Ro glanced at her to judge her intentions, then went back to his snowflake. “Alright, let me think.”
She waited a few seconds, then took up her paper and scissors again while he thought about it. In a moment he said “Say this,” and gave her a short sentence to repeat. She had to hear it a few times, and he had to correct her pronunciation, but eventually she was saying it and he was just listening. She said it a couple of times, and he got a look on his face that was almost shy.
“Are you blushing?” she asked, nudging his leg playfully, and he avoided her eyes.
“Tsss, I am not blushing,” he objected. “Balin do not blush, our scales are obviously too dark.”
She laughed, enjoying this far too much. She didn’t care whatever he’d made her say, whether it had been completely filthy, or confessing her undying love, or telling him he was the best in the world. It was just a game. The truth might be that she wanted to say those things to him, but this way she could say them and not be held accountable. And she wanted him to want to hear her say those things to him.
“What did you make me say?” she asked, sounding like a teenager at a sleepover instead of a grown woman in her office.
“I am not telling you,” he grouched.
“Should I say it again?”
“No.”
“Never?”
He grumbled quietly.
“Should I just forget it then, if I’m not allowed to ever say it again, to anyone?”
“You can remember it…” he hesitated, and she giggled. She had him. “But don’t say it to anyone else.”
“Okay, I won’t. I’ll only say it to you,” she promised, her smile faltering. That was a bit close to home, given that there was a number of things she wanted to say to only him but couldn’t.
She let the game come to an end, focusing for a minute on her decorations. When they spoke again, she made sure to keep it innocent and light, shallow, far away from anything that was really going on with her. They talked about work and the office gossip.
The big news was that a week and a half ago the UNE had cleared DETI to start accepting the refugees who had been stuck in space for almost three months. Just when the overcrowding in the dorms looked like it was getting resolved, another motherload of people were brought down. It was just like the night the borders closed. Intake were processing hundreds of applications a day. Enquiries’ phone lines were lighting up every second. Maggie and Ro had no time to talk to each other. Lunch breaks were down to twenty minutes.
But they were coping. They had been given a couple of days’ notice to get prepared, and everyone was happy to get the marooned passengers down at last. No one begrudged them that.
Derek had said he was pleased with how well Maggie had done with Ro, getting him trained up and taking cases on his own in such a short time, and how well adapted and integrated into the team he seemed. Maggie insisted that Ro deserved the credit for that, not her, but Derek had maintained that he was impressed. He said she had handled the incident with the Balor caller with a cool head, following procedure without hesitation, while prioritising staff security and care. Maggie just thought of it as being nice, but if he wanted to look at it that way, she wouldn’t argue. He had all but promised her that promotion, and she was looking forward to the recognition she had earned, and the pay rise.
She would tell Ro when it became official. She didn’t want him to feel pressured to perform or risk her promotion. It wouldn’t be fair of her to put that responsibility on him.
They bounced around different topics. It turned out they were watching the same show in the evenings and talked about that. Ro had a pretty unique view of human dramas, because he was more removed than her. Maggie enjoyed the intrigue and twists, whereas for him it was almost a comedy about how crazy humans could be, a show meant to shock and amaze Teissians about the people they now shared a planet with. Maggie assured him that real life was rarely like that, and he seemed almost disappointed.
Ro told her about the people he had met at the dorms, friends he was making. He had bought more clothes from the market and the merchant had asked about her. Maggie got the impression Ro wasn’t happy about that, and smiled, though she didn’t say anything. She could pretend it was jealousy, and she didn’t want that fantasy to be dashed.
Kez was off sick, and Maggie asked about him. Ro assured her he was fine and would be back to work in a few days.
They did good work but Maggie wasn’t going to keep them there all night. After an hour and a half, she put the materials away. They would be doing it again the next night and the night after that, and every night until the day of the party when they would have to take the whole afternoon off to set everything up. She had a handful of volunteers for that though, probably helped by the fact that it meant getting off work, or at least a change of pace. If she and Ro couldn’t get enough done before then, she was planning on calling on Ben for help, since he was usually a soft touch and she knew he didn’t have a family waiting for him like Nina or a hectic social calendar like Lucy.
She would miss having this excuse to spend the extra hours with Ro, but soon after the party she would be leaving for her own winter holidays with her family at her parents’ house. Maybe that would take her mind off him, and give her time to get over him.
She wasn’t sure she wanted to get over him though. Maybe they shouldn’t date because they worked together, and maybe he didn’t like her like that, but… She wasn’t any better off without him. She wasn’t sure what her life would look like on the other side of this crush. Logically she knew she’d been just fine before she met him and she’d be fine again, but she liked liking him, for the most part. She didn’t want to give that up just for the sake of, what? Propriety? Professionalism? The only reason she would accept for giving up on him was if he asked her to.
Too bad she was too much of a coward to go after him, worried about losing his friendship. She sighed.
“Maggie?” Ro said, obviously having heard her as they headed out of the building, waving goodnight to the guards on duty.
“Sorry. It’s nothing,” she said, forcing a smile to reassure him.
