Managed by Chance

by Amy DeMeritt

  Mel released a laughing puff of air and nodded. “Sure, I’m always up for a challenge.” She slid closer to Katie and looped her arm around both of her calves, holding her legs close to her chest. “The last time we swapped servers, our manager and supervisor were constantly at each other’s throats and our supervisor resigned shortly after the completion. You think we can survive the pressure of such a massive undertaking in such a short period of time?”

  “Yes.” Katie bent down and firmly kissed Mel’s lips and caressed her cheek. “Tell me more about what happened back then. Why did the team miss the deadline?”

  “Well, I think…” Mel noticed the pages in Katie’s other hand and nodded towards the printed workflow chart. “That’s exactly why it didn’t work. Our previous management couldn’t agree on what needed to be prioritized. We were working on projects that we could have afforded to be put on hold, which cost us a significant amount of time.”

  “That’s what I figured. Okay, finish what you need to, then come to my office so we can tackle this. If you had seven months before and we only have two this time, we’re really going to need to strip down daily tasks as much as possible. We may even need to require overtime.”

  “Yeah. Overtime is definitely going to be a must. We had mandatory overtime last time too.”

  “Okay, we’ll come up with a schedule.” Katie bent down and gave Mel a soft kiss on the lips, then slid off of the desk. “Come over when you’re ready.”

  “I’ll be over soon.” As Katie got her hand on the doorknob, Mel asked, “Oh, uh, do you want a coffee? I could use a coffee.”

  “Coffee sounds good. I’ll get them. Anything particular you want?”

  “I was going to get them after I finish this email.”

  Katie’s mouth quirked into an amused grin. “I have the time at the moment. You don’t. What do you want, Mel?”

  “Okay, well, thanks. I’ll take a mocha cap.”

  “Got it.”

  “Thanks.”

  Katie just puckered her lips in a kiss, then walked out of the office. Mel looked back at her computer and released a long groan as she rubbed her face with both hands. She shook herself, then started reading the email she was drafting before the interruption so she could finish it. After only a couple of minutes, she hit send, then decided to search her email archives for the correspondences related to the last server swap. There were nearly two-hundred emails total, but only about a dozen may be helpful in determining what steps to take or not to take. She printed them, then walked over to Katie’s office.

  “I doubt these will be all that useful, but these are the task delegation emails from the last sever swap.”

  Katie took the emails, then set them on the other side of her desk, not even looking at them. “We’ll visit them if we think we need to, but I’m confident in our partnership and I know we’ll come up with a better plan.” Katie placed a hand down over the workflow chart, and added, “Come sit on my side so we can look at this together. I want to be able to cut daily tasks by at least one third so we don’t have to require too many overtime hours.”

  While Mel moved a chair over to Katie’s side, Katie set a few pens down on the desk, and instead of sitting next to each other, they leaned over the desk side by side to look at the workflow chart.

  “Let’s first decide what tasks cannot be shelved at all. We’ll use the red pen for critical tasks, green for projects with quickly approaching deadlines that we still need to monitor, and black for things that can be put on hold completely.”

  Between sips of coffee, they went line by line on the massive list of tasks and projects that their team was responsible for and determined how to cut the daily work for the next two months. They worked for two solid hours before they got through the entire list. When they finished, they finally sat down with a shared sigh.

  Katie looked over at the time on her phone and groaned. “It’s almost six. I’m sorry I kept you so late.”

  “Shit, I didn’t even realize.” Mel pulled her cellphone out. “I need to text Layla to let her know I’ll be late so she doesn’t worry.”

  Mel: Hey, going to be late. Still at the office. Should be leaving soon.

  Layla: Everything okay?

  Mel: Yeah, I’ll explain later.

  Layla: Blake’s here. We just started dinner. You think you’ll be home in an hour?

  Mel looked up from her phone to see Katie looking through emails on her computer. “Are we done or are we staying later?”

  “No, we’re getting out of here. I just wanted to check my email to see if we missed anything important.”

