There had been a lot of tears lately in the lunchroom.
“I’m not an intermediary,” I told Mr. Gowan—Beau. “You could write her a letter and leave it at her desk, or you could mail it.”
“I do know where she lives.”
He did, because it had turned out that he’d been staying with her when he wasn’t off traveling to another exciting place. It explained his improved appearance after his period of dishevelment when his wife had kicked him out of his former home, but Victoria had said that he’d also found an apartment for himself. He did have a job for which he received a salary so he should have been able to afford it, unless he was spendingevery cent on his vacations. And I was getting more and more nervous about whether he was going to keep this job, anyway.
“A letter,” he mused. “You know I’m very slow at typing.”
I picked up something from his desk to help him along. “Here’s a pen. There’s paper in your top drawer,” I also pointed out.
He opened that and seemed surprised by the contents he discovered there: a few stray binder clips, a legal pad, and the Woodsmen employee ID badge that he’d had to replace three times, because he always lost it. “There it is,” he told me.
How had he been getting into this building? Well, he wasn’t often here…it brought up questions. “Mr. Gowan—Beau.” That felt strange. “There’s something I’ve been wondering.”
“Yes?”
“How are you able to travel so much?” I asked him.
He sat up straight and tapped his lip again. “I’ve always been intrigued by the vagabond lifestyle.”
“That doesn’t work when you have to work and it’s also very expensive.”
He dropped his hands and slumped. “I go with my friend Nolan, the one who owns the plane you rode on. He’s the tall guy who vomited,” he explained further. “He likes to have someone along for the ride and no one cares what I do here.”
That led to my next issue. “Are you going to be fired when you’re divorced?” And why hadn’t he been fired already?
“Celestine doesn’t want to pay alimony. My current income supports her argument that she shouldn’t need to. It would also look bad in court if she had me fired right now, but later, when everything is over…” He trailed off.
Right, later they could let him go and the Office of Special Projects would probably dissolve, which meant that my job would disappear. Which meant that Victoria wouldn’t have his income if she ever did ask for child support, and that the future improvements for the Junior Woodsmen would fade away, too. I still hadn’t gotten funding for the field drainage and resurfacing project, which couldn’t happen immediately since fall was here and winter was just around the corner. But if I had everything set up for spring, then maybe it could go ahead even if I wasn’t around.
I left him to his correspondence and returned to my desk. I needed to send out résumés to other companies and other departments here, except I wouldn’t be able to transfer if anyone found out that I’d been (basically) siphoning money to pay for all the Junior Woodsmen stuff. I put my face in my hands, and then took a deep breath and sat up straight. This was not the time to fall apart. I had been the one who had saved the Winter Dance, when the two girls who were supposed to run it had neglected to do anything except make posters with their own faces on them. I had gotten a DJ, purchased decorations, formed a committee to put those up, and then…I hadn’t attended, because I didn’t have friends or a boyfriend to accompany me. But I’d heard afterwards that it had been a great time.
I job-searched until five, and then I left before my boss emerged from behind his closed door. I had plans for the evening. I rushed outside, then rushed back in for the coat that I’d forgotten. It was freezing!
Ronan had laughed when I’d met him at his house, and he shook his head again when we arrived at our destination and he was helping me out of that coat. “It’s not bad weather,” he chided. “You’re wearing a sleeping bag.”
“You must be from a warmer climate,” Morgan Hurley said sympathetically. She and her husband were having Woodsmen people over for dinner and I was included because of my soon-to-be roommate.
“No, you won’t be,” Kiya had corrected me when I’d dropped that term over lunch. “You’re going to behousemates, because you’re not going to share a room. Right, Cate? Right?”
Right, housemates. We would be by the middle of this month, when I moved out of my apartment and into the extra bedroom at his place. We’d already decided what I’d pay in terms of rent and utilities (less than what I paid now and a number that I didn’t think was enough), what I could store in his garage (my mattress and bed), what I would sell (the couch I disliked), and how we would park in the driveway that was only wide enough for one car (he would leave his behind mine, because he was in and out a lot more than I was). It was all working out great.
He shook his head and helped me out of the other coat underneath the top one. “I can see that we’re going to bearguing over the thermostat,” he commented. “Or I’m going to be wearing shorts and you’ll need ski clothes.”
“I’m not from a warm climate,” I told Morgan. “I’ve lived in a lot of places and some of them have been cold like this. But I’ve never liked it.”
“Xavi is a cuddler. He keeps me nice and toasty,” she said, looking across the room at where her husband was talking to some other members of the Woodsmen defense. “Your job is clear,” she told Ronan, and he didn’t bother to correct her idea that we would also be cuddling. “Come get drinks.”
Their house was very nice, with the mismatched elegance and elevated comfort from the videos I had watched. “Nice pillows,” he remarked to me quietly. He seemed impressed but his own house was similarly comfortable and well-decorated, just a lot smaller. He could help me with my room when I’d moved in, which would be very soon. Soon, we’d be living together.
I reached and took his hand, and he looked down at me. “You ok?”
I nodded. I was very excited, and that was a bit of an issue. Even Taylor was getting nervous about my move. “You’re really keyed up about it,” she kept saying. “Would you be acting the same way if you were coming to live with us?”
“No, she’d be crying because of the mess,” Kiya had said, laughing.
“Ronan is very neat,” I’d assured them. “He’s careful with his tools, which is a sign of how someone is going to deal with life in general.” For example, my dad had neglected his and mistreatedthem, so they got rusted and ruined, or often lost and stolen. He had treated work, money, and people the same way.
