Page 42 of Love, Luck & Clusterf*ck

“Why, would you have come then?”

Her tone sounded smirky, and I rolled my eyes. “No, it would’ve given me more incentive to stay away.”

I brought up my e-mail, noting one from Adam that was flagged extremely important. More policy shit. What now?

I opened it and….What the fuck is that?

I jerked back in my chair and screamed. A fucking creepy-ass clown with sharp teeth holding a demonic-looking monkey had flashed full screen, scaring the shit out of me. I was suddenly aware of everyone’s eyes on me. Just how loudly had I yelled? My heart was jackhammering my ribs, and I worked to steel my breath.

“What the hell, Adam?” I could hear him laughing from the row over.

I stood up and glared at him. “April fools,” he said, trying to look all sweet and innocent. “What? It’s just some harmless fun to get your morning going.”

Yeah, harmless. I almost pissed my pants.

“Is there a problem here?”

Great, Stephen was behind me. I’d probably get an earful now about the inappropriateness of sounding like a shrieking cow in the workplace. It wasn’t like I did it on purpose. Geez.

I swiveled around. “Sorry, Mr. Davidson. I didn’t mean to be so loud. Adam just—”

“Adam, can you come to my office, please?”

“Sure thing, boss.”

I gave Adam a sympathetic look for mentioning his name without thinking first, but he just grinned at me. I shook my head and got back to work.

An hour later my chat popped up.

Adam Zepecki: Hey, sorry to scare you like that before, but you gotta admit, it was pretty damn funny.

Perry Sommers: Not to me. I hate monkeys.

Adam Zepecki: How can anyone hate monkeys?

Perry Sommers: They scare the hell out of me.

Adam Zepecki: Even the cute ones?

Perry Sommers: Especially the cute ones.

Adam Zepecki: Good thing I didn’t send you an evil clown holding a cute monkey, then.

Perry Sommers: Did you get in trouble with Stephen?

Adam Zepecki: My last day is Thursday. Are you coming to my termination party?

I instantly bolted up and peered over my monitor. Adam was covering laughter with his hand. “Dammit,” I mouthed. He shrugged and I sat back down.

Adam Zepecki: April fools.

Perry Sommers: Not funny either.

Adam Zepecki: Everything’s fine with the boss. No worries.

I’d bet anything that Stephen’s eyes were on me.Yeah, sure. No worries at all.

I can’t wait any longer. What happened with you and Kenny? Tell me everything. Has he picked out new drapes yet?

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