Scissor Link by Georgette Kaplan (good books to read for adults .TXT) 📕

lugged the suitcase, acutely aware of her arm muscles against her shirt sleeves. She thought that perhaps her commitment to bohemianism should stop at using secondhand luggage, and include buying something with rollers.

She’d packed only the essentials. She really thought they’d be lighter than this. “Wendy Cedar,” she greeted, nodding thankfully.

“Mary Borchardt,” the steely-eyed woman returned. Her gaze was disconcertingly intent, like it had weathered at twice the rate of her body. “I know who you are. You’re going with Janet to make the sales presentation.”

“You know Janet?”

“We collaborated on the Hawkowl. She’s a firecracker, isn’t she?”

“That’s one word for it.” A word like hootenanny or skedaddle.

They’d made it to the lobby, and the place was like Count Dracula’s office space with almost, but not quite, everything closed for the night. The few hints of movement she could see on higher floors and infrequently lit offices seemed vaguely frenetic. Maybe it was just her imagination; the excitement at the prospect of barely having to share Janet with any of her responsibilities. Wendy just had to kick the presentation’s ass and cue one grateful Janet Lace…

She had to remind herself not to think about that one in public. She was liable to start shooting gay out of her eyes like laser beams, mooning over Janet.

“Could you tell Janet Lace that Wendy Cedar is here?” she asked the receptionist, dropping her suitcase by the front desk. The receptionist obligingly relayed it up the first of however many rungs were below Elizabeth Smile. If Elizabeth was even still at work. Wendy yawned.

“Crazy, isn’t it?” Mary asked, all rhetorical as she set the carry-on down by Wendy’s suitcase. “All this hard work and aggravation, and it all comes down to getting people to want to buy the damn things.”

“Yeah,” Wendy agreed. “Funny.”

“Would you mind giving me a little sneak peek of the pitch? It’s hard for me not to worry.”

“No time,” Wendy said, seeing that the elevator was on the way down. “This is kind of last minute, have to make my flight.”

“Yes, of course, of course. Just tell me if you’ll be mentioning the RadarVoid system?”

“RadarVoid?” It sounded familiar, but woken up from a deep sleep and then tranquilized again by the car ride over, Wendy felt too frazzled to fully place it.

“One of the new features of the Hawkowl. My team implemented it and we’re all very concerned it won’t get its due. We’re mostly women, you see, sort of the girls’ dormitory you might say, and, well, you know how it is.” Mary reached into her jacket pocket and brought out a file folder. “Here. Take it. The project overview. I’d hate to see it buried just because someone up there doesn’t see it as important.”

The elevator emerged into view, Janet visible through the glass wall, arms crossed in consternation, gloved fingers rattling against her biceps.

Wendy fought against a smile, remembering that she was supposed to be helping a fellow employee out. She took the folder. “I’ll see to it that Janet gets it.”

Mary grinned and seized Wendy’s hand in a firm shake. “Thank you! Thank you very much. It’s so wonderful to be appreciated for, well, not for once, but sometimes it does feel like it!”

“Think nothing of it. Us girls have to stick together.”

“Exactly.” Mary nodded. “Exactly, exactly, exactly! Well, have a nice flight and, yes, try not to work too hard? It may be business, but it’s still a trip!”

Wendy laughed. “You too!” she said, as if Mary were going on a business trip, stupid, stupid. She shook it out of her head and picked up her suitcase and carry-on just in time for a beefy intern to take them from her. Another one was pushing Janet’s rolling suitcase ahead of him—it looked so easy—leaving Janet only grasping her usual briefcase.

Wendy held still as a statue as Janet passed by her.

“Come,” Janet said, giving her a raised eyebrow.

Wendy followed her back to the curb, where a limousine had pulled up.

Honestly, who knew Janet Lace could be so fucking extra?

The limo ride was long and smooth. Wendy had done it before, of course, and even if she did want to shove her head out the sunroof, she would hate to embarrass herself that way in front of Janet. Her boss, meanwhile, sat dead center in back of the bench seating, casually checking off engagements she was deferring on her phone—sending texts to all the poor bastards who wouldn’t get to see her because she was in Yuma. And not seeming to notice at all how the limo was flyingfrom the hundred bucks she’d slipped the driver to get them to the airport ‘toot sweet’.

Funny as hell—all that just so they would be there two hours before their flight took off. Not that Wendy cared. She was just lookingat Janet. All the way in the back of the stretch, lioness in a rolling den, going over her phone like it was the bone of a picked-clean carcass. The Yuma trip was a big opportunity for her, and her smile was smeared with red. A fresh kill. A delicious kill.

And every so often, her eyes flicked up from white-painted glasses to take in Wendy. And each time, Wendy felt, in a very real way, honored to be noticed by her. To get her attention when there were so many other things it could be on.

The ride settled: they got on the highway, and the stop-and-go traffic just went. With balance restored and the speed smooth, Janet finished with her phone.

“You’re aware, I trust, that you’re accompanying me because of your diligent work ethic and excellent performance, not because of any…superfluous factors?” Janet asked, a near-match for the Voice of God.

“Yeah, I know, I’m awesome,” Wendy replied. She got up. She sat down beside Janet. Beside those long legs, skirt leaving them bare, crossed thighs leaving them hoisted up close enough to touch…“What are you thinking?” Wendy asked, to avoid thinking what she was thinking. The partition may have