Temping Is Hell by Cathy Yardley Read Free Book Online Page B

she’d let him friend her on Facebook, but she’d also made it quite clear that there was nothing between them. She wasn’t sure if he’d actually absorbed any of those signals, however, so most of the time she simply did her best to avoid him.
    Still, when it came to programming, there was no one better. And right now, she needed the best in a hurry.
    She knocked on the door, and Tad’s mother Meredith answered. “Oh, Katie! It’s lovely to see you.”
    “Hi, Mrs. Stimes.” She put her hands in her pockets, feeling eighteen again in the worst possible way.
    “It’s been a few years,” Mrs. Stimes said with reproach.
    “Um, yes.” The house still smelled like wet dog. Kate petted the three shelties that were currently trying to herd her toward the couch.
    “Well, I’m glad you’re going to see Tad. I keep telling him he needs to get out more, but he doesn’t listen to me.”
    Kate shifted her weight uncomfortably from one foot to the other. “I just wanted his help with a work problem.”
    “Sure. Work .” Mrs. Stimes sounded knowing, and Kate shuddered. “Well, go on down. You know the way.”
    Okay, yuck. The woman was doing everything but the “wink-wink-nudge-nudge” routine. Kate fled through the open door to the basement.
    Tad had painted the walls black, and the violet glow of a black light illuminated everything. There were Star Wars models hanging from the ceiling with fishing wire, their phosphorescent paint like beacons. Something techno and depressing was playing.
    “Really?” she murmured to herself. “You’re going to be that guy, Tadpole?”
    “Hey, sexxxxxx-ay.”
    She yelped. He’d emerged from the darkness behind her. He still looked the same, she thought… skinny, with stringy unwashed hair and a T-shirt that was almost more holes than cotton. She wondered how long he’d been wearing it; he had doused himself with cologne, so it was hard to tell. His smile was wide and lascivious.
    “Hi Tad,” she said, backing away before he could touch her. He kept moving in, and she had to maneuver a chair between the two of them to prevent him from making contact. “You got my message?”
    “I sure did.” Same smile as his mom. Which was doubly creepy, now that she thought about it.
    Focus , she chided herself. “So, do you think you can help me with the computer program?”
    “Text image recognition? Child’s play,” he said, his thin, pointy nose sticking up with derision. “You might give me a challenge next time. What’s the language? English? Chinese? Farsi?”
    “It’s not a language, exactly. It’s some kind of code,” she said, and noticed his ears prick up as he leaned forward with interest. She handed him the slip of paper with the character Slim had drawn for her. “This is what they’re looking for, on a bunch of pages that have variations that look sort of like this contract. I need a program that can pick this out of a bunch of other stuff in this same code.”
    “It looks vaguely familiar,” Tad said, and she fought not to roll her eyes. He hated admitting he didn’t know something, so of course it looked familiar. “But even if it wasn’t a word at all, I could come up with something that would pick out this graphic. No problem.”
    “How long’s it going to take?” she asked.
    “Few days.”
    She stood straighter, taking a deep breath… then choked on the cloying scent of Axe body spray layered over dirty laundry.
    “Um, how much?” she coughed. “I know your time is valuable, and I’m willing to pay you for it.”
    He smiled. “Well, now…”
    “Not that kind of party, pal,” she said firmly. “I’m subcontracting, not whoring.”
    “Come on, we’re friends, not associates,” he wheedled. “How about dinner as payment?”
    “Um, okay,” she said. “I’ll get you a gift certificate to any restaurant in the city.”
    His look of hurt stabbed at her as he stepped in closer. Of course, she’d feel guiltier if he didn’t then