Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Rich instantly sighed with relief when he heard the reassurance in Lynn's voice.

"Lynny…you are always the one who saves my butt," Rich said thoughtfully.

Her mind raced. What could he need her for that was so important? Did he need an assistant on an upcoming out-of-town trip? Was he under a lot of stress and needed her to stay late and help him out? Her heart was swelling at the thought of it.

"Me and Maggie got in another fight just now but I think this time she's more crazy super pissed at me than usual. Would you mind dealing with it? I don't want to go home and have her be angry at me later," he explained.

Like a deflating balloon, her heart sunk to the floor. She looked up and saw his desperate, helpless, gorgeous eyes staring back at her and she knew she couldn't say no.

"Of course. I'll take care of it," she said quietly, trying to hide the sadness in her voice.

"You're an angel. You're MY angel. Thanks Lynn." And with that, he'd turned his attention back to his computer.

Lynn dragged herself back to her desk and for the second time that day, slumped heavily into her chair. This was not the first time Rich had asked her to solve a problem between him and his wife, Maggie.

Last time she had sent flowers to Maggie's office with a handwritten note. She'd written the note in her best Rich-style scrawl and Maggie had never known the difference. In fact, she'd loved the flowers and found the note very thoughtful.

Lynn smirked to herself, taking satisfaction in knowing the truth behind the little note. This time though, she'd have to use her creativity and come up with something a little more original. Flowers and a note don't work two times in a row, after all.

Before starting the impromptu assignment for Rich, Lynn did a quick check of her email and voicemail. Zero new emails, zero new messages. I'm so popular, she thought as she started pulling up Rich's files.

She was just about to start digging when she felt something small hit her in the back.

"What the hell..." she said as she whipped around in her chair. Sitting on the floor behind her was a tiny bunched up piece of paper. She quietly laughed, suddenly realizing who had thrown in.

"Heyyyy Anthony," she said, peaking around the wall into the cubicle next to her. Sure enough, Anthony and Maya were sitting there, already staring in her direction.

"Hey loser," Anthony teased.

"Hey Lynn," Maya said, looking up at her warmly.

Anthony was a few years older than Lynn and liked to bug her. Ever since she'd started working in R108, they'd had a big brother/little sister relationship.

Maya worked upstairs in the Financial department, but was often down in Anthony's office hanging out. They'd been dating for a few years, and it was no secret to anyone in the office.

"What did you guys do last night?" Lynn asked for either them to answer.

"We went and saw the new Batman movie. It was soooo good," Maya said sarcastically and rolled her eyes. But Lynn noticed right after that she was staring lovingly at Anthony, obviously not caring what movie they went to see at all.

"It was SICK Lynn. You have to go see it," Anthony said very seriously.

"Uh huh…well maybe I'll wait for the rental," Lynn answered, only half interested.

Anthony grinned and turned to face Maya.

"You liked it…you know you did."

"I did not! It was dumb…well Batman was hot…"

"Maybe you should date him then!"

"Whatever!"

Lynn grinned at Anthony and Maya bickering back and forth as they got lost in their own world, then sat back down at her desk. That's what she wanted. Someone she could tease lovingly and argue with about dumb little things but then know at the end of the day she would end up in that person's arms.

Instead, she was opening pictures of Rich and Maggie's first vacation together, compiling the necessary materials for creating a sweet, but not over-the-top apology to send her on his behalf.

As she clicked through each of the pictures (Maggie and Rich standing next to a palm tree, Maggie and Rich standing on the beach, Maggie and Rich kissing under a waterfall), she could feel the tears in her eyes begin to spill down her cheeks.

Lynn stifled a sob as hers and Ali's other best friend, Nora, happened to walk into her cubicle.

Nora took one look at the current photo displayed on Lynn's screen, Maggie and Rich holding giant Margarita glasses, and swung her friend's chair around to face her.

"Lynn…he is evil for making you do this," Nora whispered, wiping Lynn's tears from her cheeks.

"He's not evil…he doesn't know any better!"

"Stop defending him, hunny," she coaxed, pulling up a chair beside Lynn.

"I can't help it, Nor. How can I say no to him when he asks me to help?" She asked, genuinely hoping for a good answer. Nora put her arm around Lynn's shoulders and squeezed.

"You just do, Lynn. You just say, 'No thank you, Rich. I will not help make you and your wife happy when really I want her to walk out into oncoming traffic' and that's that!" Lynn giggled as she imagined herself actually saying this to Rich.

"You know she's probably a nice girl. She probably has no idea that she married such a dummy," Lynn said, half trying to convince herself.

"Now that's a good attitude. You remember that while you're finishing whatever ridiculous thing you're working on," Nora said, getting up to leave. "In fact, make it good because this is the last time you're going to say yes to him. Right?"

"Yeah…sure."

"RIGHT?"

"Right! Okay…never saying yes again…got it." This time Nora was satisfied with Lynn's answer and started walking toward her own desk.

"We'll talk more at lunch!" She called from down the hall.

Yeah, if lunch ever comes, she thought woefully. Two more hours, and one dumb apology gift, comin' right up.