Eligible Bachelor
Sophie was halfway through marking up a series of inconsistent verb tenses when she happened to glance up at the time on her computer screen.
Shoot!
She was late. Jumping up from her seat, she accidentally knocked over her mug, sending a torrent of energy drink cascading all over her keyboard.
Double drat!
Trying not to panic, Sophie hunted around in her desk drawer until she found a half-empty pack of tissues. Praying that the spilled energy drink wouldn’t cause any permanent damage, she did her best to mop up the liquid before tossing the sodden tissues into the trashcan.
Slinging her purse over her shoulder, Sophie then made a dash for the elevator, offering up little apologies as she wove her way past the other people who worked on her floor.
With her chest heaving, Sophie pressed the button to call the elevator. She then retrieved her phone from her purse, letting out a soft groan when she saw several texts from her mother, asking where she was. Sophie quickly typed out a message saying she was on the way, praying that her mother wasn’t going to be too angry.
Fifteen minutes later, Sophie flew past the maitre’d of the Four Seasons and began a frantic visual hunt for her mother, finally spying her sitting in the corner, her lips pursed in a frown. As quickly as she could, Sophie marched over to the table, all while making one last-ditch effort to smooth out her hair.
“Sorry, Mother,” said Sophie, leaning in to give her mother the obligatory kiss on the cheek. “Work stuff. You know how it goes.”
“I suppose,” said her mother, scowling.
“It’s just that Anne-Marie turned in her latest chapters late, and Mr. Ellis already announced the launch date, so...” said Sophie, still somewhat out of breath.
“I truly do not understand why you’re still working there, dear,” said her mother. “Being surrounded by all those books must give you a dreadful headache.”
“Huh?” said Sophie, realizing too late she’d fallen into her mother’s trap once again. “I told you, Mom. I really like my job.”
“Yes, yes, I suppose,” said her mother with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Anyway, I didn’t come all the way into the city to talk about your... job.”
“Right,” said Sophie with a sigh.
Of course her mother didn’t care about her career or all the wonderful activities that the city had to offer, including museums, theater productions, and live music concerts. No, her mother was fixated on one thing and one thing only.
“Last week, I had lunch with Karen Edwards,” said her mother. “You remember her, don’t you, dear?”
“Sure,” said Sophie, repressing a groan, all too familiar with who one of her mother’s favorite gossip partners was.
“Well, it turns out that her nephew Connor is back from China,” said her mother. “Now that he’s done gallivanting around and sowing his wild oats, he’s starting up his own business. Some kind of high-tech thing based right here in the city. Isn’t that simply wonderful news?”
“Sure,” said Sophie, racking her brain and trying to remember who this Connor was.
Based on her mother’s tone of voice, she had probably met him at some point, but then again, she’d met hundreds of people at all the boring social functions her mother had dragged her to before finally escaping to the big city.
“And the best part? He is single,” said her mother. “I happened to mention that my daughter was also working in the city. And do you know what Karen told me?”
“Oh God,” moaned Sophie. “Mom, please.”
“What? I can’t play matchmaker to my only child?” said her mother, pursing her lips. “You’re not getting any younger, you know, Sophie.”
“Mom, I told you. I’ll manage my own love life,” said Sophie, trying not to squirm in her seat.
“Sweetie, you’re 28 years old. You spend all of your time working for that dreadful company,” said her mother, clucking her tongue. “Or have you found a boyfriend and just neglected to inform me?”
“No, not yet,” said Sophie, taking a deep breath to steady her nerves. “But I’ll do that on my own time, and in my own way, okay? Please tell me you didn’t set me up with this Connor guy.”
“It’s just a coffee date, sweetie,” said her mother, frowning as she picked up a napkin and dabbed something from Sophie’s chin. “My word, you look a frightful mess.”
“Oh,” said Sophie, feeling her face grow warm.
“Karen said she’d text me the details once she got them from Connor, but you know how I am with computers, dear,” said her mother. “If you ask me, all that silly digital stuff is directly responsible for the decline of polite society. Why can’t people simply meet face-to-face or at least talk over the telephone?”
“Right,” said Sophie.
“Anyway, Karen assured me that Connor was on the up-and-up about all that techno... whatever you call it,” said her mother. “So he will contact you directly. That’s very chivalrous of him, don’t you think?”
“Sure,” said Sophie, glancing around in the hopes that a waiter would show up and put an end to this agonizing topic of conversation.
“He’s quite the eligible bachelor, Soph,” said her mother, giving her a hard look. “Play your cards right, and I might finally be hearing wedding bells in the near future. Please say you’ll give him a chance.”
“Fine,” said Sophie. “I’ll go on the stupid coffee date with him or whatever.”
“Good!” said her mother, all smiles once again. “Now, let’s talk about what kind of cakes to order with our tea...”
Four hours later, Sophie was making some last-minute edits to Anne-Marie’s galley proof of her new book in the Whispering Pirates series when a message window popped up on her computer screen. The message came from the company’s internal communication app, but there was no username attached to it, something Sophie had never seen before.
Sophie Hartman? Hi, it’s me.
Sophie groaned. Somehow, Connor the “tech genius” had found her, which wasn’t too surprising since all her career information was publicly available on LinkedIn. But she was far too busy with work, racing to meet a deadline, to have time for any silly chit-chat with some random cousin of her mother’s friend, no matter how “eligible” he was.
So she ignored the message and went back to work. But the guy was stubbornly persistent, another message popping up on her screen a few minutes later.
I read all about you online, and I’m really excited to get to know you.
Ugh, what was this guy’s problem? Couldn’t he just send an email like normal people? Or at least a comment on her social media profile? Then she could respond when she had some free time, as in, not now, dude.
Feeling slightly guilty, Sophie closed the message window and went back to work. Yet a few minutes later, a new message popped up.
Please, Sophie. I just want to talk.
Furious, Sophie hastily typed out a reply.
>>Not now. I’m really busy, Connor. Maybe tomorrow, okay?
Figuring that was the end of it, Sophie clicked back over to her word processing app and continued marking up Anne-Marie’s chapters. But to her annoyance, the messaging window popped up on her screen yet again.
Who’s Connor?
Huh? If it wasn’t Connor messaging her, then who was it? Since they were using the company’s internal system, it was likely one of her coworkers. But then why was there no username?
Was it perhaps Mr. Ellis, her boss and CEO of the company she worked for? Sophie had noticed him paying extra attention to her recently. But his office was right down the hall. Why the cat-and-mouse game when he could pick up a phone and call her?
Her fingers slightly trembling, Sophie typed out a reply.
>>Mr. Ellis?
A moment later, she got a response.
No. This is NIKO.
Niko? What the fudge? Sophie didn’t know anyone named Niko. Either they’d somehow confused her with someone else, or it was some weirdo from the internet, playing a stupid prank or something.
>>I don’t know anyone named Niko. Please just leave me alone.
There. That should be the end of it. But no, another reply popped up almost immediately.
Not Niko. NIKO. If you’d like me to leave you alone, that’s fine. Sorry to have interrupted. Have a great day, Sophie! And good luck with those chapters!
Sophie sat and stared at that final message for a long moment. Something truly weird was going on. But she didn’t have time to figure it out.
With a sigh, Sophie closed the messaging window and got back to work.
