Chasing Mr. Carlton ( The story of a Shrew's Son)

Part 9

Bobby looked up from the projector in the conference room as she watched Matt entering... with Lisa.

Over the last few weeks, they had become quite inseparable and then, the unthinkable happened. She'd seen him holding her hand when they thought no one was looking... and then whenever- regardless of who was looking.

Now, here they were. Another Monday Meeting and would you look at that? Matt was actually on time.

Bobby didn't look up, instead she went back to what she was doing and waited for everyone to show up so they could start. She took a seat, in her usual place and waited as Matt took his place.

"Hey Bobby, can you load this up- I made some updates to the presentation?" Matt said, catching her off guard. That was strange, usually when he made changes, he emailed them to her so she could fix it.

Still, she nodded and took the USB, quickly opening the correct file.

"Thanks." Matt said, looking around as Lisa took a seat across the table from Bobby. "Okay- Welcome to Monday everyone and to December."

There was some clapping and cheering- Matt always knew how to get everyone in the mood for a meeting.

"So today we are cutting the agenda short because we want to focus on the new website plans. As you guys know, the last remaining Lida staff will be joining us here, at Lida and Volstack, in the Carlton tower starting in January. This is a big change, big one. Although our companies merged over 30 years ago, we are still constantly evolving. We're still relatively babies in a world of giants. In order to show everyone that we are on the cutting edge, we've decided to do some redesign, starting with the new Lida and Volstack website." Matt said, before clicking and moving on to the first slide.

There was silence now as everyone stared at the screen and Bobby noted their reactions but it was Nora's reaction that caught her attention most.

Nora's eyes had narrowed and a brow was lifted as if she was trying to digest what she saw. Bobby's eyes shifted to Brian as he also seemed to be focusing. Were the changes really that different? After all, she and Matt had talked about toning it down and keeping it as close to the original as possible. Maybe it didn't look so good on the actual screen...

Bobby froze. She just sat completely frozen.

The design on the screen was Lisa's but none of the edits or notes that she and Matt had written down were made.

She looked at Matt who was smiling and talking about the new interface but she just couldn't hear him. Matt had actually just blown off her suggestions...suggestions he had agreed with... even the suggestions he himself made. Could it be that he really thought this was the best look?

Bobby was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't even notice the meeting was over until the lights suddenly went on.

She sat for a second, blinking and then she stood to remove the USB from the computer.

"Matt, can we speak to you for a second?" Nora asked, making him turn from where he was chatting with Lisa as he put his things away.

"Sure. I'll see you later." He said, reaching out and squeezing her hand as she turned to walk out.

Bobby moved quickly, trying to leave the conference room so that they could have their privacy.

"What's going on?" Matt asked.

"Excuse me." Bobby said, picking up the meeting materials and moving towards the door.

"No, please stay..." Nora and Matt said at the same time, making her turn towards them. They looked at each other.