"Oh, yeah? What's going on?" He coughed softly.
"My father is finally fed up with my mom. He's filing for divorce. It's a good and bad thing,
I guess, but don't let me bore you. Tell me why you called."
"Divorce seems to be in the damn water. I'm sorry to hear that. You know I'm here if you need someone to talk to, though I bet my brother would be a strong shoulder to lean against too."
It warmed her to hear Mark push her toward Alex. He really was a really good guy. Too bad Alex hadn't figured that out, though she understood the tune of past hurts all too well herself.
"So what's going on?" Jamie asked.
"I wrapped up the estate sale yesterday, and everything went well. We sold a lot of the larger items, which helps with cleaning up the place and finally closing everything down."
"That's great news. Do you want me to talk with Alex about him coming back up to help with the final clean up?" She pressed her pen to her lips and sunk back into her chair.
"No. I can get it. I'm thinking I'll come in on Saturday to have those papers signed in the next few days. I would have told Alex just to hang out if I'd known how fast they wanted to move with everything."
"I wish we had known. I hate for you to make a trip up here."
"It's all good. I could probably use an excuse to get the fuck out of here for a while anyway. It's less than amicable at home right now." He snorted. "I'd be searching for a reason to visit if this hadn't come up."
"I'm sorry about that." She shook her head as sadness rushed through her. "I'll talk with Alex about the papers and seeing if you can just stay at the house with him. I live on the property, so we'll have dinner or something while you're in as well."
"I'd love that. With money kinda tight at the moment, I'm not sure if I can afford a hotel."
"Don't worry about that. We'll work it out."
"Well, I appreciate that. Listen, please don’t say anything to Alex about the money. I don’t want him to know my situation." He coughed again. "I'm gonna let you go. Call me soon and let me know what Alex thinks about me coming up. Thanks again for being so great. I'm blessed to have met you, Jamie."
"Me, too. Take care." She hung the phone up and leaned back in her chair. Alex had to figure out how to make up with his brother. She wasn't even in the family, and yet had to play the middle man like a sister or wife might.
It was ridiculous and she didn't get paid near enough for the level of drama Alex was bringing to the table.
Enough! It was time to work and focus on that. Before her sister’s wedding, Jamie had spent night and day working. Now she was being lax, and focusing too much on making her relationship work and shoving food in her mouth. It was time to get back to the pattern she’d had when she started her job here.
She worked through a few new projects she had on her desk for the rest of the morning. It was almost unnerving to realize how much easier it was to work without Paul there. It wasn't that he was chatty, but something about having another person in the room just left her inefficient.
"Speaking of." Jamie got up and walked out into the hall as her stomach growled. She needed to talk with Gina about getting her officemate an office, and then lunch could be up next on the agenda.
"Hey." Gina glanced up.
"Hey. I just wanted to check in on Paul's office. I know we still have a few weeks, but I wanted to see if the contractors had a date in mind for getting him out of my office. I mean, finishing the rebuilding." She brushed her fingers by her chin and glanced over to see Alex walk into his office, head down.
"It should be two weeks from today. Why?” Gina leaned forward. “Is he being a pain? I can replant him now with another analyst if I need to. You know I don't mind doing it for you, girl." She stood up and stretched.
"No. Two weeks is good." Jamie turned back to the other woman. "Can you do me a favor? Check if Alex has anything on his calendar? I thought it was clear but now I’m wondering if I mixed it up."
Gina moved the mouse for her computer and clicked it a few time. "Not for the next hour. Have at him. Let's grab some lunch when you get done."
"Sounds like a plan." She turned and walked through Alex’s main office door, knocking softly on the door frame. "Do you have a minute?"
He glanced up and gave her a curt nod. "Yeah. Shut the door and come on in."
Something told her that having the door closed wasn't going to be as fun as it was a few days ago. Her stomach growled again and she rubbed her tummy absently.
Alex sat down in his chair and leaned back. "You still pissed at me?"
"I'm getting over it." She shrugged. "I need to run a few things by you."