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Right. I guess he’s done being human. The corporate robot has returned.
“Can I take my lunch break now?”
He sighs heavily. “Fine. But I need you back in exactly 45 minutes. I need you to take notes during a meeting. Even you can’t fuck that up.”
Any gratitude I have for how quickly he implemented the new lunch-break policy evaporates.
“Yes, sir,” I say.
He doesn’t catch the disdain in my voice. Or if he does, he doesn’t care.
Gage might tell his mom I’m special. But at the end of the day, I’m just a convenient way to solve his problem.
I need to remember that.
* * *
Twenty minutes later,I’m squeezed around a table with three other assistants, laughing and gossiping over our cheese-and-chicken-laden salads.
“I caught my boss swiping through a dating app!” one of the assistants, Kay, says. She’s a rail-thin woman in her twenties dressed in a bland gray suit, but now that I’m sitting next to her, I’ve noticed that her charm bracelet is full of references to various sci-fi shows. It’s fun to get to see people’s personalities come out now that we’re not at the office.
She works for Wilson, an older, recently divorced man who is apparently even worse at technology than I am.
“Can you imagine Wilson trying to make conversation on Hinge?” Kay laughs. “I didn’t think he could talk about anything that wasn’t numbers.”
“I don’t know, Wilson can be sweet,” Peggy says. “He seems like the type who’s probably awkward in the beginning, but really good once you’re in the coupled-up, I’m-in-love stage.”
This leads to rampant speculation about what all the higher-ups in our company would be like in a relationship.
“I bet Lorelei’s a real love-em-and-leave-em type,” the third assistant, Clara says. She’s a pretty Asian-American woman in her forties. “Can’t you just picture Lorelei in a red dress in some old-school hotel, breaking hearts over martinis?”
The table dissolves into chaotic, friendly bickering.
Until Kay says, “You know who I can’t imagine in a relationship? Gage.”
All three assistants shudder.
“I mean, to be in a relationship he’d need to, you know,leave the office,” Peggy says.
“He’s like a business robot,” Clara says, “And the only emotion he got programmed with is grumpiness.”
I had basically the same thought less than an hour ago. But for some reason, I don’t like it when Clara says it.
“It’s a pity,” Kay says. “Because the man ishot.”
I poke at my salad, feeling a little protective of Gage. Yeah, 95% of his life is work. And he seems determined to find new and creative ways to insult my secretary skills.
But there’s also that painting of the sky in his home, the one that reminds him of the dad he lost. And yesterday before we were interrupted, the way he was looking at me...
I try to keep my voice light. “You know how it is. Everyone’s different when they’re in love.”
But the other women shake their heads.
Kay points her fork at me. “You’re new here. But mark my words. If Gage Crawford ever puts a ring on some poor woman’s finger, either he’s doing it to get ahead in business, or the world is about to end.”
The conversation moves on, but my thoughts don’t.
Kay put into words the thing I’ve been worrying about since last night.
