So, I’d resolved to distance myself, just a little. Until Wednesday, at least. Or maybe Tuesday. After reaching that conclusion, I finally fell asleep, but that was around two thirty in the morning, and suffice to say, I wasn’t exactly wide-eyed and bushy-tailed this morning.
I was walking with my head down, looking at the stack of papers in my hands as I walked back to my desk from the copier.
“Morning, Gwen,” Dad said cheerfully as he strolled through the office.
I jumped a little, startled. I hadn’t heard the door open, I’d been so lost in my muddled thoughts. “Hey, Dad.”
“You look tired, are you feeling okay?”
“I’m fine,” I assured him, smiling. “What do you need?” Dad didn’t typically make social calls, so if he was coming into the office, it was work related.
“I need you to make up a newsletter about the Canada Day barbeque and send it out to all employees. It’s in two more weeks.”
“Oh, right.” I nodded, having completely forgotten about the annual barbeque. Normally, I’d have sent the newsletter out by now. “I’ll get that done today.”
“Excellent. And give Grant Hernandez a call. I need him to come in sometime this week to look over the blueprints for the ravine condo project.”
“What happened to George? I thought he was the engineer for this project.” I frowned, confused.
“George has fucked up on the blueprints twice now, I need Grant. Get him here, okay?”
“Of course,” I said, jotting down a note on the pad of post-it notes on my desk.
“One more thing,” Dad said, sending me an apologetic smile. “Your mom expects you at dinner Friday night.”
“Ugh, but I came over last week,” I muttered, scowling. Dad arched a brow, wounded. “Come on Dad, every time I’m around her she makes me feel like a spinster for still being single, and then she starts listing off every available bachelor that she knows.”
“Your mother just wants to see you happy,” Dad said sternly, walking toward my desk and coming to a stop in front of it. His pewter eyes sparkled with amusement.
“Who says I need a man to be happy?” I frowned, crossing my arms. “Erik certainly didn’t make me happy.”
“Erik wasn’t really a man,” Dad responded, his eyes darkening with a smidgen of anger. He’d been pretty pissed when Erik had left me, thus crushing my spirit and heart, and he’d never been a fan of my ex-boyfriend. I pity the fool that truly raised a hand to hurt either Kelsey or me; they’d meet Dad’s wrath and then some. “Besides, you don’t want her to chase you down, do you?”
“Nope, I wouldn’t want that.” I sighed. “I’ll be there.”
“Great.” Dad grinned, tapping my desk once with his knuckle before turning and heading back into the shop.
Alone again, I heaved an Oscar-worthy sigh and sank into my chair. I flipped through the business card carousel for Grant’s information. Finding it, I picked up the phone and dialed the number.
“Grant speaking. What can I do for you?”
“Morning Grant. It’s Gwen from Williams’ Tech. Russell needs you to come in sometime this week to go over the blueprints for the ravine condo project.”
“I thought George was on that project?”
“Russell needs it done right, and he needs it done now,” I replied. “Can you do it?”
“Of course,” he said, pausing. I heard shuffling before he spoke again. “I’ll be in the area between eleven and one. I’ll stop by then.”
“Thank you,” I said. “Have a great day.” I placed the phone on the cradle.
With one thing crossed off my to-do list for the day, I started on the next task; the newsletter about the barbeque. I liked to make my job as easy as possible, so I opened last year’s newsletter and started changing things around to include the proper information for this year.
* * *
A few hours later,the bell above the office door chimed, and I looked up from my computer screen as Grant Hernandez strolled in.
He walked purposefully over to my desk with a charming smile on his handsome face, his dark eyes taking me in with appreciation.
