“Did I kiss Lucas?”
Harper walked into the office the following day with a hazy memory of what happened after her third glass of Strawberry Daiquiri the other night. She walked in through the double doors and went straight to her desk. She had to have a few moments before she was finally able to start with her daily tasks.
“Did I really kiss Lucas?” she asked herself again. She couldn’t. There was no way she’d have the willpower to kiss her boss. Slowly, she touched her lips with the tip of her fingers. If the kiss had been a dream, then it had to be the most realistic dream she ever had.
Lucas had sent her a message that he was running late and asked her to reschedule some of his morning callback requests. She had been Lucas’ assistant long enough to know or notice if something had changed. It might have really been awkward if they really had kissed. And his message was nothing out of the ordinary.
“No. Lucas and I didn’t kiss,” she told herself quietly when she received another message from him telling her that he was on his way up.
Harper immediately stood up with three thick folders in her hand and hurried over to Lucas’ office. Smelling the scent of the room that had become too familiar and comforting for her, she smiled before placing the folders on the desk. She walked out of the room back to her desk when the glass doors to the open space floor opened. She stopped in her tracks.
Lucas walked out into the hallway. His khaki trench coat was wet. He paused, sighed, smoothed down his hair, then walked down the hallway and stopped when he saw Harper.
"Good morning, Harper?" He smiled. “I hope you brought an umbrella with you.”
“I think I have.” Harper smiled. “Everything's on your desk,”
“You’re the best. As always,” he said. “You really should consider not leaving me,” he teased, then went to his office and closed the door behind him.
Why does he have to be so beautiful?
Harper smiled and went back to his desk, and for a moment, she had considered canceling on her job interview that afternoon. But when she thought about the stress and how much she had become less and less in love with her job―then there’s Alex―she pursed her lips and stood up.
She made her way to Lucas’ office. She knocked, and when she heard him granting her permission, she opened the door almost instantly.
Lucas beamed at her behind piles of papers on his desk. “Hey!”
Harper adjusted her glasses and walked over to his desk. "Hi.” She smiled."Is everything ok?"
Lucas’s eyebrows furrowed, confused. "I think so. Why?"
“Nothing. You were just late. You’re rarely late.”
“I had some family thing that couldn’t wait.” He stood up and walked around his desk toward her.
She nodded. “Thanks, by the way, for last night. Kendal said I was so drunk you had to carry me to my room―are you blushing? Why are you blushing?” She laughed, slightly embarrassed over the fact.
“Am I? Um-no. I’m-no…” Lucas stammered. Without thinking, his hand is on the back of his head, ruffling his hair. "Not―you know what, you’re welcome. Your friends were pretty buzzed. I―I couldn’t leave you there…alone…drunk.”
And out of the blue, Harper laughed. "I was, wasn’t I? I’ve always been a lightweight. So what happened? I tried to remember what happened, but…I was really drunk."
Lucas looked sheepishly at his own shoes first, and then at her. "You…don’t remember anything?"
Harper shook her head. “It’s really very cloudy up here, in my head.” She waited for him to say anything, but he only stared at her for a moment, until her cheeks felt warm. “Lucas?”
“Nothing. Nothing embarrassing happened. Don’t worry. You slept like a baby on the way home, and you were already snoring by the time you reached your bed.”
“I am such a dork!” Harper laughed loudly. “Shit! Now you know my dirty little secret!”
“I guess I do now, so maybe you shouldn’t really leave. I think you should stay and keep an eye on me, make sure your dirty little secret stays a secret.”
“Actually, I-ah, I have an interview this afternoon.” Harper bit her lower lip. “Can I leave early?”
Lucas gave her a lopsided smile. “No wonder you’re being all too cute on me!”
They laughed together.
“Wish me luck?”
“Why should I? You’re leaving me to work for another cold-blooded corporate monster who secretly drinks whisky in-between meetings and who goes home to a wife who wished she had run away with some hipster before their wedding night!”
