“She’s going somewhere else?”
“She’s retiring, apparently. Wow. She’s been at the foundation for decades.”
“Crazy.”
The doorbell rang. Michael put down his phone and hopped out of bed. “That’s the pizza.”
“You should stay nude while you answer it,” I said.
He scowled over at me. “Why? To prank the pizza guy?”
“To give me an extra-long view of that cute tushy.”
Michael started to pull on his pants stubbornly, then suddenly cast them aside. With lots of hip-popping and swaying, he strutted to the door like a runway model. I pulled the sheets up around my chin and giggled at the show.
But he stayed hidden behind the door when he answered it, accepting the pizza around the edge without ever showing his nude self.
“Boo!” I called. “Chicken!”
The door closed and he tossed the pizza on the kitchen counter. “Chicken? I’m going to make you pay for that.”
I yelped as he dove on top of me, the pizza long forgotten.
37
Ginny
The first thing I did when I got to work was pop my head into Allison’s office to demand to know why she was leaving. But she wasn’t in the office yet. So I stewed at my desk for another half hour until I heard her arrive.
“What do you think you’re doing!” I asked.
She dropped her bag and gave me a confused look. “I know I usually get a bagel instead of donuts in the morning, but I wanted to splurge today. I’m glad you’re here, though. I wanted to tell you something.”
“That!” I pointed. “The thing you want to tell me. That you’re leaving. That’s what I’m upset about, not your donut!”
“Oh!” She chuckled. “How did you hear about that? The announcement isn’t going out until this afternoon.”
Because I was in bed with Michael last night when he found out.
“How can you leave?” I asked, ignoring her question. “I’ve been here barely a month!”
“I want to spend more time with my grandkids,” she said. “I have six of them now. Being a grandmother is the best thing in the world. A lot more fun than being a mother. You get all the perks, with none of the stress!”
“What will we do without you?” I asked.
“You don’t need me, silly!” she said. “So much of what I did twenty years ago is now automated. Computers make everything easier. Heck, with all the extra work I’ve given you in the last week, my job is almost not needed at all!”
Despite her comforting words, I was stressed about her departure. So far, everything I did went through Allison. Every grant I approved and every check I prepared got her stamp of approval before going out into the world. She was like my gutter guards on a bowling lane, and soon I was going to have to play without them.
I tried to put my head down and focus. It helped that I had a lot to look forward to. Tomorrow night, I was having anotherspecial eveningwith Michael and August. I was nervous, but in a good way. The first time it happened, it was spontaneous. But now, it was expected. There was no ambiguity. The two of them were going to take turns banging me like a freakingdrum.
That afternoon, the email went out announcing Allison’s retirement. At the end of the email, it mentioned how internal and external candidates would be allowed to apply for the position. I wondered if I should apply. I had only been here a few weeks; it felt strange to then immediately ask for a promotion.
After work on Tuesday, I met my realtor and looked at four more houses. Two of them were really nice, but I didn’t immediately fall in love with them.
I did my live show that night. I had plenty of viewers, and most of them asked me when I was going to do a live show with my “partner.” Kai said he would be interested in that if I wanted to, but I was hesitant. The way we did things now, there was no pressure to get it perfect. I could always edit it later. But if we did it live, we lost that wiggle-room. For example, I wouldn’t be able to say his name on the live feed—something I had been known to utter in varying degrees of moans during sex. I wondered if I could hold myself back from that if we did it live together.
Whenever we were all free, Michael, August, and I had been eating lunch together every day in the conference room. On Wednesday, both of them walked inside looking gloomy.