Uncharted Page 12

  He did not realize she only asked this as an attempt to keep him from leaving, and it worked.

  “Yeah, that was apparently the plan, but I’m more comfortable out here.” He was teetering at the opening of her cube, ready to return to his.

  “Well, if you need anything,” she started as she leaned forward, “anything at all, let me know. I’m your girl.”

  He smiled politely again. “Thanks, it was nice meeting you.” He suddenly felt an urgent need to leave the space.

  “You too,” she said. She sounded absolutely delighted as she added, “neighbor,” and flashed him a sly grin. He wasn’t certain, but Emmerick had a feeling he had just been hit on.

  As he waited for Brian to arrive with his equipment, he heard Stephanie’s muffled voice. She was making a phone call.

  That was one of the benefits of not being in an office; it wasn’t ridiculously quiet. Of course, that could also be considered a downside.

  He could not quite hear what she was saying, but he was almost positive she said the words “gorgeous” and “killer” something or another.

  He rolled his eyes then glanced around his cube. It was barren except for a calendar on the wall and a mouse pad on the desk.

  He needed to get supplies but didn’t know where to go for them. He would have to take Stephanie up on her offer. He stood to go talk to her but realized he could just as easily talk over the wall to her. “Hey, Stephanie?”

  “I gotta go,” she mumbled into the phone before hanging up.

  “Sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt.”

  “Oh, it’s all right. You can interrupt me anytime.” She stood. “What’s up?”

  “Think you can show me where to get some supplies? You know, pens and notepads and the like?”

  “Oh, totally. Just follow me.”

  As she led him to the supply room, she was walking with a purpose. Her intention was to look sexy, but Emmerick only found it comical.

  He thanked her for showing him the way and started gathering various supplies. Instead of leaving him to it, which was what he had expected, she stuck around thinking of a reason to talk to him more.

  “So, are you, like, excited to be working for your dad?”

  “Not really. I mean, would you be?” He thought it best to have her do most of the talking.

  “Yeah,” she said as though it were obvious, “totally.”

  “Why?” he asked, again trying to keep the burden of conversation on her.

  “You’re the boss’s kid. It’s like a free pass. And if you screw anything up, you don’t have to worry about losing your job.”

  She must have the kind of dad who spoils her. “You obviously don’t know my father very well.” Her face was puzzled, so he continued, “I’ll be the most scrutinized. I’ll have to prove myself more than anyone else here, and not just to my father.”

  “Yeah, I guess, but still, when it comes down to it, you’re still the boss’s kid.”

  She evidently was not going to get it, and he didn’t care to make the attempt. Instead, he led the way back to their cubes where Brian had started setting up Emmerick’s computer.

  Stephanie said hi to him before disappearing into her own cube.

  “Hey Brian. Thanks for getting to this so quickly,” Emmerick said as he put out a hand for Brian to shake.

  “No problem, man. Anything for a friend.”

  Stephanie stood up. “You guys know each other?”

  Emmerick couldn’t help but laugh; Stephanie looked downright horrified.

  Brian answered her, “Sure. We went to school together.” Then he turned to Emmerick and said, “Panthers, all the way!” before disappearing under the desk to hook up cords.

  Another female employee approached. By the look of it, she and Stephanie were friends. It was confirmed when Stephanie greeted the girl, “Oh, hi Teri, this is Rick.” She motioned to Emmerick. “You don’t mind if I call you Rick, do you?”

  Brian hit his head on the underside of the desk; he knew how Emmerick felt about being called Rick.

  “No, it’s fine,” Emmerick lied. He truly hated being called Rick. He always had.

  Stephanie smiled to her friend. It became obvious that Teri was only there to see Emmerick.

  “Nice to meet you, Teri.” He had to be nice because he was, as Stephanie put it, the boss’s kid. Besides, it was not Teri’s fault Stephanie was so pushy.

  Teri smiled shyly and ducked into Stephanie’s cube to work on their “project.”

  Brian mouthed the word “wow” to Emmerick, to which Emmerick just shook his head and rolled his eyes.

  “Got any lunch plans?” Brian asked.

  “I’m supposed to go out with my dad.” Emmerick didn’t sound too enthused.

  “I’m not your dad here, Emmerick, I’m Jim.”

  Emmerick turned around to find his father at the edge of the cube.

  “Oh, hi…Jim.” It felt weird for him to call his dad by his actual name.

  “Was the office not good enough for you?” He looked from Emmerick to Brian then back to Emmerick.

  “No. I’m not good enough for the office. That’s the kind of thing a man should earn.”

  Jim smiled; he was impressed with his son’s willingness to start low on the totem pole.

  “Very well. Meet me in my office at noon for lunch.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Jim patted Emmerick on the back and disappeared.

  The Voyage

  Kennedy had been at her job for a week and things were going well. She and Mary were getting along and she managed to avoid Julie.