  Mel: We’re leaving any minute now.

  Layla: Blake said there will be enough if you want to invite Katie for dinner.

  She smiled as she looked up, and asked, “You want to come over for dinner? Layla and Blake are cooking something. The invite came from Blake, by the way.”

  “Okay.” Katie pulled her laptop off of its docking station to put in her laptop bag. “Go get your stuff so we can walk out together.” As Mel stood up, Katie began neatly stacking the pages of the workflow chart, and added, sounding a bit tired, “We’ll look at this again tomorrow to make sure we really have it buttoned down. Then I want you to create a new workflow chart that we can distribute to the team so everything is crystal clear for them and so we can update it as we need to. When we finish coming up with our game plan, we’ll schedule a meeting with the team so they can ask any questions they may have. And vent any possible limitations they’ll have in accommodating the overtime schedule.”

  “Okay, boss.”

  Katie smiled from the affectionate tone in Mel’s voice and looked up to see her smiling down at her. “Go get your stuff so we can get out of here.”

  Mel saluted her, then walked out of the office. When she got back to her own office, she checked her emails to see if she missed anything urgent, but nothing really stood out as needing to be done right that minute. She quickly packed up her laptop, then sent Layla a text to let her know they were walking out.

  “Ready?”

  “Yeah, I just let Layla know we’re leaving.” She slipped her phone back in her pocket, and after following Katie out of the office, she pulled the door closed. “How do you feel about pulling certain people off of normal daily tasks completely and having them doing nothing but the prep-work for the new server?”

  “As long as every team member has their hands in the prep-work, I think that would be highly beneficial. But I want everyone involved. Who do you have in mind?”

  “Angie for sure. She’s been with the company for twenty years and has gone through two of these jumps. She’s also one of our strongest and most efficient associates.”

  “From what I’ve seen so far, I would agree with that. Harold also seems like an obvious choice.”

  “Yeah, he’s great. He works quickly and also has a high attention to detail.”

  While they took the elevator down to the first floor, then walked across the parking lot to their vehicles, they discussed how they might delegate the work.

  They reached Katie’s car first, and as they stopped at the tailgate, Katie said, “Okay, enough talk about work. I’ll see you at your place soon.”

  “Okay, drive carefully.”

  “Always. You too.”

  Mel grinned, as she mimicked, “Always. See you soon.” Mel turned to continue her trek to her own car, but then turned back, and said, “Hey,” before Katie could get in her car.

  “Yeah?”

  “We worked well together today.”

  Katie smiled and her eyes misted over. “Yes, we did.”

  Excitement and happiness bubbled up in Mel’s stomach. She slightly hopped to cross her right foot in front of the left, spun a full three-hundred-and-sixty degrees, then moonwalked several feet backwards, making Katie’s cheeks ache with a huge smile.

  “See ya later, boss.”

  Very aware of the cameras in the parking lot and that there could be peop
le observing from their vehicles or the windows of the very large corporate headquarters, Katie had to control her response.

  “Have a good night, Mel.”

  Her response won her a little laugh from Mel as she turned and strutted away to her car. With a flutter in her stomach, Katie got in her car and immediately checked her eyes in the mirror to see if her tears smeared her makeup at all.

  After backing out of her parking space, and driving down the row of vehicles to leave, a wide smile spread across her face and her stomach fluttered again. Mel was driving like a snail waiting for her to catch up. At each light and stop sign, Mel made eye contact with her through her rearview mirror, making her become anxious to get to Mel’s place. And luckily for her, traffic was pretty mild due to leaving the office so late.

  They were able to find parking spaces only a few spots apart, and with her laptop bag and purse slung over her shoulder, Katie raced to Mel’s car to meet her at the backend. She threw her arms around the back of Mel’s neck and kissed her hard on the mouth. As they inhaled through their noses, their lips parted and their tongues thrust forward to slip and twist together. As heat and arousal washed through both of them, Katie pulled away with a deep inhale and caressed Mel’s cheek.

