Chapter Twenty-Five

Thursday at five p.m., the office phone rang. Aggie wanted to ignore the call, but one more task wouldn’t kill her.

“Treadwell Properties.” She wiggled her toes under her desk. She’d ditched her pantyhose and heels the moment Max left for an afternoon meeting. He’d been due back by three but called and said something had come up. “How may I help you?”

“How did things go in the office today?” Max said on the phone.

Speak of the devil… “Hello to you, too, boss man. Things are just peachy here.”

“Did you do anything without first asking permission?”

“Funny you should ask. I actually set up an interview for a new receptionist. Ms. Grace called. She’s definitely decided working for you isn’t the right fit for her image and has graciously turned down your offer to let her be your receptionist. She said to tell you she’s sorry it took her so long to decide.”

He chuckled. “It only took her two and half weeks to make it official. I really thought she might hold out the whole eight weeks you’re working for me. You know…to make sure we spent plenty of alone time together.”

Did the fact she gave her decision indicated the grandmothers had given up on their matchmaking scheme? “Ms. Grace thought you might get upset when I relayed the news, and I was to tell you not to take it personally. Anyway, now that it’s official, I hope it’s okay for me to get the ball rolling on the filling of the vacancy. I didn’t figure you’d want to be involved in something so mundane as hiring a receptionist. Like I said, I’ve set up one interview.”

“About that. You sound great answering the phone. When my assistant comes back, perhaps you—”

“Don’t you dare ask me to be your receptionist.” She cleared her throat, hoping he hadn’t heard the note of hurt in her voice. “I have better things to do with my life.”

“Of course you do, but perhaps you should cancel the interview and we should leave it open just in case you change your mind.”

“Not necessary.”

He didn’t push. “Why do I get the feeling you’re mad at me? I thought you did a clearing to get rid of the negative energy between us.”

“Sorry. I’m feeling grumpy today.”

“Why?”

Good question. “Do you really want to know?” Maybe it was time she took a real risk in life. One that included her heart and not just her life.

“I do, but not right at this moment. I’m in a bit of a rush. I need you to do me a favor.”

She’d take that as a big fat no. She smiled so her voice would sound cheerful. “It’s your dime.”

“Go over to my desk and open the drawer on the right side. I have a stack of business cards there. Find the card from Jasper, Inc. I need their phone number.”

She put the call on hold, walked over to his desk, pulled open the drawer, and found a small stack of cards. A few were stuck between the pages of a calendar. She pulled out the calendar and shook for other hidden ones. Then she thumbed through the cards until she found the one he wanted. Grabbing the phone, she then took the call off hold. “Found it.”

“Great. Text me the number.”

“Will do. Anything special going on tomorrow?”

“I have another meeting with David Long. It’s a critical one.”

“Here or his office?”

“His office, but I’ll drop by mine before the meeting.”

She grimaced. Mr. Long had a lot of…quirks. Which didn’t make him bad, but it did make him a challenge to impress. “I’ll ask Meemaw to send positive vibes out into the universe tonight for a successful outcome.”

“Okay. Tell her thanks in advance.” After a moment of dead air, Max said, “Aggie?”

“Still here. It’s my understanding that the rules of etiquette when talking to the boss man is that he has to hang up first. Were you testing me to see if I knew that? Surprise. I do.”

He laughed. “Never mind. Have a good night.”

She hung up and turned to close his desk drawer. Something on the calendar caught her eye. Her name. Written in every square of every workday. She pulled it out and gave it her full attention.

“What the hell?” From the day she’d started working for Max, until the day scheduled to be her last day, he’d written her name and then drawn a big red X through each day that had passed. Even today.

Why? Hurt bombarded her from every direction. She bit down on her bottom lip to draw her attention away from the ache and refocused it on her mouth. Did Max hate being around her so much he counted down the days until she left?

That would be the obvious don’t-kid-yourself conclusion. The other conclusion—the obvious kid-yourself-one—would be Max was counting down the days until he could kiss her because he wouldn’t be her boss anymore.

Her go-to, knee-jerk reaction would be to decide it was the first scenario and retaliate. But, as Meemaw liked to say, that would be cutting off her nose to spite her face. And truthfully, that wasn’t what she wanted to do.

What do I want? “To not screw things up by jumping to wrong conclusions.” In this situation, the adult thing to do would be to pretend she never saw it.

Thirty minutes later, she left the office, locking up tight. Stepping outside into the crisp air, she listened to the rustle of the wind blowing, the sound of a distant siren, and the gentle meow of a cat.

A smile lifted her lips. She adored cats. Aggie followed the mewls. Turning the corner of the building, she stopped short. What she discovered in the alleyway gave her an idea. A brilliant, Max-is-going-to-love-this idea.

Perched on top of the trash bin sat a tiny black kitten, talking to the world. Aggie slowly approached. If it had been sitting anywhere else, she wouldn’t have had her idea. But sitting on her and Max’s trash bin, it had to be fate. And as such, it had to have been fate that gave her the idea. “When was the last time you ate, precious?” She spoke softly in hopes the kitten wouldn’t have a fright and run.

The kitten stopped squawking and eyeballed her. Aggie held out her hand and waited for the kitten to move closer out of curiosity. When it did, she scooped the feline up and placed the bundle of fur inside her jacket pocket. “There you go. Warmer?”

The kitten wiggled.

“I bet you’re hungry. Let’s go get you some food.”

On her way home, she stopped at a pet store. Inside the store was a vet’s office. From the veterinarian, she discovered the kitten was a girl. She named her Olivia. Having never owned a pet, she had no idea what all she needed for a cat, so the store clerk helped her pick out food, bedding, litter box, collar, and a cage. Pet ownership was for the rich? Not that it mattered. Olivia would help Aggie pull off her latest plan.

When Aggie and Olivia arrived home, Meemaw shook her head. “You know we can’t have pets. It’ll cost us a hundred dollars a month more in rent. Cats are expensive.”

“Not a problem. This kitten isn’t for us. I’m going to take her to work. She’ll be our office mascot.”