Chapter 31

Jack’s unanswered text nagged at me all day. Luckily, I had a ton of work to do because of the software update, so I worked remotely, answering questions from my team as a handful of them worked overtime and popped into our team chat app with questions. But any time I had a second to breathe, I faced down the same question: what should I say to Jack?

I worked until almost midnight and fell into bed exhausted, only to get up and make myself some instant oatmeal and dive back in again. Sean rolled off the sofa and made coffee, silently filling my mug while I tapped at my keyboard like crazy. I gave him an absent-minded smile and thank you and disappeared into the impossible list of tasks that had to get done before the update went live.

Ranée appeared mid-morning. “We’re going to grab brunch. Want to come?”

“Can’t. Living on caffeine until we get this update ready.”

“I’m bringing something home. And you will eat it.”

“As long as I don’t have to leave my laptop.”

An hour later she was back and deposited a spinach quiche with a side of fresh fruit in front of me.

“Eat,” she ordered.

I picked my way through it, not paying attention to anything but my screen until Shep whined. I looked up to see Sean trying to coax him into his carrier. I blinked. “You’re leaving?”

“Yeah. Gotta get back for work tomorrow.”

“You’re making a twenty hour round trip drive to spend a day-and-half with Ranée?”

He looked a little embarrassed. “I wanted her to meet Shep.”

“Well, you and Shep are the cutest, then.”

He got Shep into the carrier and snapped it closed. “We’ll get out of your hair now.”

“You were never in it.”

He hitched his backpack over one shoulder. “Hey, Emily, I’m sorry. I overstepped on the Jack thing. He wouldn’t be thrilled that I said anything. Don’t hold it against him, okay? Whatever you two are doing, you both seem to be having fun. I should’ve stayed out of it.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I said, finally focusing on him. “You’re a good friend. I get it.”

“I hope so. I think you know if you decided to resign from the real world for a while that Ranée wouldn’t let you get away with it. That’s all I’m doing here, but you’re right: you’re not bait. I’ll figure out another way to get through to him.”

I got up and hugged him. “I’m not mad. Drive safe.”

Ranée came out dressed for the barn. “I’ll walk you down.”

He hefted the carrier and called another goodbye on his way out. I turned back to my laptop, but the screen had timed out and it seemed like a sign to take a short break. Stretch, walk, run in place. Move something besides my fingers.

I did some lunges across the living room to wake my sleepy muscles up and laughed when a seagull fluttered down to scavenge on our micro balcony. Of course a seagull would show up. Of course. “Good luck, buddy.”

I picked up my phone and read Jack’s last text again. I wanted it to be me with Sean. Maybe you did too. What do we do about that?

Sean seems to think you need rescuing, I texted him back. Do you?

He called almost right away. “Hi. I don’t need to be rescued. And if I did, it’s not your job.”

“That’s what I think too.”

“So ignore anything he said. I’ll kill him when he gets back. In the meantime, how’s it going otherwise?”

“I’ve been working like crazy for the last two days. We’ve got a huge deadline on Wednesday.”

“Are you going to make it?”

“If thirty hours of overtime this week can get it done, then yes.”

“Is that how much your team is putting in?”

“No. That’s just thirty by myself. The leads are all putting in that much too.”

“Wow. Is it always that busy?”

“No. But a couple of times a year, stuff comes up. This is one of those times.”

“I used to work a lot of weeks like that. It’s tough. How soon do you get a break?”

“I’m sure my boss will give us comp days if the update rolls out without any problems. And then I’ll sleep for forty-eight hours straight.”

“Come up here.”

The words burst out of him so fast I wasn’t sure his brain knew what his mouth had said yet. “Excuse me?”

There was a long silence, then I could hear him take a deep breath. “Come up here. On your comp days, I mean. It’s quiet. And pretty. And I want to see you.”

“Jack…”

“Just think about it.”

As if it hadn’t suddenly become the only thought in my brain. Go see Jack? I tried to clear my head of the only image it was interested in projecting: me sliding my hands up his shoulders while he leaned down for a—

I cleared my throat. “I don’t think that would be a friendly visit. Friendish. Friendlike?” I stopped talking before it turned into nervous chatter.

“No,” he said, his voice quiet. “It wouldn’t be.”

I bounced on the balls of my feet, glad he couldn’t see all the nervous energy suddenly spilling out of me. “It’s a moot point if I don’t meet this deadline.”

“Then I’ll let you get back to work.”

“Coming to Oregon, that’s borderline crazy.” I bounced faster.

“Think about it anyway.”

“Like I’m going to think about anything else now.”

“I hope not. I can’t.”