I look at her curiously, wondering why she might worry about being in the spotlight. Everything about Charlie is delightful, and I imagine that whatever she did, she’d be well received. “What about you?” I ask. “What drew you to your job?”
“I can’t really pinpoint an exact source of my desire to work with computers like you can. It was just something I took to easily. And because the family business is business solutions, I naturally took my love of computers in that direction.
“Plus, I just like to help people. I enjoy being in the background, quietly supporting the people in the spotlight, helping them to have everything they need to really shine.
“I did an internship with a cybersecurity consulting firm during college. They worked with hospitals, financial companies, and government agencies to stress-test their internal systems and set up backup protocols. I was the one sitting in the corner with too much caffeine, flagging anomalies before the pros did.”
As she’s explaining, she hesitates a few times, probably trying to decide how to put into layman’s terms things that are way too technical. I’m glad, because what she does say is still abovemy level of computer knowledge. My computer knowledge is all related to architectural software, project management software, and researching on the internet. If anything goes wrong beyond that, I’m at a loss.
“And then Lancaster Business Solutions recruited me right out of college. Which, okay, I know it sounds like I’m just saying, ‘And then my parents hired me.’ But they didn’t hire me—hiring is done by the board with no input from the directors, so they couldn’t even suggest that they consider me. They found and recruited me all on their own.”
“Oof. Your parents own and run the business, and that doesn’t even get you an in? No automatic hire because you’re the boss’s kid? Not even consideration? That’s rough.”
She chuckles. “I get how ridiculous it sounds. It’s just that…” she pauses. “My job requires some very specialized skills, and if the person in my position doesn’t have them…” She pauses again. “Just trust me when I say that bad things would happen. So they couldn’t just hire me because I am a Lancaster—I had to have those skills.
“Anyway, with the exception of today, I love it, and I’m really good at it.” She looks at me from the corner of her eye, like she’s trying to hold back a smile. “Probably because no one sees the person behind the computer.”
I chuckle.
“You know, you were right.”
“I love being right,” I say. “What was I right about?”
“About needing to get out of my own head if I ever wanted to sleep tonight,andabout this being an excellent way to do it.”
The night air was a good temperature right after we’d run around the grass, but now it’s getting chilly. Charlie looks at her watch, which prompts me to look at mine. Oof. It’s way later than I thought.
“Morning is still going to come just as early,” Charlie says, “so maybe we’d better head in.”
We both get up, and I grab the blanket. As we are almost separating to go to our own stairs leading up to our patios, I blurt out, “Come and see my job site. I mean, I know you did once before, but a lot has changed since then.” Including how well I know Charlie. I’m not even sure I knew anything about her at all when she appeared at the theater my first week there.
She smiles a wide, genuine smile. “I’d like that.”
I don’t know about Charlie, but I’m going to be heading to bed feeling much more blissful than I would have if I had never come out to my patio tonight. Especially because the image of Charlie, running around the grass in her pajamas, will also be forever burned into my mind.
CHAPTER 9
THIS IS NOT A DRILL
CHARLIE
Iam wearing a fun pink top and my one pair of jeans that are both super cute and super comfortable, my belly is pleasantly full of street tacos, and I just got to relax at the movies with Reese and my brother, Miles. I lean back in my seat in Miles’s car. “Thanks for tonight. After this week, I really needed it.”
Miles glances over at me. “Are you referring to work or your water woes?”
“Work. Other than the fact that our kitchen is completely unusable, the water woes have been manageable.”
Reese laughs. “She’s only saying that because it has provided her with ample flirting opportunities with our neighbor, Owen.”
“Oh, yeah?” Miles says.
At one point, I might have hated that Reese brought the subject up with a protective brother present because then I’d have to answer too many questions. But lately, I’ve loved every chance I get to gush about Owen.
“He’s just so cute! And sweet and funny and thoughtful.”
“You should hear her when he’s not around,” Reese says. “She’s basically one heart-eye emoji away from knitting his name into a throw pillow.”
I laugh. “He’s worth the embroidery.”
