He motioned to the crate and then turned back to his work, leaving me to my own personal hell. I stared in disbelief at the sketches that would keep me at the office well past the end of happy hour. I should have known Alan would find some way to screw up my plans. After all, making me miserable was his number one goal in life.
“Can’t she do them tomorrow, Alan? We have that work happy hour at five,” Peter spoke up.
I shot him an appreciative smile.
“Happy hour? Are you kidding me, Peter? These sketches take precedence over getting drunk. You of all people should realize that.”
Peter chewed on his bottom lip, fighting with himself over whether to speak up or drop the subject all together. I decided to step in before he took the fall for me.
“It’s fine. I’ll get them done, Alan.”
And I would. I cared about this job and I cared about impressing Alan too much to worry about some happy hour. So what if Hannah would get a chance to hangout with Grayson while I was tethered to my desk? So what if they would laugh and have a good time while I worked on dumb sketches that didn’t even matter?
So what?
That’s the mantra I kept repeating to myself as I watched Peter and the rest of the architects pack up for the day. Hannah and her table-mates chatted as they stood and collected their things. I caught a glimpse of her outfit before she left: a tight black dress she’d hidden beneath a loose jacket all day.
I sighed as I turned back to my work, spreading the sketches out in front of me so I could count how many more I had to go through.
“Want me to stay with you? We could hammer them out pretty quickly together,” Peter offered with a timid smile that told me he really hoped I would say no.
“Nah, you go on ahead. Have a beer for me,” I said with the biggest smile I could muster.
…
My phone buzzed on my desk just as I’d finished up the first half of the sketches.
Hannah: OMG. Having so much fun! Where are you? We just did an office shot!
Before I could stop it, the image of Grayson taking a body shot off Hannah played out in my mind with HD clarity.
Was he there with her? He wasn’t in his office but I hadn’t seen him leave either.
My phone buzzed again and I glanced down to see another text from Hannah. This time she’d attached a selfie of her holding up a shot to her mouth, ready to down it.
“Fuck,” I murmured under my breath.
I glanced back down to my pile of sketches. I had so much work left to do, but all I wanted to do was leave.
Alan’s phone rang, jarring my attention toward his desk. I hated the fact that he’d stayed late with me. If he wasn’t there, I’d have already left and just come back to the office at the butt crack of dawn to finish the sketches.
“What do you want, Suzie?” he barked into the phone.
Whelp, good to know he’s pleasant to everyone in his life.
“Are you kidding? You expect me to help you with the kids whenever it’s convenient for you?”
I stayed stock-still as he continued yelling at the person on the other end of the line.
“No,” he argued. “You claimed full custody so you could keep them from me. I’m not going to help you out now.”
Oh jeez. Alan was nothing but a shrewd asshole to me, but from what it sounded like, he was dealing with quite a lot at home. I should have known something was going on with him. No one is as rude as he was for no reason.
“Dammit, Suzie. Fine. I’m on my way.”
He slammed his phone back onto his desk and shoved his chair back.
I peered hesitantly up at him, confused about how to proceed.
“Do you, um, do you want me to finish up that stuff for you too?” I asked, pointing to the papers on his desk.
He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head.
“No. It’s fine. Just head home.”
He sounded completely defeated and I hated it. It was easy to deal with asshole Alan. I could silently curse him in my head and move on with my life, but this sad, depressed version of Alan? It was unchartered territory.
“Okay, well. Goodnight,” I said, offering him a timid smile.
He ignored me, already en route to the elevators.
As soon as he was gone, I reached for my phone and shot Hannah a text.
Cammie: I’m on my way! Save me a shot!
I stood up and slipped my nude heels back on, then pulled off my blazer. On the way down in the elevator, I touched up my makeup and let my hair down from a clip so that it framed my face and brushed against my bare back.
I couldn’t wait to see Grayson’s face when I walked into the bar.
…
Just as I’d suspected, Pat O’ Keefe’s was just a few blocks away from Cole Designs. Its location paired with their happy hour specials (which were long gone by the time I got there at 8:00 pm) drew in a young urbanite crowd. I was making my way along the bar when a group of rowdy men wearing football jerseys sitting atop bar stools threw their arms up and erupted in cheers. The largest guy of them all nearly knocked my head off while he was celebrating but I ducked out of way just in time.