  Her first article was going to be published in this weekend’s edition. It was a polished up version of a portion of her trip. Paige wanted to make it a series, Road Trip for One. She thought it would be helpful if Kennedy had a backlog of articles so the deadlines would be easier to meet.

  She spent most of the first week polishing and separating her trip into different articles. She managed to make it into two month’s worth of material. The idea was that these would give her a chance to build a reader base. If the format did well, they would stick with it.

  Paige had every confidence that readers would respond well to the series idea, so she wanted Kennedy to go on week long trips packed with a multitude of activities. It was also important that she build relationships with the people she encountered, to give the article “characters,” as Paige said.

  Kennedy and Paige were finishing up a meeting to finalize the details of her first assignment.

  “So, where would you like to go?” Paige asked.

  “You’re serious? I get to choose?”

  “As long as it’s in the States. I like the idea of ‘local’ travel. It makes the adventures and experiences more accessible to the readers.”

  “I’ve always wanted to go to Martha’s Vineyard. See what all the hype is.”

  “Perfect. We’ll call it Vineyard Voyage.”

  Kennedy smiled. “How do you come up with these titles?”

  “You’ll learn eventually. Then you’ll be titling your own work.” Paige shuffled some papers. “Now, how are you going to sign your articles?”

  “What do you mean?” Kennedy was confused. She would sign it with her name of course.

  “Some columnists sign with their initials to obtain anonymity, some do their full name, some use a penname, and so on.”

  Kennedy thought about it. “How about my first name and last initial? Will that work?”

  “Sure. Sounds good. Now go book your trip. You should be there over a weekend as well as weekdays. No shorter than five days, no longer than nine.”

  “Thanks, Paige.” Kennedy left Paige’s office and returned to her desk.

  “How’d it go?” Mary asked.

  Kennedy just smiled.

  “What?” Mary was intrigued.

  Kennedy said in a whisper, “I’m going to Martha’s Vineyard!”

  “Oh my God, are you serious? That’s awesome. You have to t
ake lots of pictures.”

  “Don’t worry, I will. Paige will want some to put in with the article.”

  “How long will you be gone?”

  “I don’t know yet. Between five and nine days. I have to call and see what’s available,” Kennedy explained as she picked up her phone.

  After she hung up with the travel agent, she put the dates in her office email calendar so Paige would have access. The travel agent was going to send an email with the details.

  “I’m leaving Thursday night and will return the following Thursday morning.”

  “Nice. It’s like an extra long weekend. I think I went into the wrong area.”

  Kennedy laughed. She knew how much Mary loved her job. It was obvious. “Now to figure out what I’m going to do when I get there.”

  “Maybe you’ll meet a cute single guy while you’re there and you’ll get caught up in a whirlwind romance.” Mary was happily married, but she decided she would live the single life vicariously through Kennedy.

  Kennedy choked on the water she was about to swallow. “No. That won’t happen.”

  “You never know,” Mary teased, ever optimistic.

  Except that Kennedy did know. She wouldn’t allow it to happen. She tried her best to ignore Mary’s mutterings and found a helpful website about things to do at Martha’s Vineyard.

  “Apparently it’s a lot of nature, but maybe there will be nightlife too.”

  Mary didn’t comment.

  “I think the nature angle could work. I could do a lot of hiking and whip myself into shape. Climb the stairs in the light houses, if they allow that.”

  “No clue,” Mary commented over her laptop screen.

  Kennedy spent the few days before her trip making calls and arranging activities. She managed to convince one of the lighthouse preservationists to allow her inside to climb up to the top. She took notes on where to go and who to ask for, and she jotted down phone numbers in case she got lost.

  The day she was to leave, she did not go into work so she could pack and get to the airport on time. After she finished packing, she took a moment to log onto her personal email, something she didn’t do often enough. She didn’t want to think about the number of new messages she would have when she got back if she didn’t check it now.

  There was an email from Facebook telling her that Claire replied to the message she sent the week before.

  Kennedy logged into her account to read it. Emmerick had discovered that they were talking. She did what she could to keep it from him, but it was no use. She had told him that she would not be his link to Kennedy and that he would have to back off.

  Good ol’ Claire. She went to Claire’s page and saw that Emmerick left a message on her wall. Kennedy hadn’t even noticed Emmerick had a Facebook page. Claire had so many friends and Kennedy never took the time to look through them all.

  She clicked the link that took her to his page. Apparently he had recently added a playlist with one song to his profile. He called his playlist “Sunshine” and the only song he had on it was “Addicted” by Saving Abel.

  Kennedy quickly logged off and shut down her computer after listening to the song. If the playlist name didn’t make it obvious that the song was for her, the lyrics to the song did.

  She packed away her laptop and drove to the airport. It took her a while to get through security, but once she did, she went straight to her terminal.

  Since she was a few hours early, she took the opportunity to take notes on her airport experience. The terminal slowly started to fill until they finally started boarding the plane.

