I Hate, I Bake, and I Don’t Date! by Alina Jacobs
69
Beck
Owen was waiting for me when the elevator opened at the Quantum Cyber offices.
“It’s a Friday miracle. Mark Holbrook and Finn are here. They want to give us the cyber security contract,” he said, practically dragging me through the office to where Walker was entertaining the two men with pictures of the cake I had designed.
“He drew it with a crayon!” Walker said with a laugh, slapping his leg. “It looks so bad!”
“Walker,” I barked.
My brother smirked. “Finn was saying how much they admired the cookies, and I told them in no uncertain terms that you did not decorate those or even design them yourself.”
“While your booklet was of course fantastic,” Mark said, “the cookies were a huge hit. Your assistant, Tess, I think, dropped them off right when we had several men from the Department of Defense over at our facility. You should have seen them. They were like little kids! They insisted on putting together all of the little drone cookie pieces.”
“That’s because we like to think outside of the box here at Quantum Cyber,” Owen said smoothly. “Now let’s talk contract specifics and timeline.”
“Dammit,I should have fired you instead of Tess,” Owen said several hours later after Mark and Finn had left.
“She’s interviewing for a job at some sketchy company,” I told him. “If you really had to, you could hire her on as a consultant.”
“We may need to if AstraDrone wants more of those cookies,” Walker said. “Maybe you can convince her to make something fun for Greg to do to keep him occupied so he doesn’t kill us after he loses the HOA election tonight.”
“Shit. I forgot about that.”
The meeting roomwas packed when I arrived. I grabbed a drink and took my spot next to Belle at the table at the front of the room.
“As the last meeting was tabled before the presidential vote could commence, we’re going to finalize the new president tonight,” Belle said. “Candidates, please come to the front.”
My girlfriend walked up to stand next to Greg at the front of the room.
“Tess, why don’t you tell us a bit about your platform?”
“My platform is community! We’re going to host more events like a movie night and hot guys at the pool night and more! And of course, snacks and adult beverages in the lobby,” she added. Vera gave her a thumbs-up.
“While that all sounds well and good, I think you all may want someone with actual experience on the board. Or at least someone employed,” Greg cut in.
“I have a job,” Tess said cheerfully. “I’m working with Belle.”
“What?” Greg snarled. “That’s against the bylaws. Tess can’t be an employee of the company that owns the building.”
“It’s perfectly fine,” Hyacinth, the secretary, said. She had a large binder with the bylaws printed, highlighted, and tabbed. “Tess is a resident. And though she’s an employee, she is not a personal investor. She can run. All in favor of Tess say ‘aye.’”
There was cheering.
“And all in favor of Greg?”
No one said a word.
“Congrats, Tess,” Belle announced. “You’re the new HOA president, and I can finally not be it.”
Several seniors who had probably been drinking all day started singing “God Save the Queen.”
Vera pulled a tiara out of her bag and placed it on Tess’s head.
“For my first order of business,” Tess announced, “I am going to ask for a motion to prohibit the proposal of any modifications to the bylaws that make it more difficult to purchase a unit here.”
Greg seemed more and more murderous as Tess struck down his carefully laid plans.
“Don’t forget,” Tess said before the meeting was adjourned, “we’re having a welcome party tomorrow for our newest residents!”
“So now that I completely annihilated your half-baked attempt to screw me over,” Belle said to Greg, sliding the bag of her designer purse onto her shoulder, “are you all moving out?”
“We can’t,” I told her, “because we just started a big construction project at the old building.”
“Hm,” she said. “Too bad, Greg. I guess I’ll have to see more of you.” She looked him up and down. “As long as you don’t open your mouth, it’s not a bad thing.”
Greg worked his jaw.
“Nice try, though,” she added and winked. “It was fun!”
“Maybe,” I suggested to my older brother after Belle had grabbed food then left, “you could try making her a cake and apologizing.”
