Darcy tossed the article aside then picked it up and shredded it. With all the little pieces, she tossed the remains into the garbage, then dumped the coffee grinds onto the top. “That’s what I think of you’re beautiful new girlfriend,” Darcy said, furious beyond belief that he would date someone as shallow as Alicia Ainsley was reputed to be.
Darcy pulled on a pair of jeans and her shoes, then walked through the streets of her neighborhood trying to come to terms with what she had read in the newspaper.
Obviously Michael was not walking around the hallways of ATI, afraid of running into her. Darcy told herself she needed to stop doing the reverse. So what if she ran into Michael? There had never been anything between the two of them. Except for two mind-blowing kisses, she corrected. Kisses Michael kept excusing for some reason.
Well, they were amazing to her but since he had obviously moved on, they weren’t as life altering to him. Thinking back to both those times, she had been overly emotional and probably tired. Maybe the kisses weren’t the result of amazing chemistry between the two of them. Maybe it was a simple case of emotions and fatigue taking over and making more of the situation than there really was.
Either way, she needed to get over him and accept that he had already done so.
She walked back to her house and made dozens of cookies. She didn’t really like eating cookies. Darcy liked more gooey desserts. But cookies kept her mind occupied and her hands moving so she couldn’t think about Michael and his new love.
The rest of the week went by without incident. Darcy avoided Michael to the point of bailing out of a meeting he called and sending her deputy. She felt like a coward, but couldn’t help herself.
Thursday night after her scuba diving class, she reviewed her list and thought about what she should do next. There wasn’t anything on the list that she was sure would wipe out all thoughts of Michael. She wanted to live, but this was too painful, she thought as she climbed into bed. She was better off before, when she worked all the time and didn’t know how exciting things could be. She even liked their fights which was ridiculous.
She set her list down on her bedside table and turned off the light, sighing deeply and thinking she needed to get out and meet other men. Maybe it was only a matter of replacing Michael’s memory with someone else.
Friday afternoon, she was working on a particularly difficult section of code. She was biting her lower lip when Jim came in and sat down in one of her chairs. “So what kind of death defying plans do you have this weekend?” he joked.
Darcy let her eyes slide away from her computer screen reluctantly. “Bungee jumping,” she joked and skimmed through the next few lines of code, trying to find the problem. If she had looked up, she would have seen Jim’s face drain of color. “Would you recommend adding another server to generate the next set of reports? Or do you think the current server can handle the load?”
It took several moments for Jim to respond. Darcy looked over to him and smiled. “Are you feeling well?” she asked, noting that he looked a little green.
Jim didn’t answer her question regarding his health. “Were you kidding about the bungee jumping?” he asked, almost paralyzed with the idea of her jumping off anything with only a rubber band to hold her legs and keep her from crashing.
Darcy laughed. “You know I never joke, don’t you Jim? But what should I do about the server?” she asked, turning back to her computer screen.
“I think you need to talk to Michael.”
Darcy grimaced but her heart started beating faster just at the mention of his name. “Why? I didn’t think it would be such an issue to request an additional server. Do you think he needs to be in the loop?”
Jim shook his head and his palm slapped his forehead. “You really are clueless, aren’t you?”
That gained Darcy’s full attention and she turned to face Jim. “What do you mean? What am I missing?”
Jim got up out of the chair. “Like I said, you need to talk to Michael.” And he walked out of the office.
Darcy considered Jim’s advice for only a few moments before picking up the phone. Jim obviously had a reason for telling her to talk to Michael even if that motive was transparent to her at the moment.
“Hi, Donna. It’s Darcy Madison. Can you put me on Michael’s calendar? I’ve been advised to talk to him about an issue.”
Donna didn’t hesitate before answering. “He’s available right now if you have the time,” she said.
Darcy wasn’t sure if she was ready to talk to him right now but decided she might as well get it over with. “Okay, I’ll be up in a few minutes,” she said and hung up the phone.
She made her way slowly to the executive floor, examining the pictures on the walls as she made her way towards Michael’s office. She knew she was stalling.
“What’s up?” Michael said as soon as she stepped into Donna’s office. It seemed like he was waiting for her but she was sure he was too busy to just stand around in his secretary’s office.
She followed him into his office and sat down on the sofa across from him. “Well, Jim told me I should get your advice on how to deal with a server.” She went into the details of her dilemma and they talked about it for a few minutes. She explained how she wanted to approach the issue and Michael agreed.
He looked at her oddly. “Was that the only thing you wanted to talk to me about?” he asked.
Darcy got the impression he wanted her to say something else, but wasn’t sure what he wanted to hear. She knew what she wanted to say. Darcy desperately wanted to ask him to put his ethics aside, ignore company policy about dating employees and make love to her. But she nodded her head instead. “I thought it was a minor issue, but he insisted that I needed to talk to you,” she replied.
After Darcy left, Michael dialed up Jim’s number. “Jim, Darcy just left my office,” he said and Jim immediately started laughing.
“I’ll bet she asked you about a server issue, didn’t she?”
“Yep. What’s that about?”
Jim laughed even harder. “Did you happen to ask her what her plans were for the weekend?”
Michael’s stomach muscles tightened. “No,” he said. “What’s she doing?” he asked, terrified of Jim’s answer.
“Bungee jumping.”
There was silence on both ends as Michael absorbs the information.