Protecting Emma

by ML Michaels

  It took some hours to get everything worked out and for Brooke to process what they were looking at with the latest release of revolutionary office- and customer-management software. “So, let me get this straight,” Brooke said. “You’ve got the big businesses who you’re marketing the software to, and they’re saying that your product will never help improve efficiency, while reducing waste and saving them money. On the other hand, you have another group that claims you’re just looking to make money and are pretending that you’ll actually help the environment.”

  Carla was nodding along slowly, as this was nothing new to her.

  “But the last two releases brought hard data—the software does work. I mean, holy crap, Matthew is a mastermind. I didn’t realize it.”

  “That’s right…it’s frustrating, I know. But that’s where you come in, Brooke. You’re going to make sure the public, the big money, the tree huggers, everyone, loves us. I’m sorry to say, but you’ve got one month until we release the next version of our software. Our numbers are good, but they’re sliding, and we only see it getting worse.”

  “This is all so last minute. I don’t suppose you can tell me what happened to the last person in my position?”

  “Let’s just say that she liked Matthew a little too much. Matthew is a great boss, so don’t get me wrong. But he is not someone who’s about to settle down and have 2.5 kids. He has too much fun with the ladies. Henry’s daughter did not like your predecessor and has problems with any ladies he sees.”

  “Wait,” said Brooke, thinking. “You mean Henry, as in Henry the partner?” Carla nodded. Brooke continued, “But what does she care if…oh, are they a thing?”

  “You didn’t hear it from me.”

  ***

  During her lunch break when the time difference wasn’t a problem, Sally found an empty room and Skyped her parents to let them know everything was going fine. She then called Sally.

  She told her about the conversation with Carla about the last worker getting fired. “You’ll have to keep your hands off him,” said Sally. “That’s too bad, the guy is absolutely loaded, and so eligible. Have you seen the piece in Today’s Tomorrow magazine? They’re talking like he’s some kind of superstar genius, saving the planet and revolutionizing the business world at the same time.”

  “Yeah I have, and the piece in Computer Idea, and the one in, gosh he’s all over so many of the top tech publications. He really has some great ideas and cares about the environment and other things that I think are important. But I’m never going to get involved with another big shot again anyway. Not after Franklin.”

  “Hey, I was just joking. You sound like you’ve actually been thinking about this—and him.”

  “I’ve been thinking about my new job,” said Brooke, and she wasn’t lying, mostly. “God, I miss you though, and my family. This is going to be hard.”

  The next day was Saturday, her first weekend alone in a new city. After ordering some pancakes with strawberries and chocolate syrup from the diner across the street, Brooke was feeling better about being in a new city by herself. Although it was scary to be without any friends or family nearby, let alone a boyfriend. And it was the first time since college, where she’d met Franklin, that she’d been single.

  No time to feel sorry for yourself, she thought, while finishing a second cup of coffee. There was a lot of work to get caught up on. The idea of working, even on a Saturday, cheered Brooke up; it beat moping. Heck—she loved work.

  “What the hell’s wrong with you? Stupid computer!” were the first words she’d spoken all day, apart from when she’d ordered her breakfast. She was at home trying to login to the company’s internal network, and that’s where all her new files were being stored.

  Sighing and bracing herself, Brooke called the tech support number she had been given.

  “Hello?” came a warm, masculine voice on the phone.

  “Hi,” said Brooke. “Is this tech support?”

  “Brooke?” That was a familiar voice…it wasn’t?

  “Matthew?”

  “Yes, I guess you didn’t expect me to be running tech support for my own crew, huh? Well, I only do it for our inner circle.”

  “Wow, that’s pretty, hands on, for a boss. Say…this is embarrassing but, I’m not sure what’s going on. All I know is I can’t access our intranet, and I wanted to get a head start on my work.”

  “That’s great to hear. I like the enthusiasm. Unfortunately, if it’s not working, I’m going to need to use my physical access key with your computer to take a look. We’re have tight security on our network. I set it up personally.”

