"Or does it?" Jaqui asked. "I've been taken off the delegation task list. Which means, I don't have a ton of work to do right now."
My head slowly came up. "Are you serious?"
Jaqui grinned. "You just got a helper. It'll be like old times."
"You'd do that for me?"
"Aria, you'd do it for me in a heartbeat. You did do it for me," she replied. "I'm going to go set my stuff down and then I'll steal the scanner from the copy room. We'll have this done in no time. I'm turning this bad thing into a positive."
She gave me a wink and headed out of my office with me staring after her. Hope started to form in my chest. There was a possibility that I could have this done in time to go to the ball.
Granted, I couldn't take pictures of the documents with her in the office with me, but then I wasn't taking pictures anyway. Having Jaqui help me didn't solve all my problems, but it did at least help with one. I wasn't about to turn that down.
Together, we worked all morning and late into the evening. I focused on scanning rather than Anastasia's work, but it made the scanning go quicker. With the two of us working, we cleared the floor of boxes in record time. When the end of the day rolled around, I was easily within two days of work to finish the scans.
The ball was looking more and more possible. I stayed late, continuing to work on my projects for as long as I had the energy to do so. I only stopped when Henry called to see how I was doing.
"I got a dress," I told him. "It's purple."
"I can't wait to see it on you," he replied. I could hear his smile over the phone. "It really means a lot to me. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to this."
"Me too." I bit my lip and looked around the room. Should I tell him there was a possibility I might not make it?
"Thank you for coming to this," he said, drawing my attention back to him. "It's really important to me that you're there."
"Of course. I won't let you down." I didn't know what he had to do to get these tickets, but if they were as rare as everyone claimed they were, he probably had to call in a lot of favors. I wasn't about to mess everything up because I couldn't get my work done. Besides, Jaqui's help had gotten me to where it was doable.
We talked for a few more minutes about everything and nothing. I could hear the smile in his voice and how he slowly relaxed the longer we spoke. I suspected I did the same thing. He made me feel better just by talking to me. Anything felt possible with him.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Aria," he said. I loved the way he said my name.
"See you tomorrow, Henry."
I sighed and hung up the phone. The room was darker without his voice in it. He made my world brighter just by being in it. Even through the phone.
I tried to get back to work, but I heard a strange noise. It wasn't the normal creak and hum of the building ventilation or the steps of the night watchman. I frowned, trying to figure out the strange sound.
Finally, it dawned on me that it was my hacked phone. Somewhere deep in the recesses of my purse, my phone was ringing.
I almost didn't check it. The most likely person calling would be Audrey and she was the absolute last person in the entire world that I wanted to speak to tonight. I'd spoken to her more in the past month than we had in years. It was more conversations than I ever wanted to have with her.
The phone continued to vibrate and hum, making it hard to concentrate on what I was doing. With a sigh, I fished it out of my purse, took it out of the plastic baggie full of cotton balls and pulled the duct tape off the speaker.
Three missed calls. All three of them from Audrey.
I knew she wouldn't leave a voicemail to tell me what was going on. That would mean leaving evidence of something, and she was always so careful to avoid that.
Holding the phone like it was covered in slime, I hit the call button. I would get no peace until she contacted me and the last thing I wanted was for her to discover my new number.
"Finally," Audrey said, picking up the phone by the second ring. "For a moment, I thought you had done something to your phone."
She had to know that I had done something, but I wasn't going to acknowledge that. The less information she had, the better.
"I had headphones on to work. Is there something you need?"
"Anastasia needs what you have done," Audrey replied. "The senator is asking for it now."
Audrey sounded frustrated and I couldn't help but shake my head. She'd promised the senator's office that Anastasia would be a decent replacement for me, but we both knew that wasn't the case. I was actually surprised it had taken them this long to start asking for results.
"I'll send you what I have."
With that, I simply clicked end to the call. I emailed Audrey what I had accomplished so far. It wasn't complete, but the bones of what I was doing were there. It would be enough to get the senator off Anastasia's back for a few more hours at least. Then I stuffed the phone back in the baggie. It had been out long enough.
With that done, I went back to work. There was still two days' worth of work to do and less than twenty-four hours to do it in, but I was determined. I wanted to see Henry at the ball and nothing was going to stop me. Not even my stepmother.
Chapter 21
Saturday morning came far too soon. I was still behind and needed to catch up and I was quickly running out of time. Once again, I hurried into the office as the sun came up.
"Good morning, Aria," Gus greeted me.
"What are you doing here on a Saturday?" I asked him, surprised to see him in the office on the weekend.
He shrugged. "Overtime. It's almost Jada's tenth birthday and she wants this fancy computer thing."
"You're a good dad."
"Pfft. I didn't say I was working so I could get it for her." He crossed his arms as he sat at the desk. "I'm here so I don't have to listen to her ask for it thirty more times."
I chuckled. I had a sneaking suspicion that Jada would have a shiny new computer on her birthday, simply because Gus loved his daughters with all his heart.
"I hear you have a party tonight," Gus said, smiling and raising his eyebrows. "What are you doing here?"
"Just getting some last minute work done so I can really enjoy myself. You know me, I don't like leaving things half done."
Gus nodded. "You have a good time tonight. And remember, if you need a ride home, you just call me. I'll come get you. Doesn't matter where or what time."
His words wrapped around me like a physical hug. He didn't have to put his arms around me to know that he cared.
"Thank you, Gus."
"Any dad would do the same," he replied.
I ran around the counter and gave him an actual hug before hurrying up to my office to finish everything I could.
Jaqui's assistance on Friday had nearly finished off the scanning work, so at least I was ahead there. It would be reported as done and my stepmother would have no reason to disbelieve it. The fact that I didn't have what she wanted would be my problem later, but that was after the ball.
My email chimed after an hour of work with a forwarded email from Audrey. There were more updates to the work for Anastasia. The senator wanted more details and clarification on what I had sent the night before.
I emailed what I had, which wasn't much. While I was able to do some of the research online, there were some things that needed to be done in person. I couldn't go to the library or utilize the senator's other staff. I wasn't able to call the experts and ask questions, I could only go off of articles and things they'd published.
It wasn't fair. I was working on a deadline with both my hands tied behind my back. I didn't have the resources or the time to do this properly. I hated that I was having to work this way and I secretly suspected that my stepmother had done this on purpose. It was an impossible task.
She wanted me to fail, I realized. Not with the documents, but with the research. It was a way to drive me to the breaking point. It was one more way for her to destroy me.
I doubled down, working harder. I wasn't going to let this stop me, not when I was so close.
Slowly, the boxes thinned as I worked through the last of them, trying to use the few minutes between pages to find the answers the senator was seeking.
I worked through breakfast. I worked through lunch.
With my stomach grumbling for food, I put the last document I needed for the weekend in the scanner. I had two more boxes left, but they could easily be done on Monday without anyone questioning it. I fell back in my chair and sat there for a moment, feeling a little of the weight lift from my shoulders.
One task down, another to go.
I decided just to stay at the office to work on Anastasia's job. The less time I spent traveling around town, the better. I grabbed a fresh cup of coffee from the break room and buckled down to get this done. I was so close to being able to attend the ball.