by A. L. Brooks
Maxwell blinked a few times, then nodded, but his eyes didn’t lose their suspicion.
She leaned forward and lowered her voice. “I looked at the version control on the document. The date and time coincide with a block out of Jenny’s calendar for a trip to the dentist. She wouldn’t take her laptop with her to the dentist, would she?” Before Maxwell could respond, she rushed on. “So how could she be altering my document at that time? The only way it happened is if Jenny forgot to lock her laptop before she went and Chrissy jumped on and made the changes. Then it has Jenny’s name on the version, not Chrissy’s.” Good God, I sound like a conspiracy theorist, one of those people the National Enquirer writes about.
Maxwell took one step closer, his expression thoughtful. “If Chrissy did that, then it must also have been a time when neither of us were here to witness it.”
Olivia wanted to hug him for getting on board with the theory. “Right!” She whirled back around to her screen.
Maxwell leaned down with his elbows on her desk and peered at the screen with her.
She scrolled to his calendar first.
“Yes.” Maxwell pointed at the screen. “I was out of the office from one o’clock that day, finishing off some work with one of my old TC projects. Where were you?”
She brought up her own calendar. Her heart skipped a beat. “In a meeting that started half an hour before the time the document was saved and ended half an hour after.”
“And Chrissy?” He locked gazes with Olivia.
She scrolled across to Chrissy’s calendar. “It’s empty that day. No meetings at all, internally or externally.”
They stared at each other.
“How likely is it Jenny forgot to lock out her laptop?” Olivia hoped she didn’t sound as if she were accusing Jenny of being an idiot.
Maxwell grimaced. “There is a high probability this was the case. She had been warned about it a few times at TC.”
“Oh.”
He shook his head. “However, while we have proved someone else took control of her laptop within five minutes of her leaving it, we have not proved it was Chrissy.” He frowned. “Do you have reason to believe it was her?”
Olivia slumped back in her chair. “No. Just a gut feeling.” She flicked her gaze up at him. “I don’t want to make you pick sides, but I do know you like Jenny. I like her too. And I don’t like that someone, Chrissy or whoever, is doing this to her. She’s a good person. She deserves better.”
Maxwell straightened. “Yes, I agree. But I’m sorry, I don’t know what we can do.”
“Nor do I. But I’ll start by apologizing to Jenny for the false accusation.”
And maybe if I prove to her someone other than me set her up for that, she might believe me when I reiterate I had nothing to do with whatever happened to her Excelsior files.
Maybe.
Jenny went through the weekend on autopilot. Saturday: sleep, eat, watch TV. Sunday: repeat. For once, they didn’t have a lunch date with Tamara and Roz, who had left the city for the weekend to celebrate their tenth anniversary. Jenny figured not seeing her friends was good—she wasn’t exactly in the mood to talk to anyone.
Carl was also missing in action, ensconced in his tiny workshop back in Astoria working on his new Bloomingdale’s range. Launch date loomed ever closer, and Jenny knew she’d barely see him in the next three or four weeks. This was also good because she knew otherwise Carl would take approximately five minutes—or less—to drag the whole sorry story out of her. She wasn’t ready to talk about it with anyone because the more she thought about everything and the more distance she got from Friday’s lunchtime disaster with Olivia, the more uneasy she was about her reaction to it.
Olivia had seemed so genuine. So troubled by Jenny’s accusations. Sure, all that stuff she said about Chrissy being so manipulative might be a bit much, but her denial of any involvement in what happened with the Excelsior files, with the benefit of calm hindsight, did seem real.
On Monday morning Jenny walked into the office with a small ball of dread settling into the pit of her stomach. How would things be between them? Would it disrupt the professional atmosphere they’d all brought to the team over the last couple months?
To her surprise, Olivia gave her a small smile as she sat. “Good morning.” Her voice was quiet, but she held Jenny’s gaze. “Did you have a nice weekend?”
