Daylight

Viv’s POV

I was sitting in the AP trailer at my desk, typing my latest blog into my laptop, when the door opened, and I suddenly felt a presence behind me.
“Hi,” sang a familiar voice.

Petula!

Smiling, I swiveled my chair around to look at her. “Hi, honey, how’s it going?”
“Just fine, Aunt Viv,” she responded. “How’ve you been? Haven’t seen you for days!”
“Maybe two or three,” I remarked. “So what’s up with you? I heard that a certain young couple spent the night on a hillside recently….”
She rolled her eyes and flopped into the nearest chair. “Good Lord,” she said in disgust, “how do you find out this kinda shit all the time?”
I smiled mysteriously. “Gossip travels fast.”
“Great,” she groaned, spinning the chair around.
I hesitated. “So, uh, Tallou…” I said, using her childhood nickname, “do we need to have ‘The Talk’?”
Pet spun back to face me. “Please, Aunt Viv…” she groaned, “I get that from Mom all the time….”
I chuckled. “Then don’t let me spoil your fun. Did you have a great time?”
She giggled. “Yeah, we really did. But we fell asleep and didn’t mean to, that’s all that happened.” A sigh. “Nobody really knew where we were, and so then we were late leaving Colorado. The girls were pissed.”
“I can imagine.” My baby’s growing up! “So, still no need for ‘The Talk,’ then?”
Petula fixed me with a steely glare. “Aunt Viv, come on,” she growled. “Of course I know all that stuff!” Then she lowered her voice. “Can you keep a secret?”
“Sure, honey,” I reassured her. “What kind of secret?”
“Well,” she began, fidgeting, “the girls, well…they kinda…they think Joe and I…you know…”
I knew. “Okay, so…?”
“Well, uh…we…we haven’t. I haven’t….” She paused.
“…with anyone?” I guessed.
She nodded.
“Oh,” I said, trying not to sound too surprised. “But when you were in college…there must’ve been lots of parties, lots of boys….”
“Oh, there were,” Pet explained, “just none that I wanted to…be…with, you know?”
“Wow.” Oh well, there goes not showing how surprised I am.
My niece was watching me intently. “You’re not gonna give me shit for this, too, are you?”
“Why would I do that?” I asked. “It’s your life, after all. It’s not like it’s risky behavior, not having sex.”
“It’s just that…the girls seemed to think it was about time,” she clarified, “and ever since they think it happened, they’ve kinda left me alone. I like it.”
I leaned my head on one hand. “So it doesn’t bother you that they think you slept with this boy?”
She shook her head. “No, not at all; I don’t care what they think. Why should I?”
“No reason.” I quickly checked the time. “Oh, sweetie, can we catch up later? I’m on a severe deadline and Tim Karan will kill me if this thing is late.”
“Is he really all that bad?” she asked. “He seemed pretty nice.”
The door swung open just then. Speak of the devil….

Tim Karan walked in and took in the two of us chatting. “Vivian,” he called in a falsely pleasant voice, “how’s that blog coming along?”
Dammit, my heart was racing. “Almost done, Tim,” I answered in a similar tone. “My niece just stopped in briefly to say hi.”
Petula was watching our exchange warily.
“Honey, you’ve met Tim Karan before, right?” I asked carefully.
“Of course,” Pet chirped. “Nice to see you again. How’s everything going?”
Tim smiled at her; who could resist? “Just fine, Ms Langley. Looks like you ladies are doing pretty well for yourselves.”
Pet flashed her beauty-queen smile. “We like to think so,” she replied. Then, to me: “I’m sorry I disturbed you, Aunt Viv. Next time I’ll try to catch up when you’re not busy.” She turned back to Tim. “And I’m sorry too, Tim, I hope I didn’t waste too much of her time. She really loves working for you.”
The look of surprise on his face was fucking priceless. But he recovered. “Oh, is that right?” he asked, flicking a quick glance at me. “Well, I’ll have to remember that fact.”
Petula excused herself and left.

Tim took her vacated seat.
“So, Viv, how are things going?” he asked expectantly.
“Fine, Tim, as I said just now,” I replied, turning back to my computer screen. “I have maybe three more sentences to go, and then this can be dispatched to the world at large.”
I typed in a little more, but I could still feel his eyes on me. I stopped just short of posting the damn thing to look at my boss.
“Is there something else you needed from me, Tim?” I wondered, trying to keep the annoyance out of my voice.
“Sort of,” he answered, making me instantly regret having asked. “But go ahead and post. I’d like your full attention.”
I scanned the blog one last time for possible errors and spell-checked it, taking my sweet-ass time as Tim waited. Then I posted it and turned to him.
“So, what else can I help you with?” I asked sweetly.
“I just wanted a quick report on the interns—especially Robert and Stephanie,” Tim said immediately.
“They’re all doing well—especially Robert and Stephanie,” I replied smartly.
He ignored my tone of voice. “Did you happen to have a little chat with either or both of them?”
Two can play that game. “I refereed a small argument, if that’s what you mean, Tim. Why? Have there been further issues?”
“No,” he continued, “but they’re both very talented, with similar backgrounds and education…the only problem is that there may only be room for one of them at AP.”
I smiled. “I’m sure both of them—all of them—understand that an internship doesn’t guarantee a position anywhere, especially now,” I commented. “Why? Will there be an opening soon?”
He rolled his eyes and gave me a typical non-answer. “Well, you never can tell; I only know what’s going on in my little neck of the woods.”
Right.
“So, is there anything else, boss?” I asked for the last time.
Tim rose from the chair and gave it a spin. “Just…keep an eye on things for me. These kids trust you; use that.”

I looked away and bit my lip to prevent from saying anything that would definitely create a job opening in the very near future. The door closed and I exhaled.
Bastard.