Imperfectly Beautiful (Jordan Knight Fanfic, Liadan #3)

Tech and Talks

-MARIA-

I sighed deeply as I peered out the window of my beloved blue MINI Cooper that had been a gift from Tony years ago and searched for a good spot in the massive Holloway Tech Corporation parking lot.

After a couple of times of driving around in a circle, I'd finally concluded that I was just going to have to walk and I silently thanked God that I'd left Grace back at my parents' house and didn't have to deal with her tiny legs making the long trek.

Much like my parents, Grace also had my twin brother wrapped around her finger and he seemed to think that it was his life's duty to spoil her rotten. He'd been back home in Boston from touring the world for less than a good three hours and he'd already talked me into letting her eat sweet, syrupy French Toast after having pancakes, jump on his bed, and open an early Christmas present of a brand new Beanie Boo Baby dressed in an 'I heart L.A.' t-shirt to add to her oversized collection.

Thus, it hadn't seemed to phase Grace in the slightest when I'd kissed her goodbye and told her I had to go talk to Daddy and she'd need to hangout with Uncle Nathan for a while because Grammy and Papa were busy outside arranging the Christmas lights. She'd simply nodded and went back to jumping up and down on his bed with her new Beanie Boo while Nate unpacked. On my way out, I'd overheard Paige commenting that he was cute with kids, but I hadn't hung around to hear the rest of their conversation. My mind was too fixated on my fiancé.

It was nearly one o'clock and I knew Tony usually had his short lunch break scheduled for right around now and I'd decided that I would pick up his order from his favorite taco place and have a talk with him in his office. I realized that might not be the most ideal place for discussing his work schedule and I should probably wait and talk to him at home, but for all I knew he'd get another throng of all-nighter assignments and I wouldn't see him for days, which would only make my frustration increase. Thus, I was heading to where I knew I could find him and that was at his family's business.

As I climbed out of my car and made my way towards the massive building with the taco bag tucked under my jacket to keep it warm, I couldn't help taking in the giant electronic billboards that featured all of the innovations and technologies that were currently in the works. Despite the fact that the Holloway family itself was dysfunctional, when it came to computer science, math, and engineering, Tony was brilliant and it was apparent that he shared that brilliance with his father. Their company was constantly on the cutting edge with some new invention that always went right over my head, but transformed into a fascinating new product that spanned industries from personal technologies, to health care to education to the military and cybersecurity. Although I hated Tony working so much, I had to admit he had an interesting job and my occasional visits to Holloway Tech Corp. always felt a bit like a field trip.

Nearly ten minutes passed before I finally made it through the sliding doors that led me inside of the lobby where my eyes drifted over even more displays of technologies on top of the bright white marble floors. The walls on the sides of the room were covered with large murals encouraging visitors to "think outside the box" and "be great" while the very back wall had signs that advertised upcoming projects.

My eyes wandered the space in search of the welcome booth that was usually set up near the elevators, but all I couldn't seem to find it anywhere. Instead, my gaze focused on the employees that were zipping back and forth on scooters and gathered around various "brainstorming" zones.

I exhaled lightly before making my way over to the elevators where I decided to try to scan the map to figure out exactly where Tony was from memory. Grace and I had visited him a few times and I just hoped that I'd paid enough to attention to the direction that the welcome crew he taken us to figure things out. However, when I reached the map, I realized I had no clue where to go.