I don’t know if she means for this to be the result, but it makes me want to work even harder, so I can prove her wrong. So I can show her that I know what I’m doing. The stuff they want me to do is tough and more than a little time consuming, but I can do it. I haven’t met a computer problem I can’t tackle and wrestle to the ground. The world is lucky I use my powers for good and not evil. I could so be Lex Luthor if I wanted to be.
Thibault speaks up. “How about you just charge what you think is fair, maybe the industry average or whatever, and we’ll take it from there?”
“Okay, I can do that.” My heart is racing. If I do a really good job for them this time, maybe they’ll call me again when they need computer or software expertise. I have to be extra fair with my pricing and work as hard as possible to get this done right. If I could have a freelance career working out of my home, it would be a dream come true. Miles has health insurance that covers the kids, so I’ll never have to worry about them being sick again. I could hear “I have a tummy ache,” and instead of falling into a panic, I could just smile and say, “Go lie on the couch,” and not worry about having to call a boss who’s going to threaten to fire me over it.
Thibault stands up. “Boss, we’ve got that other project we’re working on with the chief of police, and I need May for that meeting.” He shoots me an apologetic look.
“Right.” Ozzie turns his attention to me. “I’m going to leave you in Lucky’s capable hands. Feel free to let your son run around. There’s nothing in here that could hurt him. You might want to keep him out of the other room, though.”
I smile. “Yeah. Those knives are very tempting.”
Ozzie, Thibault, and Toni stand. Ozzie walks over to the doorway and leans into the hallway that leads to the place were Sammy and May are. “May! Time to go!”
“Coming!” Felix starts to bark, as if he’s answering Ozzie’s call too. It makes me smile to think that May has her own little family here.
May appears, holding Sammy’s hand. “Should I stay here?” she asks her boyfriend and boss.
“No. I told Jenny that Sammy can run around as much as he wants. Bring the dogs out here, and they can keep him busy for a little while. I don’t think it’s going to take much longer for her to finish up with Lucky.”
“Okey-dokey.” May bends down and looks Sammy in the eye. “I need you to do me a favor, Sammers. Can you look after Felix and Sahara for me? I have to go do something.”
Sammy nods. “Yeth. I can do that.”
“And can you promise me something else?”
“Maybe,” he says with caution. “What ith it?”
“Can you promise me that you won’t go in the other room where the dangerous swords are?”
“Becauthe you don’t want me to cut anything off, like fingerth?”
Somebody snorts off to the side. I think it might have been Toni.
“Yes. Because I don’t want you to cut anything off.”
“Okay.” He nods enthusiastically, “I promithe I won’t cut Keep it on one line or break aaany-thing off.”
He’s being so dedicated with his assurances, my hackles go up. The little devil is thinking he’s created some kind of loophole. I go back over his answer to her question, but May is faster than I am.
“Nice try,” she says, “but what we need you to promise is that you won’t even go in that room.”
He gives her his very earnest look. “But I could go in there and not touch anything. Jutht look.”
May shakes her head “Nope. You can’t even go in. You want to know why?”
“Yeth. I alwayth want to know why.”
She smiles. “I know. Because you have a great mind, Sammy. The reason why you can’t go in there is because the man who owns all those swords is a real ninja. And real ninjas don’t let anyone touch their weapons.”
Sammy’s eyes are very wide, and I’m almost afraid of what’s going to come out of his or May’s mouth next.
Sammy’s voice is almost a whisper. “Why not? Do they kill them?”
May shakes her head. “No. But it brings them very bad luck, and next time they try to fight, they get injured. You don’t want to injure a real ninja, do you?”
Sammy shakes his head. “No. But I do want to touch hith thordth.”
She rubs his head affectionately. “I know you do. Maybe one day he’ll let you touch one, but not today.” She stands up and turns him toward the dogs who have just entered the room. They trot over to a large dog bed and curl up together. “Go play with the doggies. They’re bored.”
Sammy runs off to lie down in the bed with the dogs, and May looks over at me. “We good?”
My son is lying in a dog bed when he should be at daycare, and I’m working in a warehouse where I was formerly kept prisoner in a panic room. I’m perfect. I smile back at her. “Yep. All set.”
“Call me later,” she says, holding her hand up to her ear with two fingers extended, mimicking our future call.
“Oh, I will. Don’t worry.” I wink so she knows I’m not mad at her. But we do have a lot to talk about. And at some point, I’m going to have to try and slip into the conversation a question about why Dev wasn’t at the meeting today. I’m just hoping it’s not because he’s regretting flirting with me and heard I was going to be here.