Me: Are you…hard?
Elliot: Jesus, now I’m going to have to take care of myself before I leave.
Me: If you call me when you get back from dinner, I’ll be on my lunch break. I can watch you.
Elliot: 0823hiv23;,piugrviuqebiuew3ebgu’; You’re killing me. I wish you were here right now.
Me: I miss you too, you know.
Elliot: I’m sorry I had to extend my trip. I want to be coming home to you two, but some things can’t be helped.
Me: I understand, but I still miss you. Call me when you have the chance so I can hear your voice.
Elliot: I will. xx
With a sigh, I stashed my phone in my purse and pushed back from the table. With Elliot out of town, I didn’t have to be in the office quite as early as usual, but it was time to get my butt behind my desk, or Raymond and Davida would side-eye me.
When I turned around to head for the exit, I almost ran into another woman. She jumped back, laughing.
“I’m so sorry, I wasn’t paying atten—” She stopped, and we recognized each other at the same time. “Catherine! How are you?”
“I’m great. I was on my way into the office.”
Ann worked in human resources at LD. I didn’t know her well, but often saw her around the building in passing.
“Wonderful. I am too.” She held up her cup. “Just needed my morning dose.”
I raised my iced coffee. “Same.”
Laughing, she held the door and fell into step beside me. “I’ve been meaning to come talk to you in person about the terrible mix-up with your salary.”
I waved her off. “It’s my fault for not pointing out the error sooner.”
She shook her head. “No, no. It isn’t your fault. Things got lost in the shuffle.” She leaned into me, lowering her voice. “In the strictest confidence, it’s all Elliot’s fault. He really mucked things up by skipping normal procedure and procuring his own candidate for a job we hadn’t even advertised. Then he went and hired you on his own.”
I blinked at her, unsure what she meant. “I don’t understand. I saw the listing for the job. It’s how I applied.”
She patted my shoulder like I was a poor little lamb. “No, that was for an assistant position in marketing. Normally, our executive positions come from a different pool of candidates with much greater qualifications.” Her eyes narrowed on me. “Elliot never did tell me how he found you.”
I offered her a shining smile while revealing nothing. “I guess I got lucky.”
I got lucky again when we were separated by a rush of employees heading into the lobby, so she couldn’t press me for answers I wasn’t going to give her. It wasn’t like I had them, anyway. This was the first I was hearing of this.
Very strange.
I guessed Elliot and I would have a lot to talk about when he came home.
Chapter Thirty-one
Elliot
My one-week trip unavoidably became two weeks.
There were things I had to take care of, and they couldn’t happen from home.
First, I fortified myself with the brightest spot of my day while I’d been away: bedtime with my girls. Catherine was nursing Joey in her bed, getting her nice and drowsy while I talked to them both.
“She looks bigger, sweetheart.”
Catherine smiled. “That sounded accusatory.”
“It was. I told Joey not to change while I was gone. She promised.”
“Two weeks is a long time in the grand scheme of her short little life, you know. But I’ll be stern and forbid her from growing more.” She wagged her finger at Jo. “No more growing until Elliot comes home, little girl.”
Joey’s coo shot me in the gut. A few more days, and I’d be back with them.
Catherine finished nursing her and put her in her bassinet for the night. She was getting bigger. Soon, she’d need a crib. We’d have to pick one out when I returned home. Or move the one from her house to mine.
Catherine grabbed the phone and carried it into the study when Joey was asleep, curling up on the couch with a sigh.
“Tired?” I asked.
“Yeah. Ray and I did some painting at the house after work.”
“That’s good. You’re making progress?”
“Mmmhmm. It’s almost habitable.”
This, I didn’t like. As far as I was concerned, Catherine and Joey lived with me. Her house had to be renovated in order to put it on the market, but she’d made no mention of selling.
Another reminder that I had no control over this situation. Catherine could choose to move back to her house, and since I wasn’t a kidnapper, I would have to open the door for her to leave.