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big & small

—

TO SAY THAT George Gates was packing it was an understatement. But to say that his towel being around his ankles was the first thing on anyone's minds right now was thankfully an understatement. Because then, he couldn't be too focused on the fact that I had snuck into his room.

"So sorry, Mr. Gates," I said, throwing my hands up to cover my face. "I was in here because the kids wanted to surprise you with a gift and I wanted to see your room to get a feel for what you might like as a present."

Wow, I had no idea I was so good at lying. Of course, I would have to convince the kids to buy him a gift now.

George seemed to buy it based on the sigh I heard him let out before I lowered my hands just a bit to see him tightening the towel around his waist. There, of course, was some difficulty for him in that activity due to some...activity going on down there. I just chalked that up to him being startled to save myself whatever was left of my sanity at this point.

"It's okay, Marilyn," he said with a groan. "And wow, the kids really did want to surprise me, huh? That sure is something. Especially with Father's Day coming up."

I honestly had no idea that Father's Day was coming up. I always knew it came up in the summertime, but I hadn't celebrated it in so long, the specifics of it had just seemed to fade into distant memory.

"Yeah," I piped up, "for Father's Day!" If my job hadn't been on the line in such a precarious situation, I wouldn't have been as rattled as I was right now. But at the same time, George just seemed different with me now, like he seemed more genuine than he ever had before. The George Gates that I knew would've fired me on the spot or at least thrown me out with his bare hands, towel-slipping be damned. Something about his shame made him feel more human, more like a father and not like a possibly-corrupt corporate head.

But then again, he was naked and alone in a room with me. It had all the inner-workings of an adult film and I could hear Teddy's words ringing in my ears: Every rich man hires a hot maid or au pair so they could cheat on their wife with them. And the last thing I needed was Teddy's voice in my head.

"Hey," George said, taking a step closer to me. "I'm so sorry that happened. How about you take the rest of the day off?"

George, being so nice to me? While he was naked, we were alone, and his wife wasn't here? The circumstances were entirely coincidental and not an affair waiting to happen, but I just couldn't shake Teddy's voice from my head.

"The day off sounds fine," I said quickly, making my way for the door without another word. Wow, who knew seeing your boss' penis was the way to get out of doing work?

—

TEDDY WAS THRILLED to hear my recollection of the day's events. Mainly because me taking him away to his office was his escape from a nasty fight between him and his ex-wife in the hallway over some hand towels that were monogrammed with his last name that he wanted back from her, but also because he found every little detail of it to be insanely hilarious.

"Wait," he said between laughs, "you mean to tell me that you saw George naked?"

I groaned, putting my face in my hands. "I hate you so much, Teddy. I hope you know that."

I couldn't see what was in front of me with my hands over my eyes, so I almost leapt when I felt a hand reach out across the desk and place itself on my shoulder. I lowered my hands to find Teddy watching me with a somber expression on his face.

"Hey," Teddy said, clearly not seeming to pick up on the fact that he startled the living daylights out of me. "You don't hate me. Don't say that, Marilyn, I really don't like that word."

I sighed, knowing that Teddy was right about that. I didn't hate him, even if I was just joking around about that. "I don't," I said, "so don't worry about it."

He grinned, this time slapping my shoulder affectionately, making me wince. "Alright then, about that evidence you found, hit me with what you got."

"There was a phone number on George's desk with the name Martin Feldman on it," I said. "That name is familiar because it came up before, right? In the case file you already had for the Gates."

"Yes," Teddy said excitedly. "Mr. Feldman is an extra shady guy, some kind of PR professional who cleans up messes for these white collar creeps. If Mr. Gates had his phone number out, then he was probably consulting in him again."

"Again?" I gulped before the words could even come out.

Teddy nodded. "Again indeed. George had used him before to cover up at least three employee lawsuits. They've definitely got history. And Mister Feldman is definitely the key to finding out whatever is going on with the Gates family."

"Gotcha," I said nervously. "Except I don't exactly get how I'm going to get in a close enough capacity to do that."

"Theo and I will think of something," Teddy said, trying to hold back giggles, "but in the meantime, keep a close eye on George. Maybe not close enough to see his penis again, but you know what I mean by that. Or at least, I hope you do."

I rolled my eyes. I guess that I was never going to live this down, was I?

—

I DEFINITELY WASN'T.

Besides hiding my art and hiding the fact that I was spying on my boss, I didn't keep big secrets from Laney, considering she was my best friend. So when I came in from work today and found her making quesadillas at the stove just the way I liked them — extra, extra, extra cheesy — I couldn't help but unload about my day to her.

