Chapter Twenty-One

I’ve been to Alexandra’s office twice. Once on Bring Your Daughter to Work Day—even though I’m not her daughter—and the second time when David wanted me to give her some slick marketing plan portfolio that required her sign-off.

But at least those times I was an extra, not a key player. This is different. Alexandra is going to have me do…I don’t even know what.

I hope this isn’t about the app dev team position she wants me to apply for. Maybe I can deflect her by talking about the possible promotion within the marketing department. But if I do, I’ll pretty much have to take one or the other.

Maybe it’s Operation Mousetrap. I wouldn’t put it past Alexandra. She always gets what she wants.

Ophelia is sitting outside the office, guarding the place like a dragon before a cave full of gold. She’s an incredibly put together brunette in her early thirties, her hair the color of dark chocolate that flows down in gentle waves until it reaches her elbows. Her bone structure is amazing. Contoured, I think. God. It’s hard to tell, which probably means she’s good at it, but she seems to be good at everything. Just look at her outfit—a gold- and turquoise-trimmed coral top, a yellow pencil skirt and teal pumps. The whole ensemble should look actively ugly, but on her, it looks absolutely fantastic.

“Hello, Ophelia,” I say brightly.

“Hello, Jan. Did you enjoy your lunch at Jolly Robin?”

My jaw slackens. This is freaky. Does Alexandra’s NSA-power extend to Ophelia too?

“Don’t look so surprised.” She gives me a smile that could be considered warm if you don’t mind the robotic practicedness of it. “I saw you go in with your friends when I went there to pick up lunch for Alexandra.”

Oh. I guess that makes her slightly less…inhuman. “Do you know what Alexandra wants?”

“Even if I did, I couldn’t tell you.”

I press my lips together and study her. She smiles at me again. With most people it would be annoying, but not her. She manages to push the smile into creepy territory just enough to negate the annoyance factor.

“Please go in. She’s waiting,” she says.

Girding my loins, I push the door open and step inside.

Alexandra’s office is pretty normal for a CEO’s. It’s a corner unit with lots of glass and muted pale gray carpeting. The desk is L-shaped and contemporary, and her electronics include a laptop hooked up to a large external monitor and a black gaming keyboard, which one of the app dev team members convinced her to try. The keyboard is currently emitting pulsing waves of purple, pink, red and neon blue.

She’s in a pale blue dress with hot pink flowers on her chest and hem. It’d look too tropical beachy on me, but she somehow pulls it off. She gives me that toothless smile, where she just curves her lips up without parting them, and gestures at me to sit down.

“What can I do for you?” I ask. I might as well get this over with rather than let her set the pace of my execution.

“The boxes. I want you to take them now.”

My brain falters. What’s she talking about? “Excuse me?”

“I’m having them delivered to your desk even as we speak. They’re your mother’s, and you ought to have them. I’m not storing them anymore.”

“But…I thought… I mean… I told you I’d take them later.”

“Yes. That was in May.” She glances at her calendar meaningfully.

“I’ve been busy with…” I roll my eyes in the general direction of the company behind me.

“Then I’ll have a chat with David, since he’s obviously overworking you.”

“No!” I don’t want him thinking I’m saying shit about him behind his back because I’m not. I only think he’s tormenting me when he dumps tons of work on me, and thinking and saying are two very different things.

“Jan, you’ve been putting me off long enough. It’s time.”

“Okay.” I clear my throat. “Okay.”

“Did you apply for the opening in the app dev team?”

Whaaat? She wants to talk about that now? “No, not yet.”

“You should. It’s not going to be available forever.”

“Okay. But um—”

“If you don’t like Tim, that’s fine. I know he can be abrasive, but there are other teams available. If you want, you can go to the team located in San Mateo.”

My mouth dries. Finally I squeak, “Like, in California?”

She gives me a look. “Yes. It’s not the headquarters, but it has some of our best developers, and you’ll enjoy the weather, culture and people. I wouldn’t be suggesting it if I didn’t think it would be a great opportunity for you.”

“But…California…” Where I don’t have my best friends. Or Matt.

“It’s just a suggestion, Jan. You don’t have to take it.”

“Right.” I swallow. “Just a suggestion. Okay, well… Thanks.” I stand. “If that’s all, I need to get going. We’re pretty busy in marketing.”

Alexandra’s eyebrows pinch for a moment, and she sighs. “All right. Have a productive day.”

Is she kidding me? How the hell am I going to have a productive anything after that bombshell? But there’s no way I’m saying that out loud, not in her office. Not in private either. “Yeah. You too.”