“You’ll probably be grounded, but I’ll take you out for lunch on your next day off, K?”
He gave her a thumbs up and she left.
They had all spent so much effort over the last seventeen years making sure Leo was okay, from the day he was born five weeks early to his first diagnosis to today. Now that he was old enough to manage his asthma on his own, they were all having a hard time letting go. Her parents could try to hover over him, but it would only push him away. She didn’t envy her brother.
Elissa wandered into the office after lunch. She stopped by Karina’s desk.
“Thanks, Karina,” she said.
“No problem, Elissa. How’s your brother?”
“Okay. He wasn’t taking his meds. Mom and Dad are trying to convince him not to do it again. Loudly.”
“It’s rough being a teen with a chronic illness. My oldest has diabetes, and she went through something similar at that age. He should outgrow it.”
“I hope you’re right,” Elissa said. Because the alternative was horrible.
“You could use a quiet day. Why don’t you go through the files from our clients? I’ll send you checklists for each, and you can ensure we have everything we need. I want to start with the DeMarco account next week. They’re long-time clients and have a lot of different subsidiaries to sort through.”
That sounded exactly like her speed today. After the adrenaline rush of last night, coupled with the lack of sleep, she needed an easy job, but one that would keep her busy enough to avoid the messy emotions until she had a moment to deal with them. Elissa stopped in the office kitchen to grab a cup of tea on her way to her desk. It was almost an afternoon for coffee, but after the wild ride she’d had last night, she refused to risk the caffeine overload.
She printed off the checklists and went to their file room. In her precise fashion, she attached the appropriate checklist to each box of papers she’d spent the week collecting from some of their largest accounts. Once that was accomplished, she pulled over the DeMarco boxes and went through it.
It was a long process. Every time she read the name DeMarco, she couldn’t help her thoughts turning to Ryan, with his brown eyes crinkled in laughter from yesterday. How his hair kept flopping over one eye. The way his shirt stretched across his well-defined shoulders. The heat rose as she focused on his physical attributes. She tried distracting herself with the checklist in front of her. A simple task to match the name of the document in the box with the name on the list. Except today it wasn’t simple. Her brain couldn’t seem to handle anything requiring thought.
She went through the boxes twice and still couldn’t find all the documents. Was she not seeing them, or had the documents been omitted? Or was something else going on? A headache formed at the back of her skull.
None of the people she’d met at DPM had seemed the sort to hide anything on purpose. So, where were the documents? Karina wanted to get started, Elissa wanted to get started, and the godforsaken paperwork wasn’t where it was supposed to be.
Elissa rubbed her temples, closed her eyes, and counted to ten. Occam’s Razor. The simplest explanation was the most likely explanation. In the chaos of a long-time employee leaving an inexperienced replacement in charge of the project, some documents had been forgotten or misplaced.
Or she simply wasn’t seeing them in the box because she was so fucking tired.
Dammit. Swear jar.
She put the box to the side and worked through a few others. None of those had missing documents.
Just before five, Karina poked her head in.
“How’s it going?”
Elissa waved a hand at the boxes. “I’ve gone through about half of them. Most of those are fine, but I can’t find some of the paperwork for the DeMarco account. I don’t know if I’m not seeing it, or it’s not there.”
“It can wait until Monday. Go home and rest this weekend and try again on Monday. If the papers aren’t there, I’m sure they’re at the DPM office. Give the cute new office manager a call if you still can’t find them.”
She winked and the heat rose up Elissa’s chest.
“You noticed?”
“That he’s cute, yes. That you couldn’t keep your eyes off him? What do the kids say these days? Also yes. It’s fine, it doesn’t hurt to look. But if anything else happens, let me know so we can handle things professionally. Have a good weekend, Elissa.”
“Thanks, Karina. You too.”
How many dates counted as “anything else”? She’d need to talk to Karina soon, but after she rested and thought about what to say.
Elissa stayed a little late to finish the box in front of her. This one was fine, too. Well, no use worrying about it until Monday. Elissa locked the file room, checked the messages on her desk phone, made a couple of notes for next week, and left by 5:30.
She walked into her apartment, and Jules enveloped her in a hug.
