Page 13 of Claiming Her Cougar
Daphne looks at my box and then at her box, laughing.She tilts it so I can see, and there’s hardly anything in hers either.“Should we just combine them and sort?Or will we look pathetic going up there with only one box between the two of us?”
I open my drawers and grab the folders of labels and forms and the pad I keep notes on and pile them on my desk.“How about we combine our boxes of personal items, and then the second box could be the folders of labels and forms?That will clear out all the stuff we’ll need and use in one trip.”
“Good plan!”Daphne grabs some folders out of her drawer and adds it to my pile, and then puts the whole thing in her box.She gives me her few personal items to add to mine and, with her box in her arms, asks, “Ready to go?”
“Sure am!”I swallow my last sip of cocoa, wipe my mug with a tissue, and tuck it into my box.
We take the elevator up to the third floor and go to our new office, saying hello to everyone calling out to welcome us.
“Here we are!Office sweet office.”Daphne leads the way into our new space.
“Wow, they got so much done over the weekend.It even has a new office smell!”
I’m amazed; they not only cleared out all the boxes from when this was used for storage but assembled the desks I selected.The desks look great in the space.
“They really did.I got us a plug-in air freshener because it was musty in here.”Daphne looks around, clearly satisfied.“Okay if I take this desk?”She puts her box on the desk in the middle of the room, leaving the corner desk for me.I was hoping for the corner desk, so I’m great with it.
“Sure!I got to pick the furniture.You get to pick the space you want.”
A knock echoes on the wall outside our door.We look toward the sound, where Will is standing in the doorway, one shoulder propped on the frame.
“Moving in?”Will enters our office and looks at me.“Setup okay?”
“Yes, it looks great.I wasn’t expecting it to be done for today,” I reply.
“They were able to deliver everything Saturday, so we made it a family project, putting it together while our wives shopped.”
“They had races.If your desk falls apart, blame Will.Mike and Logan did my desk,” Daphne explains.
I laugh.“I’m sure it’s fine.”
“If it’s not, blame my son,” Will answers.
“How are we moving our working files up here?Do you want them boxed, or are we going to use file carts?”Daphne asks.
“How about we use the carts as much as we can,” Will suggests.“Are you ready for your computers to be moved up here?Mallory said you’d just need a laptop with the file management system on it so you can close out files down there.”
“Whatever Mallory says.She handles the opening and closing of files in the system for us.I’m ready to be up here for day-to-day work as soon as our computers and working files are up here.”Daphne looks at me for confirmation, and I nod in agreement.
“All right, I’ll tell IT to move them.”Will leaves our office, so Daphne and I are alone again.
I turn to Daphne.“Did they tell you they’re closing our department in the new year?Pretty sure they were going to tell us today, but Miller accidentally spilled the tea last week.I told Mike I wanted to continue in the legal department.I assume they’ll talk with you about what you want to do.”
Daphne chews on her lower lip.She’s nervous, and that makesmenervous.“I have stuff to tell you, but I don’t want to go into it here.I have errands to run at lunch, but do you want to come over for dinner?I’ll order something.Want Chinese?”
“Sure, okay.Logan won’t mind?I know you guys just got home.”I worry about what she has to tell me.She had Thanksgiving dinner with the bosses.Maybe she knows more about the department closing than I do.
“No!He won’t mind at all.I think he was going to hang out with his cousin, but even if he’s home, he’ll be working on picture stuff.Won’t be in our way in the least.Do you want to come right from the office?I know you live out in the boonies, so it would be silly to drive all the way home just to turn around and drive to our house.”
“Yeah, thanks.I need to swing by the library to pick up some DVDs I requested, but then I’ll come by?”
My phone vibrates, signaling a text.I pull it out to check, hoping it’s not family drama.
Liam: Hi, survived the weekend?
Me: Hi, I did.How about you?
Liam: It was good.Crazy.Big family, plus people brought guests.It was good though.
