Page 19 of Dance with Me on New Year's Eve

SawyerRox4:It can? just kidding, I know. Maybe my real job just isn’t that fun. Especially lately …

CastGamer55:I hear you. I normally enjoy my work, though others find it boring. But it’s been harder to enjoy lately.

SawyerRox4:Because of the guy at work that you’re stuckwith?

CastGamer55:She’s not a guy, but yes, that colleague. She’s difficult and frustrating. But also unsettling in this way I don’t fully understand.

I felt a slight pang in my chest but shook it off. Who cared if he was working closely with a woman? He and I weren’t … I wouldn’t even say it. Ridiculous. We barely knew each other, and we were barely even friends yet. Danny could have a girlfriend, a wife, or even a husband. He could live thousands of miles away. He could be 17 years old, or 90. I knew so little. I had long feared the 55 in his handle might be his age. He did kind of talk like a middle-aged man—not that there was anything wrong with that. I sort of liked it, actually. I mean, as a quality of afriend.

A friend who likes cats and dogs, like you.

A friend who has excellent taste in TV.

A friend who likes chatting with you.

SawyerRox4:So regarding the reason we’re here … what are your favorite board games? I’m curious what you might be thinking about as inspo

CastGamer55:How many favorites do you want?

SawyerRox4:Um, as many as you have?

CastGamer55:This will take a while then.

A laugh bubbled up from my chest.

A friend who loves board games even more than you do.

Hmm.

Chapter 5

Inearly fell flat on my face as I raced through the elegant lobby of Grantham Resort, waving slightly at the pair of women behind the reception desk. Or maybe they were men—I didn’t get a good look.

I really didn’t like being late, but writing a message to CastGamer55 had taken far too long this morning. And then Jenna had briefly delayed me on the way out. AndthenI forgot we were meeting at the resort today instead of the new office because Jeff had a meeting with Mari and Hazel earlier.At least the last of the snow had finally melted last week, just before May Day, so walking uphill hadn’t been as treacherous as it was when we’d last met with Hazel to sign the paperwork for the new office building. The newoldoffice building that she’d fallen in love with immediately, for reasons I’d never understand.

Finally, I rounded the corner and swept into the conference room to the right of Mari’s husband’s office.

I nearly slipped again on my ill-advised high heels as I gripped the wooden door frame and my eyes took in the scene. Not a conference room but an office. The familiar hazel-eyed man behind the large marble-covered desk lifted his eyes before they widened slightly. His hand slammed the cover of his laptop down, and I could almost swear a look of guilt flitted across his face for the briefest moment. Maybe not guilt … panic? Embarrassment? Something I’d never seen from him before.

I fought to keep my voice steady and my breathing quieter. I was in decent shape, but running wasn’t my forte. I took a slow breath in and out and stood up as straight as I could. “Are you allright, sir?”

Any tiny lingering awkwardness on his face vanished, and he raised his right eyebrow. “Sir?”

I didn’t know why I called him that. I wanted to annoy him, but it was an odd choice. He probably preferred it. Great, the opposite of my intent. “I was born in Tennessee,” I blurted out.

His left eyebrow joined the right, climbing up his forehead. “OK?”

“We use ‘sir’ a lot in the South,” I said, again failing to think or say anything rational. “I mean, when I lived there—”

“Oh? What state did you live in? How long?” His arms were crossed now as he cross-examined me.

“Tennessee. I was … it was a couple years,” I mumbled, hoping he didn’t hear me. “So anyway—”

“A couple of years, as in two? You were already saying ‘sir’—”

“Yes, I was saying ‘sir’ before I was two years old,” I said through gritted teeth, refusing to meet his eyes as I sat in the cushioned leather chair in front of the desk.

But I looked up when a faintly strangled sound met my ears. If I didn’t know better … well, it sounded almost like a laugh. Not quite, but almost. When I scanned Jeff’s face, though, I saw no sign of humor. I shrugged and set my handbag next to me on the wide chair.

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