"Shut up, not all of us are like you. You basically threw yourself at Nicki when you two met."
She shrugs. "A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do."
"He wasn't at the market earlier, but I'll go there for lunch and ask him out again."
Mia seems satisfied with my answer, so she picks up her half of the chocolate and goes back to her desk. Not half an hour later, she comes back with a worried look.
"What's up?"
"Um, Nicki called asking if I could get in touch with you."
"She still doesn't know we work together?" I ask.
"No. She thinks we're just friends. You need to come clean with Ash soon because I don't like omitting things from Nicki, but that's a topic for another day. Ash isn't at the market and he hasn't called Nicki. She's worried and thought Ash may have called or messaged you."
I pull out my phone from my suit jacket and there are no missed calls or messages, so I bring up the messaging app.
Xander:Hey, I was hoping to buy you lunch today. What do you say?
"I sent him a message.Can you ask Nicki if she has his address? If he doesn't respond, I'll go to his place," I say. "Can you cancel my meeting this afternoon, please?"
"Jessop won't be pleased."
"He'll have to deal. Besides, I could use a little more time. My friend is still having a look at some discrepancies on the accounts, and I want to have all the evidence before I confront him."
Mia nods and goes back to her desk.
I can't stop myself from looking at my phone every five minutes, and when Mia brings me Ash's address, I grab my coat and leave.
With the hour-long drive out of town ahead of me, I decide to take a cab home to pick up my car. The sky is still grey, but it doesn't look like it'll snow.
The navigation system in my car tells me I'm close, but since Ash's farm doesn't have an actual street address, I have to slow down and look for the right sign.
When I see the large metal arch with the words Cinder Farm on it, I turn and follow the long driveway. Through Nicki, Mia informed me that Ash lives in the small cottage behind the large farmhouse where his stepmom and sisters live.
I see Ash's truck as I pull up near the farmhouse and park next to it. Growing up in the city, I've never been to a farm, but eerie silence isn't what I imagined it to be.
I walk around the house and find the cottage neatly tucked between the house and a huge barn. The cottage is small but looks very cozy and recently painted white. There's a small flower patch on either side, and it's easy to imagine Ash tending to his flowers.
There's no doorbell, so I knock on the door and stand back waiting.
Please let him be in.
A moment later, movement comes from inside and the door opens slowly.
"Xander? What are you doing here?"
My words are stuck in my throat. I look at Ash's red-rimmed eyes, his slight frame that looks much smaller than usual, and his normally bouncy, curly hair that doesn't have the same life.
I step forward to keep him away from the cold, and wrap my arms around him, using my foot to push the door closed.
"What's wrong, Ash?" It's the first thing I'm able to say after a solid minute of keeping him close to me. I know it's the wrong question when he starts sobbing into my chest.
I run my hands through his hair and up and down his back.
"I'm sorry," he says after a while, and then pulls back from me to take a tissue from the box he has on a coffee table.
I take a quick look around. The place is small, as I could tell from the outside, but it's even cozier than I'd have imagined. The kitchen and living area are open-plan, and there's a very comfortable looking couch in front of a wood-burning stove.
