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Julie
I sit across from Devan Monday morning while eating my eggs and toast. He is looking at his laptop, having already finished his breakfast, and planning his week of photo shoots while sipping coffee. He looks so serious as he scrolls through his schedule for the week. Syncing his calendar between his laptop and his phone. The most organization I get with work is outlining my articles before I write them, otherwise I pretty much fly by the seat of my pants. “What does your week look like?” I ask him as I eat the last of my toast.
He looks away from his laptop screen, making eye contact with me before giving me a crooked grin. I love that look. Like he just realized that I was still there, and he hadn’t dreamed me into existence. I think I have the same look on my own face this morning now that I know how much I really do love this man, and that I wasn’t the only one feeling that way. “Not too busy actually. I’ll be traveling to Solvang at some point this week for a photo shoot of the town. I’ll only be gone for a day. They are putting together promotional material for a festival this coming Spring. I did get an email back from another assignment though. You remember the one I needed those sunset shots for?” He lowers his gaze and starts scrolling through emails.
“Yeah. That was the weekend we went to Pacific Park, right?” I blush when I think about those pictures. Or rather, what happened after we got home and started looking through those pictures.
“Yeah, those.” He looks up from his laptop again and smiles at me. I’m sure he can see the blush in my cheeks and take a guess at what I’m thinking about. “They loved the shots and sent me a few proofs of the advertising put together with my pictures. Do you want to see?”
“Yes!” I exclaim as I jump up from the table. I move behind Devan so I can look over his shoulder at the laptop. He scrolls slowly through the email showing me each of the brochure proofs and they are beautiful. “Devan, they look amazing.”
“Thank you, angel.” He turns and places his hands on my hips. I bend down to kiss him. My heart is filled with pride at the work he has done on those pictures.
Pulling away from him to look into his eyes, I place my hands on either side of his face. “You really have a gift for photography, Devan. I am proud of you. These look amazing.” The look he gives me at my words go straight to my heart. His eyes are full of nothing but appreciation and love.
“That means a lot to me, angel. Thank you for saying that.”
“I’ve had a really great weekend, Devan. I hate that I have to leave but I have to go to work.” I give him another kiss before standing and moving to take my dishes to the kitchen to rinse and place in the dishwasher.
“I know, angel. I’ve enjoyed having you here.” He follows me to the kitchen and grabs me as I close the dishwasher and stand up straight. He pulls me into his chest and wraps his arms around me, resting his chin on my head. “Will you text me today and let me know how your day is going?”
“I will. You are probably going to get a ton of text messages from me today actually. So, you better have a clear calendar so you can spend all day texting me back.”
He laughs and squeezes me tighter against his chest. “I’ll always make time for you, angel. But please promise me you will talk to security today. Let them know about those notes. And think some more about going to police.”
“I will. I’ll talk to security as soon as I get to the office.”
“Good.” He says, kissing my forehead. “And text me if you see anything suspicious or get nervous about anything. Anything at all. I don’t care how small or trivial you think it is, if it makes you nervous or causing you to ask questions about it, let me know. Please.”
“Okay.” I lean back and look up at him. Lifting on my tiptoes as he bends down to me, I kiss him long and hard. I really do hate having to leave. Especially after the weekend we’ve had professing our love for each other. “I’ll text you when I get to the office. And about a bajillion times during the day.”
“You better. I love you, Julie.”
“I love you too, Devan. I really do have to leave now.”
“I’ll walk you out.” He says as I grab my purse and laptop bag and open the front door. Devan follows me to my car, staring at it the entire time like he’s expecting something to jump out of it. At least there aren’t any more notes on the windshield.
I click the key fob to unlock the door as we approach, and he opens the driver door for me. I lean across and place my purse and laptop on the passenger seat then turn around for another kiss before getting into the car.
I text Devan as soon as I get to my desk and let him know that security was made aware of the ‘threats’ and would keep an eye out as well as walk me to my car each evening. He responds almost immediately letting me know he’s glad I will have someone keeping an eye on me when he is not able to do it himself. Then I boot up my laptop and get straight to work.
“Good morning, Julie.” Marie says as she walks to her desk from the elevator. “You’re looking refreshed this morning.”
“Good morning, Marie. And I am rather refreshed. I had a great weekend with Devan and a wonderful morning before coming in. How was your weekend?”
“It was alright.”
“Did you see Matt this weekend?” I ask her, hoping that things are starting to get better between the two of them. After meeting him Friday, he seems like a really great guy and I know he would be perfect for Marie.
“I did. I saw him Saturday. He said he had dinner with you and Devan.”
I wasn’t sure if I should have mentioned it or not, but looking up at her, she doesn’t seem to be upset by it or anything. “He did. I met him at Devan’s house Friday. He’s a really great guy.”
“He is. I’m just not sure if I’m ready for anything with him.”
“Why not? Weren’t you the one pushing me with Devan?”
“That was different.” She turns away from me and starts walking toward the conference room. “Are you ready for the meeting?”
“Yeah, I’m ready.” I grab my tablet and stand, ready to go to the Monday briefing. I know there is more to Marie’s weekend than she is ready to share. I need to be a better friend, I have not spent much time talking to her since Devan and I got together, and I feel terrible. She is my only friend and I want to be there for her. I just wish she would open up to me and tell me what is bothering her.
Today was nothing new. I put my name on only two of the stories and let everyone else have free pick of the rest. That will give me plenty of time to schedule some meetings to get more information about the installers for Precision Security. The stories that Travis has highlighted for us are nothing compared to the recognition I would receive if I managed to break this robbery story.
Once I return to my desk, I pull up my email and start in on my weeks’ worth of work. As it turns out, I did get a few replies from a couple of the business owners regarding their surveillance systems. I start making a list of every possible similarity, looking further than just the company since that seems to be a wash after talking to Mr. Steadman last week.
