“Okay.” He shuffled over to her and sat. Paige dug her journal out of her purse and flipped to the right page. “Here’s a picture I drew of the princess and the cabin,” she told them, holding it up so they could see.
“Why is the house magic?” one of them said.
“You’re a good draw-er,” said another.
Clara raised her hand. Paige asked, “What is it, Clara?”
The little girl’s eyes were wide. “My mom…is a real artist! She had a galley show!”
Paige smiled at her pride. “Get out of town!” She didn’t bother to correct her pronunciation. Hey, a galley show wasn’t such a bad idea. Paintings or photographs hung inside a ship? It might be fun.
Clara’s face crumpled.
Immediately, Paige asked, “Sweetie, what’s wrong?”
“You told me to leave town.”
Oh, no! Paige might’ve laughed if the poor child hadn’t been so distressed. “No, no! I would never want you to leave town! ‘Get out of town’ is just an expression. It means… ‘That’s amazing!’ It’s great that your mom is an artist and had a show.”
“Clara, Miss Reynolds likes you,” the boy next to her said, rolling his eyes.
“That’s right,” Paige said firmly. “Clara, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, and I’m sorry. Do you forgive me?” Children needed to learn forgiveness. She’d even done a weekly unit on it, earlier in the year.
Clara nodded, looking much sunnier.
“Thank you,” Paige said. “How about I read the story now?” Clara nodded again. “‘Once upon a time, there lived a princess who was far away from home. She traveled through a deep, dark wood. Wolves howled. The cold wind blew.’”
“She’s going to meet a witch,” a little boy said.
“A wolf’s going to eat her.”
“Shhh, let’s stay quiet for the story,” Paige said. “‘And then she came to a meadow full of tulips, and in the middle of the tulips stood a cabin…’”
chapter four
In his office, Dylan finished booking his next upcoming trip to a conference in New York. Out on a Monday, back on a Thursday morning. He wasn’t looking forward to it. Hours of meetings. Awkward conversations with strangers. And delivering a presentation about how Hammersmith Capital was basically the most incredible firm on the planet. At least it was only a two-day conference, though after that he’d be meeting with a prospective client.
He closed the laptop and shoved it into his bag. It was five-forty-five, and he had to slink out without looking like he was slinking. That was the only way he could make it to Dee’s party on time after buying her cupcakes at the grocery store.
They’d probably be a lot cheaper than the cupcakes he’d bought for Paige. He’d surprised himself by doing that. He wasn’t in the habit of making random generous gestures. It had been for a good cause, he told himself. And seeing her blush had been a reward.
Where did she live? Where had she gotten that sunny attitude of hers? What was she writing in that journal?
It had been a random encounter at a coffee shop. That was all. He needed to get out more.
And he needed to get out now. The first half of his route held no danger: the kitchen was on his way, and anyone might believe he was on his way for yet another cup of coffee.
Brian Walker, whose cubicle was right by Dylan’s office, looked up. He was the new hire—or newer hire. He’d been hired a few months ago, and on his first day, he’d filled his cubicle with pictures of his family and friends. That had struck Dylan as soft and sentimental, but he’d dismissed it with a mental shrug. To each his own.
Dylan hadn’t as much as said hello to the guy in three days, so he said, “Hey Brian, how’s it going?”
Brian sighed. “Not great. I think this girl I went out with is avoiding me.”
Seriously? In what world was How’s it going? an invitation to tell someone, a coworker no less, how it was really going? Someone needed to explain this to him. But Dylan didn’t have time to go into the finer points of what passed for social interaction at Hammersmith Capital. “Sorry to hear that,” he said lightly. “Hope she comes around.” He started to move on.
“I don’t know,” Brian said, completely missing his cue to stop talking. “I should call her and ask what’s up, right? Are we a thing or not a thing?”
Dylan could think of no reasonable way to get out of the conversation. “I wouldn’t do that.” It sounded needy. In any relationship, business or otherwise, the person who cared more had less of the power. “You don’t want to be too nice. I’d wait for her to call.”
“Yeah, maybe.” Brian looked unconvinced.
“Well, good luck.” Dylan continued toward the exit before the guy could say anything else. He passed his coworker Josh’s office, where Kyle stood talking to Josh. “Did you see the look on his face? I thought he was going to cry.” Both men laughed. Kyle caught Dylan’s eye and Dylan automatically smiled, as if he’d be in on the joke if he had the time.
“Hey Cain,” Kyle said, coming over to the office door. “Got your email about Wakefield Properties. Why do you think that tax break is going away?”
“It’s for green companies, and they’re not green.” It irritated Dylan. The tax break had been intended for undeveloped forestland, not commercially run golf courses.
Kyle’s broad, freckled face lit up with amusement. “It’s crazy, right? It’s a ton of money, too. But we already checked it out. It’s totally legal.”
“Yeah, all right.”
“You worry too much,” Kyle said good-naturedly as he retreated back into Josh’s office. Finally, Dylan was alone to make his escape.
He was almost to the exit when the door to the men’s room opened and his boss emerged.
“Hey, Mark,” Dylan said.
Mark squinted at him. From behind the glint of his glasses, his small blue eyes, almost colorless, were barely visible. “You getting takeout? I might want something. Unless you’re going to Jade Palace. That place is trash.” Dylan loved Jade Palace.
Restaurant runs were common around this time of day. The company paid for them: a thoughtful perk to encourage them to work through the dinner hour and beyond.
“I’ve actually got to head out. It’s a family thing.” Dylan hoped the tone of his voice suggested some kind of emergency rather than a grown sibling’s birthday party.
Mark blinked and licked his lips, his tongue flicking out quickly like a lizard’s. Dylan braced himself. Mark did that every time he had a last-minute job for someone. “I need you to take another look at the modeling for Hartley. We’ve got some new inputs.”
“Another look” meant a couple of hours at least. “I’ll be in tomorrow morning at five.”
Dylan could almost hear his future self cursing as he climbed out of bed.
His boss pursed his chapped lips. “Did you hear Jeffries is no longer with us?”
Kevin Jeffries? He’d been hired less than a year ago. Had he left, or had he been fired? “Is that right?” Dylan asked.
Mark nodded.