Page 47 of Due South

“Yeah?”

The door swings open, and Lucy’s standing there, looking dazed.

“Hey, Luce. What’s up?”

I’m reasonably sure India’s still in the office, so I don’t think the answer is going to be “Let’s fuck,” although I’m so braindead right now I’d probably say yes anyhow and damn the consequences. I’d get fired for sure if India caught us, but what a way to go.

Lucy’s still standing in the door, not having said anything. “Luce?”

She blinks and cocks her head as though she’s surprised I’m here. Itismy office… But with the confusion written so clearly on her face, I look around to make sure, hoping she doesn’t notice. Nope, still totally my office.

Eventually she shakes her head and those red brows that curve so perfectly at her brow bone crumple together. “I got a job offer.”

“You… What? I didn’t know you’ve been applying to other positions.”

A ridiculous part of me comes roaring to life:You were planning to leave and you weren’t even going to tell me?Which is silly. Why would she have told me that? We’ve been friends, and now we’re banging buddies who have a lot of filthy and pseudo-public sex, but that doesn’t mean she has to report the details of her life back to me. Though I wish she would. Over a bottle of wine at the end of a long day or in bed right before we fall asleep next to each other…

“I haven’t been. Lately.” I can’t honestly fault her for that. I sometimes window shop for jobs, and a couple of times have actually polished up my résumé and written cover letters before deciding no, I’ll tough it out. But even though this job can be hard—like put you through the wringer, spit you out on the other side, and then stomp on you hard—it’s ultimately worth it. I do good work, I help people, and I get paid pretty well for it.

Then something occurs to me, something I’m not quite ready to say out loud. If Lucy gets a new job, then maybe we could date. Like, for real date. Not banging in the office, though I’ve heartily enjoyed that, but it can’t go on forever. It is, in fact, coming to a rather harsh and abrupt end in a couple of days.

I’d like to take her out to dinner, figure out what else she likes to do in her spare time. Maybe go dancing. Lucy seems like the kind of girl who’d like to go dancing. Especially in one of those full skirts she sometimes wears. I see her occasionally in the kitchen or the hallway doing a twirl to make the fabric spin out and it’s freaking adorable. If she wants to go dancing, I’d have to take dance lessons because I’ve got three left feet. Yeah, three. I know the expression is two, but sometimes I make such a mess of it, I’m pretty sure I’ve grown an extra limb, over which I have absolutely no control.

But I don’t know if Lucy would want to date me. It’s one thing to have furtive, dirty sex in the office, another thing to go out in public with someone and acknowledge you’re together. Yet another to introduce someone to your friends. Your family.

I can’t imagine what crass thing Darren would say if I ever brought Lucy home. No, scratch that, I can and it’s not pretty. “Wow, Super Chuck. How much does a date like this go for?” Yeah, Darren can be a real piece of shit.

The ideas are so busily spinning around in my head I almost don’t hear what she says next.

“It wasn’t something I applied for. Greg Wu from Phoenix called. Their office manager’s retiring and he offered me the job.”

Her eyes have gone bright and wide, as though she can’t believe her good fortune. My stomach, on the other hand, is making like it’s going to toss that ill-advised cupcake onto my desk. Phoenix? So not only would I not get to see her every day, I’d get to see her, what, never? That is…nonsense. I’d like to use a stronger word, but unless we’re fooling around, I don’t like to use bad words in front of Lucy.

“So you’re going to Phoenix?” I try to keep my voice neutral, but if it’s not, she doesn’t notice.

“I don’t know. He just asked me. I have until the New Year to decide. And I should probably ask for a formal job description and salary and benefits and all that. If I were really smart, I’d go visit and meet my potential coworkers, but I don’t know if I’ll bother.”

Gah, if she’s talking about dental insurance, this is not some passing compliment you enjoy like an attractive person who smiles at you in a bar. This is serious business, and I already feel my chest getting cracked open. It’ll be slow and painful, and at the end of it, the best thing in my life right now will be headed off to Phoenix.

I get it, I do. Greg Wu is probably a lot more pleasant to work with than India, because let’s face it, who isn’t, and office manager sounds way better than assistant. Is that why she’s so excited about this? Because it might get her mom to stop calling her “just a secretary?”

“You definitely should get all the information before making a decision.”

She blinks at me, and the corner of her mouth screws up. “You don’t sound very happy for me.”

“I am, Luce. I’d…miss you. That’s all.”

She blinks again, and her mouth opens. I want whatever’s in there to spill out, in the hopes she might say, “I’d miss you too.”

But she doesn’t. Instead she looks at the ground and mumbles, “I haven’t made up my mind yet.”

Evans, you are a bad person. If you got offered a better job, she’d be thrilled for you. Step it up.

“It sounds like a great opportunity. You should get all the details, but it’s pretty awesome he asked you to take the job without even an interview or asking for a résumé or anything. India must have talked you up. She’s going to—”

She’s going to lose her goddamn mind is what she’s going to do. Lucy must be thinking the same thing because she pales.

“Don’t tell her, okay? Promise me you won’t tell her. If I decide to take it, I’ll give proper notice and all that, but I don’t need her sending eye daggers of death at me until I decide.”

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