Page 23 of Elevate With Me


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“I thought you might.” My lips twitched. “Also, thanks for the heads up. Maybe you could also advise me on how to approach the subject of asking her out? You know, in a way that doesn’t make her run the other way. Or should I forget about it?”

The question just slipped out. I pretended to play it cool while she laughed at me some more, and the elevator dinged, announcing we’d reached the first floor, or ground floor, or whatever.

Glen stepped out, her slippers dragging on the tiles a little, then turned to point her finger at my chest. “I like you, so that’s a good start.”

That’s all she said before shuffling her way to the main entrance and leaving me wondering what that meant. Overall, I didn’t learn anything new whatsoever from this interaction, while she walked away with some juicy gossip material and possibly a red flag to shove in Haylee’s face in warning. Stalking? Kidnapping? Oh boy, that went worse than expected.

I was still standing in the hallway when Glen marched back through the door and pointed another finger at me. I was anticipating the worst when she blurted, “You didn’t happen to bake those pizza things yourself did you?”

“Actually, I did.” That’s all I said.Just keep it short.

“Okay, I like you a lot,” she said, then marched out again.

Well... okay then. One teeny tiny problem right there, she wasn’

t Haylee.

I walked into the conference room in the Lewis & Walker Law Group ten minutes late, which was better than the last time. We shall not mention the last time, that was when Haylee needed her mattress carried up twelve flights of stairs. Let’s just say, I’ve made better impressions.

Lewis was a man in his sixties. His hair had turned almost as gray as his eyes, and his face held more wrinkles than anyone else in the room. He turned his eyes on me and smiled wryly before the rest of the room turned their attention from Walker, who’d been showing the first slide to my presentation to the group and saying something informative, I’m sure.

While Lewis held humor in his eyes, Walker’s gaze was strict and judging. She tapped her wrist with an index finger as her mouth formed a thin, unpleased line. Perfectly controlled curls framed that hardened face, failing to add a softer touch to her very lawyery appearance.

“You’re late, Mr Ombrello,” Walker barked, before she moved away from the spotlight to sit on the empty chair next to Lewis. “I hope this is not becoming a habit.”

“Give the boy a break,” Lewis chuckled. “At least he ain’t sweating like a sausage on a heated pan this time around. That’s an improvement, don’t you think?”

I ignored both the friendly jab and the narrowing eyes of Walker, who didn’t seem to think a joke was called for. Some of the people in the room could not hide their smiles, and Walker’s eyes narrowed even further as I took the place she’d occupied before. Nice and centered, with everyone’s eyes fixed on me.

“What’s an improvement,” I said, “is the new system we are implementing, and I can say that for a fact.”

Even Walker had to agree with that, since she’d gotten a close look at the product I’d been working on for them the past six months.

“We are already beta testing the functions, and what I’ve heard is that everything runs smoothly, which is why we are gathered here today. It is time to switch fully over to Rembre systems, and I’m going to explain how it is going to work.” I met the eyes of the closest department heads, before I switched to the next slide on my presentation and resumed describing the process step by step. Once at the end of my presentation, I said, “Remember, I’ll be here for another month to make sure everything runs smoothly. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out. After that, the system updates and occurring issues will be taken care of remotely.”

While everyone piled out of the conference room, those last words kept rolling through my mind over, and over again. Especially the part about me being here for another month. Just a month longer. That came as a stab out of nowhere, since even though I was expecting to go back to Colorado soon, I had not thought I’d find something worth staying for. The thing is, I had no clue where my attraction to Haylee was going, but having only one month to find out got my stomach twisting uncomfortably.

I hadn’t realized me and the two partners were the only ones left in the conference room, when Walker turned her scowling attention toward me. “What is it about ‘sweating like a sausage’ Lewis was talking about?”

I closed my eyes, sighing. “It was an emergency meeting on a Saturday. I was helping a friend with something heavy. It won’t happen again.”

Walker’s narrowed eyes did not stray from me. “Make sure that it won’t. This is a respectable workplace. Image is important, and I will not tolerate undisciplined behaviour during your employment.”

“Of course, I understand.”

The thin line of Mrs Walker’s lips didn’t even twitch. I imagined that stare scaring the shit out of any witness and having them blurt out all the hidden evidence that’d save the case. It didn’t work on me since I had nothing to hide, and my grandmother had given me plenty of disciplinary glares during my teenage years. She’d also squinted at all the girls I’d considered dating and the one I managed to convince to actually tolerate dating me for a time.

“Don’t listen to her, Luke,” Lewis chuckled. “Discipline isn’t everything. You’re doing splendid with the program.”

I was glad when I finally escaped the office. Lawyers kept ungodly hours at most times, it was more so when they had set a goal to finish something before heading home. Today the entire office had been convinced they needed to learn the new program inside and out and had me running from one computer to the next, explaining the same functions over and over again, until I grew sick of hearing my own voice. Apparently they too thought a month would pass by in the blink of an eye.

When I reached the apartment building, I slowed down my walk, searching the parking lot for a familiar shape, but of course, she wasn’t there. I practically dragged my feet to the front door, craning my neck to see behind me and almost stopping when a bus turned a corner. She wasn’t on it.

Just one month, I repeated to myself. A week had passed in a hurry, and I hadn’t caught a sight of Haylee. A month wouldn’t be all that much slower.Forget it.

I reached the elevator and stared at the closed doors. I couldn’t forget it, though. Fuck, I couldn’t forget it. Was she up there in her apartment already? Was she on her way home? What should I do? Surely, there were guidelines for this type of situation.

Minutes ticked by, and I hadn’t pushed the call button. An elderly woman entered and gave me a strange look as I kept on standing in the hallway after the elevator opened its doors for her. The hum of it riding up accompanied my uncertainty. I groaned, walking to the mailboxes and fumbling around in front of mine longer than necessary, all the while keeping my eyes on the door.