Page 12 of A Conflict of Interest

“Ah, yeah. Charlie, Gould’s younger daughter’s wife, is really sweet. It was our first time meeting her. Butch lesbian with golden retriever energies. Kept trying to get doors for us and pull out chairs for us. It was sweet. Even Anna enjoyed it, but she’s too shy to admit it.”

“That’s adorable. Ugh…” I looked down at my desk. “I need to find someone so I can have cute double dates with you two, too.”

She bit down on a smile, barely suppressing it. “Sounds like you’re well on your way with Nic.”

“What—no—I’m not,” I blurted, jumping so hard I hit my knee on the desk, standing up and waving my hands wildly enough I slapped my laptop almost clear into my coffee cup, half the office looking at me. I cleared my throat, sitting back down, folding my hands in my lap. “Nic? You mean, from the videography firm? No, I don’t think so. Why do you say so? I mean, I don’t think so. He’s still kind of hung up on his ex-girlfriend anyway.”

She smiled wider. “He told you that, did he?”

“No? No. No, he didn’t,” I said, my voice going higher. “He didn’t tell me anything. He just, uh… seems… like the kind of guy who’s hung up on his ex. Um… so, how’s, um, how’s work today? For you and Anna? Everything good?”

I saw her fighting for her life not to laugh. The laugh won, just a little bit. “Everything’s great, thanks for asking. Looking forward to seeing more of your project, Kelce.”

“My project? My—project. That’s right. Yes, of course.” I had a project. I’d forgotten for a second. “Been working hard on… on the project.”

“I am sure that you have. I’m going to get back to see my girlfriend now. I’ll leave you to yours.”

“He’s a boy,” I said. “And—not my girlfriend. Or my boyfriend. Or anyone! Or anything. I mean, I’m not saying he’s nothing—that would be really rude—”

But she ignored me, walking with a pep in her step towards the office. I buried my face in my hands, sinking back in my chair.

Maybe Veronica was right. Maybe I was dumb.

Not that I was thinking about Veronica Preston or the way her cool, unbothered façade would fade when it was just the two of us in my bed or hers late at night or early in the morning, and the lights were low enough it felt like there was nothing in the world past the two of us, and we’d laugh over silly little things and talk about the things in life that made her happy and the things in life that made me happy, and I’d sigh impossibly happily and nestle closer into her arms. Never! I wasn’t spending one moment ever thinking about that.

Luckily, I had a message from Liam Danielson waiting for me when I got back from outer space and returned to my computer, something to think about other than the sound of Veronica Preston’s low, murky laugh when she was getting tired late at night and that glimmer in her soft, half-lidded eyes as shelooked at me like I was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen, because, after all, I wasn’t thinking about that.

Hey Kelcey, Nic told me things went well with the discussions yesterday. I’d like to check in on what you two talked about and figure out the specifics of what you’d like going forward. Sounds good?

Look at that, talking about business. I was such a serious professional. Not distracted by anything. I settled in, responding,Sounds perfect, I’m available for a quick checkup via call if you want or we can message.

Let’s call, get it sorted here and now.

I took the call, and he had a bright, cheerful voice when I picked up.

“Hey, Kelcey. Nice to hear from you, how are you doing?”

“Yeah, good. Great, actually. Nic and I made a lot of progress and the sample script is fantastic and my bosses are happy to go ahead with everything.”

“Perfect, yeah. She told me how the sample script had gone well.”

I blanked. “Uh. Who did?”

He paused. “Nic?”

My brain spun idly for a long time, like a machine where two gears didn’t quite meet and everything was just going around and around while the next point was waiting to be met.

“Nic, as in, like, Nic?” I said, intelligently.

“The one and only… she’s the one who helped you with the sample script, right?”

Oh mygod,that was why Nic didn’t message like a typical straight man. She wasn’t a man at all. Oh my god, I’d just assumed because Nic sounded like a guy’s name but that was totally like Nicole or something too and I was—oh my god, I’d gone and told everybody he was a man. What was I supposed to say now? I had to admit to people at some point that I’d gottenit wrong, or they’d find out later and think I was even stupider. But how was I supposed to broach the subject without everybody thinking I was stupid?

“Everything okay, Kelcey?” Liam said, and I blurted, my face hot,

“Everything’s great! Just, uh… just… there’s a… big… spider on my desk. Just going to move to the breakroom. Give me one second.”

Bill at the desk next to me banged against the desk jumping up looking for the spider. I’d apologize to him later. I picked up my computer and moved with the walk of shame to the breakroom, where I got to laugh it off.

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