  “Well, okay, sure,” Brooke shut her eyes and grimaced, “How does an hour sound? You have my address, right?”

  “Done and done. See you then.”

  Brooke was half convinced this whole “physical key” thing was a ploy to get some time alone with her—and in her own home no less. But there was nothing else she could do; she needed to work to take her mind off of things.

  After Brooke answered the door and let Matthew in—he was looking charming and a little rugged in his comfy-casual weekend attire—she offered him a beverage.

  “I’d love a cup of tea,” he said, as he headed over to Brooke’s computer desk and fired up her laptop. “Do you mind if I get started?” He had a briefcase style bag with lots of little compartments, from which he produced a USB stick. “The key.”

  “So, why are you in charge of all this?”

  “Oh, Henry wouldn’t trust anyone else.”

  “That’s a lot of extra work, surely.” Brooke was making tea for Matthew and decided to have one herself, instead of another coffee. “I guess you must love the work though.”

  “Of course, don’t we all? But it would be nice to get some more free time to pursue a personal life.”

  Brooke paused for a moment, stirring hot liquid. “Really? You’re one of the first successful people I’ve heard say.”

  “Ah, balance is the key to life, don’t you think?” he said.

  She couldn’t help but watch his as he worked on her computer. He certainly didn’t fit the mold of the selfish, self-absorbed rich man she had expected him to be. Why couldn’t Franklin have been a bit more like him?

  It didn’t take long for Matthew to fix the problem, or drink his tea. “Thanks for the drink, Brooke. Let me know if you have any other problems. I know you don’t know anyone here yet. Are you sure you wouldn’t like to grab a bite to eat?” he asked, seeming truly concerned about her wellbeing.

  Seeing him out the door, she replied, “It’s a nice offer, but, I just got out of a relationship with a really successful guy. I think keeping things professional will be better for both of us. I wouldn’t want to do anything to create an uncomfortable situation at work. You understand right?”

  “Better than you think.” Matthew said goodbye and headed off.

  ***

  A week went by, and there wasn’t much time for anything but work. They weren’t wrong when they told Brooke she’d be playing catch up. The weekend couldn’t come soon enough, no matter how much she enjoyed her work.

  "Say, how would you like to show me around my new home town?" Brooke asked Carla. "We've just about got a hold on this timeline, and it'd be nice to celebrate, y'know, with another person."

  "I guess you don't know anyone outside of this office yet," said Carla with sympathy. "I'm sorry; you know I'd love to, but my son's school recital is on tomorrow, and that means practice, prep, waiting and waiting...plus the anxiety in the kids, teachers, and parents. Hey, maybe I should join you," she said. They both shared a dry laugh.

  "Sounds like my plans, or lack of them, isn't so bad after all. I hope your son does well though, what does he—"

  There was a light rap on the doorframe, and Matthew showed his face in the open doorway. "Do you think I could borrow Brooke for a minute before the end of the day?" he said to Carla, "if you've got a minute," he then said facing Brooke. She nodded
.

  "Well, we're finishing up now. Might actually get out on time today," said Carla. "Don't tell Henry we didn't work late today though." She giggled a little.

  Brooke appeared at Matthew’s office 15 minutes later. His door was always open when he was there. "Hi, Matthew, did you have something for me to take a look at over the weekend?"

  Matthew looked up from his computer screen. "Oh, Brooke, no, I wouldn't want to rob you of your first weekend in such a great city. You've been working so hard."

  She smiled. "And what makes you think I didn't come from a city at least as great as yours?"

  "If I didn't know better, I'd say you're trying to be funny."

  Brooke took a few more steps into the room. God, he was a good looking man. She became flustered for what she told herself was only the tiniest fraction of a second. And maybe her legs felt just slightly wobbly. That must have been what led her to say, "Would you like to show me its best points?"

  Matthew looked pleasantly surprised. "It would be my pleasure."

  The next day, Matthew met Brooke at the diner across the street from her. He had offer to pick her up at her apartment, but Brooke didn’t want it to seem like a “date.”

