“Yes ma’am, we certainly can install new Cat5 cabling at your flower shop. Cost is by the foot, and whatever supples on top of our minimum hourly. Yes, that’s right. Just one minute,” he paused and then wrote down the address. “One of our techs will be out to you in 45 minutes,” he finished and then hung up the phone.
Luc gathered his tools and headed for the front door. As he passed Ginny, he waved and disappeared as quickly as he dared. He knew that the customer management system would let her know where he was going. Meg could tap into it too if she needed him. Meanwhile, he was off to do what he enjoyed; doing tech work.
*
Thirty minutes later, Kevin left on a job as well. He had a computer client in one of the suburbs that kept getting hacked. He had what Luc called a little black box solution for this business. It was a tailored router and firewall. He went out the back door to avoid Ginny. He was still on her shit list for reasons he had yet to figure out.
Meg had shut her door when Kevin left, knowing that she was the only one in the main office and while her workload was light today, the last thing she wanted was to be interrupted. She was crunching data for a state job. Her frustrations with economists that don’t understand the formulas behind their data had reached a new high.
Peter and Cal were working in the loading bay when a beat up Subaru pulled up. At first Peter thought it was Luc coming back, until he noticed that it was a lighter shade of green than Luc’s.
“Hey Cal. I think your cousin is here,” he said.
Cal looked up. “That’s him. Now we see if there’s fireworks or a dog fight,” he said. The two of them watched Patrick walk into the office.
“Did you ever tell your cousin what’s going on? That we’re trying to set Ginny up with a date ’cause she’s crazy in need of a fuck?” asked Peter.
“Sorta. I didn’t want to say too much. Just that our receptionist was a nice gal and that maybe he’d like to meet her. Plus, dammit Patrick, how long has it been since you’ve been laid?” said Cal.
Peter smirked. They moved to the corner of the yard that was just out of sight from the front office, but close enough to hear if Ginny exploded in a ball of fury.
*
Ginny looked up as the door opened. She could see it was a man, but the way the late morning sun hit the door, all she could see was a silhouette. Once he got to the desk she’d be able to see his face. “Can I help you?” she asked.
The man walked up to the desk and stood relaxed with his hands in his pockets, “Yes, I’m here to see Cal Johnson,” said the man. His voice was deep and he smelled delightfully of shifter.
Ginny took a good look at the man. “Sure, he’s probably back in the warehouse. Just a moment and I’ll go get him. May I ask who you are?” she asked.
“My name’s Patrick Dorret. Cal’s my cousin,” said Patrick.
“I’ll be right back,” said Ginny. She got up and headed to the back of the offices to call Cal through the back door. It gave her time to compose herself. She hadn’t had a man or shifter affect her so strongly in ages. She reached the back door and after opening it and not seeing either Cal or Peter, she called out. “Cal! You have a visitor!”
“Tell him I’ll be there in about five minutes. I have to finish up here first,” said Cal from across the bay.
“Alright,” said Ginny and she headed back to the front office. On the way, she checked her appearance in the reflection off of Kevin’s office door. Yes, she looked okay and then she headed back down the hall.
“Cal will be here in just a minute,” said Ginny as she sat back down at her desk. “What brings you here?” asked Ginny. She was curious as hell and wondered if Patrick was single or not.
“Oh, I came down to visit my cousin, and maybe look for a new job,” said Patrick. “And you are?” he asked.
“Ginny,” she said holding out her hand. “Pardon my manners, it’s just been an odd sort of day,” she said apologetically. “Gee, and can I blush like a school girl or what?” she thought feeling the blood rush to her face.
“It’s alright. We all have off days,” said Patrick. “Hmmm, could she be the woman Cal mentioned? Not bad looking… wonder what’s really going on?” he wondered. “Seems quiet around here. Much business lately or is it slow this time of year?” he asked.
“A little slow and two of our techs are out of the office. Plus, it’s almost lunch time. Any later and the only one in the office would have been Meg,” said Ginny.
“Ah,” was as far as Patrick got before Cal walked into the room.
“Hey there Patrick!” said Cal as he grabbed his cousin and gave him a combination hug and pat on the back.
“Good to see you Cal. Work must be good, you smell like a grease monkey,” teased Patrick.
“Yeah. Had a dust up with Peter the first day, but we soon worked out the pecking order,” said Cal.
“Okay, and who’s the boss?” asked Peter from the doorway.
“Ginny of course! She’s the Alpha bitch in this company,” said Cal with a smile. “And if I live through the next 60 seconds, I’ll be amazed!” he thought.
Ginny smiled. “I certainly am and you’d better not forget that,” she said. “Now are you taking an early lunch to show Patrick around town?” she asked Cal.
“No, wish I was, but there’s a shipment from Wintronics due in any time now. Too big for just Peter to unload and stock. How about you take him to lunch? Meg’ll watch the phones.” said Cal. “Please oh please let this work!!!!” he thought.
“Well, um,” she hesitated.