Willa & the Extraordinary Internship

CH. 13

The rest of the week passed in humdrum monotony. Willa pretended she'd never quarrelled with her friends and Cyn pretended Willa had walked straight off a cliff onto the jagged rocks below.

Work was a welcome distraction. Paige was incessantly fluttering around the office, hands waving, hair askew, and stress levels at an all time high. She was doing more stressing than writing, Willa often thought, but kept that thought to herself. Like everyone else, she was eager for the last book of the Simeon Lee trilogy, and after working for Paige Grimsby the last two years, she knew there was a method to the author's madness.

"They're making me teach undergraduates," the woman was currently complaining at the top of her voice to another professor. From under her desk, Willa kicked her feet off the wall until her chair smoothly rolled backward to the door. She could make out the sympathetic noises of Professor Lorna Slater as Paige continued, "I have a deadline on this book, you know." More sympathetic noises.

Willa rolled her eyes, wheeling herself back to her desk. Nothing interesting to eavesdrop on. Her fingers settled over the keyboard. There wasn't really much to do today. She'd already arranged for Paige to do Skype interviews with a few popular book bloggers later today and had liased with the publisher to set up a giveaway gift set of all three books on Amazon. All in all, a pretty boring Thursday morning. Her eyes found the wall clock; it was barely lunch time. Willa stifled a groan, flexing and unflexing her fingers against the keys, willing herself to find some of the inspiration she so desperately needed. Even though she didn't want to, she had decided to redo some of the scenes in No More Mrs. Nice Guise. While Hanna still suffered from M.E., it wasn't beauty blogging that gave her confidence, but sharing her story with the world through Youtube; no longer a makeup guru, Hanna was now a bonafide rising star solo artist in the Youtube universe. Since Cyn couldn't carry a tune worth a damn, Willa figured she was safe from further accusations of stealing Cyn's life.

A soft, tinkling beep emitted from her computer. Minimizing the Word document, she switched to the browser. New mail was frequent throughout the day, everything from administrative meetings to unhappy students complaining about their grades to Paige's mother sending one sentence updates about what she was doing at her Florida retirement home.

This message, however, wasn't for Willa's boss. It had come straight into her inbox, sent from Nathan Wheeler's university alumni email address . The message was short and sweet:

Dear Ms. Grainger (or do you prefer Willa?),

I found your email through the employee directory. Considering the way we met I guess I can dispense with the formalities. I'd really like to meet with you to discuss an urgent matter. Can you meet me sometime today?

Hopefully,

Nate

Willa chewed her lower lip. Curiouser and curiouser, she mused to herself.

Mr. Wheeler,

What is this regarding?

Best,

Willa Grainger

There was still chatter on the other side of the door, louder and a bit more plaintive. The whine-a-thon had certainly continued in earnest, Willa smirked to herself. Nate must have been glued to his phone because his reply came within a minute after she hit send.

Can you meet me at the Book Nook? It's in the quad. When's your lunch break?

Even though his email was informal, Willa pointedly included a salutation and signature for her own reply, which told him in no uncertain terms was she meeting him anywhere until she knew what brand of crazy he was.

It's about Simeon. She stole everything about Simeon and I can prove it.

Willa stared at the screen. Okay, so he was pretty batshit crazy.

Another email arrived within seconds.

I wrote it.

Her body felt flushed all over. Was this a hoax? No, he didn't seem like the type. Then again, he'd also broken and entered Paige's office when no one was around so maybe Willa wasn't the best judge of his character. She couldn't shake the feeling like she was in a spy novel of some kind, especially when the voices outside the door died down and Willa jumped, nervously looking around to make sure Paige wasn't standing right behind her. Satisfied that the coast was clear, she typed her response back rapidly.

Book Nook @ noon. If you're even five minutes late, I'm leaving.