Page 25 of Perfect Assumption

Ward chuckles. “I almost hope they do. That would be more fun than watching you explain to Mom and Dad why youneededto go see Taylor Swift at Madison Square Garden.”

Carys straightens. “It was aneed, Ward. You just don’t understand women at all, do you?”

As the two siblings squabble back and forth, David nudges my arm before murmuring, “This is how it should have been between them from the beginning.”

“Would we have got as much work done over the last few years if that was the case?”

David chuckles. “Probably not. But office morale sure would have been better.”

Innocently, I ask, “Becks isn’t good for that, Dave?”

“And here I thought you were such a nice girl, Angie.” David clucks his tongue.

The two of us snicker before turning our attention back to the main attraction in the room. Carys leaps to her feet to make her point about the importance of Taylor Swift’s music to the twenty-first century. Ward knits his hands behind his head with an indulgent smile, letting his sister run out of steam before he says, “You might note, I haven’t disagreed with you. Now, can you finish grandstanding so we have a chance of getting out of here before midnight? I don’t think any of us like the idea of Angie taking a train home late.” His eyes cut over to me, and he smiles.

My heart skips a beat in my chest. I’m mesmerized by the look in his eyes. He’s…happy. Something’s changed, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. Ever since last week when he came in late, something’s been different. But never so much as right now with the way he’s sitting there in his shirtsleeves, tie loosened. He’s making my mouth dry up at the mere sight of him. Throwing me completely off-kilter, Ward winks at me before turning his attention back to the legal discussion at hand.

My fingers stop clicking on my laptop keyboard where I’m taking notes.Why did he do that? What does he mean by that?Confused, I return my focus back to the meeting and continue to take notes.

It’s only Tuesday, and life is out of control in none of the ways I would have expected. Despite my anxiety, the announcement about XMedia didn’t produce the normal regurgitation of its new board member’s past.Probably because someone in the media owed them a favor.Whatever the reason, it doesn’t matter. It’s given me a small kernel of hope I might be able to move on from my past.

“Since we’re here discussing the topic, anything of interest on Becks in the feeds?” Carys asks, pulling me from my internal musings.

Both Ward and David groan in unison. Carys hushes them both. “Angie?”

I pull up the file I maintain on Becks. “What I find hysterical is he sends me the articles I should be concerned about.”

“Please. With his contacts, he likely has them in advance of them going to print. Is there anything we need to be worried about?”

I quickly scan the database I developed for monitoring news and paparazzi mentions about Beckett Miller. Not noticing anything, I announce, “Nothing. But the week’s still young.”

Carys narrows her eyes at me. “Bite your tongue.”

Because I’m feeling just a bit sassy, I stick it out and clamp down lightly. “Otay,” I warble.

“Anything else?” Carys calls out over our combined laughter. “No? See you all tomorrow.”

“Angie? Can I ask you to hold up for a moment?” Ward stops me from leaving the conference room.

“Sure.” I relax back in my chair as he makes his way around the room toward me. “What’s up?”

“Carys mentioned you’re a whiz with our databases a while back.”

I straighten. “Did you request something and I forgot about it?”

He ducks his head. “No. I was just too stubborn to ask for it.”

“Well…that’s ridiculous.”

His head twists. “Tell me how you really feel about it.”

“Being ridiculous doesn’t get the job done, Ward. Then, I end up having more work anyway,” I inform him primly.

He presses his lips together, whether to gather his thoughts or to suppress a smile, I don’t know. “Do you have time to talk about it now?”

“Sure.” I stand up and grab a legal pad and a pen from the center of the table. “What kind of data do you want it to store?”

For the next hour, we discuss the type of data, retrieval types, and retention schedule. Finally, I tap my pen to the notes I’ve taken. “I don’t think this is going to be terribly difficult, Ward. The only item we haven’t discussed is how to get the metadata for each file into the system.”