Chapter 14
Maggie surveyed her work and felt proud. She and her volunteers, including Ro, had spent all afternoon balancing on chairs to get the decorations up, unfolding tables and plating the food up, mixing punch in huge bowls, counting cups, making sure the speakers were safe and plugged in, that the music played… Maggie knew from past experience exactly how the fake tree slotted together, but Ro and Ben had looked like they were bonding over the instructions, so she had stayed where she was, untangling the string of lights with Samir from Accommodation.
She had given Ro a gift of a seasonal sweater, which was too short for him. It was black with a white snowflake pattern and the words “Ho Ho Ho” on the front. She had had to explain about Santa Claus, and he didn’t really get the appeal of a strange man breaking into your house while you slept once a year, but he still seemed to love the sweater, or at least the fact that she had given it to him. He had changed into it in the bathroom, and she had suggested he push the sleeves up to hide the fact that they were several inches too short.
She had waved him off when he had apologised for not getting her a gift, saying he hadn’t known he was supposed to. She had just wanted to make sure he got something this year. Teissians almost certainly wouldn’t celebrate any of the religious or commercial holidays that marked the end of the year, and she just wanted him to feel included after all the work he had put into the party with her. And she thought it suited him.
It was now after five, and people were beginning to wander in. Enquiries was the biggest department on the ground floor, and they had booked out the biggest meeting room, and Maggie had invited the smaller departments to join in. She had sent named invitations to the security guards who worked their floor the most, and the woman who worked the information desk in the lobby. The tree, now assembled and looking good with its decorations and
snowman on top, was ruling over a swelling pile of Secret Santa gifts. The catering table was still neat and tidy, though Maggie would need to keep an eye on it to top it up later. She had made sure there were Teissian treats this year, though the things Ro had excitedly requested sounded baffling at best to her.
She was wearing a red dress with a big poofy skirt and a Santa hat. She considered that as she had put this whole thing together, she should play the role of Mrs Claus and look it too. She wasn’t worried about embarrassing herself in front of her colleagues, she was more concerned with making herself instantly recognisable as the person in charge. As much as she encouraged the rest of the staff to dress for the theme, only about half ever did. The men tended to wear sweaters or seasonal ties, the women might put on a party dress or a sweater. Lilah from Accounts wore a skirt with holly on it every year.
They had stacked most of the tables against the wall to clear a space for dancing on a foldable imitation-wood floor, but left plenty of seats around the tables that remained for later in the night or when people wanted to eat. The paper snowflakes dangled en masse from the ceiling on strings of different lengths in the hope of creating the illusion that they were falling. The walls were pinned with fake holly and mistletoe was twined liberally over the doorframes. The tables were strung with the paper chains, and edged with fake snow. For California, Maggie had done the best she could to imply a winter wonderland.
The party would be as multi-faith as Maggie could make it. The music mostly centred on snow and spending time with family and loved ones, bar for a few classic carols from the religions that had them. There were a few angels around the room, a few menorahs, a few Santas, but Maggie kept it to a minimum to make sure everyone was included. Mostly the different holidays were represented by the staff of those faiths in what they wore and brought along.
Ro had explained that the Balin at least didn’t have holidays, as they didn’t have calendars, judging the turn of the seasons not by the sun or the moon but by the temperature underground. They had no religion either, so he was excited to see everyone celebrating, even if it was just an office party. She had asked if he had any plans on the 25th, but he hadn’t at the time. He didn’t seem to mind. Since DETI would be running on a skeleton crew for at least a week, he implied that he would find other Balin to celebrate with on the days of mandatory leave, and work the rest of them. It was the Teissians and people from cultures who didn’t celebrate their winter holidays at that time who kept the offices ticking over, and Ro implied that he wanted to make up for the time he had taken off sick.
Maggie had set the music playing at five, and as people arrived they smiled at what she and the others had done to the room. Ro stepped up to her side.
“Has the party started?” he asked. “Are we finished?”
Maggie laughed. “I’m not finished until everyone goes home,” she said. “But yes, I’d say the party has officially started.”
“What should I do?” he said, looking like he was vibrating with excitement.
She grinned. It was contagious. “Whatever you want. Get some food. Drink some punch. Talk to people. Dance.”
“Dance? No, I don’t dance,” he objected, shaking his head.
“You don’t dance?” Maggie laughed. She’d heard that before from a dozen guys. “Just wait until you get some punch in you, you’ll be dancing like never before.”
“I won’t,” he argued.
“Is it a Balin thing then? Not dancing?”
“Oh no, the Balin love to dance, except me.”
Maggie looked at him. He seemed resolute, but she could tell he was just embarrassed and hiding. “I’ll get a dance out of you before this night is through,” she promised him.
“Maggie…” he objected.
“I want one, and I think I’ve earned one.”
“But-”
“Ro, I’ve made up my mind.” He looked like he wanted to argue some more so she added, “Consider it your gift to me, in exchange for the sweater.”
He sighed a growl, muttering something about her.
