Lunch With the Boss's Secretary

VI

Sure enough, the fur-coated wonder was gone well before lunch. She wasn't even holding the standard information packet Debra was supposed to give to all likely candidates.

Theresa didn't mind telling them why, over lunch. "That woman," she decried, fork waving over her tupperwared pasta salad, "Well, she's just unbelievable! Did you see the way she looked at Biggerstaff?"

Elizabeth, seated next to her and pinning Joe to the wall- right where she wanted him- nodded around her sandwich. "Total slut!"

"Hey, Theresa, calm down, would you?" Nick glared, grabbing for her arm. "You're getting oil and basil all over everything."

"Don't you defend her, Nicolas. I saw the way you all were looking at her!" Nick winced. "Well I can tell you now that she is not worth your time." Theresa daintily jabbed her fork into another sun-ripened tomato. Trowa smiled slightly, glad for Nick and for everyone else that Theresa's indignation was only that, and not a righteous fury. He had seen her in a rage once, when another woman had tried to lure Nick home with her. Hellcat didn't do it justice. "And did you see that bag? You know how much those cost?"

Joseph smiled ironically. "Coupla hundred? For a small one?"

He was rewarded by Elizabeth's shocked face right beside him. "How did you know that?"

"I like to stay in the know," he said smugly, stretching an arm almost around her... and then over her head to pinch the pepper from in front of Theresa. Her joy turned to alarm in a heartbeat and she attempted to scoot closer without driving him completely into the wall.

Fabian snorted, already done with his lunch. He looked at Trowa and rolled his eyes in their direction. "Makes you wish they hadn't combined the cafeterias." Stretching, he stood, and tossed his trash out on his way back to the Service Center. "I just hope Number Three's got a helluva lot better sense than the first two."