Nickels (18 page)

The loud buzzing of two alarms jolted Niki from the hard
bed.  She smacked the hotel alarm hard.  Tapping her phone mindlessly, she got
that one off, too.  Wiping the sleep from her eyes, she got ready for the day.

An hour later, she sat in her cube staring at the code.  Her
head hurt.  She was beat.  Only three more days, then she could sleep for a
week.  Well, not really.  She could only sleep in on the weekend.  That’s why
they had to get this done for Friday.  She needed time to recuperate before the
big day.

A meeting reminder popped up on her screen.  She didn’t
remember accepting a meeting invite for so early in the morning.  Opening it,
she groaned.  Todd called a status meeting for seven.  How had she missed
that?  She rubbed her temples, trying to formulate what she would report.

She walked the cubes to see if everyone else was here
already.  Drat.  Only Scott and Chris.  A roundtable update was out of the
question.  Oh well.  She had a good idea of everyone’s progress.

She went to the break room to grab a coffee—her third
one—before the meeting.  It was brewing a fresh pot.  Niki tapped her foot
impatiently and rubbed her temples again.  She hoped she wasn’t coming down
with something.  She didn’t have time to be sick.

“Headache?”

She opened her eyes to Kyle hovering nearby.

“Only the one standing in front of me.”

He laughed which only irritated her more.  She reached for
the coffee the second it stopped brewing and poured a half cup.  Then she
proceeded to open half a dozen French vanilla creamers, bringing the liquid to
the rim.  Kyle glanced into her cup before she secured the lid.

“Little coffee with your creamer?”

She grunted, in no mood for his cheery personality this
morning.

Once in the conference room, Niki silently sipped the sweet
coffee as she waited for the other attendees to enter.  Todd sat down directly
across from her—a bad sign.  He had a habit of sitting directly across from
whomever he was about to scold.  And since he called this meeting… 

Just get this over with.

Todd started the meeting by asking her for a status report
as she expected.  She obliged, careful not to overstate their progress.  As the
meeting wound down, she started to feel relieved.  Perhaps she wasn’t in
trouble after all.

“When were you planning to load the code to the simulator?”
Todd asked.

“Friday morning,” Niki replied since that was the date they
agreed on last week.

“Unacceptable.”

She brought her hand down on the table, regretting the force
because of the stinging it left behind.  “That’s the timing we’ve always
discussed.”

“I need to see it in action on Thursday morning.”

“Why the sudden change?” Kyle asked.

“I need to make sure Niki is not lying about how far along
they are,” Todd said, his voice dripping with disdain.  “Thursday morning will
give me time to make other arrangements.”

“Niki may be many things, but she is not a liar,” Kyle
replied.  The only indication of his irritation was the tick in his jaw.

“You’re entitled to your opinion.”

“We are prepared for Friday morning,” Niki stated.  “Not
Thursday morning.”

“If you want to keep your job, you’ll have it ready on
Thursday morning,” Todd said.

“Are you threatening me?” She asked, her voice rising in
volume.

“Just stating the facts.  Now, are there any outstanding
items we haven’t covered?”

The meeting concluded shortly after Todd’s condescending
threat.  She was fed up with him.  For some reason, unknown to her, it seemed
like he had it out for her.  She was trying as hard as she could to go above
and beyond to meet the deadline.  Yet, he appeared to go above and beyond to
throw up obstacles.

She sighed and headed back to her cube.

As she neared her cube, she felt lightheaded.  Leaning
against the wall, she closed her eyes, waiting for the feeling to pass.  She
could not get sick.  Not now.

“Are you alright?” Kyle asked.

“Fine.”

“You look really pale.  How much sleep have you been
getting?”

“A couple hours.”

“Like six?”  At the shake of her head, he tried again. 
“Five?  Four?  Less than four?”

She finally nodded.

“You shouldn’t push yourself like that.”

Her eyes still closed, she leaned her head back against the
wall.  Her voice sounded weak to her own ears.  “What else can I do?”

“Let others help you.”

She snorted then managed a lame smile.  “It’s okay.  It’s
all billable time.”

“You can’t bill it if you’re in the hospital,” Kyle replied,
grabbing her arm.  “Here, sit down.”  He helped her to her chair.

Once seated, she finally opened her eyes.  He looked really
concerned.  Just how bad did she look?

“When is the last time you ate?”

“Last night around seven, I think.”

“Wait here,” he said.

Like she was going anywhere.

When he returned, he handed her two protein bars.  “Here,
eat these.”

“Kyle—”

“Both of them.”  He folded his arms across his broad chest.

He looked pretty handsome standing like that.  Her stomach
did that little flutter thing, just like it had when he took her to the movies.

She must be delirious.

Taking the protein bars, she ate the first one.  It was
actually pretty good.  Chocolate.  Mmm.  The lightheadedness started to ease
off some.  She turned back towards her computer, until Kyle cleared his
throat.  Was he really going to stand there until she ate the other protein
bar?

The look in his eyes said yes.  Niki unwrapped it and shoved
half of it in her mouth making deliberately loud chewing noises.  Swallowing,
she went for the other half.  As she was almost done, she said with her mouth
full, “Satisfied, Dad?”

“Lay off the coffee,” he said as he left.

The rest of the day flew by as she worked on the code
between shooting questions off to Alan and Kyle.  She was making good progress,
but it wasn’t enough, especially now that Todd just cut a day off her schedule.

After the sun went down—at least she thought it went down,
there were no windows, it just felt like it must have gone down—Doug IM’d her.

Quittin time.

Niki looked at the clock.  Nine.

You guys go.  I’m staying for a while yet.

You need to go.  Get some sleep.
  Doug shot back.

Can’t.  Got to finish this.

