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“That’s how this works, right?” Dave added. “We sign a disclosure about the relationship? And then it’s okay?”
“It’s in the company code of conduct,” Nancy said. “We discussed this, David.”
“I know! I’m just making sure they’re, like, okay with it and stuff. So they don’t terminate us.”
“Nobody is going to terminate you,” Owen reassured them. “I appreciate you coming to us when you did, but Melinda can handle this tomorrow morning.”
“We would prefer not to wait,” Nancy said curtly. They looked like they wouldn’t budge from that spot until they signed the paperwork.
“Melinda keeps the forms in the top draw of her desk,” I said.
Owen gave me a curious look. “How do you know that?”
“She, uh, printed off a dozen of them already,” I said. “She was afraid this would happen as we grew so quickly. Everyone working long hours together, some people even sleeping and showering here…”
All of that was true, of course. Melindahadprinted off a dozen forms, because she was afraid this would happen more and more often. But it was also in direct response to me and Amber sleeping together.
“That’s how it happened with us,” Dave said. “We were stuck here on a Friday night finishing the expansion code, and Nancy was wearing this really nice perfume…”
“And you were wearing your Gigahertz T-shirt,” Nancy said with a smile. “Your brown hair was all messy from sleeping in the bean bag, and you made a joke about for-loops, so I brushed your hair back from your eyes…”
“If you keep telling us about this, then Imightterminate you.” Owen stood up. “Meet me in the conference room downstairs. I’ll get the documents for you to sign.”
Suddenly it occurred to me that the blank forms might not be the only ones in Melinda’s desk. My stomach sank as I imagined Owen reaching inside and finding the one I had signed…
I jumped up like my seat was on fire. “I’ll grab the forms.”
Owen looked alarmed for a second, then casually waved a hand. “I was heading downstairs to get a drink anyway. I’ll take care of it. You can get back to coding.”
“I’ve never seen how this process works before,” I said. “I’ll come with you. To watch.”
Owen didn’t question my flimsy excuse as we left the office and walked downstairs. On the inside, I was freaking out. My legs felt numb and robotic. What if my signed disclosure was inside? The thought of Owen finding out about us made my knees wobble.
Melinda’s office was behind the front desk. Our badges unlocked every door in the building, so I scanned mine and the door clicked open. Melinda’s desk was in a corner, with big filing cabinets on either side. But the forms in question were in the top drawer of the desk itself. I tried walking across the office faster, but Owen kept pace with me, until both of us were opening the drawer at the same time.
Inside the drawer were two stacks; blanks on the left, and completed ones on the right. My name was at the top of the first document on the right-most pile, and I grabbed at it like a beggar grasping for a hundred dollar bill.
Owen was reaching for it at the same time, and for a brief moment we both clung to the stack of documents. There were two of them, I realized while tightening my grip. Then he tugged, and the papers went flying. He leaped after one and I snatched another from the air, holding it out and scanning it with feverish eyes…
My name wasn’t at the top. My heart sank. That meant Owen was holding it.
But the one in my hands… I quickly read the first few lines and gasped.
“Owen March…” I muttered out loud.
He was doing the same thing with the other piece of paper. “Jude Cauthon and… Amber?”
I gawked at him and held out the paper in my hand. “You’ve been having a physical relationship with Amber? What the hell?”
“Excuse me?” He waved his disclosure—mydisclosure—like Neville Chamberlain. “You have too! And this says yours startedten days before mine!”
“Ten days? But that means you…” I read the details of the disclosure in my hand. “You slept with hermonthsago?”
It all made sense, now. The weird way Owen had been acting this week. His reluctance abouteTodo. The excuses he had been making to leave the office early, and why Amber could only hang out with me everyothernight. Not to mention the weird jealousy Owen had been showing for Furio.
“I can’t believe you would do this,” he said. He wasn’t mad; he seemed shocked.
“Me?” I shot back at him. “Amber and I have everything in common! We worked a lot of late nights together, and…”
