what Grant is.” If Edward had asked her to lunch in order to gripe about Grant, then the least she could do was defend him with everything she had. “He’s an incredible chef and a restaurant owner. Though it’s none of my business, you can’t raise your children to be whatyouwant them to be. If they want the same thing, great. Win win. But if they want to be and do something else, especially if they’re willing to walk away from you to do it, then you might want to consider shifting the old perspective there. Recode the algorithm.”
He barked out a laugh. “Never expected him to end up with a software engineer, either. Joanna seems to think you twowork well together, whatever that means.”
