Page 7 of Mountain Security

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Yvette

The office’s cuckoo clock, which the mayor had received as a gift from a Swiss government official years earlier, struck seven.

Yvette wriggled her toes inside her heels.

She was dying to get home and take them off, but Alex Wright seemed to have no intention of leaving.

From her desk, she could see the open door to the mayor’s office. Alex was sitting in the mayor’s chair, in the exact same position he’d been sitting in for the last two hours, typing away at the keys. He hadn’t looked up once, and seemed to have forgotten she was there at all.

She looked at the clock again. Seven oh two.

Her mentoring session started at eight. She couldn’t afford to be late tonight, since she was one of the speakers. And it wasn’t just because she was speaking. She didn’t want to be late because mentoring those girls was by far the most worthwhile thing she did with her life.

When Yvette had been growing up, her mother had had her hands full just feeding her and her sister and keeping a roof over their heads. She couldn’t have been expected to also worry about Yvette’s education and career possibilities.

Yvette recognized how lucky she’d been, that somebody at school had recognized some sort of potential in her, and had matched her with a volunteer mentor to guide her into further education and into the corporate world.

Romy had been in her early forties. She’d had her hands full as Chief Financial Officer for one of France’s largest electric utilities, but she’d always found time for Yvette.

Romy had made Yvette see that she could be more … that she could do something worthwhile with her life. That she could help change things for the better.

In her last year of high school, when Yvette had told Romy she was going to find a job as soon as she graduated, so she could help her mother with the bills, Romy had sat her down and taken her through her short-term and medium-term earning potential, helped her see she’d be in a much better position to help her mother and her sister if she went to university. And she’d been right.

Romy hadn’t lived to see that future she’d described so clearly and eloquently, since she’d been struck down by cancer the year Yvette got her first job, but Yvette knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that she wouldn’t be where she was if it hadn’t been for her.

So now she was trying to do the same for other kids. To help them live up to their full potential.

Seven oh nine.

She tapped her foot, getting irritated now.

You won’t be showing these kids anything if you don’t get there on time.

She stood up and walked into Pierre’s office, not bothering to knock since the door was open.

“Are you done yet?” she asked impatiently.

Alex looked up, his forehead crinkled from having stared at the screen for so long. It was an adorable look, and Yvette had to force herself to look away.

“Why are you so hostile?” he asked, smiling.

Because you’re a distraction.

Because you’re so good-looking, and good-looking men always know exactly how good-looking they are.

“I’m not hostile,” she said. “I have something at eight and don’t want to be late.”

“A big date?” he asked, his smile growing wider.

Her irritation came to the fore.

“What if I do?”

His smile dimmed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. I’m almost done. Or you can leave me here, you know. I’ll lock up after myself.”

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