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“Sutton, there’s a gentleman caller here for you.” Harold’s voice sounded surprised and curious. Apparently, Harold was going to have a front row seat to all my most confusing work moments. “Says his name is Holden St. James. Should I send him up?”
My brain was having a hard time absorbing Harold’s words, either from exhaustion or shock.
“Sutton?” Harold’s voice prodded, shocking my brain back into action.
“Yes, sure, sorry! Send him up. Thank you, Harold.”
“Sure thing. You can head on up —” I heard him say before the call ended.
I shoved my chair back and proceeded to break the land speed record rushing to the elevators. I made it just as the ding alerted me that the elevator had arrived on our floor. Sure enough, the doors slid open to reveal Holden standing casually in a pair of faded jeans and a Harvard Law shirt, a coffee cup in one hand. He smiled when he saw me waiting.
“Holden,” I breathed out, my eyes busy roaming over him. “Hi.”
It did not escape my notice that Holden’s eyes were doing their own roaming.
“Hi.” He held out the coffee cup in his hand. “I tried texting and calling first. It’s a peppermint tea, and an excuse to make sure you’re still alive.”
I laughed at his confession, reaching out to take the coffee from him.
“Thank you so much. Right now, I very much regret how much I drank last night, so this tea is an actual godsend. I’m sorry if I worried you. I guess I lost track of time.” I squinted, realizing that I still had no idea what time it was. “What timeisit?”
“It’s almost ten. You look exhausted.” He rushed to add, “Why don’t you call it a day and pack up? I’ll give you a ride home.”
I considered it briefly. I could take my work laptop home and get some work done from there. Working at home — from the couch, in my pajamas, without a bra on — did sound very tempting. During my sprint to the elevator, I’d noticed most of my coworkers had already abandoned ship, so it wasn’t like I would be the only one calling it quits for the day. But there was the danger of falling asleep before I accomplished everything I wanted to get done.
Holden must have sensed my hesitation. “Have you eaten dinner yet?” he asked, causing my stomach to growl. I had skipped lunch and dinner without even realizing it, and my stomach was clearly ready to make its displeasure known. “I’ll stop for food on the way if you want.”
“Why do I feel like you just used my love of food against me?” I teased, taking a sip of my drink. “Oh wow, this is delicious. Where did you get it? I need to start drinking more tea.”
“I’ll answer that question if you agree to let me take you home.” He motioned towards the dark, empty office. “It looks like most people have already gone home.”
“Is this how you manage your difficult clients? Fine, you can drive me home, but you still have to feed me.”
“You’re a tough negotiator, Sutton Buchanan, but it’s a deal. Do you need to get packed up?”
I nodded, feeling reluctant to leave him. Being around him right now felt like standing in a ray of warm sunshine, and I knew that I’d lose the feeling as soon as I walked away.
“Yeah, but it shouldn’t take me long, just a couple minutes. You can wait here if you want.” I motioned to the couches and chairs that were scattered around coffee tables in our small seating area that was tucked into one corner of floor. “Avoid the beanbags though. They’re like quicksand and you’ll never be able to get out.”
“Noted. I’ll be here,” Holden answered, making his way to one of the chairs that faced the windows.
I rushed back to my desk, swiping everything back into my bag.
“I’m heading out,” I announced to Jin. Maxine was passed out with her head on her desk. I briefly debated waking her up but decided against it. First-thing-in-the-morning Max was a delight; first-thing-post-nap Max was a horror. She didnotlike being woken up from naps, a trait I had discovered on a weekend trip we took the first summer we had worked together. The lesson almost cost me two fingers and an eye.
“You’re leaving?” Jin asked incredulously, looking around the office like he’d been so absorbed in his work that he’d lost track of time. “Are we the only people here?”
I nodded, shutting down my computer. “Yeah, I think we’re the last ones standing or slumped over on our desks in Max’s case. I’m going to finish up at home. Maybe even do something crazy like sleep in an actual bed.”
Jin’s eyes widened comically. “Sleep?Sleep?Who has the time for sleep?”
I pointed to Max, who had started to snore softly. “Maxine, apparently.” More seriously, I said, “You should think about heading home too. Getting a good night of sleep isn’t the worst idea, and from the looks of it, the rest of our team would agree.”
“Thanks, mom,” Jin grumbled, shooting a longing glance at Max. “Fine. I’m going to pack up too. But only because she snores.”
“Don’t let her hear you say that,” I laughed, cutting a nervous look at Max to make sure she was still asleep. “Did you drive today? I can drop you off if you walked.”
“It was too humid to walk, so I drove. Thank you, though.” Jin stood, stretching around a yawn. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
