Page 48 of Just A Little Fling

I miss so much in the lab.

* * *

“Nico, you’re a godsend,” Gabe announced when I walked into his office.

I plopped onto a chair by his desk, crossed an ankle over my other leg, and settled in. With the door shut, the whir and buzz of the office were muted. My head was killing me this morning, so when Gabe handed me my favorite coffee out of nowhere, I wanted to hug him. Well, not really, but I had warm thoughts about it.

“I appreciate the compliment and the coffee.” I raised the cup in a salute before taking a sip. Perfection. And with any luck, it would kill off my pounding headache that started last night and continued into this morning. “But I’m not sure exactly what I did.” I racked my brain, trying to remember anything out of the ordinary over the last few days. Completely blank.

“Do you remember that rehab call you sat in on?” Gabe looked at me as if I wouldn’t remember discussing the botanical garden job that involved preserving the existing structure and creating an add-on to look seamless. Gabe would have his hands full with that one.

“Yeah, and if that design can come in at budget, it’ll be a Christmas miracle.”

“It’s not Christmas though,” Gabe retorted.

I congratulated my ability to not roll my eyes at my legit awesome boss. Was it really his fault he never got my jokes? I knew they were always on point, so it must be some kind of glitch in the matrix.

Gabe continued, “I explained how Natalie left, and we’d be bringing in a new project manager. They were impressed with how you handled the initial proposal and want you assigned as the project manager.”

“But I’m your assistant.”

“Yes, I know. I’m the one who hired you,” Gabe said with a smirk. “There’s no reason you can’t run point though. You know the file. You know the specs. Clearly, they liked how you handled yourself when you interacted with them. In fact, they presumed you were the project manager until I mentioned Natalie.”

When Gabe announced this morning that we needed a sit-down meeting, I thought he would tell me he and Rory were going on another extended trip. He’d started a project in London last year, and they’d been over there several times. I wasn’t entirely convinced it couldn’t be handled by Zoom calls and emails, but I knew he liked to check the progress of that build personally. It didn’t hurt that Rory went with him now, and they’d turned the visits into research trips for Rory’s writing as well. They’d created a good life together.

And I wasn’t jealous. Not even a little bit. Not one teeny-tiny drop.

“Gabe, I’m a little surprised you’re open to this and went along with the suggestion.”

Gabe looked at me with a baffled expression. “I’m surprised that you’re surprised I’m open to this. You’re an encyclopedia of knowledge about our clients, their jobs, and the bidding process. You work with the contractors…”

“Yeah,” I interrupted, “but only for the clients who are already your friends. Notclientclients.”

“If you do it for them, why can’t you do it for others?”

“Because I’m a personal assistant.”

Gabe sat back in his chair and watched me without saying a word. The intensity of his look had me squirming internally. On the outside, I was as calm as ever. Under normal circumstances, I’d make some kind of snappy joke, but this wasn’t the time for jokes. I white-knuckled the chair, but I’d never let him see it. If I failed and fucked this up, I would lose his trust to handle any kind of project. Plus, I risked my regular job if the screw-up was serious enough.

“If you break my chair because of that grip, I might consider taking it out of your paycheck.”

Shit.

“I think you’re imagining things, Gabe. Does Rory know about this issue of hallucination? He may want to have you checked out.”

“Because I’m your boss, I’m going to refrain from making the obvious joke here because that would be inappropriate. Someone might call HR.”

“We have an HR?”

“We could find one. Do you think Anders would do it?”

“I’m pretty sure Anders would be on the side of the little guy.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right. I would lose every complaint, which is why I will not be making the inappropriate joke. Look at us… We don’t even need an HR.”

“Pretty sure that’s not how it works.”

“How would you know? Are you HR?”

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