The dark-haired woman shrugged. “I think I heard something about the company ordering journals for the bigger labs. I think she meant for you to share them with your techs. It’s some kind of continuing education thing. I don’t know. I’m mailroom. The only magazine I read is People. I leave the other stuff to the smarter citizens of the world. Anyway, let me know if you need anything. I should get back downstairs before they think I’m talking too much.”
Noelle nodded her way. “Thanks.”
The woman pushed her cart into the outer lab as Pete walked in. He turned, looking at the woman.
“Who was that?” Pete asked.
She hadn’t asked the woman’s name. That had been a bit rude. “No idea. She said she was from the mailroom and dropped off a couple of magazines. Have you heard anything about a continuing education program?”
A brow rose over Pete’s eyes. “Beyond the fact that Jessica firmly believes everyone should pay for their own education?”
Noelle set the journal down. “Yeah, I thought it was weird, too. Did you know we had a mailroom?”
Pete waved that off. “Oh, yeah. The upper floors still rely on snail mail. I sneak in my Christmas cards to avoid paying for stamps. Don’t tell anyone. But they must have done some hiring lately because the last time I was down there it was all dudes.”
“It’s good they’re diversifying.” But the mailroom didn’t matter. Hutch would be here any minute and she was going to try to convince him to stay with her for an hour or two while she finished up. “Are you heading out?”
“I’m running up to the gym. I was going to see if you wanted to join me. After what happened last time, I don’t want you to go alone.”
“Oh, my boyfriend’s picking me up any minute.” Hutch would flip if he caught her going to the gym again. She’d been ordered to stay out of the locker room until further notice. Hutch had been escorting her to the small gym in her building when she wanted to work out.
What would it be like when Hutch wasn’t staying with her? Would he still spend time with her at night, or would they get back to being obsessed with work?
“Good. Then I’ll leave you to it. Did the experiment finish up?” Pete settled his gym bag over his shoulder.
“It’s uploading data right now.” She glanced back at her screen. “It’s going to take another hour or so. I’ll probably be up here tomorrow.”
Pete winced. “Sorry, Noelle. I’ve got a family party tomorrow. It’s my brother’s birthday, and we’re all meeting for brunch. I can maybe make it after two or so. Or I can stay tonight.”
“Don’t worry about it.” She was done with the physical experiments. “I’m doing nothing but running data and extrapolating at this point. I’ve got to have the report on the latest data to Jessica by Monday.”
Pete looked thoughtful for a moment. “Huh. I must have heard wrong.”
“What?”
“I heard that Jessica already met with investors about our project,” Pete admitted. “I thought you were being extra careful since she’s already presented the data.”
There were some crazy rumors flying around. “No. She can’t present what she doesn’t have. We’ll probably need to go to a couple of meetings next week to get her ready and be prepared in case we need to explain things to the investors. I’ve never done this, but I know Madison went with Jessica when they got that ridiculous amount of cash for her project.”
She remembered that Madison had dressed up for the occasion. She’d been in the locker room that afternoon, changing into her designer sheath. Noelle had watched as she’d reached up into her locker, feeling for something she’d hidden at the top. When she’d brought down a small magnetic box, she’d shown off the big diamond earrings hidden inside.
“There’s this spot at the very top of all the lockers I can hide this. These earrings are worth more than your whole lab. I’m certainly not going to keep them in my purse,” Madison had said as she’d fastened them on. “Do I look like a million bucks? Because I need these suckers to give me about ten. Million, that is.”
Would Jessica want her to dress as flashy as Madison had? Madison wore sky-high heels and slinky dresses even when she was working in the lab. Noelle got the feeling her dressiest sneakers wouldn’t make the cut for an important investor meeting. Did she have any shoes that would work? Or a dress? Maybe she wouldn’t spend all her time working this weekend. She might need to go shopping.
“Yeah, I’m sure you’re right.” Pete started for the door. “Give me a call if you need anything. Definitely give me a call if you need to run the experiment again. That damn machine is being held together with tape at this point. I’ll be happy when we can get a new one.”