  "How about we grab a coffee, some breakfast maybe?" she'd answered, to hide her true reason.

  Brooke had grabbed herself a coffee while she waited at the diner on the Saturday morning. For some reason, she'd gotten to the diner way too early, even though it must have taken her a grand total of three minutes to walk there from her front door. She worried that she would seem to eager to see him and didn’t want to give him the wrong impression. So she decided to pretend that she’d only barely made it on time.

  “Hello,” Matthew said, when he came through the cafe door. How long have you been here? Not long, I hope.”

  “Oh, no…I just got here.”

  “You must have really been thirsty then,” he said, nodding down at her empty, large, coffee.

  She was busted…

  Dammit

  Matthew took her to all the types of places Brooke expected him to. There was a museum of very old, admittedly interesting, computers and tech-type things. When he asked her if she was bored yet, partway through their tour, Brooke replied, “Oh, no, of course not.” She didn’t want to admit that she’d seen the same kind of thing before in her own city.

  Next, he took her to a gallery display of obscure and highly pivotal advertising posters. “This should be more your type of thing,” he said. “I know you’re not directly in marketing, but PR and marketing go hand-in-hand, don’t they?”

  Brooke nodded as they looked around. “You know; I’m impressed by how much thought you put into finding things that would inspire me.” Doesn’t he ever stop thinking about the job—and work? she thought.

  They were in the commercial district so they went for a bite to eat at a nice little place on the edge of a park. “This place does the best tofu and kale smoothies,” he said.

  Brooke had dabbled with vegetarianism in college, and loved the idea …in theory. She’d just never been able to keep up with it. Besides, she’d probably lose those extra curves that Franklin kept commenting about if she started eating like a rabbit. Of course, she should have known that someone who was this “upwardly mobile” and enthusiastic about getting things done would be all into that healthy eating.

  “What’s the matter?” he said, as they walked through the park toward their lunch destination. It was a lovely and warm day, but he could sense her uneasiness.

  “It’s nothing.”

  “You don’t expect someone in my position to put saturated animal fat into my body, do you? I need to be burning clean, twenty-five hours a day.”

  Taken aback, Brooke actually stopped walking and gaped at Matthew. His face was flat, serious, and even a little angry.

  “I…no, that’s not what I meant. It’s just, well…” started Brooke, but she couldn’t find the right words.

  And his mean look cracked a little, then a lot, and he started to laugh warmly. “Sorry,” he said, “I couldn’t resist. I know that’s what you think I’m like. That’s just a stereotype though. Do you eat hot dogs? These guys have the best in the city, I swear.”

  Once they’d settled down on a park bench to eat, Brooke took a bite and said, “Wow, you weren’t kidding.” Her mouth was full, but she didn’t care. They were good.

  “I wouldn’t lie,” Matthew replied. They ate in silence for a while, hungrily consuming the delicious goodies they’d purchased from the hot- dog vendor’s cart.

  “Can you tell me something?” Brooke said eventually. “Do you have any interests that don’t relate to work?”

  “Of course. For one, I have a little place just outside the city, an old airfield a farmer used to own.”

  “What, you fly planes there?”

  Matthew nodded. “Small ones. There’s nothing more freeing than soaring high above the open country side, away from all this noise. I love my work, don’t get me wrong, and the money’s great, naturally. But no, this is not all of who I am…” He seemed quietly upset that Brooke had assumed that.

  She felt bad for thinking it.

  ***

  Brooke gladly agreed to have Matthew to walk her back to her apartment. It was quite a distance to walk on foot, but they enjoyed talking. The sun was just starting to set by the time they arrived outside her building.

  “Thank you for the pleasant day,” Brooke said.

  “Well, I was aiming for ‘pleasant,’ so I reached my goal.”

  They both laughed a little. Brooke added, “No, really, it was a lot more fun than I thought it would be, despite the odd places you thought a woman would enjoy on your first d…” She bit her tongue. Ah, crap.