"That's like some form of sexual harassment, you know that, right," she asked with a calm face as I finished explaining everything to her. Well everything except the fact that I was working with Teddy and that was the reason I was in his bedroom in the first place. "Are you going to sue him or something?"

I shook my head. "No, of course not. It's still good money, I wouldn't care if the whole family walked around their house naked. It was just weird, though. No one should have to see their boss' junk, right?"

"Of course not," Laney supplied, "unless they're getting a promotion. Come, sit down, Lyn. We're having dinner together tonight."

I made my way to the table, realizing that there was an extra chair than usual, causing me to raise a suspicious eyebrow at her. When we had guests over, that basically only meant Laney's boyfriend, Kevin Cross. Her family was in California while mine was in Boston, so it was terribly rare that we were visited by them anyway. So whoever this guest was, it was someone she planned on inviting without my authorization. Someone who she wanted to surprise me with. "We're having dinner, huh? As in the two of us, your boyfriend, and who else?"

She had gone quiet. "Um, no one, just...a neighbor. Our good friend Caleb Anderson."

I gasped, shocked that she had the audacity to pull such a stunt like that. "Caleb is coming? Why the hell is Caleb coming, Laney? And why didn't you tell me he was coming?" I was too frantic to even care for her response, I looked a total mess right now. "God, I have to go shower and change!"

"Hey," she said in defense, "I know you're going to be mad at me, but that boy is too hot to be single for any longer, Marilyn. This is your chance and you need to jump on it. I love you too much for me to idly sit back and watch you lose your shot with this man. You're my best friend in the whole wide world. You know that, right?"

I groaned, throwing my hands up in the air before storming into my room. The last thing I needed was for Caleb to see me looking like some kind of slob. Besides that, the last thing I needed was for him to be here in the first place, but that was out of my hands at the moment.

I grabbed a towel and made my way to the bathroom, determined not to screw this up.

—

BY THE TIME I had showered, changed, and put on makeup, I could hear plates clanking and people talking in the kitchen. One of them was definitely Caleb, so I needed to psych myself up before going out there. I appreciated the thought behind what Laney was doing, but the execution of it was far from savory. Now I was late to dinner and her boyfriend, Kevin had probably taken all of the good quesadillas from off the top of the pile by now. I did not want to go out there.

But if I stayed here, then Caleb would think that I had bailed on him or something. I wouldn't even have a chance. So I stepped out into the kitchen to find that sure enough, Kevin was sinking his teeth into what looked like a glorious quesadilla while Laney was making desperate grasps for small talk with Caleb. If there was any time to disappear, then now was it. Although I wasn't quite as lucky, for my best friend had spotted me awkwardly standing in the doorway.

"Oh, Caleb," she said with an exaggerated excitement towards him and a wink towards me, "you know Marilyn, right? My flatmate and best friend in the whole wide world? Probably the nicest human being I had ever met?"

Okay, now she was laying it on too thick.

"Yeah," he said, offering me a wave and a smile. "Hi there, Marilyn. It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"It has," I smiled back. With that, I took my seat at the table — my seat being the one closest to Kevin, giving myself some much needed distance between me and Caleb. I wanted him, badly, but not like this. Not at some awkward dinner party with my best friend and her boyfriend.

"Caleb was just telling us about his trip to Mexico last spring," Laney started, not at all ignorant to the intentions behind my seat if choice, desperately concocting something for us to talk about. "And Marilyn here is Mexican. You guys have plenty to talk about, right?"

I wanted to crawl under the table, and I could tell Caleb did too. Kevin, the lucky bastard, seemed to be blissfully unconcerned with the affairs happening before us. Then again, he was eating his girlfriend's amazing cooking and he was really just here to fill seats, he was on top of the world right now.

I whispered to him, "did that just happen?" From across us, I could see Caleb uncomfortably fidgeting in his seat, an adorable blush on his face while Lacey was giving me those 'if you don't talk to this damn boy, I swear to God—' eyes paired up with the genteel smile of a southern girl.

Kevin nodded before swallowing. "Yeah, she's out of her mind when she cares about someone. But you and I are basically used to this."

I sighed because if there was one thing I knew, it was that he was right. That Laney knew no length not worth going to if it meant happiness for Kevin and I. Underestimating her would only be a disservice to yourself.

"I should just go with it," I said and he nodded in response.

Laney was busy distracting Caleb with small talk about something that I couldn't bring myself to hone in my focus on. Sitting there, looking so absorbed by what my friend was saying, Caleb was probably the cutest boy I had seen. I didn't want to let him down, my best friend down, and — most importantly — not let myself down. No, it had been long enough since my last boyfriend and I was definitely ready to get back into the game now.

Ready or not, Caleb. Here I come.