Page 20 of Code Mages & Empty Pages (Frostfire #2)
Luc
I didn’t even hear Dawn return from fixing the paper jam in HR.
I was about to wrap up the calendar bug, which turned out to be more of a pain in the arse than I’d expected. They’d all been able to edit, overwrite, and even delete each other’s appointments. No wonder they were frustrated.
Once I’d run my script and had assigned the correct access rights to all the realtors, I marked the ticket that I’d pulled from the “Needs better solution” folder in our inbox as “complete.”
“What the hell is going on with our inbox?” Desmond asked about twenty minutes later.
“What do you mean?” Dawn said. She’d just been tidying up her desk, taking spare keyboards and cables to our storage space.
I checked out the emails. They were from our realtors.
“Thank you, Mr Atkins. You’re a lifesaver.”
And another, “Hi, Luc, this is fantastic news.”
One even said, “Our IT hero.”
“I just fixed their calendar bug, the one with the conflicting roles,” I explained. “Remember when we heard Dunmere complaining about it in the lift the other day?”
“Yeah.” Dawn nodded and came over to stand next to me. “He was in HR when I fixed their paper jam and complained about having to use a paper calendar alongside his digital one so he wouldn’t miss any more appointments.”
“It’s been high up on my list. They’re making us money, aren’t they? They shouldn’t have to come up with elaborate schemes to do their job.” I shrugged.
“Well done, cuz. I tried to patch that a couple of weeks ago but didn’t really have the time to look into it fully.”
I explained about the access rights. “I wrote a script to assign everything new, so there shouldn’t be an access rights conflicts now.”
“Well done, Comte.” Dawn gave me a little wink.
My ears twitched. “Thanks, Roe.”
Maybe I do have a praise kink.
I hope Desmond hadn’t heard her. So far, I had kept Roe the Rogue in our private training game. She needed to have a little more confidence to get through a session with my guild, the Windsins.
Then another message popped up, this time in my personal inbox. It wasn’t from one of the realtors, but from Samuel Carson himself. The subject line alone turned my blood cold, “To my office ASAP.”
Shit. My heart did a little leap in my chest, and not over Dawn’s adoring smile or her praise.
Did I overstep? I tried to fix things for the people who hold up this company. He wouldn’t punish me for that, right?
“I better go,” I said through numb lips. “Carson wants to see me in his office.” I got up, checked my badge, and smoothed out my fur in the bathroom mirror before getting in the lift and pressing the button for Carson’s floor.
In my head, I ran through everything I might have done wrong.
What if someone else was working on a fix and I’d made them redundant?
Or, oh fuck. Maybe they’d found out I’d taken Dawn into the server room.
There wasn’t a camera down there, I’d checked.
But what if someone saw us? Then my brain latched onto the shelter ruse.
Maybe he was mad we had lied to his husband?
I took a deep breath as I exited the lift. A tall woman with perfectly manicured nails came down the staircase from Froth you know, help get the company up to speed.”
“Which company is it, if I may ask, sir?”
“It’s called Betaworth IT.”
I had to stifle a grin. “Sorry, sir, it’s just my twin brother works for them.”
“Oh, what a nice surprise. Who would’ve thought, in a city as large as Kirkmuir. Well, then, you won’t need much instruction from me. Alaric will handle everything else from here. He’ll meet you in Carranbrae in two days and will give you all the contacts and details you’ll need.”
He paused and finally looked up from his desk. “Are you prepared to travel, Mr Atkins? Is that a problem?”
“No, of course not, sir. How long do you want me to stay?”
“Just a couple of days, until you’ve met everyone. Taran and Maeve will be in town, as will Beryl Nowen and Alaric, so you’ll meet the whole team. Ms Hendry’s reserved a holiday apartment for you in Glendarn House. An old friend of mine owns it. I’m sure you’ll enjoy your stay.”
I nodded, still a bit dazed by how fast all this was happening. “Yes. Thanks. I’m more than happy to work on this.”