“Yeah.” Jenny mentally shook herself to conjure up more than a one-word answer. “You? Do anything nice?”
“Quiet one for me.”
Jenny nodded and set up her laptop, not sure what else to add to the conversation. Why was Olivia being so reasonable?
“Do you have a few minutes?” Olivia stood and walked over to Jenny’s desk. “Before the day gets started?”
“Sorry, I’m busy.” She hoped her face wouldn’t give away the lie.
“Maybe later, then?”
“Sure.”
Maxwell arrived. “Good morning, Olivia.” He turned to Jenny. “Hi.”
“Hey, Maxwell. Good weekend?”
“Yes.” He glanced between Olivia and Jenny. “Is everything sorted out now?”
Jenny stared at him. “Huh?”
“We’ll hopefully meet later to sort that out.” Olivia gave him an inscrutable look.
What the hell was going on? “You know what, I do have a bit of time now. Shall we?” Jenny motioned behind her, away from their desks.
Olivia took a step forward. “Lead the way.”
Jenny strode down the hallway toward the meeting rooms. It was early enough in the day that one of the rooms would be free, at least for a short while. The smallest room at the end of the hallway was empty. She shut the door behind Olivia and faced her, arms folded across her abdomen. “What’s going on? And how come Maxwell knows about whatever it is?” Her heart thudded as she watched Olivia. Damn it, why did the woman have to look so beautiful? It’s so hard to be mad at someone who turns your brain to spaghetti.
Olivia perched on the edge of the meeting table. “I enlisted Maxwell’s help with something on Friday, after you’d left for the day. I discovered something and needed someone else to confirm what I thought.” She inhaled. “I want to apologize for accusing you of screwing up my catering schedule a few weeks ago. We discovered it couldn’t possibly have been you, and I’m sorry I was so harsh with you that day.”
“You… What?” Jenny’s brain had trouble joining up all the dots.
Olivia motioned to the chair beside her. “Want to sit? Let me explain?”
Jenny flopped gratefully into the seat.
Olivia pulled out the chair beside her and sat more gracefully. She seemed calm and composed. “The file with your name on it couldn’t have been worked on by you, because you were at the dentist at the time stamped on the file. Someone used your laptop in your absence to make those changes.”
“But how would they get into—” Jenny swallowed hard. “Crap. I didn’t lock my laptop, did I?”
“It seems not.” Olivia’s tone was gentle. “Maxwell… Well, he confirmed you have a history of that.”
Jenny looked up at the ceiling. “Yep. Fuck.” Then she sat upright. “But wait, who did it then? Who would do something like that?”
There was a brief hesitation. “That we don’t know. Obviously, the file has your name on it, so it’s impossible to track.” Olivia straightened in her seat. “Could we please also talk about what happened on Friday?”
Jenny nodded as her mind still scrambled to deal with what Olivia had just told her.
“I know you think I had something to do with your hotel notes and photos, but please believe me, it’s not true. That is not how I work. Not ever.” She clasped her hands together so tightly her knuckles were white. “And I truly meant what I said about your idea for the event. It’s a brilliant concept and I definitely think
you should try to sell it to Derek.”
Jenny looked into Olivia’s eyes. Nothing but honesty and admiration shone back at her. I really did get this all wrong. Although with a bit of help from Chrissy. She set that thought aside for now—she could speak to Chrissy later and get her side of the story. She exhaled. “I’m sorry. For being an asshole on Friday.”
Olivia’s smile was gorgeous. “You weren’t too bad. I probably would have been much worse if the tables were turned.” She paused. “I don’t want to come between you and Chrissy. I know you are friends. But please, believe me, she has told you things about me that are simply untrue. I don’t know why. Perhaps she’s threatened by the chance of a friendship between us.” She motioned between them. “I know I can be a little sharp sometimes. There are reasons why I don’t go out of my way to become too friendly to the people I work with.” She looked away for a moment. “Broderick’s told me I should make more of an effort, and he’s probably right. I was hoping you’d give me a chance at that. I’d like to help you work on this presentation for Derek.” She held up a hand. “In the background. The credit for this is all yours, trust me.”
