Page 22 of The Wisdom of Bug

Alyssa made her way down to the bottom floor with Bug snuggly tucked into her body. Her heart rate was still cruising along at warp speed.

“Well, she was horrible,” she muttered into Bug’s fur. “This is why I prefer dogs to humans, Bug.”

“Where have you been?” Lil screeched when the elevator doors slid open.

“Looking for this one.” Alyssa jiggled Bug playfully. “And I found him.”

“Where was he?” Lil didn’t wait, relieving Alyssa of the dog immediately, then smushing her face into his. Alyssa smiled. Lil was a big ol’ softy sometimes.

“He was in the bloody CEO’s office.”

“Oh, bugger!”

“Yeah, you can say that again.”

“Did you talk to her?” Lil was rocking Bug back and forth like a baby, kissing his head every few seconds.

“I did, and it didnotgo well.” Alyssa recalled the fierce expression on Ms Crawford’s delicious face.

“What does that mean, and why are you looking like that?”

“I’m not looking like anything. Turns out Ms Crawford is the complete opposite of Richard. As in, she has a stick up her arse and a chip on her shoulder.”

“Explain.” Lil finally sat Bug down on the floor, clipping on his lead so he couldn’t make another great escape.

“I mean, she had no idea we were here. Until she found him—” Alyssa pointed to Bug “—in her office. Looks like Richard didn’t fill her in on our partnership before leaving.”

“Well, what does that mean? Can she cancel it? Send us home?”

“Lil, I have no idea. I mean, I have a written agreement with Richard, so that must mean something. I told her to ring her dad and talk to him…” Alyssa trailed off because she didn’t want to blurt out that she’d called the CEO a condescending arsehole. Lil wouldn’t be too pleased with that.

“What aren’t you telling me, Al?”

Damn it!

“I may have called her a condescending arsehole,” she muttered under her breath.

“What?” Lil bellowed. “Alyssa, have you lost your mind?”

“Lil, you should have heard the way she was talking to me,” Alyssa argued. “I didn’t deserve it and she was being an arsehole!”

“That doesn’t mean you point it out to her, you prat!”

“It just slipped out. I was angry.”

“I wish, just once, you would curb your temper. See, this is what I get for working and being friends with a bloody Aries.”

Alyssa rolled her eyes. So what if she fit her astrology sign to a T? It didn’t make her wrong! Ms Crawford was a miserable cow who shouldn’t be allowed to speak to people like that unchecked.

“Relax, Lil. I’ll apologise later.”

“You better, Al. We haven’t got a back-up plan.”

Alyssa wasn’t stupid. She knew she had to apologise and make nice, but she wasn’t in the headspace to do it just now. Definitely better for everyone involved if Alyssa had time to cool off first. Otherwise, the apology would turn into another argument.

“So what’s she like, apart from being an arsehole?” Lil asked, dragging Alyssa along to the vending machines.

“Well, she’s…she’s…”