How was she? Still reeling?
He picked up his phone again, then set it back down and forced himself to return to work. He could probably focus better if he shut the door, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Rosie had mentioned she might be stopping by again. If she did, he wanted to be sure not to miss her.
Somehow Andrew managed to muddle through revisions on one chapter and started working on the next when he saw a familiar Lucas Construction truck pull up in front of the house. A moment later, she climbed out and came inside.
Andrew saved his manuscript and rose abruptly. He was due for a break anyway, wasn’t he?
He hurried down the stairs, following the sound of her voice. He found her talking to the two carpenters who were doing the final framing in the kids’ bedrooms and hanging the closet doors.
When he poked his head in, she gave him a half smile.
“Oh, hi. I’m sorry if we disturbed you.”
He decided not to tell her she had been disturbing him since he first met her in her bookstore.
“I was waiting for you. I could have shut my door and put on my noise-blocking headphones, but I was hoping to get the chance to check on you today, if you stopped by.”
She sent a quick look at the carpenters, clearly averse to sharing her personal life with her subcontractors. He waited until after she finished talking with them and moved out into the hallway before he gave her arm a comforting squeeze.
“How are you? Did you get any sleep at all?”
She gave a rough laugh. “Not much. Does it show?”
She had dark smudges beneath her eyes and she seemed more fragile than usual, but other than that, she still looked vibrant and lovely.
“Not at all. That was sheer speculation on my part.” He didn’t tell her thathealso had not slept well, too concerned for what she must be going through.
“Well, your speculation is spot-on. I’m not sure I slept at all. I couldn’t seem to shut everything down.”
“Understandable.”
“I spent the morning yanking out weeds, which always helps me work out my big moods. I had just settled down when Pam showed up.”
“At your house?”
Rosie nodded, her mouth tight. “She wanted to have it out somewhere that wasn’t the office.”
“How did that go? Do you need me to help you hide a body?”
She laughed, then blinked as if surprised at the sound. “No. I wish. I wanted to sic my chickens on her, but they weren’t cooperating. Even Alfredo, my mean rooster, stayed away.”
“Sounds like you need to train them better.”
She smiled again. “I’ll work on that. I didn’t even yell. We actually had a moderately civil conversation.”
“You’re a better person than I could be.”
“I’m really not. I planned to figure out how I could fire her, if you want the truth, but she quit before I could. I’ll admit, I’m disappointed I didn’t get the chance to act first.”
“The end result is the same, though. You don’t have to go on working with her.”
“I suppose. Firing her would have been more cathartic but it’s done now. I did take your advice and told her to work at home today wrapping up any exit details and take her personal leave time starting tomorrow.”
“Smart.”
“She said she had other offers and was ready to move on anyway. I’m sure she will end up working for one of my competitors. At this point, I don’t care. I’m just relieved I don’t have to see her in the office.”
“That would have been excruciating.”
