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“Isn’t she?” Farah said. “I’m stopping at the hospital tonight to see her. I can’t wait - I have baby fever like you wouldn’t believe.”
I smiled at her before stirring my soup and eating a spoonful. Farah studied me. “Hey, are you okay this week?”
“I am, why?” I said.
“I don’t know. You seem sad.”
“I’m not.”
“Mr. Cross isn’t being awful, is he?”
“Not at all,” I said. “Honestly, I haven’t seen much of him this week. He’s been holed up with the financial department as they make the final push to finish the financial statements. He’s not really giving me work, so I’ve been helping out with the admin pool.”
“Yeah, Amanda mentioned you were helping them out,” Farah said. Her phone dinged, and she read the message before laughing and typing rapidly.
I ate another spoonful of soup. It was Wednesday afternoon, and I was a little sad despite what I’d told Farah. Which was annoying as fuck. Being unhappy because I’d barely seen or spoken to Deacon for the last three days was frustrating. Despite everything I knew, I still acted like we were in some kind of relationship.
“Any plans for tonight?” Farah asked.
“No,” I said. Deacon hadn’t booked me for tonight. I wasn’t surprised. He’d been at the office late on Monday and Tuesday, and I expected tonight - hell, the entire week - to be no different. I’d offered to stay late every night to help with any admin work that might come up, but he’d waved me off with a distracted smile.
There wasn’t a need for me to stay, but I’d still been disappointed by his dismissal. I sighed and stirred my soup again. I needed to get the hell out of this funk I was in. It wasn’t doing me any good.
Gary walked into the lunchroom and made a beeline for our table. I groaned and hid my annoyance with a faint smile as he stopped beside us. “Riley, the spreadsheet is wrong.”
I set my spoon down. “I double-checked the numbers.”
“The formulas are fucked,” Gary said with a scowl, his gaze dipping to my breasts. “You didn’t do them right.”
“I didn’t do the formulas. You did,” I said firmly.
His scowl deepened. “I didn’t do them.”
“Yes, you did,” I said. “I can show you your initial email acknowledging that you had done the formulas and just needed me to input the client information.”
Gary sighed and ran a hand through his hair before staring at my tits again. “I don’t have time to redo the formulas, and all three of my girls are busy.”
Farah rolled her eyes. “Don’t call them your girls, Gary. They’re admin staff and work for all the advisors, not just you.”
“I’m happy to help with it,” I said.
“Good. I need them in half an hour,” he said.
“I’m not finished my lunch for another half hour,” I said, “but I can work on them after lunch and have them to you by two.”
“That’s not good enough,” he said.
“That’s what I’m offering,” I said. “But if you’d prefer to do them now yourself, I understand.”
His face reddened, and he said, “I expected more from you, Riley. I’d hate to have Aiden hear about you not being a team player, especially after that nasty business with Rainer.”
I gave him a cool look. “Go ahead and speak to Mr. Wright about my lack of team spirit. I’ll be sure to share with him how much work I’ve done for you and the advisor team this week, and I know the rest of the team and the admin staff will back me up.”
Gary ran his hand through his hair again, making it stand up in stiff little spikes thanks to the gel slicked through it. “You can have it finished by two?”
“Yes,” I said.
“Fine,” he said. “I’ll put the file on your desk.”
