Everything for Her(44)

“Where are you going?” she asks when she’s finally standing in front of me.

“Nordstrom. They’re having a sale. I would’ve invited you, but you said you had lunch, like, an hour ago.”

She shifts a little on her feet before looking over her shoulder. I follow her line of sight to see Captain staring at all of us.

“Does he follow you everywhere?” I would think this Captain guy is creepy if I didn’t know he was the head of security here. And the fact that Paige is kind of crushing on him.

“We’re sort of teamed up,” she says dismissively, clearly not wanting to talk about him. “But you can’t go. I need to talk to you.” She almost seems a little out of breath and rushed.

“It’s cool. Do what you need to do. I can head out on my own,” Skyler says.

“Sorry. Next time,” I offer, disappointed that I’m ditching her, but it’s clear Paige needs to talk.

“Don’t hate me when I come back with a bag full of goodies that only cost me half the price,” she teases before doing a mock salute and heading out the door.

“Over there?” I point to a bench in one of the corners in the giant lobby.

She nods, and I follow her over and sit down with her.

“What’s up? You’re kind of freaking me out.”

“I think we should get a pet.”

“You think we should get a pet,” I repeat, making sure I heard her right.

“Maybe a dog.”

“Maybe a dog,” I repeat again, unable to stop myself, because this isn’t adding up.

“Stop that.”

“What? I’m making sure I’m hearing you right. You know, the person who said they’d never get an animal because they’re a pain in the ass.”

“Maybe you’re right. Never mind.” She stands up. “Glad we got that worked out.”

She walks off, leaving me sitting on the bench. What the hell was that? “You coming?” she says when she reaches the elevators.

I stand up, pulling my badge out and flashing it to the front desk. They probably know who I am by now, but I’m still pretty new.

“You’re acting weird,” I tell her as we wait for the elevator to arrive.

“We meeting in the lobby to go out for drinks?” she asks, ignoring my comment.

“No. Come to my floor. We have a nice bathroom, and I want to change and touch up my makeup.”

“Sounds good.”

The elevator dings, and we both get on. I hit the floor for the cafeteria since I have some time to eat now. I might as well get a little something.

“I’ll be at your desk a little after five,” Paige says as she gets off on her floor. I shake my head at her. She’s acting like a weirdo. Maybe this crush is messing with her head or something. I can relate.

When I get to the cafeteria, I get a salad and take a seat at one of the tables.

“Did you hear there’s some big meeting on Monday? I wonder what’s going on. We hardly ever have those. Wonder if the big boss will be there,” I hear a girl from a table behind me say with a dreamy sigh in her voice. Wondering what she’s talking about, I pull out my phone and check my work emails.

In my in-box is indeed an email about a meeting that everyone is required to attend. It’s going to be on the first floor early Monday morning.

“He never comes to any of the meetings. I’ve maybe seen him around four times in the year I’ve worked here. He stays holed up in his office. I hear he’s a giant asshole, which I’m guessing is true because the times I did see him, he was pissed off, so...”

I shrug off her words. I’ve been here a week, so I should be in the clear if there’s any backlash about anything in the last-minute meeting.

“Even when he’s all pissed off, he’s still crazy hot. I hear he’s single.” The women continue chatting. “Maybe if he got laid he wouldn’t be such an asshole.”

“I think he is single, because he’s always on his own at big events. I check online for him sometimes, but all the red carpet shots are solo. Either that, or he has that secretary of his with him who guards his door like a pit bull. Maybe he’s sticking it to her.” They both laugh, and I roll my eyes at the cliché gossip.

“I think she’s married though.”

“Like that ever stops them.” They both laugh again.

I take a few more bites of my lunch before picking up my tray and dumping it. I head to my desk, but when I get back, I see neither Skyler nor Eric have returned.

I decide to jump right back into my reports, still a little sad about not hearing from Oz today. It’s like it’s put a damper on my day.