Page 48 of Jump Start

“Morning, Harper. Nice to see you.” His voice was neutral, but his face was full of sarcasm, with eyebrows raised and the tiniest smirk in the corner of his lips. It was the sort of smirk I wanted to kiss away, impossible to get mad at.

As he read something on his phone and I sipped my coffee, I thought about how these moments with him were the ones I loved the most. No noise, no people around us, just us together. I leant my head on his shoulder for a few moments as we sipped our morning drinks in silence.

“Better not sit here for too long,” I interrupted our peace, my anxiety getting the better of me. “Have to choose an outfit.”

Thomas laughed. “They know what you look like, Harps,” he replied as he placed his phone down on the counter.

“I know, but this is a job interview, and I want to look professional.”

“I think you look quite professional when you wear nothing,” he said, attempting to flirt. I scrunched my nose and rolled my eyes.

“Why are you saying cringey shit to me this morning, Thomas? Can you go back to being a dick already?” I laughed and kissed him again.

It felt natural to us, taking jabs and laughing. I hoped that side of us would always be there.

I packed my laptop into my shoulder bag and poured the rest of my coffee into a travel mug since Thomas would be driving us both today. He had tonnes of media and work to do leading up to the last race of the year, so we wouldn’t see a lot of each other during the day.

“Okay, Allenwright, what will it be? Architects or Parkway Drive?” he asked as we hopped into his car.

I rolled my eyes. His taste in music was something I was going to have to get used to. I didn’t hate it, I was just more of an indie rock and pop sort of girl.

“Architects, please,” I answered as I placed my travel mug into the centre console panel.

“Excellent choice. Good looksandtaste in music. Aren’t I lucky?” he said, turning on the car and choosing a song. Nowthathe could say a million times and I would never get sick of it.

***

“I can’t wait for you to meet my brother,” Thomas said as he parked in his usual spot outside the front entrance to Echidna. Having just finished a call with his mum, who called to invite us over for lunch the following weekend, I smiled.

“I’m excited, but one thing at a time today for me, if you don’t mind.” Nerves started to get a hold of me. I knew once I was sitting in front of Chris, I would feel more at ease with the whole situation.

Thomas kissed me on the cheek as we parted ways, him going to the canteen for a coffee and me to Chris’s office.

I knocked on the closed door, which was strange, as it was usually wide open.

Chris opened the door moments later. “Harper! So great to see you, come in, come in,” he said cheerfully as I followed his instructions.

“Can we get you anything?” he asked as he motioned for me to sit on the couch by the small outdoor balcony of his office.

I shook my head. “No, thank you!”

Chris sat down opposite me on the couch, with no notepad or laptop. He didn’t know what I was going to say, and I wasn’t sure if I was offended or not by his choice. Or maybe he wanted me to feel relaxed.

“So, tell me, Harper, you called this meeting. What would you like to talk about?” His legs were loosely crossed at the ankles and his expression was warm.

“Thank you for agreeing to see me on such short notice. I know there’s a lot going on at this time of the year.” He nodded in agreement but didn’t speak. “I’ve considered your offer, and I wanted to ask if I could make a few of my own terms to see if you would be open to that?”

“Yes, of course. As I stated in my email, we are offering you the position of full-time Chief Communications Officer. Happy to match or increase your salary as per theDaily, and you’re free to start whenever you’d like.”

He had answered one of my questions already.

“Okay, fantastic. I was going to say if the salary was less than theDaily, then I’m afraid I wouldn’t have been able to accept. Everything’s just too expensive these days!” He nodded in agreement.

“Does that mean you accept?” His face was hopeful.

“Yes! Please send me the contract details. I don’t have a start date yet because I need to resign from theDaily.Might take a little more time off, but other than that, I am so excited. Thank you, Chris, for this opportunity!” I was officially excited now.

As we stood up, Chris extended his hand out to me and shook it, a warm smile on his face. I couldn’t help but beam back at him. This was an incredible opportunity for me, one that I would not take lightly.

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