Page 28 of The Interns

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Got some big things going on,” he bragged, as if she should be impressed. “I don’t plan on being here forever.”

“Mmm.” She nodded, and her attention drifted up to the ball game that was now in extra innings.

“Freddy Prescott.” He reached across the bar to shake her hand. Just the guy she was hoping to run into.

“Maya H—” She stopped herself, deciding to hold off on the reveal of her full name until she was serving him papers. “Maya.”

“That’s a beautiful name.”

She pressed her lips together into a tight grin in reply.

“You know, I’ll be up in your neck of the woods for some client meetings next week,” he said, leaving his space a few feet away from her to close the distance and, he probably thought, the deal. “You should give me your number. I’ll take you out to dinner and you can show me around.”

Three minutes in, and this guy thought he had it in the bag, but if not for her interest in him as a key player in their case, she would have shut this conversation down exactly two minutes and fifty-eight seconds ago.

“Let’s just take our chances,” Maya said, with an intentional dose of coy flirtation. “If it’s meant to be, I’m sure we’ll run into each other.”

He took a step back, and shook his head, probably not accustomed to women who weren’t impressed by his story. He recovered, though, maintaining that smile as he reached into his pocket, pulled out his wallet, and produced a little white card that he held between his middle and index finger.

“In case you change your mind.”

He slipped his business card into the front pocket of her blouse, gave her a wink, then grabbed the drink he’d ordered and left to rejoin his crew who had now returned from their smoke break.

She stared him down, long and hard, as he walked away then pulled the card out of her pocket, scoffing once she read it. “What an asshole.”

“How the hell does that guy still have both of his hands after pulling that?” Reed asked as he rejoined her at the bar, having caught the tail end of her interaction with Prescott.

“He got lucky.” She tapped the edge of the card firmly against the bar.

“Well, I got nothin’ except for some choice details about how one of them is having an affair with one of their clients,” Reed confessed.

Maya wrinkled her nose at the thought. Such a charming group of guys. “Thanks for sharing.”

“Anytime. So who was that?”

“I’ll tell you in a minute,” she whispered as she flagged the bartender down. “How much do we owe you?”

He held up a hand with all five fingers up. She dug into her purse and left a five and a few singles on the bar, then looked to Reed who had just made himself comfortable again, sipping on the last of his drink and catching up on the game.

“You ready?”

“I’m not finished,” he protested as he held up his half full drink.

“Come on.” She grabbed the neck of the bottle and slid it out of his hand, then placed it on the bar and hopped out of her seat. “The sooner we leave, the sooner we can get back home and I’ll tell you everything.”

That seemed to pique his interest, so he parted with his lukewarm beer and followed her out the door. Once they were outside, she wordlessly passed the card to him as they walked across the parking lot to his truck. He took it in his hand and read over it.

Freddy Prescott

Prescott Family Enterprises

Creator of the EZ Press

(patent pending)

He let out a sharp laugh. “You gotta be kidding me.”

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