“Do you think it’s worth doing? How likely is Derek to not only listen to what my idea is but actually make changes this late in the day?” Her skepticism gave her voice a hard edge.
Olivia shrugged. “I have no idea. But my grandmother always used to say, ‘If you don’t ask, you don’t get,’ so…”
“Well.” Jenny let out a loud breath. “This is definitely not the start to the week I expected.”
Olivia chuckled. “Then…?”
Jenny looked once more into Olivia’s eyes, searching for anything preventing her from taking the leap. Warmth and honesty were all she saw. “Then I guess we’re working on a presentation together.”
Olivia’s smile lit up the room.
Chapter 18
“I booked the small meeting room for a couple of hours this morning,” Olivia said as soon as Jenny walked into the office on Wednesday morning. “Your calendar was free, so I took the liberty.”
You can take liberties with me any day, Jenny wanted to say, then almost groaned aloud at how truly awful that would sound. “Sure, sounds like a great idea. I mocked up a couple more things last night at home, based on what we talked about in our session yesterday.”
They’d spent their first hour of working together on Catwalk 2.0, as they’d taken to calling it, on Tuesday afternoon. It had got off to a slow start; Jenny was still wary of Olivia, despite all Olivia had said on Monday, and Olivia tried almost too hard to put Jenny center stage. But they’d settled gradually, and the more they talked about Jenny’s concept, the more ideas they threw into the mix to polish it up, the more they relaxed with each other.
“Great!” Olivia’s smile did that tingly thing to Jenny again.
I need to get on top of this. Yes, we’re working on this presentation, and yes, Olivia does seem a very different person from the one I thought she was, but she is still a married woman.
“Hi guys!” Chrissy appeared, beamed at Jenny, then dropped a much lower wattage smile on Olivia. “What are you two up to?”
There was a tightness around her eyes that rang a small alarm bell somewhere in the back of Jenny’s brain. She’d had no opportunity to talk to Chrissy after Olivia’s revelations on Monday. I think I need to find time to do that today. “Nothing much,” Jenny said before Olivia could respond. God knew it would only be something snarky coming from Olivia, and Jenny didn’t have the capacity to deal with a fight between her and Chrissy first thing in the morning. “Catwalk stuff.”
“Oh.” Chrissy didn’t look convinced but dropped the subject. “Coffee?”
“I’m good.” Jenny pointed at the full cup on her desk. “Want some M&Ms to start your day?”
Chrissy laughed. “Always. But after I’ve had my coffee.” She walked off toward the coffee station.
Relief at diverting her washed through Jenny.
Olivia quirked an eyebrow at Jenny. “You didn’t tell her what we’re working on?”
Feeling a little defensive, Jenny shrugged. “Not yet.”
“Oh.”
They held each other’s gaze for a moment or two, then Olivia swung her chair around to face her screen.
“I think it’s ready,” Olivia said after Jenny had scrolled through the presentation once more.
It was Thursday morning, and together they’d worked on Catwalk 2.0 for about fifteen hours total over the last three days. They’d each put in time at home, researching everything and trying to think of all objections Derek might have and their responses.
“Yeah?” Jenny’s nerves had only seemed to increase as the week went on.
Olivia had assumed the more they ironed the plan out, the better Jenny would feel. “You okay?”
Jenny nodded vigorously, but her eyes were wild.
“Hey.” Olivia closed the lid on Jenny’s laptop. “Look at me.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Jenny turned and met Olivia’s gaze.
“It’s a brilliant idea. And we’ve put together a great way to sell it to Derek. It’s time to show him.” Especially as the event’s in ten weeks, and if it is going to change, it needs to start pretty damn quickly. She decided not to share that thought with Jenny; the poor woman was practically hyperventilating as it was.
