“I think we’re going to order some Thai food,” I said as she started to unwrap what looked to be a sandwich. “You want in on that?”
“Oh, no, that’s okay. I’ve got my lunch right here.”
“You don’t have to eat at your desk, you know. You can leave, or go in the break room.” Or go sit in Jonathan’s office. I didn’t say this last one out loud.
“I’m fine right here,” she said. “This way, I can do a little work, too.”
“Just don’t get peanut butter on the paperwork.”
She smiled but didn’t say anything.
I pretended that I was doing some work on the computer, but really, I watched her as she (neatly) ate her sandwich, followed by a baggie of carrots, a few pretzels, and finally, an apple. She caught me looking as she bit into the apple.
“I always save the apple for last,” she said. “It’s like nature’s equivalent of a toothbrush.”
Holy fuck she and Jonathan were meant to be. “Good to know,” I said. “Does Jonathan know that? About the apple?”
“I don’t know,” she said, shrugging. “Probably. He seems like he’d know that sort of thing.”
I couldn’t quite tell if that was a simply a statement of fact or a compliment.
“Where is Jonathan, anyway?” she asked. “I saw that he wasn’t in his office.”
“It’s Monday, so he’s out on call right now. He’ll be back at some point.” My cell phone started to ring. I looked down at the screen, then picked up the phone and carried it over to Daisy.
“Answer this,” I said. “Except don’t say Hard Tail Security or anything. Just say hello.”
She had a skeptical look on her face but took the phone from me and answered. “Hello?” she said again. She waited a second and then pulled the phone away from her ear and looked at the screen. “They hung up. Or the call got disconnected.” She handed the phone back to me. “Who was that?”
“Someone I didn’t really feel like talking to,” I said, taking the phone from her. She looked like she was about to ask me who it was that I didn’t feel like talking to, but then the office phone rang, and she reached over and answered it.
A few hours later and Jonathan still wasn’t back yet. Daisy appeared in the doorway, knocking lightly on the frame.
“Chris Robertson is on the phone,” she said. “He says that he has to reschedule the meeting with you tomorrow, and he was hoping to do it Wednesday. Later, though; he has something during the day.”
I shook my head. “Can’t do it Wednesday. I visit my stepfather then. Tell him Thursday, early afternoon; he can choose the exact time.”
I waited until she’d gotten off the phone with him to go out there. I leaned against her desk. “So he’s all set?”
“Yeah,” she said. “For Thursday at one.” She dropped the pen she was holding back into the cup holder and looked at me. “You visit your stepfather every week? I think Jonathan had mentioned something about it.”
“Yeah,” I said. “My mom died, but I still go say what’s up to Pete. Don’t want him to just languish away there.”
“That’s really great of you. My parents got divorced, and I had a stepfather for a little while. He was a pretty nice guy. But that marriage didn’t last long, either.”
Of course I’d let her think that I was going to visit Pete out of the kindness of my heart, because I felt I owed him something for being such an upstanding stepfather. I was a little surprised that Jonathan hadn’t mentione
d what a dick Pete really was, but, then again, Jonathan was all about forgiveness, regardless of how badly the person had wronged you.
“I really don’t see my father much,” Daisy continued. “He moved to Maine and got remarried, and they’ve got a couple kids now. Who I only met once, back when I was a teenager. They were little, like toddlers, but it was nice, considering they’re my brother and sister. I don’t think my dad’s new wife liked me much, though.”
Yeah, I’ll bet. “That’s too bad,” I said.
“I have no hard feelings toward her or anything like that. I wasn’t trying to steal all of my father’s attention or anything. She just didn’t seem to like me.”
Daisy frowned, a crease forming in the space between her eyebrows. She had exceptionally smooth skin that I could practically feel underneath my fingertips.
“Of course she didn’t like you,” I said.