Page 9 of Work with Me

I stood. “I’ll be right back.”

A minute later, I plunked an aluminum tray of charred chicken breast, pinto beans, and collard greens in front of Cooper. The look on his face was priceless, and the horror intensified when I set down my own tray of sauce-slathered ribs, fried okra, and creamy potato salad.

But he didn’t say a word. He plucked a fork and knife from the can on the table, wiped them about a hundred times with a paper towel from the roll next to it, and then started cutting into his chicken with a delicate sawing motion worthy of my mother at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.

I tore a rib from the rack and bit into the tender meat. Delicious. Did I enjoy Cooper’s revulsion as I licked sauce off my lips and my fingertips? Um, yeah.

We ate for a few minutes in silence. Aside from the five minutes I hadn’t known Alicia worked in my building, they were the best part of my day.

Until he set down his knife and fork. “Since you came here—”

“Don’t sugarcoat it, Coop. Since you exiled me here.” I tossed a stripped bone into the pile in the corner of my tray.

He gave me a you-know-what-you-did scowl. “I thought by removing you from the…situation, it would help you focus on work. And yet I haven’t seen any progress.”

Heat built inside my chest, and it wasn’t from the spicy barbecue sauce. “I’m leading by example. I’m keeping my head down and coding like you told me to do. The other guys are, too. We’re making progress.”

He lifted a bite of limp collard greens on his fork and squinted at it. I’d neglected to point out that here, “greens” didn’t mean raw kale. “I had no evidence of that. Or confidence you’d finish on time.”

“Don’t you trust me, Coop?” Our friendship of over a dozen years should’ve been worth something.

“I—” He returned the greens to his plate and shifted them around. “I want to. But…”

He didn’t have to finish. My most recent fuckup had been pretty epic.

He set down his fork. “Gurusoft has already announced their product. Our biggest customer told me last week that if we don’t have ours ready to go by the end of the year, they’re switching. We can’t let that happen. Not in this business climate.”

“When were you going to tell me that?” I grabbed a paper towel and scrubbed at my fingers.

“Last week. I wish you’d read your email.”

Cooper sent me a lot of email. Usually, it was full of numbers and shit I didn’t care about. “Fuck.”

“This is our problem, right here, Jackson.” His hand curled into a fist on the sticky wood of the table. “You don’t take anything seriously. And our business is fucking serious.”

I rolled my eyes up to the red-and-white table umbrella. He’d used my name, notJaylike he’d called me since we became best friends our freshman year at Stanford, like I was some coworker. Our business hadn’t always been serious. It used to be fun. Back when we were just a pair of nerds in our dorm room, dreaming of changing the world.

“Look,” he said more gently. “I know what happened to your dad gave you a certain outlook on life—”

“A fucking heart attack at age forty-one. That’s only nine years older than us!”

Cooper glanced at the people at the next table who’d turned to stare. He held out his palms to me in a “whoa” gesture. “No one’s saying you need to be a workaholic like he was. I need more communication. That’s why I brought in Alicia.”

I waved my hands over my head. “I text you almost every day!”

“Not about our business.” His eyes narrowed at my elbow. “Why are you wearing a Lightning McQueen bandage?”

I’d forgotten it was there. “Funny story. Marlee—”

“Alicia had one, too.” His eyes were slits. “Did you two—”

“No!” Did he think I fucked everyone I saw? And when would I have had the time? “She got caught in the hailstorm, cut her head. I gave her one of these. I was being nice. That was before I knew you two were fucking me over. Should’ve let her bleed everywhere.” She’d have been the one judged unprofessional instead of me. Though not even an asshole like me could’ve left her there, bleeding. Not even if I’d known why she was there.

With one last pinch of his icy eyes, Cooper leaned back. “If I hear even the smallest hint—”

I snorted. “Not happening. I learned my lesson. I promise. Now, since you’re replacing me here, can I go back home?” I’d be able to see Sam, make sure she wasn’t working herself into the ground.

“I’m not replacing you. You’re the best damn programmer I’ve ever known. Now that Alicia’s here, you can focus on the code, and leave her to deal with everything else.”

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