Page 51 of Wife By Accident

“This should speed up the loading times of an app we’re working on,” Leo explained. “But I can’t quite piece it together…” He briefly explained, in layman’s terms, what he was working on. “Pretty boring, right?”

“It sounds like you find it interesting.”

“I do.”

“Then it must be interesting,” Olivia said loyally. “Even if I don’t really get it.”

Leo chuckled. Just then, there was a knock on the door.

“Come in,” Leo called. One of his newer employees, a young man with large glasses who always wore red shoes, Amir something, entered.

“Mr. Barclay, sir⁠—”

“Leo, please,” Leo said.

“Leo, sir, my team asked me to let you know that we haven’t quite finished the graphics for the Kederman account.”

“That’s all right,” Leo smiled. “We have a bit of a buffer built in. Did something go wrong?”

“Well, our team lead, Laurie, is out because her son is sick, and that set us back a little. She’s the only one who knows all the ins and outs.”

“Understood,” Leo said. “Listen, go talk to James in the frontend team. He used to be a graphic designer in your team, and I bet he still knows some of the basics. Maybe he can help. And you should be able to take… another day, maybe two, to finish it without any issues.”

“Thank you, Leo, sir.”

“Just Leo!” Leo called after Amir as the younger man slipped out. He looked back at Olivia, who was staring at him like he’d just pulled a rabbit out of a hat.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

“That was just… so… nice!” She looked shocked. “You weren’t mad at that man, or at Laurie. Even though the project was delayed!”

“Why should I be mad?” Leo asked. “It isn’t Laurie’s fault her kid is sick, and it isn’t Amir’s fault that his team struggles without her. That’s why I always build a buffer into the deadlines I give.”

“Wow.” Olivia perched on the edge of his desk and shook her head. “That’s hard to believe.”

“Why?”

“Well, I told you about my last boss, right?”

“Right. The one who had problems with everything you did.”

“Exactly. But he wasn’t unusual. All of my bosses have been like that. No matter how hard I work or what I do, they always look at me like I’m not good enough.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Leo said.

Olivia shook her head. “It’s just… it isn’t fair.” She sighed. “You’ve created such a great workplace for your employees, but I’ve never found that. All my jobs have made me feel terrible. I’ve had toxic coworkers who spread gossip about me. I’ve had bosses who put me down. I’ve had jobs where I was underpaid and overworked.”

“You need to work for a better company,” Leo said.

“I guess. I just wish that I could find that — and that I could wait until I find the perfect job, instead of just the next one.” She sighed again. “You said the other day that I should be a photographer. I’d love to be. But getting off the ground, especially as a nature photographer, takes so much capital. I’d need a year of runway so that I could focus on photography and finding clients. Or, if I’m looking to work with an existing photography company, I’d still need at least a year of runway to apply for jobs, interview, and fix up my portfolio.”

“A year of runway can’t be too hard to build up,” Leo said.

“Easy for you to say.” She laughed, but there was no mirth in it. “I’ve been trying to save money since I was a teenager, but something always happens. I have to pay student loans. I have to pay rent. Insurance. Groceries. Gas. Everything adds up, all the time. And even when I do manage to set something aside, I end up needing it to fix the water heater in my apartment, or pay for a filling at the dentist, or buy a ticket back to Idaho to see my sister.”

“That sounds difficult,” Leo said. And it did. He could empathize with Olivia’s situation — and he felt bad that she was in it. But something about the way she spoke set off alarm bells, too. For a long time, he’d believed that she wasn’t after his money. With how she was talking now, though, he knew that even a person as principled and wonderful as Olivia might be tempted by his money, simply because her situation was so precarious.

“Difficult isn’t the half of it.” Olivia looked straight at him. “It’s been really nice having this break, but this is a reminder that I have to get back to real life. I can’t stay here forever. This—” she gestured at the office, at Leo, at the whole of New York City, “—is just temporary. Isn’t it?”