Page 70 of Lovewell Lane

“Nope. He sticks to his word, I’ll give him that.”

“Wow.”

“I know!” I exclaimed. “So now we’re in this awkward limbo again. He got really weird and jealous when a customer was talking to me earlier.”

“Men are fickle creatures,” Scarlet murmured.

“Yep. So that’s where I’m at,” I sighed. “I should probably go. I have a lot of paperwork to sort through, and it’s already late.”

“Alright, just leave me on a cliffhanger then, I guess.”

“Sorry, pal.”

I sighed, sitting upright in my chair and moving my computer mouse to wake up my monitor. This was going to be a long night. I had payroll to schedule, and my accounting for the month to figure out.

My cheek was pressed firmly against a stack of papers when my phone started buzzing. I sat up with a jolt and answered it. My eyes squinted into the bright light of my office.

“Hello?” I mumbled.

“Are you okay? You never came home,” Derek’s voice growled at me. He sounded worried.

I blinked. “Oh, yeah.” My hands reached for the papers that were stuck to my cheek seconds ago. “I’m fine. I just fell asleep in my office.”

“Your office is four feet by five feet. How do you fall asleep in a cardboard box?”

“I have no clue,” I said honestly.

“Look, if you’re out with someone, I understand. You don’t need to lie to me, I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

A burst of laughter escaped me. “I’m not with anyone. I really did fall asleep.”

He paused for a hefty amount of time. “You should take breaks more often. It isn’t good to work all the time.”

“Says you,” I scoffed.

“You aren’t wrong, there.” I heard him shuffling things around. “Get home. It’s too late to be working.”

“Will do, boss,” I snarked.

“One other thing,” Derek said. He sighed into the phone as I waited patiently. “Tessa really wants you to go to the aquarium with us.”

“Oh.”

“I figured I’d give you a heads up after the fishing trip situation. She drew you a picture to convince you to go. I can just tell her you’re busy with work if you don’t want to–”

“No, I want to go,” I said in a rush.

“You do?”

“Someone old and wise once told me I should take more breaks.”

He choked out a laugh. “Okay, she’s pretty excited. So, just be sure before you say yes.”

I was sure. And very endeared that Derek noticed I hadn’t come home. Never in my life had I had anyone look out for me like that. Partly because I never allowed them to.

It was hard to have someone waiting for you when you never stayed in the first place.

24

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