Page 4 of Phishing for Love
The moment Dana spots Sofia, her thick, gray eyebrows snap together, like two caterpillars squaring off. “What do you want?”
“How are you today, Dana?” Sofia asks. She’s trying to channel Kenzie’s sweetness, but she’s not pulling it off. It’s like Black Widow starring inThe Sound of Music.
Dana glares at Sofia. “Worse for having to answer banal questions.” She shuffles a stack of papers on her desk, projecting unmistakablebusy, busyvibes. She wears her usual no-nonsense outfit of matronly skirt and pastel blouse buttoned so tight around her neck it’s like a chokehold.
“About the meeting this morning,” Sofia begins.
Dana flashes a knowing smirk. “So that’s why you’re here disturbing me.”
“Disturbing, tormenting...tomato, tomahto.”
“You’re wasting your time.”
“Why, Dana, you’re so charming it’s never a waste of my time chatting with you.”
“Then you’re wasting my time.”
“One little hint?” Sofia persists.
“You’ll have to wait and see like everybody else.”
I swear I glimpse the hint of a smile ghosting Dana’s lips. It occurs to me then that the two of them display an odd level of enjoyment in these interactions. Before I can examine that thought further, Dana barks, “Don’t think I don’t see you skulking there, Tess!”
I jump a little. “Uh, morning, Dana.”
She makes some sort of harrumphing sound. “Nothing good about it. Not with the two of you intent on ruining it.”
Sofia taps a fingernail to her chin. “So not even Calvin’s praetorian guard has any idea what the meeting’s about.”
Dana narrows her eyes. She’s been around since the very start, the resident dinosaur of Amell Greetings. Except, where the dinosaurs didn’t survive whatever wiped them out, it’s my belief Dana would survive even nuclear fallout.
I grab Sofia’s arm and tug her away. “Enjoy the rest of your day, Dana.” When we are a safe distance away, I mutter, “You like to live dangerously.”
“What other way is there to live?”
Safely.Cautiously.Minimal risk. All the ways I prefer to live. How I’m friends with a personality like Sofia’s remains a mystery to me.
I say, “I think Dana’s still smarting over you calling her Cerberus.” Cerberus is the three-headed dog guarding the gates of the Underworld. I had to Google it.
“If you really think about it,” Sofia points out airily, “that was more insulting to Calvin than her.”
Sofia heads to the bathroom to freshen up and I return to my desk. I check my email and see I have a new assignment—a sentimental piece for a silver wedding anniversary. I bite back a groan. I am not in the right headspace for this. One of the tricks to writing cards is to put yourself into the mindset of a person sending or receiving the card. I typically relish the challenge of stepping into someone else’s mind, but not today. Not when I’m acutely aware of my status as a twenty-eight-year-old woman whose ring finger is bare. What do I know about celebrating twenty-five years of marriage?
When 11 a.m. rolls around, I join the rest of my coworkers streaming into the huge conference room, taking a seat between Sofia and Kenzie. All the chairs are quickly taken and latecomers slouch against the walls. Rick in Sales is talking loudly on his phone, picking at his teeth with a fingernail as he broadcasts to the entire company that he’s closing a deal. It’s as though he’s so enthralled with the sound of his own voice he believes everyone is equally fascinated.
“Ugh, I can’t stand show-offs,” Sofia mutters. I share her sentiment.
When we’re all assembled, Calvin enters the conference room, and the low buzz of conversation grows more animated. Calvin Amell is a short, stout man, excessively fond of his thick silver hair and ruled by his expansive ego. There’s something to be said about a man who names his company after himself.Even in an age of great egotists, there’s still no Zuckerbook or Jobs-phone or Bezoson. Yet when you exit the elevator onto the third floor of our building, the first sight that hits you isAMELL GREETINGSemblazoned in giant red letters on the wall behind the reception desk.
My attention veers away from Calvin to the tall, dark-suited man behind him. There’s a powerful, barely contained energy about him and I have the stomach-plunging feeling he’s about to upend my world.
I’m aware of Sofia sucking in a shocked breath and Kenzie raising a hand to her lips.
What had Mevia said?The hottest guy she’s ever seen.
For once, she hadn’t exaggerated.
CHAPTER TWO
