Overcoming Fear (Growing Pains #2)(17)

Jasmine smiled, “Will I hate him?”

Sean shrugged and looked away. “He…generally isn’t into the long haul. We’ve…well…”

“Is he like you?” Kate asked with a blank face.

Sean couldn’t look directly into the scrutiny. “In some ways, yes. How I was.”

“So…” Jasmine said, looking at the sky, “not as hot, probably. Not first pick—because Mary seems to really love you for some reason. Ray, you can fill us in sometime. Probably not really worth much, but single.”

Ray and Sean looked at her wide-eyed. Kate nodded. Ben and Krista pretended they didn’t hear her.

“Single works for me.” Jasmine shrugged, finishing her beer. “I’m not looking for a Mr. Right, I’m looking for a Mr. Right Now. Maybe he’ll do.”

With that, Ben changed the subject.

~*~*~*~

The next week Krista saw nothing of Sean. With her head in her work and the constant information they were giving the client, she needed all hands on deck, and unfortunately, she was the only hand. She received emails daily, sometimes twice daily, from Sean or Ray with new requests for research. Always more. More, more, more.

One time the research was just to prove that Sean was right and John wrong about some dispute. Usually Krista would tell Sean to go fly a kite with a request like that, being that she had enough to do already, but John was a douche. It didn’t matter that she was sometimes his favorite, he was still an ass most of the time. She decided to put all her effort into proving Sean right. He got reports, graphs, Ben’s expertise, and even a mini-survey around the company just to pour salt on the wound. Marcus reported back that John figured out what she was doing, and made an off-handed comment about only challenging Sean when he didn’t have Krista to back him up.

The week after, the girls joined the team, much to everyone’s delight. Not only did work get done three times as fast, which was Sean’s wet dream, they also managed to take the art department by storm. With Marcus as their in, Kate and Jasmine made friends like wildfire. They changed everyone’s opinion of Researchers with their jokes and deadpan deliveries. They laughed, they joked, and they poked fun, quieting even Cindy, who was scared to talk shit for fear one of the girls would show up at her desk and fling it back in her face. It was the revenge Krista had always wanted to get, but without actually having to poke her head out of her office to get it.

The rest of Research would’ve hated them, Mr. Montgomery especially, if they left their cubes long enough to care.

It was a rough start, though. In the first three hours of their trial, Ray thought he’d been right—the girls would rather mess around than work. That was before Krista walked into their combined office like they’d been there forever and handed them a list of things that needed to be done by day’s end. From there on out, they played as hard as they worked; always enough time to exchange raunchy stories with Marcus in between handling Krista’s onslaught of chores.

After the first couple of days, when it seemed like Sean and Ray were pleased with Kate and Jasmine, and after the girls got the hook in and wanted to see the project to its end, Krista thought it wise to go over the timeline of how ideas got from the source to the client. It was something Krista wished she’d learned straightaway.

Krista wandered into their office as they were bickering about some flaw they’d found in the research. Their shared office was overly large so they could lay out all of their work on a table in the corner as they collaborated to fill in all the holes. They were social people, so sharing space would mean less trips to the art department.

“You girls have a second?” Krista asked as she took a seat opposite Kate.

“Krista, can you explain to Jasmine why it is important that we figure out the slump in the market during this time period?” Kate pointed at one of the lists they were given.

“Actually, I was going to go over the whole gamut with you girls and Ben. Hopefully, that’ll answer the question.” Krista called Ben from her cell, not wanting to get up to use the office phone, and not caring that Kate gave Jasmine an “I told you so” look.

Ben answered on the first ring, “Hello?”

“Ben?”

“Oh, yes. Hi Krista. I forgot I was supposed to say my name when answering. I’m not used to people calling me.”

“Tell her we got more ideas!” Krista heard in the background.

“I heard,” she answered before Ben could repeat it. “Listen, I’m going to go over how an idea goes from you to the client. Do you want to pop up into K-Jaz’s office?”

“Now?”

“Yes, please.”

“Okay.”

The phone clicked off. Krista needed to remind him to say goodbye when he was done talking.

Ray happened to be passing by when the girls were waiting for Ben and stopped in to inquire if they needed anything; that was Ray’s way of asking why they weren’t working. As soon as he heard what was going on, he called Sean. In ten minutes the whole team minus the leader were assembled in K-Jaz’s office, including a harried-looking Judy who was half-dragged into the elevator.

When Sean finally made it in, everyone was talking and laughing, having a good time with a few minutes of idle chat. He was sporting bags under his eyes, a rumpled shirt and blue jeans. He scanned the faces, meeting Krista’s eyes last. They shared a moment, this being the first time they’d seen each other since Ray’s party. Sean gave Krista a small smile and a wink before half-collapsing into the nearest chair.