Page 109 of Last Night Was Fun

Alice simply smiled at her over her shoulder. “Yes.”

Emmy didn’t have time to ask another question because the journey to the director’s office was brief. They were outside his door in a matter of seconds.

Alice paused to knock twice before opening the door.

“Ah, good morning, Alice, Ms.Jameson,” Director Allen said with a nod and welcomed them in. He sat at his busy desk teetering with binders—some filled with reports Emmy herself had written—a coffee mug, his computer monitor, and a handful of signed baseball memorabilia. More collector’s items lined his walls: jerseys, framed photos, a glossy bat, an old catcher’s mitt Emmy knew had belonged to his father. “Have a seat,” he said to Emmy and nodded at the chair across from his.

Emmy nervously sank into it. She shot a glance at Alice to see her leaning against a filing cabinet with a tiny grin on her lips.

They were both in too good of a mood for the purpose of the meeting to be a reprimand.

“Sorry, what is this about?” she asked. Her voice had risen to an awkward pitch.

Director Allen smiled at her. “I just wanted to officially congratulate you on your promotion to senior analyst. Alice tells me you’re more than ready to take on more responsibilities. I look forward to your continued excellent work.” He stuck out his hand for Emmy to shake, but she was still three steps behind.

Her head was spinning.

“I’m sorry, what?”

The director glanced at Alice, hand still hovering in midair.

“The job is yours, Emmy,” Alice said. “We wanted to catch you before you got settled at your desk because you can move into your new office today. Congrats.”

Emmy felt like she’d slipped into an alternate reality—and not the type where her secret pen pal turned out to be her archnemesis. But one where the reality she’d constructed shattered.

“But Gabe took that job,” she blurted, still confused.

Alice and the director swapped another look. “Mr.Olson?” the director said.

“Yes. I heard him discussing it with you yesterday morning. You said he’d be in his new office by the end of the day.”

Director Allen’s face pulled into a frown. He looked like his patience was wearing thin. Emmy knew his time for sit-downs was limited, so he probably expected this meeting to last no longer than a minute.

“Ms.Jameson, Mr.Olson requested a department transfer. He’s been moved to the training staff. I assumed you knew that given the, um,personalnature of your relationship.”

A wave of heat rushed up into Emmy’s face. Clearly, wires had gotten crossed somewhere, but she wasn’t about to make more of a fool of herself by admitting it.

“Of course,” she said with a forced smile while the bricks inside her brain crumbled and fell. “Of course I knew that,” she repeated. She stood and extended her hand to shake his. “Thank you for the promotion, sir. I couldn’t be more thrilled.”

Couldn’t be more confusedwas more like it, but that was not a conversation to have with a man whose valuable time she’d already taken enough of.

“Excellent,” he said with a nod and another grin. “I’ll look forward to seeing you in the next department meeting. Best of luck in your new position.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Emmy was reeling when she and Alice returned to the hallway.Alice had apparently been waiting for privacy for questions, too, because she pinched Emmy’s elbow and towed her into her office.

“What was that?” she asked with an arched brow.

Emmy was still finding her footing. She sat on the edge of Alice’s desk as Alice shut the door. She took two deep breaths. Pieces were sliding into place but still not lining up. Snippets of the conversation she’d heard yesterday ran through her mind.It’s always been a dream of mine. Your new office. What about Ms.Jameson? That won’t be a problem.

“Sorry. I’m confused,” she said to Alice. “What happened with Gabe?”

Alice gave her a skeptical look. “Do you two not talk at home?”

“Alice, please!” Emmy snapped, feeling herself spiraling with all the unknowns.

“Okay!” Alice said with a befuddled shake of her head. “He emailed me on Sunday saying he urgently needed to talk. You know me; I was working anyway, so I gave him a call. He asked what it would take to get him transferred to the training staff and, if the transfer was possible, if that would eliminate the problematic nature of your relationship because you’d no longer be in the same department. He told me— Are you okay?”