“How nice of you to grow a conscience. Unfortunately, my drill sergeant boss wants another scorched drink by the end of the week. Where will I develop it if I’m not here? Oh, and by the way, can I just say that has to be like the worst working name ever? Remember the last time you went to a café and ordered burnt coffee? But, hey, you’re the bossman. Who am I to argue with Commander Coffee?”
“Badger Lady, do you ever shut it?”
“No—and did you just call me a badger?” She sounds surprised.
“Not my call. Destiny said you were a honey badger after the incident at the shop on seventh. She said you tore me apart without a care in the world.”
“Smart girl, Captain Coffee. Guess you did one thing right, raising her.”
I can’t hold back anymore, chuckling deeply into the phone.
“I’m fifteen years deep, so I suppose I’ll keep her. Also, I thought I was Commander Coffee? Did you just promote me?”
“Just changed my mind. You’re a pretty big jerkwad sometimes. But you need to come up with something better than 'scorched drinks' for a name.”
“That’s what I have Marketing for. They’ll pick better names that resonate when we’re ready for that stage. In the meantime, I’ll come up with the code words in development. I’m still the CEO.”
“Okay, Moby Dick. I have to go.”
“Wasn’t Moby the goddamned whale?” I ask, bewildered.
“You’re right about one thing—it’s too late to discuss literature with you. Now, do you want your new scorched drink or not? I need to do a quick taste test and hope it’s not as burnt as the name says.”
“Miss Angelo, sign off. Go home now. Or else I’ll start restricting lab access for everyone as part of a new security policy.”
She gasps. For a solid ten seconds, she’s silent.
“Why are you so worried? You’re scaring me, Lancaster. I might think you actually do care,” she says, her voice so small.
“I care about the quality of my product—that involves your health and safety,” I grind out, turning my face away from the phone
Shit.
Way to play the grade-school, tugging-on-the-cute-girl’s-pigtails game.
I clear my throat before I continue. “I care deeply about my employees’ well-being, of course. Until now, I never had to worry about my lab people staying so late. There are also liability issues. Insurance is hideously expensive.”
“What-ever. Softie.” She laughs loudly again and hangs up.
I slump back in my chair with a groan.
I think the most annoying woman ever born is onto me.
The next day, I’m back in my office with a steaming black Americano at my side, reviewing a proposal.
I’ve got a meeting in less than two hours, and I need to close this out.
The deafening knock at my door doesn’t care.
“Who is it?” I yell back.
I don’t need more interruptions right now.
The door swings open. Katelyn Storm stands behind Destiny with an exasperated look.
Dess stares at the floor with the same sheepish face I’ve seen a thousand times.
“Do I want to know?” I fold my arms, knowing what’s up before I even ask.
Something’s wrong.
Kate crosses her arms, and from her posture, I can already tell she’s set to give me hell. “You know I have twin boys, right?”
“I’m aware,” I say slowly.
“They did the whole job shadowing thing a few months ago. Only, they don’t listen to me and they’re pure chaos together. They had to choose a place where their parents don’t work, and they couldn’t choose the same place because I guess no one deserves that,” Kate says without taking a breath.
“Okay?” I’m not sure where this is going, but I know it’s nowhere good.
“So, one son was Microsoft’s problem while his brother went off to harass Alaska Airlines. But my employer—aka, you—didn’t have the foresight to make his kiddo someone else’s problem. Now, what I don’t understand is why I’m being punished for it.”
Fuck. Because I thought my daughter could handle this job without piling misery on my poor EA?
“What did you do?” I give Destiny a stern look.
Her head darts up like a deer hearing a rustle in the brush, her lower lip protruding.
“Um. Nothing.”
My eyes shift to Kate, knowing it’s something, or they wouldn’t be here.
“She’s not lying, actually,” she says with a soft smile for Dess. “That’s what she did. Absolutely nothing. But now the filing isn’t done because you told me she needed stuff to do, so I saved a week’s worth of it for her. When I came back, everything was still boxed up just like I left it.”
My eyes fall on my daughter, watching her face turn into a tomato.
“Anything else, Katelyn?” I ask.
“Well, one more thing.” She strides forward, leaning over my desk with a whisper. “She took off for a two-hour lunch earlier. I’m not sure where she went, because there’s nowhere around here where you can lounge around and eat for hours without someone trying to turn you out for table space.”