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“No, I mean…yes.”
“Yes?” His forehead corrugated briefly. “You mean yes, you’ll take the job?”
“Yes.”
“You haven’t even reviewed the offer, Madelyn.”
“I’ve done a little research of my own,” I said. “I know you’re fair, you’re a good boss, and you don’t ask your people to do anything you wouldn’t do. Besides, if I don’t start working soon I might genuinely lose my shit. I need to keep busy and I need to feel like I’m doing something useful.”
He nodded. “I understand and respect that.” He blew out a breath and held out his hand to me. “Ok, then. You just let me know if any of the terms are unacceptable and we’ll negotiate. But I’ll put you in the calendar and on payroll; you’ll get a teleconference invite in the morning, in order to meet the team.”
Mia wouldn’t hear of letting me leave empty-handed, and she handed me a paper grocery bag filled with baked goods. “Sandwiches in there too, for your trip,” she said, squeezing my arm gently and I shook my head at her.
“I see why you locked her down,” I said to Scott, and his smile was blinding.
“Yeah…she moved in and went full-on Italian mama.” He was doing something obscene to her with his eyes. “I was completely gone over her evenbeforeI knew she could cook and bake.”
Mia waved a dismissive hand at me. “Don’t believe a word he says. He'll fill your head with that fairytale nonsense, but I couldn’t even get him to sleep with me. And believe me, I tried just about everything.” Her smile was sweet and indulgent, but a brief shadow passed quickly across both their faces. A memory perhaps, of something or some things bad.
Achilles followed me down the steps and to the car, his graceful, plumed tail swishing with happiness, his eyes bright with excitement and I patted him before pulling a tight circle in the driveway and driving back down the long drive. Achilles chased me the whole way, stopping before he got as far as the mailbox, tail wagging as he watched me drive away.
I’m not going to lie and tell you I made it all the way home. I pulled over before I hit the highway and pulled up my email on my phone. I read Scott’s generous offer with wide eyes and breathed a sigh of relief I hadn’t realized had been trapped in my lungs. There was a very comfortable base salary, with performance incentives, healthcare, and a surprising amount of time off. From what I knew of security firms, that was rare. Work-life balance was usually the first thing to go.
Back on the highway at last, I allowed myself to smile. I was gainfully employed now, and the first thing I was going to do was look for my own place. Steve and Kennedy would probably let me live with them until the end of time–might even be insulted when I hinted I wanted to move out–but I couldn’t take much more of the acoustics in that house. Even earplugs didn’t save me from the uncomfortable knowledge that the two of them still had the sex drives of teenagers. They were probably making up for lost time, since Kennedy had put Steve off for so long, but I didn’t see why I should have to suffer for that.
By the time I pulled into the driveway, I’d shamelessly eaten both of the fat sandwiches Mia had packed for me. I’d also been unable to stop eating the wafer-thin chocolate chip cookies she’d packed, something I’d punish myself for in the garage gym later that evening.
Kennedy was all too happy to share in the baked goods. She had a cookie in her mouth even before I got the bag to the kitchen and she swooned when she saw the full loaf of bread at the bottom of the bag. She whipped out her phone, fingers flying.
“Who you texting, Kenny?” I asked as I pulled the wrapped packages from the bag to deposit in the fridge.
“Just had an idea for dinner,” she said casually, but nothing Kennedy did was casual. “Would you grab the turkey and brown it for me? We’re having some chili tonight, to go with that delicious bread.”
Everything Kennedy did, she did well, including cooking, though it was a miracle I managed to brown the turkey without burning down the house. In the meantime, she assembled everything else and by the time I heard Teagan fussing in her crib, Kennedy had the soup cooking on the stove.
Imagine my non-surprise when I heard a knock at the door two hours later, and suddenly I knew who Kennedy had been texting.
“I’ve been summoned to help with a dire baked goods situation.”
I felt Adam’s voice all the way down to my toes: warm, a little teasing.
I was going to murder Kennedy in her sleep.
Teagan had gotten up on the wrong side of the crib after her nap, but she settled right down once Adam picked her up, cuddling her close, and I wondered if it was wrong to be jealous of an infant.
Steve didn’t seem at all surprised to find Adam in his house, holding his daughter, when he got home half an hour later. Kennedy must have called him to relay her nefarious plans, because most nights Steve wasn’t home until after seven. He took his job seriously and enjoyed the challenge of climbing the corporate ladder, much the same way I thought he’d have rank-hopped if he’d decided to stay in the service.
T didn’t seem eager to leave Adam’s lap and he held her while he ate, carefully, feeding her tiny bites of the soft part of the bread.
Ovaries…dead.
“So, Mad.” Steve looked smug. “Kenny tells me you got a great offer.”
Adam’s eyebrows rose just a little.
“More than I’d have asked and more than I expected,” I said, smiling at my brother. I’d been staying with him and Kennedy despite a substantial savings account, because I’d wanted to lock down a solid job before I started looking for a house. Looking for a house was big and scary and real, a tenet of adulthood I’d never undertaken.
“Katsaros said I don’t have to relocate–sounds like his team is scattered all over the country, and a couple of the other guys on the team live in New York.”
