“Hey, Clementine,” Jennifer’s voice shouts from across the room.
I stand on my toes and look over the wall.I guess no one else is around.
“Yeah?”I call.
“Did you talk to that guy who had all the turkeys in his freezer and was really concerned?—”
She pops her head over her own cubicle wall, sees Hunter standing there, and stops.
“Sorry, I thought we were alone in here,” she says, coming out of her cube.She walks around to where we’re standing, laughing a little to herself.“Hi, I’m Jennifer, the ranger coordinator.”
“Hunter,” he says.“I’m with the hotshots.”
“You guys like your plaque?”Jennifer asks.“I was supposed to give it out but then there was this raccoon in my house, and you know howthatgoes.”
She waves one hand in the air, like everyone gets raccoons in their houses sometimes.
“The plaque is great,” Hunter says, putting his hands in his pockets.“How’d the raccoon get in?”
“Dog door,” she sighs.“We’re both gone all day, and if she can’t get out she’ll just pee on the rug rightbythe door.We tried those pee pads, but...”
Jennifer shakes her head.
“Gertrude isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer,” I say gently.
Hunter’s eyebrows raise at the name Gertrude.
“Except when it comes to stealing underpants,” I go on.
“I see her reputation precedes her,” Jennifer says.
“You know, it wouldn’t be hard to rig up an RFID-activated lock on the dog door,” Hunter says.“Put something on Gertrude’s collar, and it’d unlock if she was within a couple feet, but the raccoons couldn’t get in.”
Jennifer crosses her arms and leans against the wall of my cubicle.
“Go on,” she says.
“Jen, turkeys,” I say.
She points at Hunter.
“I want to hear more about this dog door, but I gotta talk to Clementine,” she says.“How do I find you?”
“Take my number,” he says.“I’ll be back in town when fire season’s over.”
I just sit there and watch my boyfriend and my boss exchange information.I’m a little jealous, but I’m jealous that he can justtalkto people like this and make friends so easily, not that he’s talking to Jennifer.
If that were me I’d probably still be fumbling overRFID-activated.
Hunter puts his phone back in his pocket, then looks at me.
“See you at dinner?”he asks.
“For sure,” I say.
Then we nod at each other, because I’m not sure how else to say goodbye in front of Jennifer.We both watch him go, and then she looks at me, one eyebrow raised.
“That’scertainly none of my business,” she says.