  Being that it was such a short flight, Kennedy didn’t bother trying to get caught up in a book. Instead, she spent the flight with her mp3 player and her eyes closed most of the time.

  When she arrived in Boston, she had to bunk down at a hotel for the night, as it was too late to catch a ferry.

  It was her first time in a hotel since Emmerick, but she tried not to think about that. She turned the TV on for background noise and took a shower before bed.

  When she woke the next day, she was running late and called a cab before she was ready. It didn’t take very long to get to the ferry, but she barely made it. After an hour on the water, she finally arrived at her destination.

  She dropped her luggage off at her island hotel room before heading to her first planned activity, the lighthouse. After climbing the stairs—she lost count of how many there were—she rested at the top before coming back down. It was the most physical activity she had done in a while, and it felt that way.

  The view was breathtaking. As hard as it was, she was glad she had done it. She took a few photos before coming down. When she was far enough away from the building, she took a picture of it as well. She would let Paige choose which to use.

  She walked to a nearby nature trail and she hiked it at a leisurely pace. By the time she finished, it was lunch time.

  She found a small diner and had a giant lunch before going to one of the beaches to relax. It was also her first time to the beach since Emmerick, but she couldn’t let that spoil anything. Not with her job on the line.

  As the day ticked by, the beach became more crowded and Kennedy grew more and more tired from the rigorous activity of the morning. She headed back to her hotel early and went to bed.

  She spent the weekend hiking more nature trails and checking out different historical locations. She even managed to find a hole-in-the-wall bar to check out.

  A few of the people she mingled with invited her to go wind surfing with them the next day. She accepted their invite in the spirit of the trip and it ended up being such an adrenalin rush that they kept at it for hours. She took a sailing lesson in the early evening before meeting up with her new friends for dinner.

  They were all from Boston and were just in for the weekend. When they went home, she missed them. They were a fun crowd and knew a lot about the island.

  Kennedy quickly discovered that the tourists thinned out dramatically during the weekdays, and it was mostly only couples left. She found this to be more of a reason to get into the fitness aspect of her trip. She ran along the beach in the mornings and spent the afternoons hiking.

  Before long, it was time to go back home. She was exhausted, but not ready to leave. All her working out was finally starting to show, and she knew once she got home she wouldn’t keep it up.

  The ferry ride back to Boston and the plane trip home seemed to take longer than they had on the way there. She took the time to start writing her article and uploaded the photos from her camera to her laptop before deplaning.

  It felt weird to her to refer to it as an article since she had just started writing and didn’t have much experience.

  She stopped at home to drop off her personal effects before going to work.

  She said a quick hi to Mary as she dumped her laptop on her desk before going into Paige’s office for their scheduled debriefing. Just from hearing about the trip, Paige managed to come up with a good way to split it up into a series. When the meeting was over, Kennedy returned to her desk.

  “Welcome back, you look fantastic,” Mary said with a smile.

  “Thanks.” Kennedy blushed a little. “How was your week?”

  “Pretty good. Paige was in a great mood all week.”

  Kennedy laughed. “Hopefully it didn’t have to do with my not being here.”

  “No, but I do think it had to do with you.”

  Kennedy raised a suspicious eyebrow in response.

  Mary just smiled and handed Kennedy a frame. It had her first article in it along with a compellation of reader reviews raving about it. Kennedy’s eyes widened.

  “Are you serious? I can’t believe it!”

  Her voice came out a little louder than she meant it to and it drew attention. Kennedy saw Julie throw a nasty glare her way and a few other people gawked a bit.

  “We have to go celebrate, Mary! Call Dave and tell him you’ll be home late. If he doesn’t like it, h
e’ll have to deal with me!”

  Mary laughed. “I’m sure he won’t mind. This is a big deal. To have positive reader responses in your first run…that’s amazing!”

  Kennedy beamed. She couldn’t believe it. Not only did she love her job, but it was going well!

  “I do have to ask, though, why are you going with Kennedy J. instead of your whole last name?”

  “It’s just easier that way, and it sounds better,” Kennedy explained.

  “Why? What’s your last name?”

  After Kennedy told Mary her last name, Mary’s only response was, “Wow, your parents are mean.”

  “Tell me about it. You don’t even know how many jokes I’ve heard.”

  Mary laughed. “I can only imagine.”

  Kennedy went back to her work, cheerfully editing her remaining road trip articles based on Paige’s feedback. She hoped the one going out for the upcoming weekend would be as successful. She emailed the updated version to Paige along with the photos that went with it. She finished writing the first segment of the Voyage series before the day was over.

  When Paige heard that they were going for drinks, she decided to come out for just one. Three drinks later, they were discussing the places Kennedy could go in the future. Depending on how long the good reviews on the road trip series lasted, her future trips might be longer than the one she had just taken. It all depended on the audience.