He sent an emoticon of an angry face. 
You should go.

No.

Then he signed off. 

He didn’t understand.  No one really did.  This was her
first big project.  She couldn’t let it fail.  She had to make this work.  Challenges
were but obstacles to be overcome by skipping sleep and meals.  She could keep
up this pace for a few more days and still survive.  She was sure of it.

Sometime later she lifted her head from her arms where she
rested it just for a minute.  She felt a little better.  Staring at the code,
she remembered that she’d been about to call Kyle to ask a question.  She dug
her phone from her purse and hit the speed dial for his cell phone.  It rang
and rang and rang.

Come on.  Pick up.

Voicemail.  She hung up without leaving a message.  Then she
called his home phone.  On the third ring he finally picked up.

“Hello?” a sleepy sounding Kyle answered.

“It’s Niki.  Can I—”

“Niki?  It’s one in the morning.  I thought I told you not
to abuse having my phone number.”

She was dumbfounded.  It couldn’t be that late.  “It’s one?”

“Where are you?”

She didn’t want to answer.  She already knew he’d be ticked.

“Are you still at the office?”

“Yes, but I need to—”

“Alone?”

“I think so.”

“You’re insane.  Go home.  Whatever it is can wait for the
morning.”

“Don’t hang up.  I really need your help on this one.  I’ll
finish it up then go home…  Er, to my hotel.”

“You’re not even going home anymore?”

“Please, save me the lecture.  I just need your help.”  She
blurted out the question and waited for his answer.

“If I tell you, will you promise to leave?  Soon?”

“Yes.”

He answered her question then hung up.

She stood and stretched then took out her ponytail, tired of
the heavy constrained weight.  She slipped off her shoes before sitting back
down.

Popping in her headphones, she turned the volume way up. 
She saw what changes she should make based on Kyle’s expert opinion.  She went
to work burning up the keyboard.

She wasn’t sure how long she’d been there, only that her
back was sore and she felt stiff.  But she kept going.

At the touch of someone’s hand on her arm, she screamed and
jumped up, knocking her iPhone to the floor and loosening the headphones from
her ears.  Hand over her heart she turned towards a very angry Kyle.

“You didn’t go home.”

It wasn’t a question.  Judging by his clean shaven face and
fresh outfit, he was here to start his day.

Niki ran her hands through her hair, pulling it over her
right shoulder.  “I’m almost done.  Then I was going.”

“It’s seven in the morning!”

Her jaw dropped.  “That’s impossible.  I just spoke to you a
little bit ago.”

“Grab your stuff.”

“What?”

“Now!”  Kyle’s voice boomed, brooking no argument.  “And
check in your code, or whatever it is you do so the other engineers can work on
it.”

She clicked on a few things, saving her work and then
checked it into the code repository.  Then she slipped on her shoes and grabbed
her purse and laptop.

Kyle took her hand and led her down the hall to the front
entrance, passing Doug on the way in.

“Didn’t you go home?”  Doug’s voice echoed behind her as
Kyle dragged her out to the bright sunlight.  She squinted.

“Kyle, what are you doing?”

“Where’s your hotel?”

“I can’t—”

“Where is it?  Unless you want me to just pick one and you
can wear the same clothes later.”

She told him.  Why was he being so pigheaded?  She had less
than twenty-four hours to get this thing done.

He loaded her stuff in the back seat of his truck.  “Get
in.”

Niki complied.

He pulled in front of her hotel and opened her door.  Then he
picked up all her stuff from the back seat and clutched her hand.  He dragged
her through the lobby.

“What’s your room number?”

“124.”

He led her down the hall to her room.  He took her shoulders
and turned her to face the door and told her to open it.  He held the door open
as she stepped in.  Then he pointed to the bed.

“Sit.”

Niki did as he said, fearing what he was about to say.

“Listen up.  And listen real good.  You’re a smart woman,
but right now you’re acting stupid.”

Did he just acknowledge she was a woman and a smart one at
that?  She smiled at the thought and he misinterpreted her expression.

“I’m serious.  You’re not thinking.  You’re working yourself
way too hard.  You’re gonna get sick or worse—you’re gonna end up in the
hospital.  I won’t let that happen.”

Okay, that got under her skin.

“You won’t let that happen.  What gives you the right?”

“I’m not going to stand by and watch someone I care…” He
wiped his hand across his face as he paced back and forth in front of her.  “A
friend…  I’m not going to let you do this to yourself!”

Kyle threw his hands in the air in exasperation.

“So, here’s the deal, Nicole.  You are going to go to bed
and get some sleep.  Then, when I’m good and ready, I’ll come back and pick you
up and not a minute before I think you’ve had enough rest.  Got it?”

“Yes, sir, Lieutenant Jacobs,” she said saluting him. 
“Whatever you say, sir!”

He glowered at her before he left, slamming the door against
the wall on his way out.

She definitely touched a nerve with that one.  Good.  Let
him stew for his controlling behavior.  She was not one of his lackeys that he
could command to do this or that.  In fact, she had no intention of waiting for
him to return.  She would get a few hours sleep.  Then she’d call a cab, or
maybe Jake, to come pick her up.

Kyle took a deep breath as he got back into his truck.  The
engine roared to life and he punched on the AC, but left it in park.

He almost blew it.   Almost told her he had feelings for
her.

Not that it would matter.  She wasn’t acting rationally
right now.

When he came into the office and saw her sitting there,
shoulders drooped and still in the same clothes as yesterday, he lost it. 
There was no way he was going to let her work herself to her grave.  Their work
was important—just not
that
important.

He shifted into drive and pulled out from the hotel parking
lot.  He needed to calm down.  He wasn’t even sure why her obsession over this
deadline bothered him so much.