On the Corner of Love and Hate by Nina Bocci

Author:Nina Bocci
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gallery Books

17

* * *

Emma, you can’t squeeze in another meeting today. It’s literally not possible,” Nancy said, coming into my office with yet another cup of coffee.

“You realize this isn’t your job anymore, right?” I said, gesturing at the cup. “Come to think of it, it wasn’t really your job before.” Nevertheless, I took it gratefully. After the past couple days, I was a step away from having a caffeine drip hooked up.

Behind Nancy was her replacement, hot on her heels with a notebook and a beaming smile. Her name was Anne, she was about forty, and she was one of the happiest people I had ever met. As in, she was happy. All. The. Time. It took a bit of getting used to. Not that Nancy wasn’t always chipper, but Anne’s personality went above and beyond. She was a mom of twin four-year-old boys, and I think being out of the house with other adults was keeping her spirits high. She was positively ebullient.

“I’m happy to take another meeting. Working keeps my mind off of other things,” I said lightly. Like Whitney being here. In my town. Or fighting with Cooper or planning stuff for Cooper or kissing Cooper.

Or the one that had popped into my head at three this morning: Whitney kissing Cooper.

Setting the cup down, I rubbed my eyes, trying to will some life into my face. I was exhausted from working endlessly on the Jackson project. The Jacksons’ schedule was jam-packed and Monday was one of the only times they had free, so we had to make it work. No matter how crammed the prep time was. The words had been floating off the pages for the last hour. “I hate that word, you know.”

Nancy laughed. “Squeeze or meeting?”

I picked up the cup. “Neither. I hate literally. It’s such a throwaway word. One of those words that people put into sentences just to make them longer or to make something sound more dire than it is.” I gulped the barely warm coffee and spat it back into the cup, disgusted. “Gross! What the hell is in this?”

“Nothing, unfortunately. I was going to spike it, but I thought it would backfire and make you more sleepy. Then I forgot to reheat it since it came from the pot I made this morning—which is why it’s cold. But I figured you could still use the caffeine.”

“Where’s the sugar?”

“We’re out. It was Cooper’s turn to bring in supplies right before he left. We never redid the list of who brings in what to account for him not being here anymore.”

I ignored the pang I got thinking about him. Instead I focused on the bitterness in my mouth. “I’ll still take it, but it’s gross. Anyway, what about my meeting? Were you able to get my dad up here? What is this for again?” I started pacing around the room. If I didn’t keep moving, I was going to crash and sleep for a month.

Nancy stopped me before I could finish my lap.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.