“I'm sorry, I don't know why I did that,” he murmurs.
“Hm? Did what?” I mumble, reaching up to remove the makeshift blindfold from my eyes.
“I…I came on you,” he replies, halting his wiping motions to look me in the eye.
“Nate…it's OK. It doesn't bother me,” I assure him.
“Really?” he asks, looking relieved. “I've never done that before, I just…I just wanted to see it on you, or something. I'm worried…I worry I push you too far.”
“I like what we do together,” I reply, stretching my arms above my head. “As far as I'm concerned, we're going to do a lot more, so you better get used to it.”
“Is that so?” he asks, with a smile.
“Yep. Now clean me off. If we're going to do this again tomorrow night, I need to get some sleep.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
The next day, Thornhill and Co. is abuzz with the official announcement of Mark Broadman becoming a new client. There's talk that other high-profile investors could follow suit, including some of Broadman's contacts in Silicon Valley. Apparently the tech crowd is quite interested in influencing public policy. I'm just glad that everyone is in such a good mood, because it helps me fit in. My relationship with Nate, not to mention our late night sessions, has me practically glowing.
Constance talks to me happily in our cubicle, the awkwardness of our first day of working together having finally melted away over the summer months. She swivels in her chair and raises her eyebrows at me as Greg walks by, giving me a small wave.
“OK, what happened there?” she asks conspiratorially.
“It was nothing,” I assure her, keeping my eyes on my computer, though I can see out of my periphery that she's still looking at me.
“Oh, come on. I won't tell. But it's obvious…I mean, for a couple weeks you guys were hanging out a bunch, and now he completely avoids you.”
I sigh. “We went on a couple dates, and then we decided to break it off. But please keep it between us, alright?”
“Mmhm,” Constance murmurs, swiveling back around. She can sense, rightfully so, that I'm not telling her the whole story.
Greg reacted as well as could be hoped when I told him I didn't want to go on any more dates with him. I blamed the office environment, and said I had extra pressure on me to be professional as the boss's stepdaughter, but I think he saw through that excuse. At least he could never guess the real reason. Now whenever I see him he's polite but standoffish.
I watch the corner of my screen, waiting to see if Allison will send me a Gchat message, but none arrives. I'll give it a little more time, and then reach out to her. I don't want to throw our whole friendship away over my relationship with Nate—not that we don't have some things to talk about. It's not that I need her approval exactly, but I do need her to stop judging.
“Lunch,” Constance says, nudging me. I stand up and see other people making their way to the big conference room. Pierce has had lunch catered for the whole office to celebrate the new client. As we walk in, I notice that the temporary wall to the kitchen has been pulled back to make way for everyone. Pierce and Roderick, his business partner, stand by the buffet, happily talking with their employees. Pierce smiles at me as Constance and I make our way up to grab some plates.
“Roderick, you've met my stepdaughter Brynn, right?”
“Yes, good to see you again, Brynn,” Roderick, a well-dressed man a bit younger than Pierce says, then turns away to shake someone's hand.
Pierce leans in. “You look particularly beautiful today, Brynn,” he remarks.
“Oh, thank you, Pierce,” I reply, a bit taken aback. Constance and I stand around the conference room for a while talking to the other interns, everyone sharing their plans for once they get back to school, and the rising seniors, like me, discussing what we'll do after we graduate. Eventually the crowd begins to thin out, and Constance and I each take a cupcake back to our cubicle.
“What's that? Vanilla?” she asks. I peer at the frosting.
“I think so, though I heard there were some coconut—” I break off as my desk phone rings. I look at it in surprise for a second—no one ever calls me on it—then reach forward to pick it up. “Brynn speaking.”
“Brynn, it's Pierce. Could you come into my office for a moment?”
“Oh, sure, I'll be right there.” I hang up and stand. “Pierce,” I explain to Constance. “Probably wants to see if I'll be home for dinner tonight.” She nods, and I walk down the hallway to his corner office. “He asked me to—” I explain to his secretary, Gwen.