Page 79 of Homecoming

If she kept super busy, maybe she’d think about something other than having to find a dress for the wedding or how she needed a haircut and style to look her best. Not that she cared about looking her best for him, but there’d be other people she knew at the wedding. The least she could do for them was get a manicure, for crying out loud.

But what if he thought she’d gone to all that trouble for him?

A searing pain sliced through her finger as she suffered yet another paper cut from the stiff parchment used for the company brochures. She hated those things.

“Son of a bitch!”

She was bleeding all over the place.

Myles rushed out of his office to check on her. “What’s wrong?”

“Those goddamned brochures you like so much got me again. I’m going to make a workers’ comp claim.”

He led her to the sink in the bathroom and held her finger under the cold water.

She stood there like a stooge for a full minute before she realized he was holding her hand and standing very close to her. “That’s okay.” Withdrawing her hand, she added, “I’m fine.”

“Do you need the ER?”

“Har-har. That’s the third time this week I’ve been lacerated by those stupid brochures. I want to throw them all away.”

He retrieved a first aid kit from one of the cabinets over the work area where she processed shipments and wrapped abandage around her index finger. “We’ll use different paper when we reprint them. We can’t have you getting injured on the job.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Do you need to go home?”

“Stop passive-aggressively making fun of me while also being nice.”

He sputtered with laughter. “What the hell does that mean?”

In a singsong voice, she said, “‘Do you need the ER? Do you need to go home?’”

“Those were very serious questions.”

“Right.”

“Paper cuts can be deadly if sepsis sets in.”

She glared at him and went back to her desk. “Bite me.”

“When and where?”

“Shut up, Myles, and go back to work.”

“Yes, dear.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Sorry, dear.”

Renata was more annoyed than ever as she took another bite of the delicious pastry and then cleaned up the bloody mess on her desk. As she got back to what she’d been doing before the lacerating event, she was furious with him and herself most of all. She never should’ve agreed to that wedding. It had given him hope for something that wasn’t going to happen between them no matter how much he wanted it to.

There was still time to back out, she thought.

Coward.

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