Page 50 of Work with Me

She picked up the soccer ball under her chair and handed it to Tyesha. “Isha, take your brother to that empty field and practice dribbling the ball.” Tyesha took Tavon’s hand and led him away with the ball.

Tiannah leaned over the arm of her chair and said in a low voice, “Men like that don’t think about how they hurt regular people like us. He wants to use those texts”—she nodded at my phone—“to get in your pants. And once he’s ready to move on, he’ll do it without a second thought for you or your career.”

“But Jackson doesn’t seem like that kind of guy. He’s caring. Thoughtful. Even nice sometimes.” I glanced at Esmy, but she’d discreetly started talking to Mom when Tiannah started whispering.

I’d thought about the story he’d told me about the intern for longer than I should have last night. In the end, I’d concluded that he’d made a mistake, and then he and Cooper had made it as right as they could.

It was a mistake to kiss Jackson like I’d wanted to do last night. It’d complicate things at work. If the team knew, it’d screw up the whole dynamic. Maybe the project, too. Not to mention my brand-new business. Cooper would flip a table if we actually did what he thought we had. There would go my testimonial. What if people in the tech community found out the CEO of Weber Technology Consulting threw in a little extra into her gigs? My cheeks heated, and it wasn’t because of the warm, afternoon sunshine.

“Sure. He probably talked to Noah, too. Found some way to connect to him.” Tiannah pursed her lips.

Cars. How had he known Noah was into cars? I nodded. “They hit it off. I wouldn’t let him offer to take Noah to the Circuit of the Americas, though.”

“Oh, girl.” She shook her head. “He’s got you figured out. The way to your coochie leads right through Noah.”

“Ew, Tee. That’s so gross.”

“Doesn’t make it less true.”

Dammit, she was right. At least I hadn’t caved and let him strike up a bromance with Noah. Jackson was leaving. His life in Austin was temporary. It’d be bad enough if I let him into my own heart. The worst thing would be if he and Noah got close and then Jackson left town. I checked the field and found Noah’s knobby little sock-covered knees. He was dribbling the ball past Orlando, who was defending the goal.

My phone buzzed. As much as my eyeballs itched to see Jackson’s latest message, I ignored it.

Tiannah shot it a stank-eye. “Not to mention the harm you’d do to other women in that office. Something happens between you and it gets out, and there’s an excuse for management not to hire women as consultants or as employees. And then there’s the women already working there who think you have to let a guy into your pants to get ahead.”

“Oh my God.” I buried my face in my hands. “I’m the worst.” I knew, only too well, what even a hint of favoritism could do. All creepy Dr. Fletcher had to do was linger at my desk, touch my hand too familiarly, and praise my work too many times for the rest of the class to whisper about me, to exclude me from their study groups. To mark me as someone who’d given it up for a better grade.

“No, honey, you’re not the worst.” Tiannah laid her hand on my shoulder. “You’re a strong woman, great at your work and a mama-bear guardian to Noah. Never forget that you’re under the microscope—to Noah, to your clients, and to everyone else at that company. I wish it wasn’t like that, but it is.”

She knew what she was talking about. As one of the few Black women programmers in the area, Tiannah faced even more challenges. She’d worked through two pregnancies and come back to the office after both, at least in part, she’d told me, because she’d wanted to prove to everyone—including herself—that Black women could be rock star programmers and mothers at the same time. By the third pregnancy, she was exhausted. Not even proving herself was worth it once she had three little ones at home.

“I know. I’ll be strong like you.”

“No, honey. You don’t need to be anyone else. Be you. You are strong. I know you’ll do what’s right.”

I smiled at my best friend and clasped her hand.

The whistle blew, and we turned our attention back to the field. Noah was playing forward on the far side of the field. He stared intently at the ball.

Focus. I needed to keep my focus on the ball, like Noah did. And the ball was not some undertaxed multimillionaire who played with expensive sports cars for fun. It was my job, my company, and my future. My family’s future.

20

ALICIA

Friday,with Cooper’s in-person demo looming on the other side of the weekend, I went straight to my workstation after the stand-up meeting. Between leaving early on Monday and juggling Noah’s mandatory three-day out-of-school suspension for fighting, I’d fallen behind. I’d allow myself no refills on tea, no trips to the restroom. I wasn’t moving from my chair until after I’d checked in my code. During the meeting, I’d made the same rule for everyone else who wasn’t done. Minus the no-restroom-break rule. I was a tough manager, but I wasn’t a monster. Our demo was going to be flawless. Cooper would have no reason to take us out behind the woodshed this time.

Jackson planted his palm on the desk beside me and leaned over to peer at my screen. The short sleeve of his Queen T-shirt strained around his biceps, and I followed the vein that twisted around his forearm to his wrist. What would that strong arm feel like wrapped around me? I shivered.

“Still working on your code?” he asked. Jackson had already moved all of his assignments to theDonecolumn.

“I am.”

“Let me help. We can get it done faster if we work together. We’ll try pair programming again.”

Tyler and Amit had their heads together, scanning through their code. It had worked great for them. And Jackson was fast. With me checking his code as he flew through it, we’d be done by the end of the day.

“Okay. I’ll try it. In five minutes.” I brisk-walked downstairs and located the IT cave. When I returned to our desk, I handed Jackson a box containing a brand-new keyboard that proclaimed it was whisper-quiet. “I’ll even let you drive.”

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