Time to Control (18 page)

His body responded instantly, but
his words did not.
 
"Baby, we
don't have time.
 
We need to
go."

I pulled his face down for a long
kiss that he didn't fight.
 
"We
could go somewhen.
 
We have all the
time in the world."
 
Time
traveling was certainly expanding my vocabulary, which made me happy.
 
So did Eddie pressing up against me.

"I got my ass chewed out by
the doctor for letting you fly with a concussion.
 
Uh-uh.
 
No traveling for at least a week."

"Eddie!"

"I have to go to Chicago
tomorrow, so it's not like we'd be able to go anyway."

"There's a lot you haven't
told me," I told him crossly, leaving his embrace and heading for the
door.
 
He sighed and followed after
me.

***

When I hit send/receive on my
computer, I groaned.
 
Five thousand,
two hundred, and sixty five messages.
 
Alan was an asshole.
 
It was
his fault, I was sure of it.
 
It
took half an hour to delete the male enhancement and graphic porn emails, and
ended up with a quite reasonable ninety emails that required my attention.
 
Of course, I muttered obscenities about
Alan's heritage the entire time, but I was happy when the last advertisement
was gone from my inbox.
 
Then I hit
send/receive again, and downloaded another fifty messages.

"Curt, I need a new email
account."

"What?
 
No."
 
The sys admin shook his head at me.

"Alan signed me up for
spam.
 
Either you give me a new email
account, or you get to have fun with email filtering to ensure these messages
don't make it to my mailbox."

"Aw, come on, I don't have
time for that!"
 
He gestured
towards a stack of new computers for the new sales training class starting in
three days.
 
"I have to get all
of these installed and ready to go.
 
Just hit delete.
 
How bad can
they be?"

"Bad enough where I probably
would have a case of sexual harassment for being forced to look at the subject
lines."
 
I stared him down,
certain I would win.
 
Curt glared
back, undeterred.
 
I softened.
 
"Look, we're making it public
later, but I got married last weekend.
 
You're going to have to give me a new email account anyway."

"Do you have to take his
name?"
 
My attempt at
appeasement didn't work.

"Alan knows the naming
conventions anyway; he'd guess it.
 
Just go with schroeder instead of skelly -- that way you don't have to
change it again."
 
Curt
grumbled, but created the account anyway.
 
"Thank you."

"Hey Schroeder!"
 
Curt called after me as I headed back to
my office.
 
I turned.
 
"Congratulations."

One good thing about not
communicating directly with clients was that I had a very small email list that
needed to be notified about the change in address.
 
The abrupt stop in spam was a relief.

Now that I could get on with the
day, I looked over at my legal pad where I always jotted down my todo
list.
 
On the top of the list was
“get online backups going”, and I didn't remember putting it there –
although with my concussion, I had a hard time remembering much.
 
In fact, Alan had always been completely
against the concept.
 
“Oh, but he's
not here anymore,” I thought out loud.
 
“I can get that going finally.”
 
Glad that I wrote it down last week before I got the concussion and
forgot about it, I sought approval from Joseph for the purchase.

Eddie came into my office without
warning, and closed the door.
 
"What--" I barely got out before he came around the desk and
kissed me thoroughly.

When he let me up for air, he said,
"They're letting me keep the account.
 
Elise -- she's the CEO of Kinerian -- said it was, and I quote, 'cute'
and 'sweet'.
 
They said we should
tell Joseph and give him the chance to request someone else, but I doubt he'll
mind if they don't."
 
He kissed
me again.
 
"Ready to go tell
him?"

My head spun.
 
"Um, okay."

We closed the door to Joseph's
office behind us, and he raised an eyebrow.
 
"Yes?"

"Sir, there's something we
need to--"

"We eloped." I
interjected abruptly.
 
Joseph
blinked, and tried to catch up. I liked Joseph enough to not beat around the
bush.

"Ah, congratulations?"

"Thank you, sir," I
beamed.
 
Eddie frowned at me.

"Sorry to hit you with this
all of a sudden, Mr. Maloberti.
 
But
it was rather sudden for us, too."

Joseph got a suspicious look on his
face.
 
"Did you know each other
prior to Schroeder going to New York?"
 
We shook their heads.
 
"Good trip, then, I take
it."
 
I blushed.

"Joseph, it's not like--"

"No, no, it's none of my
business."
 
We could see he was
insanely curious, though.
 
"You
are happy?
 
Good for you kids,
then."

"Sir, about me appraising
you..."

"Have you told
Kinerian?"
 
I nodded.
 
"If they are fine with it, then I
am."
 
It was Eddie and my turn
to blink.
 
That was rather
quick.
 
"Let me tell you a
story."

I settled back in my seat, knowing
that when Joseph started with that line, I'd be there for a while.
 
Joseph went on to tell us about when he
met his wife, and how they were married within a week, and had been happily
married for 35 years now.
 
Eddie was
looking trapped towards the end, and I thought I'd try to rescue him.

"I'm sorry to cut you off, but
I do have to get back to the Simeon project -- they are expecting the site in
place by the end of the day."
 
I looked down at Eddie, who was about to jump to his feet as soon as I
stood, and remembered him being a jerk earlier in the day.
 
I gave him an evil grin.
 
"But I'm sure Eddie would love to
hear the rest."