Come to find out, each of the installations had been done by different crews. However, one person on each crew remained the same. Looks like I’ll be making another phone call to Mr. Steadman after all to see if I can get any information about an installer named Jerry. As expected, that phone call doesn’t go over well. He has nothing further to say to me and refuses my call. I call back and talk to the office manager instead. Her name is Martha.
“Martha, my name is Julie. I’m a reporter at Metropolitan Weekly. I have a few questions I’d like to ask you regarding an installer working for your company by the name of Jerry. Do you have a few minutes?”
“Umm.” Martha pauses. I am sure she has no idea how to respond to a reporter, and I feel bad putting her on the spot.
“I’ll only be a few minutes, Martha. I just have a couple of questions.”
“Okay, I suppose I could help.”
“Thank you.” I say when she doesn’t say anything else. “How long has Jerry been one of your installers?”
“Umm, not long. He started a few months ago.”
“Do you know if he has a background? Criminal or something like that?”
“No ma’am. All of our employees undergo and vigorous background check.” Of course, they would. It is a security company after all.
“Do you know Jerry personally, Martha? Have you had any interaction with him at all?”
“Am I being recorded at all? I’m sorry, I’ve never talked a reporter before, and I guess I should have asked that first.”
“Don’t worry about it. No, I am not recording this conversation. This is off the record just between you and me.”
“Oh good. To be honest, I’m fairly new here myself and I’m not sure if I’m even supposed to talk to you.”
“Thank you for your honesty, Martha. Like I said this is completely off the record. No one will even know that you’ve mentioned anything to me. Is there anything that you can tell me about Jerry?”
She stays quiet for a minute and I start to think that she may have hung up before she starts talking so quietly, I have to put my hand over my other ear in order to concentrate on what she’s saying. “A little. He makes me nervous.” She pauses and takes a few audible breaths. “When he first started here, he would not stop staring at me. He has this look, you know. One that makes you think he is picturing you naked or something.” She stops again and I can hear her swallow before she starts again. “It really made me feel uncomfortable, so I try not to be anywhere near him if there’s no one else around. He volunteers for installing jobs all the time, offering to cover for other techs if they need time off or have something else going on. I just figured he was looking to make some overtime though.”
“Thank you, Martha. I won’t bother you anymore, but I appreciate you talking to me.” I hang up the phone and make some notes about his character. So, he was new, volunteered for extra installations, and made her nervous. Maybe that means something, or maybe I should try to get some more information about him. I feel like I keep hitting a wall. My source said to follow the surveillance, could this be what he was thinking? Maybe it has something to do with one of the techs?
Pulling my email back up, I decide to send an email to my source to see if he’s ready to meet yet. I want to see his reaction when I share some information with him and see if I’m on the right path with Jerry.
Before I know it, my day has flown by and it’s time to go home. I get off the elevator in the lobby and go straight to the security desk. There’s a large man there in a black suit that greets me by name. “Miss Julie. My name is Alec. I will be escorting you to your car this evening. Are you ready to go?”
“Yes, thank you.” He follows me to my car and even holds the door open for me as I get in and turn the key in the ignition.
“Have a nice night, ma’am.” He says as he nods his head slightly and closes my door then turns to walk back to the building.
As soon as I get home, I decide to video chat Devan rather than send him a text message. I need to hear his voice and to see his face while I talk to him. I pour myself a glass of wine and sit on the corner of the sofa before calling him. He answers on the second ring. When I see him appear on my screen, I stifle a laugh because he looks like I just woke him up. His hair is all disheveled and he isn’t wearing a shirt. “Did I wake you?”
“No, angel. I was just lounging on the couch watching a movie.” He says, running his fingers through his hair trying to tame it. It doesn’t help though, now the rowdy strands are sticking up in the opposite direction of where they were previously. It’s adorable. “What’s going on? Did you just get home from work?” He asks. I tell him about the emails that I received today at work, and the installer named Jerry. I tell him about my conversation with Martha. And I tell him that I had sent an email to my source asking him to meet in person, which he obviously doesn’t like.
“Devan, I don’t have a choice.” I plead with him. “I have to break this story.”
“I know you want to be the one to break it, angel. And I’m not telling you not to go.”
“Then what are you saying, Devan? Because it sounds to me like you don’t want me to meet this guy.”
“Julie, I’m just asking that you be careful. Meet him somewhere public. Maybe I can come with you.”
“Devan, I’m not taking you with me. This guy is nervous enough without him taking one look at you in all your alpha glory and thinking you’re a cop.”
He narrows his eyes and tilts his head to the side. “Alpha glory?” He says, smiling sheepishly.
“Don’t start with me, Devan. Now’s not the time to be cute.” I am trying hard to be mad at him. I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing. It’s really hard to be angry at him when he looks at me the way is right now.
“You think my alpha glory is cute, angel?” He gives me a full on smile this time. And oh, God that dimple. How could I possibly get mad at him when he looks at me like that?
I roll my eyes at him and a giggle escapes my throat. “Devan, stop being silly, this is serious. I don’t even know if he’ll agree to meet with me yet. But I promise you I’ll be careful and meet him somewhere public if he does. Okay?”
“Okay, angel. How was the rest of your day? Did security walk you to your car after work?”
“The rest of my day was great, and yes I was escorted to my car. It was weird actually, having security walk me out. He was nice at least. He waited until I was in my car before he walked back to the building.”
“Good. I miss you already. I wish you were here with me tonight.”
“Me too. But I’m tired. I think I’m just going to take a bath and go to bed.”
“Okay. I love you, Julie. Have a good night. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“Love you too. Good night.” I hang up the video call, finish the last of my wine, then walk to the kitchen to rinse the glass before going to take a bath.