Page 72 of Not In The Contract

“Yes, Sherlock,” I sighed.

“What makes you think she’s ignoring you, babe?”

“She’s been leaving way earlier lately,” I explained, lowering my voice in case someone was listening. “And she keeps adjusting the schedule to make sure she and I are almost never in the same place at the same time.”

“Oh, shit, okay that’s definitely avoiding. Have you tried talking to her?”

“Please don’t give me the turn it off and back on again schtick.” I groaned. “I’m freaking out right now. We still have over a month left and the last thing I want is for her to shut herself away just because I did something I wasn’t supposed to.”

“Okay, okay,” Tamera soothed. “Take a breath, we’ll figure this out. Have you considered roping in one of her assistants?”

I cast a furtive glance at Katya, who hummed under her breath as she worked.

“Like, ask her to share the schedule with me?”

“That, or anything else,” Tamera suggested. “Maybe what you both need is some uninterrupted time together where work and school isn’t a factor.”

“You’re making it sound like a date, please don’t do that.”

”I’m not!” She giggled. “I’m just offering some advice. Besides, it won’t hurt to see how things develop without the pressure from work or your research.”

I couldn’t deny that it sounded great, even if the idea itself terrified me. “I guess we could organize a lunch or something,” I murmured, wondering if Katya would help me with it at all.

“That’s the spirit!” Tamera cheered. “Plan a little lunch, maybe a cute little picnic and go someplace where no one will interrupt. It’ll be perfect.”

Tamera hung up, leaving me to try to figure out how to approach Katya with the idea. I decided to test the water first and walked over.

“So, Alex is out again,” I said casually.

Katya looked up from her screen, her glasses slipping down her nose a little. “Yeah, she should be back in an hour,” she said with a friendly smile.

“Does this happen often?”

“What?”

“The schedule changing suddenly,” I clarified.

Katya took a breath and her shoulders drooped. “Not in the short time I’ve been here,” she murmured. “The schedule is the law around here; even Alex abides by that. But for the last week or so it’s changed almost every day.”

“I figured.” I sighed. “She could probably use a break soon.”

“Agreed,” she said with a frown. “But getting her to take a break is the true challenge.”

“What do you mean?”

Katya pulled her hands away from her keyboard and turned her full attention to me. “In the last year, Alex has taken a vacation once,” she explained. “It was one day: the day of Jamie’s birthday. I checked the records, and that’s the only day she ever takes off. Anything else can be rescheduled.”

“So what if we scheduled a meeting,” I suggested, leaning on my elbows on the top of her desk. “You could do that, right?”

A mischievous grin tugged at Katya’s mouth. “I could,” she agreed, leaning close as if sharing a secret. “And where exactly would this meeting take place?”

“I know just the place.”

Adjusting Alex’s schedule proved to be every bit as challenging as Katya had led me to believe. Not only did it take a full day to achieve, but Alex almost undid our plans with a single frown. But Katya pulled it off, and I made a mental note to buy her the most delicious box of chocolates or whatever she wanted as a thank-you gift. She honestly deserved so much more.

I double checked my reflection in the mirror before grabbing my bag. I’d forgone Tamera’s suggestion of a picnic, purely because the weather was unpredictable and we had one shot at getting Alex out of the office. I wasn’t about to let Mother Nature’s indecision ruin my and Katya’s hard work. Mostly Katya’s hard work, I amended. And I’d be damned if I was late, so I spun away from the mirror and marched outside to wait for my Uber.

Katya had promised that Alex’s driver would be annoyingly obtuse should Alex ask any questions about where she was being taken. When I got out of the Uber, I glanced around for any sign of Alex’s car. I was early.