Page 38 of Christmas with Brother's Best Friends
“They’re ready. Emma and I finalized them last night with the input of the marketing team,” Ryan replies from across the table where he sits next to Emma. He’s been pretty insistent on being around her after the fire.
I guess I can’t blame him. I think we’re all feeling pretty protective over her because of that.
“All of my stuff is good to go too. It has all been improved and implemented,” Emma speaks up. “I called everyone earlier and got confirmation.”
Josh nods and clicks a few more times. “And we all agree to be here in person tomorrow to monitor the launch? We don’t have to be here all day, but if we can spare a few hours, that’ll put our minds at ease. Then, we can do some holiday stuff afterward.”
Everyone at the table nods in agreement. Sure, we can work from wherever, but it’ll be easier to collaborate quickly in real time if we’re all together.
And it’ll be our last official work day together too.
The thought of that makes my heart sink a little. It’s all bittersweet. I’m proud of all that we’ve done together, but I’m sad that it’s ending.
Emma’s contract will be done, and we won’t work together anymore. What worries me is that I don’t know how often we’ll see each other after Christmas. It’ll be hard to justify an excuse to hang out with her to her brothers.
They’ll get suspicious. They’ll piece things together.
We can’t have that happen.
So, will this be it? Will we barely see each other again and be forced to go on with our lives like the last few weeks didn’t happen? It just doesn’t seem… right.
But maybe it’s for the best. Maybe that’s what needs to happen to make sure that we don’t make any big mistakes.
“All right, good,” Josh replies before clicking one more time. “It sounds like we got all our bases covered. There’s really nothing left to do other than to wait for the launch and make sure that it goes smoothly.”
“I can’t believe it’s almost over,” Emma says with a bittersweet look on her face. “Time passed by too quickly.”
“I wish we had another project to bring you on for, but it’ll just be updating maintenance for a while,” Josh sighs with adisappointed frown. “I don’t want this to be the end, even if I’m relieved to be done with all this work.”
Emma smiles. “Maybe we’ll work together again down the line. This was the best project that I’ve worked on, though.”
“Am I sensing some bias?” Ryan asks, the side of his mouth turning up in a smirk.
A laugh breaks from her as she shrugs. “I mean, maybe a little, but it was a fun project. You guys were definitely the best people that I’ve ever worked with.”
“I’ll believe that,” I say, shooting her a playful wink from across the table.
“Good because it’s true,” Emma quips before looking out of the window. “It’s pretty windy and snowy today.”
“It’s picking up too,” Ryan replies. “We should probably head out early if there’s nothing left to do today.”
Josh shuts off his laptop. “Yeah, let’s get out of here. Make sure you all get some rest. Tomorrow will be hectic, even if nothing goes wrong.”
Nerves will run high tomorrow, but if things go well, all the hard work that we put in will have paid off. We can enjoy the rest of the holiday feeling victorious and proud, and I’m looking forward to that feeling.
And a break.
I actually want a break after the chaos of this month.
Josh and Ryan end up leaving first, while Emma and I linger behind to do a few last-minute things on our laptops.
“I didn’t expect the weather to be so bad. I need to stop by the market on the way home,” Emma sighs as she shuts off her laptop and grabs her purse.
“I can come with you,” I offer as I pitch another look toward the closest window.
Snow tumbles from the sky, coming down at a sharp angle as the wind blows hard and blankets the ground below. Traffic is already backed up, and judging from how cloudy the sky looks, the weather won’t let up for a while.
“I don’t want to bother you,” Emma replies as we walk to the elevator together.
