Texting With the Enemy (Digital Dating #1) - Marika Ray Page 0,13
she was his kindergarten teacher. But she’d been Miss Pauline to me my whole life. Habits die hard.
“Sounded like you did.” She scowled. “I think you know better.”
“I didn’t actually curse, but I’m sorry if I offended you.”
“Thank you,” she sniffed.
“The girl from accounting?” I supplied, hoping she might circle back to why El had been here.
“What girl?”
I sighed. “Never mind. Messages?”
“Yes. One. El from accounting asked if you might have time to meet with her today.” Pauline handed me a scrawled Post-It note as I tamped down my frustration with her. There was a good chance I only got about half the messages that actually came my way, but I figured I was busy enough as it was.
“Okay, thank you.”
“You have a spot at eleven,” she said. “I stuck her there.”
“Oh. Okay.” I turned and went into my office, sinking into the squeaky chair with an odd lump in my throat.
My phone buzzed in my pocket.
Beautiful Accountant: I was going to give notice first thing… my boss, who is never late for anything, was late.
Beautiful Accountant: it’s like he’s a jerk even when he’s not trying to be a jerk.
Me: You don’t waste time, huh?
Beautiful Accountant: Don’t see the point.
Beautiful Accountant: Plus, can’t wait to see his face when I tell him it’s a sales job I’m leaving for.
Me: Maybe you should go easy on him.
Beautiful Accountant: What do you mean? He’s not a nice guy.
Me: What if he is a nice guy? What if he’s just misunderstood?
I watched the little dots dance as I waited for El to text again.
Beautiful Accountant: Whatever. Doesn’t matter. He’s incredibly hot, incredibly wealthy, and incredibly rude. And I’m hoping I never see his grumpy hot face again.
She just used the word “hot” twice to describe me. And I had a feeling she was vastly overestimating my net worth. A tiny glow of pleasure warmed my chest at her assessment. Well, except for the rude part.
Me: You sure about this new job? Maybe you should wait to give notice. Your new boss might be just as bad.
Beautiful Accountant: Not possible.
Me: but he’s probably not as hot.
Beautiful Accountant: No one is as hot. Doesn’t matter though. I’m done.
Despite the fact I was now grinning at her assessment of me, two things occurred to me. One, Chad would not be as excited about her descriptions of me as I was. And two, she was still planning to leave, which dulled my happiness considerably.
Me: Maybe there’s one person who is almost as ‘hot’? Like, for instance… me?
Beautiful Accountant: Gah. I’m the only person who can put a foot in her mouth via text. Of course you are. Sorry.
Me: Thank you.
What kind of weird world was I in? I needed to make sure Chad’s feelings weren’t forgotten even though he didn’t care in the least about hers.
I needed to come clean.
I’d tell her at eleven. When she gave notice.
***
But at eleven, I was in the midst of a crisis. One of our most sought-after wineries had just called to tell us they’d had a storage issue in their wine cave, and half of last year’s bottling had been ruined. That meant they’d be supplying us only half what we’d purchased, which meant I had a lot of calls to make to restaurants and shops who would be very disappointed. It also meant negotiating substitutions or refunds.
I was on my fourth bad news call when El appeared in my doorway, and my gaze lifted from my screen to her pretty face. It was as if someone had brought the sun right into my door, her hair was in waves around her face, and her skin glowed. She wore a dark shirt with a pink cardigan over it, and a slim skirt that hit her right at the knee, leaving plenty of curvy calf exposed. She looked incredible and I wished, not for the first time, I’d made a better impression when I’d met her before.
“Is now a bad time?” she asked, half-whispering in acknowledgement of the phone I held at my ear. “I would’ve asked your assistant, but she’s asleep, I think.” El glanced over her shoulder and grimaced. “I hope she’s just asleep.”
I waved her at a chair across my desk, unable to respond properly because of the dressing down I was currently getting from the sommelier on the other end of the phone who was telling me he absolutely could not accept any substitutes for the wine that I could not give him now.