  “I loved the little dance you did when we left work.”

  Mel cheekily answered, “I know,” and Katie laughed and kissed her lips.

  As she dropped her arms from around Mel, Katie took one of her hands, and they walked across the parking lot. They rode the elevator up in silence with Katie resting her head on Mel’s shoulder. And when they got to Mel’s apartment, their nostrils were filled with the incredible scents of Italian food, and their ears were filled with sweet romantic Italian lounge music and the sound of Layla and Blake talking and laughing in the kitchen. Blake was stirring a pot of red sauce on the stove while Layla was sitting on the counter with a glass of red wine in her hand.

  “Hey! What happened at work? Why are you so late?”

  Mel groaned as she set her laptop bag down on the armchair in the living room, then took Katie’s bags to set down for her. As they walked into the kitchen, Blake poured both of them a glass of wine.

  “Thanks.” Mel took a sip, then explained why they got out of work so late. “We have to finish working out the details tomorrow, but I’ll probably be getting home late every night for the next two months.”

  Layla hopped off of the back counter to stand opposite them at the buffet counter, and looking between Mel and Katie, she asked, “What about tomorrow night? We have friends coming over to plan the Hogwarts party.”

  “No.” Katie shook her head and rubbed Mel’s back because she looked very nervous and uncomfortable. “We’ll make sure you get out on time tomorrow night, and the night of the party.”

  Before Mel could, Layla sharply said, “You have to get out on time for the night of the party too.”

  Katie blushed with a small laugh, and answered, “I’ll do my best. Is there anything we can do to help with dinner?”

  Blake answered, “Nope. I just need to toss the noodles in the pot, then we’ll be ready to eat in about five minutes.”

  “That’s fast for noodles.” Mel took a sip of wine, then set her glass down and took Katie’s hand. “I’m going to change. You want to get out of your suit?”

  “Sure.”

  They walked down the hall to Mel’s bedroom, and Mel pulled sleep shorts and tee shirts out of her dresser for them to change into.

  After pulling the tee shirt on over her head, Katie sighed and laid back on Mel’s bed. “I wish I had a fresh outfit for work with me so I could just stay here tonight. I don’t feel like driving home later.”

  Mel plopped down next to her and draped an arm and leg over her. “You should do that.”

  “Do what? Stay?”

  “Well, I would love that. But I mean keep some stuff here so you can stay on nights like this. I could make some room in my closet and dresser for you.”

  For the second time in less than an hour, Katie’s eyes moistened. She placed a hand on Mel’s cheek and drew her down into a wonderful, yet brief kiss.

  “I love you, Mel.”

  “I…” Mel’s eyes also dampened and her mouth twitched with an uncertain smile. “Are you serious?”

  While lightly brushing her thumb over Mel’s cheekbone, Katie confirmed, “Yes, I love you. I could probably fill a novel with the reasons why I love you and we’ve only known each other for a few weeks. Even though it wasn’t ideal for a number of reasons, I’m so glad I met you before I started working at Zops because I just don’t know if we would have ever happened if not. And the idea of knowing you but never being with you turns my stomach in knots and breaks my heart. I love you, and I’ve known for a few days that I love you, but I didn’t know if you were there yet. You don’t have to say it back if you’re not ready, I just…”

  Mel firmly kissed her lips and palmed up into her soft dark brown hair, holding the back of her head. As she pulled away, and with a shaky voice, she said, “I love you too. I love you so fucking much.” She gave her another firm kiss on the lips, then looked into her gorgeous gray-blue eyes.