Jenny’s knee bounced as her foot tapped the floor. “I know. I know. It’s just…” She shook her head. Her hair color this week was purple and, much to Olivia’s annoyance, it suited her. “I never had this problem working with Adrienne. I always knew I could throw my ideas in there and she’d listen to them. She might not have agreed with them, but she always encouraged me to keep coming at her with them.” She blinked rapidly. “With Derek, I… The guy hasn’t exactly gone out of his way to treat us like people with brains, you know?”
Olivia chuckled. “Yes, that is true.” Then she shrugged. “Look, I don’t know how he’s going to react. His business brain might rule, in which case he’ll see what a better prospect it is. Or he might be a complete asshole.”
Jenny snorted with laughter. “Sorry, but somehow you saying asshole in that British accent always makes me laugh. It just sounds wrong somehow.”
Olivia leaned in. “How about wanker? Does that sound better?”
Jenny laughed again. “It certainly sounds more British.”
They smiled at each other, and Olivia’s stomach gave a pleasant little flutter.
Jenny was a lovely woman, and spending all this time together had been wonderful. Although it was hard too. The more she got to know Jenny, the more Olivia liked her and the harder it was to ignore the voice in her head that told her to play it cool, to keep her distance, and to not risk everything. She’d had one close call the night of the party—the last thing she needed was to get herself into another awkward situation that led to, at best, questions from Jenny. At worst, it led to Olivia doing something very, very silly. Like kissing that expressive mouth, the pink lips, and—
She swallowed, threw up her wall, and chastised herself for forgetting her situation yet again. “Right, well, we’re never going to know unless he sees it. So I think we should set up a meeting with him and show him what we’ve got.”
“We?” Jenny looked confused.
Olivia sat up straighter. “It doesn’t have to be both of us. This is your concept and you own it. But, well, if you are concerned about how he might react, then I’d be happy to be there with you.” She paused. “I don’t want you to be singled out if he’s angry. I encouraged you to work on this, so if he’s going to reprimand you, he can do the same to me.”
Jenny leaned forward. “You’d do that? You’d risk your place here too?”
“Yes.” Olivia’s voice was a croak; she hoped she wasn’t making a terrible mistake. “I would.”
Jenny’s mouth
formed the word “wow” but no sound came out. She eased back in her chair and rubbed at the back of her neck, where the hair was shaved close to her skin.
I bet it’s so soft back there. I bet it would feel great to tug on, to pull her close to me and— Olivia shifted in her chair. Arousal, stronger than she would have imagined, had flared and sent a hot flush cascading down her body. For the love of God, stop!
“I’d like it if you were there.” Jenny’s voice was soft. “Not because of what you said. You know, to share the blame.” She sat up again and her eyes were steely. “But because this is a great idea and you’ve worked hard on it with me. You deserve to share the credit when Derek falls in love with it.”
Olivia stared at Jenny, at the determination and pride in her expression, and her stomach flipped once more. She held Jenny’s gaze. “Hell yes.”
At one minute before eleven on Friday morning, Jenny got up from her desk. Her knees shook, and she was pretty sure her hands trembled. But one look across the desks at Olivia, who also stood, was enough to calm her. She didn’t know how Olivia did it, but she looked cool, calm, and totally collected. As if this were just an ordinary day and there was nothing to fear.
If I had even half her confidence most days, maybe I’d be a little further along in my career already.
“Ready?” Olivia asked.
“Yes.” Jenny forced herself to speak the word with confidence and strength.
Maxwell gave them a thumbs-up. He didn’t know what they were doing, of course, but he knew something was up.
Chrissy was nowhere to be seen. She’d been out of the office a lot this week and, it seemed, avoiding Jenny when she was in.
Not my problem right now. Deal with that later. Jenny inhaled and let it out slowly, then undocked her laptop and walked toward Derek’s office, Olivia two steps behind her.
“Ladies,” Derek said as they walked through the door. “Have a seat.”