She’d also been blunt and borderline rude. His attraction had taken a nosedive when he realized she didn’t feel the same physical pull that he did.

He started to pull out of the parking space when a horn blared. He hit the brakes. A hefty Explorer roared past.

Great. Just thinking about the girl would get him killed.

TEN

Lex’s heart thudded from her chest down to her stomach as soon as she walked in the glass doors Tuesday morning. Directly ahead of her, the conference room was jam-packed with her coworkers.

She checked her watch. 9:15 a.m. She had stayed until almost eleven last night – Everett had checked in on her before he left at seven – so she knew she hadn’t gotten an email or a phone call about an all-hands meeting.

She tried to discreetly edge into the room, but Everett threw her a nasty look from his seat on the far side. She remained standing by the open door, next to Jerry, who swayed visibly. He bumped into her arm. She took a side step away.

The admin’s whining voice carried over everyone’s nodding heads. “And so, because of all the extra work I’ve been getting, from now on you have to submit a copy of this form – ” She waved a white sheet -“in triplicate, a week before you need it done. No more last-minute things.”

“Even for a customer?” Anna’s incredulous voice burst out.

The Gorgon admin’s cheeks colored a dusky orange. “Well, if it’s for a customer – ”

“Everything is for customers. We don’t ask you to pick up our dry cleaning.”

Lex almost burst a sinus trying to stifle her sniggering. The admin did exactly that for Everett because she had a crush on him.

The Gorgon babbled, trying to regain control of the situation.

Lex’s mind wandered. She had a lot to do today, and sitting – or in her case, standing – in a useless meeting meant she’d need to stay late again.

When the meeting finally broke, Lex hurried to her desk.

Yup, she had an email. Sent this morning at 8:30 a.m., calling for “an important mandatory meeting” at nine.

“Lex, I want to talk to you.” Everett appeared at her elbow, blowing steam. “In my office.”

A hissing, fizzing pressure started to build in her gut. No way. He knew Lex had stayed late last night, so her being fifteen minutes late this morning shouldn’t be a problem.

Shouldn’t. This was Everett, after all.

He slammed his office door behind her. “How dare you miss an all-hands meeting?”

“You didn’t send the email until 8:30 a.m. today.” Lex’s gut bubbled.

“You’re supposed to be into work by 9 o’clock.”

“I stayed here working until eleven last night.” She spoke low to try to keep her voice calm. I have learned the secret of being content…

“How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

Lex had to take a slow breath through flared nostrils before she answered. “You checked in on me before you left last night at seven.”

“You could have left right after I did.”

“I sent you an email at eleven, just before I went home.”

Everett’s thunderous brow knit, then he circled the desk to check his computer. His face grew redder. “Ah… You could have altered your computer time stamp.”

“What?” I have learned the secret of being content… content… content…

He straightened to face her. He seemed to feel stronger with the desk in between them. “The bottom line is you should have arrived earlier, no matter how late you stayed. It’s an embarrassment to me when you sneak into a mandatory meeting late.”

Lex felt like an overworked racing engine about to bust a gasket.

“It wasn’t that important a meeting.”

“Every meeting is important. You’re on probation as of now.”

The edges of her vision clouded in, but not because she was going to faint. No, she was going to slap that silly, superior smile off his face.

“You can’t put me on probation.”

“And why not?” From Everett’s loose fish lips, sarcasm sounded stupid and silly.

“Because I quit.”

Oh my goodness, did she really say that?

Everett’s eyes and mouth became the size of three baseballs.

Lex’s brain boiled. She could feel it. And it felt good. “I quit. I could work at Starbucks and get more respect than I do here, and with the hours I put in, it’s the same hourly rate.”

Lex turned and yanked open the office door. She paused at the threshold to turn and face him. “Everett, you are a complete schmuck!”

Wow, that felt good.

She stomped to her desk and grabbed the plastic bag holding her lunch. She collected only her personal items – well, she did steal her favorite pen – shouldered her purse, and marched out the door.

The sunlight hit her full in the face as she exited. Illuminating the realities she’d ignored while packing up her desk.

What. Had. She. Done?

Go right back inside and fix it. Forgive your enemies.

No way, Jose. Not speaking to Everett ever again.

Patient endurance, remember? Go talk to the Gorgon admin. She handles all the HR stuff.

Like she’ d listen to me.

Nope, this was right. Sure, it would be tough – okay, maybe a little less than impossible – for an engineer to get another job in Silicon Valley. But she had stared into the horrific face of incompetence in Everett, and she wasn’t going to take it anymore. Even a receptionist job – even someplace other than SPZ – would be better than that.

She marched to her car. She’d fax, mail, and email a copy of her resignation letter from home. Clean, indisputable cut. She was free. Unfettered. Flying high.

And financially unsound.

Well, not dead broke. She had enough to survive on for years since she lived at home, but no loan officer would touch her now. Goodbye, condo.

Her cell rang. “Hello?”

“Alexis Sakai?”

“Yes.” She straightened.

“This is Wendy Tran from SPZ Human Resources. We received your résumé, and we’d like to bring you in for an interview. Are you free tomorrow?”

Aaack! She was late!

Lex leaped into her klunk-mobile and peeled out of the driveway. She navigated Highway 85 like a pro, zipping in and out as she drove north to Sunnyvale. Other drivers bore down on their horns with relish.

She got onto De Anza Boulevard. SPZ’s massive square office building lay just ahead. She darted into the right lane -Squeeeeeal! Bam!

The jolting impact to her right front slammed her car to a halt.

Ripping pain across her chest. Then eerie silence.

Bright sunlight. No sounds.

She gasped in a heaving breath. Then another. Her ears started working again, and she heard the honking from the cars stuck behind her.

Her chest hurt. Was she having a heart attack? No, the seatbelt had cut through the thin fabric of her interview blouse. A red swatch burned across her breastbone.

This wasn’t happening. This wasn’t happening. This wasn’t happening.

The other driver, an older man who looked frighteningly like Everett, had a mouth worse than a sailor. Lex remembered her dad’s admonitions to always keep her trap shut, especially if it just might be entirely, horrifically, and irrefutably her fault. She traded insurance information.

The car didn’t look that bad. Her bumper was only hanging off a little – nothing duct tape wouldn’t fix, right? And while the frame had dented inward and scraped against her right front tire, couldn’t a mechanic just pound it back into shape?

Lucky for her, the accident happened only a few feet from the entrance to a strip mall parking lot. She had more than enough strength to push her tiny car the few feet into a stall.

Except her interview started thirty minutes ago and she smelled like rubber tires.

Lex jogged – well, teetered as fast as she could in pumps – to the SPZ building a block down. She burst through the glass doors into cool air conditioning and collapsed at the receptionist’s desk. “Lex Sakai, and I’m late for my interview.”