Page 19 of Love Unwrapped
Ryan grunted in response and set the coffee mug on the counter.
“No outside food in the prep room.” Blake pointed his friend back to the office, trying very hard not to outright laugh at Ry’s pained expression as he returned the mug to the office.
He walked over to the table they were using for packaging, put on an apron, and set his hands on his hips. “What now, dickhead?”
“Watch it. Ladies present.” Giving a hungover Ryan a hard time took his mind off wondering when Andi would get there.
Ryan scowled at him then took a deep breath as if to control his impulse to throttle Blake. He turned to Bree, waved an arm in the air, ending at waist level as he bent forward in a gallant bow. “Many apologies, my lady, if I have besmirched thy honor.” Bree giggled again at his antics as she went to the sink to wash her hands before bagging cookies.
“Where’s Andi?” Ryan asked as he plopped on a stool, clearly not ready to work yet. And considering he was Blake’s guest and not a volunteer assigned the duty, he could do what he wanted. He missed seeing Ryan every day, so if he wanted to sit and chat while they worked, Blake had no problem with that.
“She looked tired when she left, so she probably just slept in this morning.”
“I’ll bet she did.” Ryan smirked at him.
“She left here at a decent hour. Don’t steer your mind into the gutter, though I know it’s a short drive.” Blake wouldn’t take Ry’s bait, especially not with Andi’s coworker in the room.
“Um…not to burst your bubbles, but you don’t know Andi at all if you think she’d be more than a couple minutes late, and usually with some good reason. She never misses a day of work. She’s usually there before I get there and still working when I leave.” Bree brought over a tray of cookies and set about packaging them and tying them off with festive holiday ribbons. “Maybe I should call her?”
Blake’s cell rang at that moment. “That’s probably her now.” He pulled it out and answered quickly. “Hello.”
“Hi, Blake, it’s Babs. I got a weird text from Andi at some ungodly hour of the morning telling me to send another volunteer today. And now I can’t get through to her on her phone. Do you know what’s going on?” Babs sounded worried and he didn’t want to have this conversation in front of everyone, not that he even knew what he’d say.
“Hang on a sec.” Blake pulled the cell away from his ear and told Ryan and Bree he would take the call in his office. Once he was in there, with the door shut, he told Babs, “I’m not sure what’s going on. We had a great time last night. We talked about what happened in the past and cleared up some misunderstandings.” Babs made acknowledging noises, but didn’t offer a response, so he continued, “Then we had some pizza and she left about ten, saying she’d be back early this morning.” Blake racked his brain for what could have gone wrong between then and now. “I’m not sure what to tell you.”
“Hmm…I have a feeling there’s much more to your story than pizza and talking, but I’ll let it go because hearing about my granddaughter in a compromising position isn’t an image I want to start my day with.” Babs sighed.
“Nothing—” Blake started to object, but Babs shushed him.
“My girl lets her head rule her life, and her head has some messed up ideas about how life works.” He heard a car door and an engine start, then the phone clicked over to Bluetooth if the change in noises were anything to go by. When Babs spoke again, it was with determination. “You finish up those cookies. Do you need another volunteer to help?”
“No, ma’am. We’re good. Not that many more to go.”
“Don’t call me ma’am. It’s Babs to you. And another thing… I’m going to pull my granddaughter’s head from her posterior. Your job’s to not give up on her, young man.” Babs could have given any of his superior officers a run for their money in the command-issuing department.
“Aye aye, Babs.” Blake grinned. Poor Andi. She didn’t stand a chance if she thought running away would work for her. But if she didn’t want to be with him, there was nothing he—or Babs—could do about it. Babs didn’t even say goodbye, but his phone beeped to let him know she’d dropped the call.
He walked back out to the prep room. “Andi’s not coming. That was Babs seeing if we needed another volunteer, but I think we’ve got this.” He tried to skate over the elephant in the room, but that wasn’t going to happen.
“What did you do?” Ryan asked, crossing his arms and scowling his way.
Blake held up his hands in surrender. “Nothing. We had a blast last night. She said she’d be in early this morning to have breakfast with me. Whatever happened, happened after she left here.” Blake glanced at his phone. “I’m going to call her.” He walked through the bakery and out the front door for some privacy and maybe a bit of the brisk morning air to clear his head.
Straight to voicemail, just as Babs had said. He closed his phone and texted her instead. “What’s going on? Are you okay?” If she needed his help, he’d be there. If she needed to be away from him…well, he didn’t know what he’d do about that.
Chapter 11
Andi sat back in her office chair, her head resting in her palm as she listened to the aging CFO ramble on about current state of financial affairs of the airlines. She arched an eyebrow then rolled her eyes in a dramatic way—something she’d been doing a lot of lately. She closed her eyes and face-palmed her face in a ridiculously drama-filled way of showing what a beating her life had become. She shouldn’t have logged into the call. She’d worked at Rora Airlines for three years and hadn’t missed a single Wednesday corporate call.
The senior management team had a hard time seeing past themselves to let the company thrive. They held on too tightly, controlling every move, but she dealt with the likes of these kinds of men all the time. If she were honest, what had her upset right now had nothing to do with the company conference call and everything to do with the dozen red roses sitting on the desk in front of her.
More than anything, she wished Blake would just leave her alone. Turned out, subtlety wasn’t his forte. No less than fifteen phone calls and text messages, and now these flowers were a testament to his tenacity. Blake played games, and it was just too much for her battered heart to take. She closed her eyes, and like every time she did, instant images of Blake filled the darkness. Today’s obsession had her remembering his smile. Even when he was defensive and distant with her, he still had an easy smile for those around him. Of course, those smiles hadn’t included her, but the people he surrounded himself with were sure lucky recipients of that easy-going charm.
Her tummy twisted. She hadn’t really eaten in days. Well, unless you counted the grapes that made the wine she’d been drinking from the time she’d entered her apartment in the evening until the time she passed out in bed each night. Maybe the best course hadn’t been cheap wine. But who could afford to drink the expensive stuff when the important things was quantity and not quality.
Her mouth was dry and her head hurt, which added fuel to the pain of her heart. She opened one eyelid, looking over at the clock on the credenza, which she had to strain to see from this angle. The dramatic edge her embarrassment and uncertainty had taken refused to allow her to pick up her head and act like a reasonable person. Thankfully, it was time for more Advil. She didn’t hesitate. Andi turned to the bottle on her desk, ignoring the muted conference call and took two of the small pills, draining the almost-full water bottle.
She looked over to see Bree standing in her doorway. She hadn’t heard her enter the office, which spoke volumes to exactly how preoccupied she’d become with her wallowing.
