Page 123 of Rags to Royals

Scarlett

It’s two thirty p.m. on Monday, but I slump into my chair behind my desk at the garage and take a deep breath.

I’m exhausted.

I came in late even. I didn’t have anything pressing to do and I’m still recovering from the weekend away.

But I can’t help the huge smile, and the warmth in my chest that’s been there, like a big, full bubble since Friday, seems to expand.

The weekend was a whirlwind.

I loved every minute of it.

After our bath Saturday night, I fell asleep in Cian’s arms.

We slept late on Sunday, but we still had time for a huge breakfast at Ellie’s before Cian took me on a swamp boat tour. I’d thought I was maybe going to get a private tour but there are just too many people that all like to hang out together. Our boat was full, and when I video called Mariah from deep in the bayou to tell her what I was up to, Saoirse joined the call, much to Mariah’s delight.

The girls hit it off, exchanged numbers, and have already texted.

It was actually hard to say goodbye to everyone, but they all seemed to think it was only temporary and that we’d be seeing each other again.

I hope so.

I want to.

And I know I can make that happen. I just have to take a deep breath and dive into a full-blown relationship with Cian.

To distract myself from those overwhelming thoughts, I look around the office. Brian had thankfully kept his records and paperwork pretty organized, so going through things after I’d moved back hadn’t taken too long. The office isn’t huge. The real work in a garage happens out in the bays, after all. But the desk and chair, half a drawer in the file cabinet, and my laptop will at least get me started on putting together Cian’s new foundation.

I open my laptop and pause with my fingers over the keys.

I don’t even know what to type in.

How to run a foundation? Steps to setting up a foundation?

Is that even something I should just search the internet for?

We need a lawyer. Probably. Right?

You need Linnea Olsen.

I nod. “That’s exactly who we need,” I say out loud.

She would absolutely know how to start a foundation.

She could probably put it together in half a day.

Okay, maybe not that but…

Maybe.

I have zero idea.

So, instead, I start searching for logos that have elephants in them.

This isn’t exactly what Brian had intended for me to do in this office when he’d left me this place, but I think he’d like the idea. I know he would like the single mom community idea. I know he’dlike Cian. And I know he’d like me feeling like I was doing work that matters. Work that makes other people’s lives a little easier, and better.

“Hello?” a voice calls from out in the first bay.

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