Page 303 of The Bonus

Where is she?

I pull on my suit jacket and go into the bathroom and do my hair in the mirror. I hear my office door open and close. “Morning, Gabriel,” Gracie calls as she rushes in.

“What time do you call this?” I call.

“You aren’t even ready yet,” she calls back as she opens my computer. “I don’t start work for another hour…in case it slipped your mind.”

“Very funny,” I call back. “You are well aware that nothing slips my mind.”

“Hurry up, I have a lot to do today,” she calls from my office.

I roll my eyes as I continue to comb my hair.

“Don’t forget I’m going to lunch today right on twelve thirty.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I walk into my office to see Gracie sitting at my desk going through my calendar. Her hair is curled and she’s wearing a pretty pink dress.

Huh?

“Okay, let’s steamroll through this. So at nine you have a meeting with Glenora from Blakehurst.”

“Why do you look like that?” I ask as I look her up and down.

“Focus.” She keeps reading the computer screen. “Then at ten you have a Zoom meeting with Atomic Advertising.”

Since when does she curl her hair for work? My eyes linger on her breasts, perkier than usual…is she wearing a push-up bra?

The fuck is going on here?

“At eleven thirty you have a meeting with the marketing team. The notes are in your email under the heading Eleven thirty meeting.”

“Who are you having lunch with?” I ask.

“Then at one you have a Zoom with the United Kingdom office.”

“Gracie,” I snap.

Her eyes rise to meet mine. “Yes, Gabriel.”

“I asked you a question.”

“What is it?” She screws up her face as if I am a major inconvenience.

“Who are you having lunch with?”

“A friend.”

“What friend?”

“You don’t know her.”

“It’s a her?”

“Of course it’s a her.”

“You curled your hair for a her?”

She rolls her eyes.

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