“Oh, Harker.” Tobias’ voice was closer. He must’ve walked to the door. “I have extra tickets to the opera on Saturday. Do you and Alison want to go?”
“No. You know I hate the opera. I have no idea how you and Merri can stand listening to people screeching in a foreign language.”
“Because we enjoy culture and adult things. Have you ever considered that Alison might like to go?”
Alison cringed. What was Tobias doing? She’d coached him for twenty minutes, but he always wanted to add his spin.
“Alison? She doesn’t like opera,” said Harker.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. I’m sure.” Harker sounded bored. He was probably already looking at the computer.
“Did you ask her if she liked opera?”
Tobias was messing up everything. This wasn’t going to work. She’d have to figure out another way to get Harker to say her Barkerism of the day.
“I don’t need to ask her. I’ve spent enough time with her. I know what she likes.”
Alison rolled her eyes. That man was so sure of himself. She couldn’t wait to win this bet and see the surprise on his handsome face when he lost.
“Come on. The woman might like something you don’t know about or maybe she wants to try something new.”
“She doesn’t.”
“You don’t know that.” Tobias sounded disgusted.
“I know that if I ask her and she wants to go to the opera I’ll be stuck going. So, I’m not bringing it up.”
Damn it. Alison wanted to scream. She should’ve gotten Merri to do this, but she was closer to Merri and Harker might’ve been suspicious.
“Harker take some advice from a man who’s been married a long time. Ask her. I’m begging you. Save yourself a fight and ask Alison if she wants to go.”
“No.”
“You’ll be sorry if you don’t. The two of you need to talk about things besides work.”
“Like opera? I’ll pass.”
“No. It doesn’t have to be opera. Talk about things you like. Your feelings.”
“Are you running a fever? Do you even know me? I don’t have feelings and I certainly wouldn’t talk about them if I did.”
“Yes!” she shouted and then clapped her hand over her mouth but that didn’t stop her giggles.
“Son of a bitch,” said Harker.
She popped into the doorway. “Score another point for me.” She almost jumped with excitement. “One more and you’re going to answer all my questions. Anything I ask and I have a lot of questions.”
“You…” Harker’s eyes darted between the two of them. “Tobias, you’re a traitor and you”—his gaze locked with hers—“this means war.”
CHAPTER 26: Alison
The next day Alison sat in her office debugging some code. She stretched. Where was Harker. It was getting late, and he hadn’t come by to pester her about going home.
It was his daily routine and her chosen Barkerism for today was based on this. All she needed was one more point and she’d win for the week. She couldn’t wait to learn about his childhood. She knew it hadn’t been good, but it had turned him into the man he was today. She wanted to know everything about him-the good and the bad. She glanced at the time. It was almost eight o’clock. Where the heck was he?
The soft rumble of his voice drifted toward her office. She turned back to the computer, pretending to work. Victory would soon be hers. She changed a bit of code. No sense in wasting time. This part of the program was giving her a lot of trouble. She couldn’t get the algorithms to work right. They kept misreading the guilty or shady looks on faces for confusion or nervousness.