I was going to pay for that later,
I knew, but man that felt good.

Eddie picked me up at the end of
the day, but didn't drive straight home.

"There's no food in the
house," he explained, pulling into the strip mall that held the nearby
grocery store.
 
"I thought we'd
stock you up before I go.
 
This way
I can do the carrying, and you don't have to with your side."

I had to admit it was a good idea
-- otherwise, I'd probably eat take-out each night.
 
There was a Bath & Body Works store
right next to the supermarket, and I paused outside it and gave him puppy dog
eyes.
 
"Meet you in
Kroger's?"

"I can come in with you,"
he said, amused.

Bath items were one luxury I didn't
mind buying.
 
They were having a
great sale, and I stocked up on my favorites, tossing them in the bag Eddie
held.

"Candles?"
 
Eddie asked, pointing to the display.

I shuddered.
 
"I think I'll avoid flames in my
house, thank you very much.
 
That's
how I got into this mess in the first place, remember?"
 
He winced, having temporarily forgotten.

"Sorry, sweetheart."
 
He gave me a hug and kissed the top of
my head.
 
"Anything else you
want from here?"

I spied the salt scrub that I
normally didn't splurge on, but decided to go for it this time.
 
"Ooh, there we go," Eddie
said, grabbing something else from that display and putting it into the
bag.
 
I dove in there to find the
bottle.

"Massage oil?"
 
His eyes gleamed, and I suddenly looked
forward to using the oil. "We better get two," I said, and grabbed
the scent that matched the salt scrub.

I learned more about Eddie's likes
and dislikes shopping at Kroger's than I had up until then.
 
He loved orange flavoring, but couldn't
stand oranges themselves, and thought orange juice tasted like battery
acid.
 
He loved walnuts, but I
thought they tasted like poison.
 
Lighthearted teasing was going back and forward nicely until we came to
the cheeses.

Eddie grabbed a pack of store brand
American slices, and I put them back and got Kraft.
 
"They are the same," he
pointed out.

I shook my head.
 
"They taste different.
 
Melt different in grilled cheese,
too.
 
I prefer brand names most of
the time; they are worth the extra money to me."
 
I thought he would understand, since he
had always championed quality.

"And I've always gone with the
off-brand.
 
Now we know why I'm a
millionaire and you're not."

I turned slowly towards him, not
believing what I had just heard.
 
The look on his face showed he regretted it instantly.
 
I threw the Kraft singles into the cart,
and turned on my heel and walked away.

"Schroeder!
 
Baby!
 
I'm sorry."
 
He abandoned the cart and came running
after me.
 
I looking at the cereal
choices, ignoring him.
 
He tried to
put his arms around me, but I shrugged him off.
 
"Schroeder, I didn't mean it, I'm
sorry.
 
I was only trying to make a
joke."

I crossed my arms in front of me,
still facing away.
 
"Some of us
chose not to make a lot of money.
 
I
could have gone into any number of industries that pay a lot more.
 
I know what sort of commission our sales
reps get -- yeah, I wish I could make that, especially since without my code,
they would have nothing to sell.
 
But
this is what I like to do.
 
I could
be working elsewhere for more money.
 
But I like my company, and I like my job.
 
Alan told me when I got hired that the
pay would be below industry standard, and that's what happens with a small
startup venture.
 
I've earned some
stock options in the company, and that'll get activated when the buyout is finished,
and that'll make up for it.
 
I'll
not be a millionaire by any means, but I could probably pay cash for a small
house."

Eddie's face froze.
 
"He said they paid under industry
standard?"

"Pay attention," I
snapped.
 
"I'm fine
financially.
 
I don't have to be a
millionaire to live the way I want to live.
 
I don't throw it away; I just choose
where to splurge.
 
I don't smoke,
drink coffee, and don't go out to bars.
 
I couldn't tell you the last time I saw a movie in the theater.
 
If I want to spend an extra thirty cents
on cheese, I'm going to because I can."
 
I grabbed the big box of Lucky Charms
and headed back to the cart, Eddie on my heels.

"Schroeder, I've seen the
salary list.
 
They don't--"

"Don't you dare," I poked
a finger into his chest.
 
"That's
none of my business.
 
It wasn't part
of the technical documentation I went over with you for a reason.
 
I don't need to know what my coworkers
make."

"You do if Alan was lying to
you," he answered quietly.
 
I
couldn't help an intrigued expression.
 
"All but the lowest person in IT makes enough to be comfortable in
New York.
 
Alan makes -- made --
double the junior programmer."

"We don't have a junior
programmer."

"Um, he was some kid. Oh,
bloody hell!"
 
Eddie kicked the
cart, denting it.
 
"I saw the
list before I met you.
 
I thought
Schroeder was a guy, a new one at that based on his salary.
 
Next time I'm asking for the gender
along with the salary report.
 
I'm
supposed to be looking at salary parity to be sure they aren't screwing over
the old folk and minorities, and I miss seeing that they're discriminating on
sex."

"Eddie, I'm sure they
aren't--"

"Like hell they aren't!"
He exploded, causing heads to turn.
 
"You've been there for five years, and are the backbone of the
department.
 
You should be making
the most, not twenty-five grand under the rest of them."

"Twenty-five?" I
squeaked.

He nodded grimly.
 
"Minimum.
 
Kinerian is going to love this."