Page 76 of One Bad Idea
"Five minutes," he said.
"Sorry, what?"
"Five minutes," he repeated. "I'll call you back. You gonna be there?"
"Of course." I glanced at the clock. Forget five minutes. I'd be here for at least five more hours – fivelonghours if the afternoon was anything like this morning.
After we hung up, I heard a phone ring from somewhere outside my office. The ring was followed by a sudden silence that seemed to fill the whole suite.
I heard nothing at all for several long moments. And then, the parade of visitors began streaming past my office, heading toward the suite's main door. One by one, they filed out, taking the remainder of the cake with them.
I saw no sign of Darla, and for some reason, that made me just a little nervous.
What on Earth was going on?
I had no idea, but it was pathetically easy to guess that the mystery caller had been Jaden.
Just what had he told her?
Chapter 29
When my phone rang again, I jumped in my seat. A quick glance at the display confirmed that it was Jaden, calling me from the same number as earlier.
Still, I went through the basic greeting, only to hear him say without so much as a hello, "If she gives you any grief, let me know."
"Who? You mean Darla?" I didn't want to jump to conclusions, but shehadbeen the last person we'd discussed.
On the phone, he replied, "Her or anyone else."
It was a noble sentiment, which only put me further on edge.Jaden, noble? Oh, please.I gave a nervous laugh. "How about you?"
"What about me?"
"What ifyougive me a hard time, should I let you know, too?"Good grief. What the heck was I saying?
"Why?" he said. "You planning on it?"
"No." Already, I was kicking myself for saying something so completely nonsensical. "It was just a joke."
"Good." And with that, he hung up.
I sat there for a long moment wondering what had just happened. Obviously, it had been a mistake to try to make light of whatever was going on, but the truth was, I was having a hard time thinking of him as my boss.
Maybe it stemmed from the way we'd met, with him standing shirtless at the door. Maybe it was the fact that he hadn't wanted to hire me. Or maybe it was just lingering tension related to yesterday's incident with Bryce.
Regardless of the reason, everything was just so strange. Of course, that dream I'd had last night wasn't helping.
What dream?
Well, let's just say he was missing more than his shirt.
Deliberately, I pushed away the distraction and returned my attention to the notes.
They reallywerea mess, even if it was vaguely entertaining to read that Felicia's blouse was "super-ugly" or that Frank's pants were "too tight for his gut." I had to wonder, was I supposed to transcribe these little observations, too? Or should I just stick with what had actually happened in the meeting?
In the end, I split the difference – transcribing the meeting noteswithoutthe commentary, but adding them back in as footnotes at the end of each document.
Who knows, maybe Jadendidwant to know that Bob's tie was "seriously ugly."