  “Sorry, what was that? This is a first what?”

  “Stop it,” Brooke said, embarrassed but her heart still fluttering in an odd, and familiar, way. It hadn’t done that for a very long time.

  “Well, anyway. I will see you on Monday, okay?” He didn’t try to kiss her but seemed like he was awkwardly trying to decide whether he should or not.

  “Okay, bye. Thanks again, Matthew.” She gave him a big smile, but not too big. The amount that she cared about getting this part just right was driving her crazy. Why do you care so much what he thinks? she asked herself, as he walked across the street and hailed down a taxi. Is it because he’s your boss? It can’t be that you actually like this guy.

  But maybe she did. That was the problem. A huge problem.

  "He's not interested in you." Brooke almost tricked herself into thinking the voice was her own internal dialogue. It wasn't. She turned around and found a shadowy woman standing by a cement pillar in front of Brooke's apartment building.

  Was she there a second ago?

  The figure moved out into the light, but it was getting dark and the street lights weren’t on yet. It was a stunningly attractive woman, almost certainly younger than Brooke. "Hey, new girl, are you deaf?" She took out a slender cigarette from a silver case and lit it.

  "Who the hell are you?" Brooke demanded.

  The woman lit her cigarette and drew smoke from it. “I’m Myra.”

  “Is that supposed to mean something to me?” Brooke put on a harsh front, said it firmly.

  “Myra Johnston.”

  “Henry’s daughter?” Brooke gulped. This woman’s father was as much her boss as Matthew, and probably a lot richer.

  “Wow, you really are smart, aren’t you? Maybe you can figure out how to stay the hell away from Matthew, hmm?” She flicked her cigarette over by Brooke’s foot and slowly turned to walk way.

  Brooke spent the rest of the night wondering what the hell was going on.

  ***

  The launch date for the new software was coming up, and tradition dictated that the team went for their team building and bonding day. “I’m not sure I understand,” said Brooke to Carla when she was told about it. “We have this big release coming up, with deadlines crushing down al
l around us, and we’re going to take the day off to go, what, play laser tag or something?”

  “Flying, actually, this year,” said Carla. She was sipping at her coffee over some files, trying to eat her mid-morning snack while working, without making any mess.

  “Wow. Oh, so Matthew must be taking us out then?” asked Brooke with enthusiasm and maybe a touch of awe. Carla nodded.

  “You sound impressed,” she said, smiling through chocolate chip cookie crumbs. “Didn’t he tell you? He’s had a new plane for around ten months now, and just about everyone’s asked him if they can go for a ride in it, at some point or another. So this is what the team voted to do for their day of fun. It’s to blow off steam before the stress really hits.”

  The team-building day was scheduled on a Monday, to make sure that everyone really appreciated the time off. After all the work everyone had been putting in, it felt like they had a three-day weekend. Everyone met at 10 o’clock so they could sleep-in if they wanted.

  Matthew rented a small van to take the team out, and all ten of them loaded up and got ready for the nearly hour-long drive out into the ‘countryside.’

  Brooke hadn’t spoken to Matthew much, and not once alone, since that day with him. She was hoping that he’d assume she was busy with work, and she knew that he was busier than anyone. The worst part was, Brooke hadn’t actually spoken to Matthew about the incident with Myra outside of her building. She was too afraid of saying the wrong thing to the wrong person and getting herself fired.

  Carla was worried that they wouldn’t be able to get back in time for her to pick up her son from the after school sitter and had just call her to extend her stay for an extra hour. That conversation was enough distraction for Brooke to slip quietly onto the van without having to speak to Matthew too much.

  “It’s really not that far,” Darren, one of the younger men on the team, told Carla. “We’re not exactly going out into the wild wilderness. It’s just outside the city.” Darren was one of the programmers; a guy with a neck-beard and questionable personal hygiene. He was a demon at coding, but not much for social skills. He and one of the other code monkeys, Dale, were always hanging around each other, making obscure jokes that most people didn’t get.