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“What about it?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Integrating our platform witheTodo… maybe we’re moving too fast. Overextending ourselves.”
“That’s why Melinda hired all these new people,” I said. “Integrating with them will open us up to all of Europe. And it saves us a lot of work compared with opening an office there and trying to navigate the European Union laws.”
“I don’t know,” he repeated without elaborating.
“If it makes you feel any better, Amber says it’s going great.”
Owen gave a start. “You talked to her?”
I froze.Damn.
“Briefly,” I said. “Yesterday. She has high hopes foreTodo. She said Furio was smart to buy it when he did.”
“She said that?” Owen asked, suddenly intense. “She complimented Furio on his intelligence?”
“Itwasa smart move for him to buy it,” I said. “What’s gotten into you? You almost sound like you’re jealous.”
“I just don’t want him poaching her from us,” he said. “These few days without her has reiterated that she’s an integral part of ACS.”
Despite what he said, Owen sounded like he was jealous. Which was impossible, because Owen wasn’t the kind of guy to get jealous, especially over a woman he wasn’t even interested in.
Me, on the other hand… I had been wondering about Furio Rossi since he walked into our office and kissed Amber on both cheeks. He was smooth and suave and sexy. I struggled to pick out what suits to wear andhowto wear them, but it all seemed to come naturally to the sharp Italian. I couldn’t compete with someone like him.
Hopefully I won’t have to.
Suddenly there was a knock outside the office. Nancy and Dave both stood there, looking like they had bad news to give.
“What’s up?” Owen asked.
They both came into the office, but stayed near the door. They also stood a full yard apart from each other. I normally didn’t notice that kind of thing, but their body language told me something was wrong.
“We wanted to tell Amber, but she’s not here,” Nancy said.
Dave nodded gravely. “And then we were going to speak to Melinda about it, but she left early to go to some event for her boyfriend.”
“Something for her boyfriend? Weird,” Owen muttered. “Last I heard, he was unemployed. I wonder what’s going on.”
“What’s wrong?” I asked Nancy and Dave, suddenly alarmed. “Did you find a flaw in the code? Is it the Tezos side-chain? What’s wrong with it?”
“It’s not that,” Nancy said in a tone that implied it was worse. “It is a personal matter.”
“We’ve been having sex!” Dave suddenly blurted out. “Like,together.”
“The together was implied,” Nancy mumbled to him.
“I’m just making it very clear to them. Ambiguity is never a good thing.”
It wasn’t anything wrong with the code. It was something minor. And as far as office relationships went, these two were the last I would have expected. Nancy was precise and orderly, while Dave’s cubicle was so sloppy and chaotic that he normally chose to sit in a bean bag instead. Also, Nancy was almost thirty years older than him.
Good for you, Nancy, I thought while glancing at Owen.
“We really need to hire a human resources manager,” Owen said to me. Then, to the two cowed employees, he said, “Thanks for letting us know. But did this have to be brought to us right this moment?”
“Yes, it most certainly did,” Dave insisted, shuffling his feet. “We saw the news about the two Amazon managers who were sleeping together. They didn’t tell anyone, and it made someone uncomfortable, and they were both fired. If they had filled out a disclosure…”
“We want it to be on the record.” Nancy took a step sideways and held Dave’s hand, which seemed to strengthen him. “That way the company doesn’t feel the need to fire us in case it comes out another way.”