Harper was laughing hard now. “Wow! You’ve really given it that much thought. Well, for your information, the company is a start-up owned by four college geeks whose parents are rich enough to finance their kids’ dream of making the world a better place.”
Lucas’s face cringed. “That’s worse than I thought!”
She chuckled, but she seemed determined. “I’m sorry, boss, but you’re not going to change my mind.”
He took a deep sigh; his eyes focused on her. “Even if I―”
She stayed silent, waiting for him to continue, but nothing. “Even if what?”
His lips turned into an encouraging smile instead. “Nothing. I wish you good luck on that interview. I can give them a call, but I don’t really think you need it. You are a very good, articulate, very hardworking, and brilliant woman. They’d be insane not to hire you.”
“Thanks, Lucas. I greatly appreciate it.”
* * *
"Why do you want to work at Green Life, Ms. Fritz?"
Harper stared down the young man, who introduced himself as Lloyd Castor, across the table and heard the annoying tapping of his fingers.
“Because I care about the preservation of our species. And I believe that working for a company like Green Life is the first step for me to help protect life. And I really think that every business should actually move their companies to zero waste. And since I think that honesty should be one of the fundamentals in everything that we do, I have to be honest with you now that I haven’t really been living a zero-waste lifestyle. But I have decided to finally make a stand and work for what I really believe in; put my effort and dedication into something valuable.”
Harper knew that Lloyd Castor’s forced smile was meant to be unnerving, and she reacted in kind, knowing the skill well herself after working for a top corporate like Carmichaels, but she was sure bragging about such things wasn’t helpful in a job interview.
And she wanted this job. She’d given more than enough to her current job that didn’t really fit her values—case in point, Alexander Carmichael. And working for corporate monsters, as Lucas had put it, like Alex, left a bitter taste in her mouth and eyesores.
Lloyd Castor waved towards the laptop in front of him, where Harper would guess her file was already open. They didn’t require any resumes on paper, so she had to fill out some questions they sent to her email. Paperless, they said.
“Okay. Now, how do you think your previous manager or coworker would describe working with you?”
She smiled when she thought about Lucas.
“He would―Lucas, I mean, Mr. Weston, would tell you that I’m,” she paused, remembering her recent conversation with her friend. “That I’m articulate, very hardworking, and a brilliant woman.” She smiled at Lloyd Castor. “And you’d be insane not to hire me.”
Lloyd Castor’s tight-lipped smile relaxed. “Really? He’d tell us that if we’d call him now.”
Harper leaned forward, keeping eye contact with him. “Sure.”
“And what about your CEO? Alexander Carmichael?”
Her jaw clenched, and her whole demeanor suddenly changed. “He’d say,” she cleared her throat. “He’d say that, that he likes my guts, I’m tough, and that I have a backbone,” she said, recalling her conversation with Alex when they were stuck in the elevator.
“A backbone?”
“Yes. A…backbone. I say things as they are. I’m not the type who looks the other way.”
Lloyd Castor nodded at her thoughtfully. “Alexander Carmichael is a very reputable man…”
She wanted to roll her eyes but didn't. She held his gaze.
“…and if he thinks you have a…backbone, I guess we’d really have to consider you.”
“What? With all due respect, I think I’d rather you consider me because you see some potential in me. Because you feel that I could be a strong addition to your team. Because you believe I can bring something to the table―not because of what Alex―Mr. Carmichael said about me.”
“Ms. Fritz―”
“What if he’d tell you I’m a nutcase, or I’m passive-aggressive? What if he tells you things that I’m clearly not? Would you just take his words and not give me a chance?”
“Are you a nutcase and passive-aggressive, Ms. Fritz?”
Harper said abruptly, “No, I am not.”
Lloyd Castor smiled. “Then, good. Because we certainly do not want a nutcase in our company. We just started three years ago. We don’t need that drama.”
“That’s great to hear then.”
“I think I’ve heard enough. We will call you in 2-3 days,” Lloyd Castor said, folding his hands and then comfortably leaning back into his chair.
Harper nodded and slowly rose from her seat, regretting losing her cool. “Thank you for your time.”