  “I can’t even begin to count the number of times Layla has tried to get me to start dating again in the past two years. And honestly, the night we met, I wasn’t looking for anyone – not a hook-up and especially not love. But when you took my hand and pulled me up from that piece of shit loveseat,” both of them laughed a little, “you woke something up inside me. It was all sparks and butterflies and I just…” Mel’s bottom lip and voice shook, so she cleared her throat. “It really hurt when I didn’t get that promotion. And when you broke it off with me after I told you about all of that, I started looking for a new job.” Katie’s brow pinched and her eyes filled with sadness, so Mel kissed her lips and eyes. “I didn’t apply for anything and I only looked once. It was the night you ended it. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is, it doesn’t hurt anymore. You’re so deserving of that job and I love working with you. I don’t want there to ever be any weirdness between us about that again. I accept what happened and I’m good. I really am.”

  Katie rolled onto her side and propped herself up on an elbow, so Mel did the same so they could look at each other on the same level.

  “Mel, I know how much you love your job and the people on the team, so I am so sorry I caused you to consider looking for a new job. I really love working with you and I really appreciate you saying I’m deserving of the position. I don’t want to pour salt in the wound, but so are you. And I think because you’re already at that level, we’re going to be a really strong partnership, as was proven today. But I don’t ever want you to feel like you’re settling. If a new opportunity comes up in another department or another company that you really want to jump on, I will support you. It will hurt like hell to lose you, but I know your career is important to you and I don’t want our relationship to ever hold you back from the growth you want to achieve.”

  Mel’s head dropped and she reached back to rub the back of her neck and head. Her eyes were filling with pressure and moisture and her throat and chest were tightening. Katie gently caressed her cheek and coaxed her up by the chin to meet her eyes. She gave her a weak twitchy smile and Katie leaned in to kiss her.

  “I’m sorry if I upset you. I just…”

  “You didn’t.” Mel’s voice cracked, so she cleared her throat and coughed once. “I don’t really know how to explain what I’m feeling right now. I mean, I love everything you said. But it…”

  There was a quick knock on the door, and from the other side, Layla said, “Dinner’s ready.”

  Mel cleared her throat, and called back, “We’ll be right out.” She waited a few moments to give Layla time to walk away from the door, then sighed as she took Katie’s hand and kissed it. “Hearing you say you support my career and that you recognize the level I’ve achieved was nearly as great as hearing you say you love me. My ex couldn’t care less. Layla was always
my support system when it came to my career. She’s always been my biggest cheerleader. But it feels really different to have my partner say…” Her voice cracked again, so she cleared it. “Anyway, thanks.”

  Katie wiped tears out of her own eyes, then leaned in to kiss Mel. “I love you, Mel. And even in the short period of time we’ve known and worked together, I’ve grown to become so proud of you and what you’ve achieved. You now have two cheerleaders. But I’m sorry, I don’t own a uniform or pom-poms.”

  With a small laugh and blushing cheeks, Mel wrapped her arms around Katie and kissed the side of her neck. “I love you. If I wasn’t so damn hungry, I’d ignore the dinner call and just hold you all night. How awful do I look right now?”

  “Not awful at all. Here, keep your eyes open.” Katie leaned in and blew a very gentle stream of air into Mel’s eyes, and as she pulled away, she smiled and nodded. “All better. Just a little pink. But you can blame that on being tired if you want to play it cool, Elvis.”

  Katie pulled Mel up from the bed and they walked back out to the front of the apartment. Blake and Layla had set the small dining room table with the food already plated up with extras in the center and they also refilled their wineglasses.

  As Mel pulled a chair out for Katie, she looked at the food and groaned in disappointment. “Oh, come on, diet food?” She plopped down and grabbed her fork to prod at the zucchini noodles. “When you said Blake was cooking, I thought we were going to have real food – like good food. No wonder the noodles only took five minutes – they’re a damn vegetable.”

  “Oh, stop it.” Katie laughed and gripped Mel’s shoulder, giving it a few firm massaging squeezes. “Zucchini noodles are great. I eat them all the time.”

  “Seriously? Don’t let Italy hear you say that. They may not let you back in.” Mel sighed as she looked at the plate again, then at Blake, and asked, “Are the meatballs real or are they soy or mung beans or something?”

  “Mung beans?” Blake snorted and shook her head. “Just eat your damn dinner, Melrose.”