Page 28 of Don't Go Faking My Heart

"We all have too much work as it is," I say.

"We all have spare time," Jane says.

"No need," Rusty says. "I'm taking two weeks off."

"Rus—"

"Don't fight me," he says, his jaw flexing. When did he start flexing his jaw? "I already talked to Tripp and hired people to cover for me."

"How?" I ask. "When? You've been with me literally every second since we saw Philip."

He shrugs, and the truth hits me: he cleared his schedule before we saw Philip. When he found me on the riverwalk and left for all of eight minutes.

Affection swells in my heart. I jump out of my chair and throw my arms around him.

"Thank you." I squeeze him hard.

"That's it?" he laughs in my ear. Well, in my hair. It's too big for him to get actual ear access. "You're ready to fight the Janes off for wanting to help, but I get a hug?"

"What can I say?" I back up and look at him. "I'm a walking contradiction."

"You're not a contradiction," Lou says. She opens the door and the Janes start leaving the office. "It makes total sense."

"In what way?" Parker asks.

"He is her fake boyfriend." Lou grins.

Parker snorts and starts following Lou out of my office, glancing at my hanging shelf as she passes.

Then she puts her head back in, staring at the contents of my shelf.

"Is that my trophy?"

"You mean the Ultimate Luciano trophy?" I correct. A few months ago, Sugar Maple Farms hosted a family reunion for Parker's NFL star ex-boyfriend and his family. Jane asked for Parker’s help throwing it without telling her who it was for. Because she's a meddling meddler who meddles. Spoiler alert: her meddling worked and Parker and Sonny got back together. I helped a bit at the reunion and met Sonny's incredible family, including his spitfire eighty-year-old Nonna. We hit it off instantly. "Yep, that's the trophy. Nonna said I'm an honorary Luciano, so I thought I'd borrow it for a minute."

Parker's eyes narrow to pinpoints. She marches over to the shelf and grabs the trophy. "I earned that fair and square. Also, you communicate with my future grandmother-in-law?"

"Yeah, we’ve texted since her wedding," I say. "She was super curious about the Tummy Waffles page, so I sent her over some of the archived?—""

"You sent Nonna eight-year-old pictures of dudes' abs from our University of Chicago days?"

"Hey, abs are timeless."

Parker closes her eyes. "I need to go do Tae Bo."

"Don't you mean yoga?" Millie asks.

"I gave up on yoga. Nonna convinced me I should try kickboxing, and she was spot on. It's much more my speed."

"Shocker," Millie says.

"Okay, CrossFit," Parker says as the two of them leave the office.

Parker comes back into the office and grabs a handful of gummy bears from a jar on my desk. "Oh, and Ash? We're helping. Deal with it." She pops a candy into her mouth as she walks out.

"You're fired!" I call after her.

She just waves at me.

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