Page 43 of Byte

“I am,” I said and shoved a brownie into my mouth.

“Why?” he asked. “And where did you get those?”

“Because we got nothing done because Lauren wouldn’t stop asking questions about you,” I said and reached for another brownie. “The brownies are from Lauren. She likes to bake and doesn’t want the goodies to go to waste, so she brings the extras to me.”

“Are you going to share?”

“Yes,” I said and happily handed him a brownie. “Please, take some. Otherwise, I will eat all of these, and I really don’t need to.”

“Don’t even go there,” he said. “You look great.”

“Because I don’t eat containers full of brownies,” I countered.

“You have to admit, they are good brownies,” he said and held out his hand for another.

“I know,” I grumbled. “It’s like she’s trying to fatten me up on purpose.”

Byte laughed. “Why would she do that?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe she wants to take a shot at you since Flint was a resounding no.”

“She can try, but she doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in Hell with me. I’m happily taken.”

15

GABBY

“Ihope this goes better than the last time,” I said to Byte when he parked at the hospital.

“You barely have a cough. I’d be shocked if they don’t give you clearance,” he said.

“Me, too,” I said and gave him a quick kiss before I got out of the truck.

I only had to wait a few minutes before they called me back to a room. The nurse asked me a few questions, one of which was if I still had a cough.

“Nope. No cough. No fever. No aches and pains,” I said and immediately clamped my mouth shut. I didn’t want her to suspect me of lying because I was too insistent about my lack of symptoms.

“Great. We just need to collect a urine sample from you, and you should be good to go.”

“A urine sample?” I questioned.

“Yes. It’s hospital policy to perform a urine drug screen on all employees who have been out of work for over seven days,” she explained.

“Okay, show me where to go.”

“Follow me,” she said and led me to a bathroom down the hall. “Once you’re finished, return to the room, and I’ll be in shortly with your paperwork.”

I did my business, returned to the room, and waited. After twenty minutes passed, I started to wonder if they had forgotten about me. I was considering stepping out into the hall and flagging down someone when the nurse entered the room.

“Sorry for the wait,” she said and handed me a stack of papers. “You’ll need to take these over to Human Resources so they can complete the process.”

“Thank you.”

When I arrived at Human Resources, I gave my paperwork to the receptionist. “Have a seat. Someone will be with you shortly.”

While I was waiting, I sent a text to Byte to let him know what was going on and that I wouldn’t be much longer.

“Gabriella Marks,” a lady called. “Come with me.”

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