Page 35 of Second Act
When she read the names of the senders, she tilted back in her chair and closed her eyes with a groan. One message was from Pete. The other was from Hugh. Seeing their names side by side on her phone made how she’d spent yesterday seem so much worse somehow.
Leaning forward again, she debated which one to read first, opting for Pete’s. It was bound to be fairly innocuous.Does nine still work for you?it said.
“Oh my God!” She’d completely forgotten about having drinks with him that evening. She checked the time and flopped back in her chair with relief. She still had three hours before he would be at her door. It had been an easy day, thank goodness.
Although she was a little worried that her lack of sleep would catch up to her, especially if she had a drink.Light day at the office, she typed.Could you make it at eight? That will get my fairy godmother off my back.
His response was nearly instantaneous.The sooner, the better. See you at eight.
Now she had to hurry. She swiped open Hugh’s text and felt her heart lurch in her chest.
Yesterday was a good day.
Jessica sat beside Pete on the leather-upholstered banquette in the high-sided booth. His body wasn’t quite touching hers, but she could feel the heat of it. Every now and then, his arm or shoulder brushed against her when he moved. It should have been pleasant, since he smelled clean and healthy and male. But her body still felt imprinted with Hugh’s, so she had to stop herself from shifting away.
“You’re quiet tonight,” he said. “Tough week?”
“A couple of the Carver Center’s dogs got a severe case of giardiasis, and trust me, you don’t want the details about that. I was afraid we might lose one of them, so I put him on an IV and spent the night at the center.”
“I’m guessing you pulled him through.”
Jessica nodded. “He’s well on the road to recovery now.”
“Would you rather go home and get some sleep?”
“No, I need to do something...normal.” Instead of spending an entire day in a penthouse suite having sex with a movie star.
Pete looked a little taken aback. “I’d hoped for ‘fun’ or maybe even ‘pleasurable.’”
“Sorry, ‘fun’ is a much better description.” She took a sip of the excellent Manhattan she’d ordered. “I’m tired of my work. Tell me about yours.”
“I suspect the details of my job are right up there with those of giardiasis. It’s just a lot of numbers.”
She shook her head. “You don’t have to scrub down numbers with rubber gloves and bleach.”
“That bad?” he said. “Although I was accused of laundering money on one occasion.”
His sly sense of humor surprised a real laugh out of her. “You made that up.”
“I was innocent as the driven snow, of course—well, guilty only of some clever, creative accounting—but the accusation was real.”
“Ouch. Who accused you?”
“Just a jealous competitor. The SEC never got involved, thank God.” His expression turned serious. “Did you know Aidan has applied for a job at ExDat?”
“No! I thought he was enjoying a little vacation before he started job hunting.” Actually, it looked like an extended vacation. She frowned into her drink. Pete wasn’t going to ask her if he should hire her brother, was he?
“The job he’s aiming for is way out of my area,” Pete said, easing her mind. “Aidan would be in the data handling and analysis part of the business, while I’m just a number cruncher. But I don’t want whatever happens with Aidan to affect us.”
Us.The word made Jessica take a bigger swallow of the Manhattan than she should have. It seemed a little soon to be talking about “us.” Or was she still under Hugh’s influence? Then she thought of Aidan’s propensity for quitting jobs when he got bored. “I’d hate for Aidan to affect our friendship, either,” she said, trying not to emphasize “friendship” too much.
Relief showed in Pete’s pale blue eyes, so he must not have noticed her use of the word. He covered Jessica’s hand where it lay on the wooden table, his big, square palm heavy on top of her fingers. “I put in a good word for him, but HR knows that I have no idea what the tech guys actually do, so it might not carry much weight.”
“You didn’t have to do that,” Jessica said, slipping her hand out from under Pete’s. “He needs to get the job on his own merits.”
A flash of disappointment crossed Pete’s face. “Oh, he will, but having a connection gets his résumé looked at faster and with closer attention.”
“They’ll check his references, too, I assume?” She didn’t want Aidan to make Pete look bad when he quit abruptly. She wasn’t going to rat out her brother, but one of Aidan’s past employers might. That would make her feel less guilty somehow.