“Careful, one day I’ll be able to understand when you do that,” she said, smiling as she gave his arm a bump.
He gave her a weak smile back. “You’ll regret it.”
“I don’t think so.” She didn’t tell him she had a reason that made her sure she would enjoy it. Even if he really couldn’t dance, and stabbed her foot with his claws, she’d risk it for a chance to be that close to him. “Now let’s get some food, I’m starving.”
They perused the table, making up for the dinner they weren’t going to get by piling disposable plates high with hors d’oeuvres, and Maggie helped herself to the punch. She loved the stuff, but she was normally too busy to drink enough to get drunk. There was a non-alcoholic option, but she was only allowed to drink at work once a year so she was going to do it. In her opinion, staying sober until the end of the party would be a waste of all her hard work.
Ro copied her example, and they chatted good-naturedly while they ate, as the first hour or so was the least demanding period of the party for her. They would do Secret Santas between six and seven to accommodate everyone, as some people couldn’t stay late and some people went for dinner before coming to the party. After about six, the room would start filling up, and she would be playing hostess for the rest of the night - refreshing the catering table, chasing people away from the music station, answering questions about what was planned for when, and chatting with wall flowers, introducing them to each other to make sure everyone had a good time.
Different people from Enquiries came over as they arrived to congratulate her on her work, until it became impossible to hold a conversation, so she pointed Kez out to Ro and went to mingle, her brain focusing on keeping a running tally of how many people were in the room. She complimented people on their themed clothes if they had them, caught up on the progress of cases with people she didn’t know very well, welcomed people from other sections who looked lost, gave air-kisses to the security teams as they popped in briefly for snacks while on shift.
She curated the food table, clearing used plates and cups and swapping empty dishes for full ones, making sure the labels were in the right place, then breezed on to Secret Santa, turning the volume down on the music. It took a good thirty minutes to get through it all, maintaining a bright cheer throughout as she read off the names on the tags. She hadn’t signed up to it, knowing she would be the one handing them out, and not needing the extra job to think about.
Her eyes kept drifting to Ro where he stood against the wall with Kez, Ben, and Jason. He smiled at her whenever their eyes met, but she knew he was watching her. She could feel it. Granted, she held the attention of the room while the music wasn’t playing and everyone was waiting for their name to be called, but there was something about the way he seemed to ignore the people around him in favour of focussing on her that made her forget what she was saying.
When all the gifts were given out, she turned the music back up and got another glass of punch to soothe her dry throat. She sat down. She knew from previous years that she wouldn’t be needed now for a while. There would be a lull for the next hour or so as one by one the people with families to go home to left, and before the people who were coming to drink and dance and flirt began to leave their inhibitions behind.
Ro sat down in the chair across the table from her and she smiled at him. He pushed a plate of food her way.
“You are doing a great job,” he said, his voice a soothing purr she really needed just then.
“Thanks,” she said, gratefully picking some mini-quiches and cocktail sausages off the plate. “Are you having a good time?”
“Yes,” he said. “You are very busy.”
She smiled. “It’s only one night a year, and everyone appreciates it.”
“I thought I would be able to talk to you tonight, but you are needed by everyone else.”
Maggie was glad her mouth was full and she could take her time replyi
ng. She sensed a potential minefield. She couldn’t give too much away. She swallowed. “I know, but there are quiet times, like now. I’m still counting on my dance later, I’m coming to collect so be ready.”
He groaned and she grinned wickedly.
She couldn’t let it go though, the opportunity he had given her. “If it helps, I’d rather be spending tonight with you too,” she said, watching him for his reaction.
He met her eyes and held them, studying her, reading her. She made sure he couldn’t see how much he meant to her. After a moment, he smiled, holding out his cup for her to tap with hers.
“Cheers,” he said.
“Cheers,” she replied, only more confused as he obviously deflected her. Maybe she’d said the wrong thing after all. She downed the rest of her punch.
Ben approached, giving her a mock bow. “Can I have this dance, boss?” he said. He was wearing a blue sweater with a menorah on the front in white.
Maggie laughed. She couldn’t really say no, but she knew there was nothing behind it. “Alright. Ro, I’ll catch up to you later, okay?” she said, giving him what she thought was a meaningful look as she took Ben’s hand. Ro gave her a tight smile that fell from his face as soon as he put it there and held his cup up in a toast.
Ben pulled her out onto the dancefloor, which was sparsely populated at this early hour, though a few people were making their way there. The song was an upbeat cover of an old classic, and Ben held her at arm’s length, his hand resting lightly on her hip, the other taking hers and holding it up like a wineglass. For all her talk, Maggie couldn’t really dance with a man, not properly. She’d never learned how, but she could make a go of it. All that was required of them was a jokey imitation of a quickstep, and the two of them obligingly bopped around in a circle to the music, Maggie’s free hand on his shoulder.
“Can you see Ro over my shoulder?” Ben asked out of the blue.
Maggie glanced at the seat she’d just left. “Yeah, why?”
The New Guy (Office Aliens Book 2) Page 11
