Page 94 of Friend Me

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“Synergy Analytics.Ben Levy-Walters speaking.”

Okay, so I hadn’t been able to go two full days without calling the office. Dad was napping as he’d done most of the morning in between the nurses’ check-ins. I figured talking to Ben would keep my mind out of the dark place where I wallowed, worrying about when Dad would be well enough that we could both go home.

I turned toward the window so I wouldn’t wake Dad. “Hey, Ben. It’s Marlee.”

“Jesus, Marlee.” He gusted out a breath that crackled out of my phone. “How’d you do it?”

“Do what? Is everything all right?”

“N—wait. Why are you calling me? How’s your dad? Are you okay?”

“He’s better. He woke up yesterday. He wasn’t exactly lucid, but he’ll get there.” If I said it enough, it’d come true. At least, that’s what I told myself. “I just wanted to check in, see how things are going.”

“Don’t worry about the office. We’re fine.” But the high note of tension in his voice made him a liar.

“Tell me about it. Maybe I can help.”

Another sigh. “The temp agency sent someone truly awful. I had to send her home early yesterday and then talk to the agency this morning. They had no idea at all what we needed, or even what we do. How did you ever work with them?”

My already-tight chest ratcheted down another notch.My fault.“Did you get it straightened out?”

“The new one, Angelique, she’s perfectly acceptable. But she’s not you.”

The constriction in my chest eased for just a second. Until he said the next thing.

“You probably could’ve handled it when the director of development came up here looking for Jackson.”

Uh-oh.“Why’d he need Jackson?”

“Something broke in this morning’s build, and everyone’s looking for someone to blame. No one knows how to fix it. And now half the developers are off chasing bugs and the other half are sitting around, waiting for it to get fixed. The director ispissed.So is Weston,” he whispered.

Was the bug something I would’ve caught in my morning code review? “Where’s Jackson?” I didn’t recall that he had any commitments off site today.

“Not here. And he’s not answering his phone.”

I had one brief stab of anxiety before I remembered that it’d been a long time since he’d missed work for a hangover, a Formula One race, or that thing he’d done my second week on the job. That was Old Jackson. New Jackson, the one who was a better man for Alicia, didn’t disappear.

Jumping Johannes Kepler.He was on his way to see Dad and me.

“Send me an email with a description of the problem. I’ll look into it, see what I can do.”

“Marlee, you can’t.”

“Of course I can.” Hurt pride made my voice too sharp. “I have a degree in computer science. I’m just as qualified as any of our junior programmers to try to fix it. As a matter of fact—”

“No,” Ben broke into my tirade. “That’s not what I meant. All I mean is, you can’t worry about the office right now. Your dad is your priority. He needs one hundred percent of your attention while he’s injured.”

“But he’s…” I looked back over my shoulder. Dad’s eyes were closed. “He’s resting.”

“Then so should you. He’s going to take all of your energy for a while. Everyone here understands.”

My shoulders curled inward. He was right. I couldn’t do it all. Not well, anyway. I couldn’t do my job while Dad was here, needing me to make decisions on his behalf, needing my support. Everyone at work—including Jackson—was a healthy adult. They could take care of themselves. Dad couldn’t. At least not right now.

“Call downstairs to—to Tyler Young. He’ll fix it.” It was the first time I’d said his name since Dad fell. I still owed him an apology.

“He would if he—never mind. We miss you. But we’ll be fine.”

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