Free Emma vs. The Tech Guy by Lia Fairchild Page A

a text to Guy. Guess she had as much faith in Marty as I did. But what other choice did we have but to give him a chance? And though I did have a way of taming the beast, I wasn’t up for facing Bill, either. He’d made it crystal clear that there were plenty of freelancers out there who could do our jobs without requiring him to pay benefits. Well, maybe not all of us.
    “I really appreciate this, Marty,” Jayne said, then snarled her lip at me.
    Jayne and I sneaked out to the lounge to get coffee, telling Marty we’d give him some peace to work.
    “Okey-dokey,” he said. Not the first time we’ve heard that corny catchphrase. But it was one of many in his repertoire.
    In the lounge Jayne and I stuffed our faces with mini-cheesecakes left over from a potluck lunch we’d had a week ago.
    “Do you think these are still good?” I asked Jayne. Then I popped one in my mouth.
    “Tastes fine to me,” she said, shrugging off a guilty smile.
    Women didn’t pass up desserts in an office. It was the one place where calories didn’t count. Besides, we ordered salads to be delivered for lunch to make up for it.
    “You know, if Marty pulls this off, we’re going to have to be nicer to him,” Jayne said.
    “What?” Suddenly I worried that those cheesecake bites were bad after all. They were affecting Jayne’s judgment.
    “He’s not that bad,” she said, sounding like she was trying to convince us both.
    “I guess.” He was harmless enough, but sometimes he did give me the creeps. For the most part, he was quiet and shy. But there were times I wondered if he had bodies hidden in his basement. Isn’t it always the quiet ones?
    Jayne took a plastic knife and cut the last mini-cheesecake in half, assuming I’d want it. I almost wished she would have jammed the thing in her mouth and saved me the guilt.
    “This would really save my ass,” she said.
    “I’m sure it will be fine.”
    “Right. So if Marty restores my file, let’s really play it up, huh?”
    My face scrunched up at the suggestion. “Play what up?”
    “You know, make a big deal about it and thank him a bunch. Come on, it’ll be fun.”
    My stomach twisted at the thought of it. Or maybe salmonella had already set in. I was beginning to wonder if Jayne had another fetish I hadn’t discovered yet. She was a little too excited about this role-playing idea. “Fun for him, yeah.”
    Her half of the mini-cheesecake disappeared behind a smile, and she shoved mine in front of me. “Eat up!”
    A few minutes later, Marty appeared in the doorway. “I think I may have it, ladies,” he said, brimming with excitement and pride. A quick head jerk to the side summoned us to follow him. “I need you to take a look, though, Jayne.”
    We trailed our potential new hero back to Jayne’s office. I wondered for a moment if a salad was going to cut it after all of this excitement.
    Jayne got back in the driver’s seat with captain Marty at the helm beside her. “Is that it?” he asked hopefully.
    “I’m not sure.” Jayne scrolled through the text, stopping in places until she reached the end. “I think … yep. This is it! You did it, Marty!”
    “Wow, nice work, Marty!” I patted him on the back, took a deep breath, and revealed my biggest smile. Since he’d never seen it before, I was sure it would make his day.
    Jayne jumped up and gave him a warm hug, winking at me over his shoulder. We’d done our good deed for the day and were feeling pretty proud of ourselves, when Marty bolted for the door.
    “What’s the hurry, man?” I asked. You’d think he’d want to revel in his glory for at least a few more minutes.
    He stopped in the doorway, turned on his heel and said, “I can’t wait to call Guy and tell him the good news.” Then he was off, speed walking down the hall with his frayed corduroy pants dragging along the carpet.
    “Can you believe that, Emma?”
    I shook my head in suspended disbelief. “No, I can’t,” I said