Vicky Sotero walked into the office with her usual brisk stride. She stopped at the desk, cocking a small fist on one nicely rounded hip. “Not yet, but I will. I’m taking a break. I think you need a break, too. I called your name twice before you even heard me.”
Cathy laughed and shrugged. “Sorry. My mind has been going ninety miles a minute.” And it hasn’t been all about work. She shook free of the clinging thoughts. She waved at the laptop. “Paul caught me when I got here this morning and asked for an updated spreadsheet on the projects that I have. I think he’s afraid that I’ll just disappear one day and no one will know what is going on.”
Vicky tossed her head, the blunt ends of her thick black hair sliding across her jaw. “Paul can be an old woman.” She narrowed her eyes at Cathy, her gaze becoming assessing. “You’re getting too skinny, Cathy. Come on, the donuts are on me.”
“Just what I need, a sugar high,” Cathy grumbled, but she allowed herself to be urged out of her office. When they walked into the break room, she was dismayed to see that there were already several of her fellow employees there. She kept the smile on her face, ignoring the constriction in her chest. Everyone greeted her pleasantly, of course, but she wasn’t surprised that before very many minutes she and Vicky had the break room to themselves. “It would be great if everyone would stop treating me like a pariah,” she muttered.
“Sit.” Vicky plopped a large glazed donut on a napkin in front of Cathy. “Don’t let it bother you, girl. Just because some of them feel awkward around you doesn’t mean that—”
“Awkward! Is that what you call it?” Cathy heard the bitter edge in her laugh. “Come on, Vicky! You saw how the room just emptied. It happens every time. I’ve got a daughter with cancer. All I hear is how sorry everyone is and ‘how are you holding up, Cathy?’ No one really wants to hear the gut-wrenching truth, that I’m scared out of my mind. So I grit my teeth and smile and smile and reassure everyone that everything is fine.” Cathy tore viciously into the donut with her teeth. She glowered at her companion. “Just once, I’d like someone to ask me what I think about the ballgame or the new show on television or whether I’ve heard the latest office gossip! Is that too much to ask?”
“Okay, so what do you think about Peggy’s affair with the nerd guy in my department?” asked Vicky mildly.
Cathy stopped chewing. She swallowed. “Seriously?”
“I hear that they’re having hot monkey sex.”
“Oh.” Cathy concentrated on her donut. Maybe catching up on office gossip wasn’t such a good idea, after all. It made her think about her own sex life, which had not only heated up but had flamed completely out of control. Her mind went on auto replay. Her body warmed, heat curling low in her belly.
“Not exactly what you expected to hear, huh?” Vicky’s dark eyes gleamed with amusement.
“Uh, no,” Cathy admitted. She dusted off her fingers with a clean napkin. She was glad to see that her hands weren’t trembling. “I think I’m going to go bury myself back in my office, now.”
“Oh, come on, Cathy. I haven’t shared the juicy bits yet!” Vicky looked around, then leaned in and lowered her voice. “Peggy says the nerd guy is a real bull.”
Headlights coming…her inner muscles spasmed.
Fumbling her excuses, Cathy fled.