Carson gave me a rare, approving smile. “Thank you, Mr Atkins. I knew I was right about you. You and your colleagues will get an email about payroll in—”he checked his watch,“—fifteen minutes.”
“Thanks, sir. Maybe I will hold off on the news until then?”
“Yes, Atkins.” Carson tilted his head to the side and gave me an inquisitive look. “You look like you need a coffee.”
That made me smile despite myself. “I could do with one, yes.”
He waved a hand. “Have a coffee on me. In fact, coffee and buns for the whole department.” He reached into a drawer of his desk and pulled out a sleek company credit card.
“Oh, that’s…” I accepted the card from him. “Thank you, sir. I’ll bring it back on my way down.”
As I turned to leave, his tone suddenly turned sharp. “This is important. Don’t mess this up, okay?”
My hand froze on the doorknob. Carson had gone from playful and fatherly to hard like frozen ice. “I understand, sir. I won’t.” My chest was tight with nerves, but there was pride in there, too.
Mia looked up as I passed, worry flickering across her face. I just gave her a thumbs-up and headed upstairs to Froth & Flurry.
I grabbed our favourite coffee orders, a box of cinnamon buns, and carried everything back to the office. By the time I walked in, the fifteen minutes were up, and Dawn and Desmond were both staring at their screens in disbelief.
“We’re all getting a pay rise?” Desmond grinned, practically bouncing in his chair.
“Yeah. Well done, Luc,” Dawn said, her voice warm. “You’re a legend. Coffee?”
“Here.” I handed them their cups and set the bag down. “And buns for everyone.”
Desmond already had his phone out. “Carson just said our commitment made a real difference in productivity and mood. He said we ‘deserve it’. Direct quote.”
I tried to hide my own nerves by fussing with the coffee lids. I was panicked about leaving Dawn and Ruffles, not that I’d ever admit it out loud. But this was huge.
I tried to look nonchalant, but my fingers fumbled on the cardboard tray.
Before I could say anything else, Dawn’s phone rang and she turned away. “Sorry, I have to take this.”
She glanced at the screen, and her expression changed. My heart skipped a beat as I watched her lips move, her eyes darting to mine.
“Hello?” she said quietly. She went still, listening. “Mr McBriar, it’s nice to hear from you,” she managed, voice barely steady. She shot me a look, bracing herself.
She listened for a moment, then forced a brittle smile. “Wow, that’s wonderful. Thank you. Yes, I can meet you Thursday afternoon. Thank you. I’ll see you then.” She hung up and stared at her phone, as if it might bite her.
“My house is ready,” she said at last, voice flat.
Desmond perked up. “Oh, so you can move back? That’s great, Dawn.”
“Yeah. Thanks.” She tried to smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes. She looked at me. “It’s inhabitable again. No more Greenleach. That was Gerry McBriar from Spawn No More.”
I reached over and squeezed her hand under the desk. “I’ll be away for a couple days,” I said quietly. “I need to go to Carranbrae for work. Long story, I’ll tell you tonight.”
She didn’t let go of my hand, so I squeezed her fingers again.
“I can help you move your things this weekend, if you want.”
She hesitated, then gave me a small, sad smile. “Yeah. That would be great. Thanks, Luc.”
Neither of us mentioned that she barely had any boxes, or that she could handle it all herself.
The idea of coming back to an empty house made my chest ache.
I couldn’t picture the cat tree without Ruffles, or the coffee table without one of Dawn’s half-finished mugs, her tea gone cold.
I dreaded it more than I wanted to admit.
We kept things light for the rest of the day, but the topic hovered between us, unspoken. That night, I packed my bag. I didn’t need a lot, just my laptop, some decent clothes, and no punny shirts. Dawn had borrowed my Code Mage shirt a week ago and wore it to sleep.
Fuck.
I didn’t want to leave her. But this was too good an opportunity to turn down.