Free Elements of Retrofit by N.R. Walker

smile. “Very well. I’m sure your granddaughter will be a great…broccoli.”
    Jennifer stared at him. “You’ll fly out tomorrow, six a.m. I’ve booked flights and accommodation, but if you need to make arrangements, please do so now,” she said, shooing him, dismissing him.
    The door closed behind him, and I looked at Jennifer and laughed. “You scare him, you know.”
    She smiled. “Oh, I know. Helps keep them in line.”
    I sighed. “And the trip to Sydney?”
    “All legitimate, of course,” she said with a sniff. “You do have a meeting with Mr Takosama. He’s expecting you. I have updated your schedule, and you’ll be busy enough. But Mr Jones will have a list a mile long of things to do.” Then she softened. “But I thought you could use the time away.”
    I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Thank you, Jennifer.”
    “It’s only four days,” she said. “Being away from here will put a little perspective on things.”
    Four days. Four days in a different city, four days to be ourselves.
    “His internship is almost over,” she said. “Four more weeks. You’ll need to keep a lid on things until then.”
    “I know,” I answered. “He knows that too.”
    She gave a curt nod. “What will you do after that?” she asked, looking me square in the eye. “Will you take him on here at the firm?”
    I whispered, “I don’t know.”
    “He’s very good,” she said from the door. “One of the best.”
    “Yes, he is.”
    “But?”
    But I can’t date a fellow employee. It’s against company policy. Fuck, I was already so far in breach of company policy. Jennifer knew this. I presumed this was her point. “But…it’s complicated.”
    “Yes, it is,” she said. “For what it’s worth, it’s good to see you happy.” She opened the door and closed it quietly behind her.
    I tried to get my head back into the job I was halfway through researching, but gave up and stared out across the blue skies of New York instead. Jennifer came in a few hours later, handed me files and instructions on the Takosama job, handed over the flight confirmation slips and accommodation reservation information and told me to go home.
    Figuring I had the next four days with Cooper, I suggested I pick him up from his place at half past four in the morning. When he got in the car, despite the early hour, he was bright-eyed, but quiet, obviously not wanting to speak in front of a company driver.
    He was quiet as we checked in, and he was trying not to smile as we got coffee waiting to board. And by the time we finally got into our seats in first-class, he couldn’t stop grinning. “This is awesome!” he whisper-shouted from the seat next to mine. “I can’t believe Jennifer passed this up!”
    “Jennifer knows about us,” I told him as I got settled in. “She made you her replacement because she wanted us to have some time alone.”
    He was quiet, so I looked over at him. He was gaping. “She…she knows ?”
    I nodded. “Yes.”
    “How?”
    I considered lying but decided to tell him the truth. “The way I look at you, apparently.”
    He stared at me and blinked, three, maybe four times, seemingly having lost the ability to speak. He fell back into his seat and looked pale.
    I turned side on to face him and took his hand. “She won’t tell a soul, I promise. She’s the utmost professional, Cooper. She won’t tell anyone.”
    “How can you be so sure?” he asked. “If she knows, then maybe someone else does?”
    I shook my head. “No, she knows me, she knows me better than most people. She knew I’d separated from my wife by the fact I changed my cologne…well, that and the long hours and sleeplessness. But, believe me, no one else knows.”
    He sighed and seemed to relax. “By the way you look at me? What does that mean?”
    “Apparently I smile when I see you,” I told him seriously. “I’m trying to stop doing that.”
    “Right,” he said with a laugh. “Look at me.”
    I did, I