Page 46 of More Than Pen Pals

“He’s not here, you dodo.”

“Glad to hear it. Give me all the details.”

“I’ll give you some, but first, what do I wear to a Cubs game if I’m there for work?”

“You’re going tomorrow?”

“Yes.”

“Will you be in a box suite?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you not have your ticket?”

“Diego’s sending a car to pick me up at the office. He said the driver will have my ticket.”

“Ooo, very fancy!”

“So what do I wear?”

“No idea. But if you tell me what happened tonight, it might come to me.”

“Wendy!”

“Fine. Business casual. Wear the team colors.”

That’s definitely not happening. “And what are the team colors, Wendy?” I test her.

“Purple and orange. Now, tell me what happened with Ash.”

I explain about Operation Pen Pal, and she thinks it’s the cutest thing ever. I swear her to secrecy. Nobody else at Carter-Jenkins or Murphy, Hamilton, and Walker needs to know about this. I don’t want to subject Ash to any ridicule.

“My lips are sealed.”

I have my doubts, but I choose to believe her.

“Surely he’ll tell Randall,” she says.

“Yes. And I really hope he’s helpful and doesn’t mock the whole thing.”

“I’ll make sure he doesn’t.”

“Wendy—”

“Trust me. I know how to handle the Hamilton brothers.”

“All right.” I bite my lip. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“Is Ash a kind man? I mean, he has been kind to me, but is he kind to everyone?”

She pauses, and I can tell she’s thinking. “I don’t know if kind is the word I’d use, because of his general air of grumpiness, but he’s fair and respectful—especially to women and people other men in his position would consider beneath them. Ash is a good man, Leslie. He has a very keen sense of right and wrong, and he always does what he believes is right—at least as much as he has control of it. The man would make a terrible trial lawyer, because if he thought—or knew—his client was guilty, he wouldn’t have it in him to defend them.”

Wendy couldn’t have dreamed up a better answer if she’d tried, and I know she wasn’t making up any of it. Everything she said lines up with what I know to be true of Ash.

She continues, “I don’t know why they have him working for us. He should be out there fighting for human rights and helping the oppressed or something.”

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