Page 12 of Catalyst

“Okie dokie.” I write down a few notes with my purple peacock pen, the spring bouncing as it moves. At this point, I only continue to use it because it bothers Adam so much. I like seeing if I can make his eye twitch.

“I would like to start pulling back a bit in my work day. It has been brought to my attention that I’ve been overloading myself. I’d like your help to reduce my task list.”

I stop writing to stare at Adam. He looks pained, as if the words he’s saying are someone else’s and he’s forcing himself to say them. “I just attempted to do that, and you said no.” I grin at him.

He rolls his eyes. “Not for my personal life. I will need your help to delegate my tasks to the people competent enough to handle them.”

I shrug. “Easy enough. If you can make a list of the tasks you’d like off your plate, I can start assigning them to people.”

“Okay, I’ll get that to you today. Will you send me your list of people before you reassign the tasks?”

“Sure. Start with ten tasks, and we’ll go from there.”

“Ten? No, I’m going to send you five.”

“Five will allow you to go home half an hour early. Ten will give you a whole hour,” I counter.

Adam narrows his eyes at me. “Fine. I’ll make it ten.”

“Fantastic. Anything else?”

“No.”

“Lovely. Have a great day!” I stand to walk back to my desk, grinning from ear to ear.

What an interesting development.

* * *

Sitting in a conference chair in one of our meeting rooms, I pull out my tablet and set it on the table. While my purple peacock pen is fantastic for riling up Adam, I don’t actually use it when I’m in meetings. I wouldn’t be able to write fast enough.

People filter into the room: Linda from marketing, a couple of people from her team, Matthew, with his usual cocky smirk on his face, and finally Adam. Despite having seen him this morning, I still have to force my eyes away from him. The tailored suit does everything it’s supposed to do, and his blue eyes are piercing, taking in the entire room before they land on me.

His steely gaze sends flutters through my stomach. I have to clench my whole body to keep a shiver from moving through me. I can’t imagine what it would be like to have his full attention on me for longer than a couple of minutes.

“Hey, Ellie Beans.” Matthew grins at me. His play on jelly beans makes me laugh every time he says it. He started calling me that about a week after I started working at Sidelines, and I have no idea why.

“Hi, Matthew. How did your soccer game go over the weekend?”

“I swear, some people are entirely too competitive for intramural sports. It’s a rec league, not the Premier League.” He rolls his eyes as he sits down across from me.

“I’m sure it’s the only time in their week they get to feel dominant.” I shrug.

“Truth.”

Adam interrupts everyone’s conversations. “Okay, let’s get started. Linda, give us an update.”

I take notes as Linda walks us through the latest marketing campaign. It’s the same story ideas they’ve been pushing for the last few years, just updating the graphics to look current. I work very hard to keep my expression neutral throughout the whole presentation. Every word out of her mouth continues to lull me into what could potentially be the best nap of my life.

I glance at Matthew, and I could almost guarantee he’s thinking the same thing I am. Adam looks as stoic as ever. I’m honestly a little jealous of his ability to keep his face cemented in a perpetual frown.

After half an hour, Linda finally stops talking, giving us a chance to breathe. I’ve taken meticulous notes because that’s my job, but I swear every word I’ve written would read like the teacher from Charlie Brown.Wah wah wah wah.

“Thank you, Linda. I’d like to take a day or two and go over these ideas. I’ll send you an email with my notes.” Adam’s diplomatic response makes me want to grin.

Linda and her team leave the conference room, while Adam, Matthew, and I stay put.

Matthew darts across the room to close the door once they’re gone. “I’ve never had such a difficult time staying awake during a presentation before in my life.” He plops back down into his chair with a huff.

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