Page 13 of Latte Girl
Once the table is wiped, she flings the cloth over her shoulder and straightens up, crossing her arms in front of her and leaning one hip against thetable.
“So are you his sidekick or is heyours?”
She nods her head towards the counter. I crane my neck to find Ludo talking to the very reluctant lookingcashier.
“Him,” says Hailey as I turn back to face her. “The one who came into your office yesterday. Theonewho...”
The sight of her flushed face, which somehow manages to make her look even prettier, fills me with the urge to fling my teacup across the room, grab her by the waist, and pull her bodyintomine.
The teacup flinging part may be a bit extraneous, but sometimes a man just has to make apoint.
I try to get the conversation back on track. “The one who is a sexist asshole and smells likepastrami?”
She shrugs, trying to hide a smile. “I mean, you said it,notme.”
“He’s the head of my department,” I tell her, “but the idea of being his sidekick makes me a bituncomfortable.”
“I think he’s making my co-worker more than a bituncomfortable.”
I look back to the counter and see that Ludo is now trying to do some sort of magic trick with anapkin.
How has this man evergottenlaid?
“I’ll go take him away. We’d better get goinganyways.”
She nods and starts to walk away, then looks back at me from over hershoulder.
“Don’t forget your briefcase,” shecalls.
She continues towards the kitchen, and I stare after her, my mind memorizing the sway ofherhips.
I spend the rest of the morning in my office, answering a never-ending influx of emails and preparing for the meeting I’ve set up later today to get more familiar with the team I’ll beoverseeing.
Each time I give myself even a second’s break to look up from my screen, a replay of my conversation with Hailey starts up in my head. This replay just happens to feature a few carefully timed instances of slow motion, along with a rotation of alternative endings that vary in their degree ofobscenity.
The rational part of my brain knows that I should let it go. While I may not have had her bent over my desk within hours of meeting her like Ludo now believes—and like I’ve now imagined countless times— letting him continue to think so may not have been the best of moves. I’m on thin enough ice with my father as it is, and an office rumour that suggests I’m being anything less than a focused and productive Knox Security robot is the opposite of whatIneed.
I try to make the irrational part of my brain understand this as I spend the next hour putting all my energy into pounding out words on my keyboard, pushing away thoughts of pounding Hailey justashard.
By noon my office is starting to feel like even more of a cage than it usually does, and I head to the cafeteria for lunch. The atmosphere in the chrome-filled room is just as confining, with only the addition of orange jumpsuits missing to make it look like something out of a prison, but at least it’s a change from staring at the same fourwalls.
I order a sandwich and pay with the employee meal card I’ve had since I was thirteen. Family dinners were a rare occurrence in the Knox household growing up. I’ve had many a breakfast, lunch, and dinner in this cafeteriabefore.
I grab a seat at one of the metal tables and haven’t even taken a bite of my food when I hear someone call outmyname.
“Jordan! Man ofthehour!”
Tod Rochester, a blond and artificially tanned thirty-something who has the attitude and build of an overzealous lifeguard, approaches my table. He’s one of the people I’ll bemanaging.
“How’s it going, Tod?” I ask as he reaches down to give me a bone-crushinghandshake.
“Great, Jordan. I’m pumped for the team meeting today, just sopumped.”
I try to keep a straight face. “Glad tohearit.”
“You know,” he continues, leaning down to prop an elbow on my table, “I’m gonna be honest, Jordan. When we heard about the new management, me and the guys weren’t so sure. The finance department’s got a rep for itself around here, you know what I’msaying?”
“Sure,” I answer, preoccupied with the fact that he’s now doing what appear to be lunges while still leaning on thetable.
