“Why is this door shut? Aren’t you supposed to be working in here?”
Diana’s voice.
Then, “Probably because you’re not supposed to be in there. Maybe there’re some live wires exposed.”
Bain.
Giggling, I pushed myself away from him, then started to clean myself up.
It was great.
I had everything cleaned up and was dressed in less than five minutes.
Etienne walked toward the door, but I hissed at him as I walked toward the discarded check from earlier.
“I have a call to go to,” I whispered. “Can you give this to Diana?”
He took the check, glanced at it, and grinned. “Sure thing.”
“Bye!” I whispered.
Then I disappeared out the back door.
CHAPTER 12
My biggest fear is getting kidnapped when I have a head cold and I can’t breathe out of my nose. Then they tape my mouth shut.
-Etienne to Wake
ETIENNE
“Was there some exposed wiring in there?” Diana asked curiously.
I handed her the check that Matilda had just thrust my way, then said, “Something was exposed.”
Bain caught the double entendre. Diana, however, did not.
“Oh, you’re almost done. It looks great. When will you paint my side?” she asked as she took the check.
“When you choose the colors that you want,” I told her as I walked to the front of the building and watched Matilda sneak around the side and toward her van.
She waved at Ephram, who was talking to someone that I didn’t recognize, then got into her van and peeled out.
My eyes narrowed on the van’s tires, and I made a mental note to call the guy in town that dealt with our fleet vehicles.
Only when I couldn’t see the dust from her van anymore did I turn around. Bain was staring at me with a curious look on his face. Diana was blissfully oblivious.
Not that I cared if she knew, but I needed time to process it myself. Talking to her about it wouldn’t accomplish that goal.
“Why are you here anyway?” Diana asked as she took in my tool belt and shirtless attire.
I gave her the rundown, explaining about the crew that’d been fired, before I got back to work.
Diana and Bain looked around a bit more, but luckily there wasn’t much more talking.
After getting the order to come by their house for dinner, that Matilda would be there, they left.
I continued to work through the afternoon, ignoring all of my responsibilities. At least, I did as long as I could.
Until, that was, my sister called and reminded me that I would need to cut checks tomorrow seeing as I’d fired my only competent office worker.
What the fuck ever.
I could do that.
And did do that.
It was only after checking everyone’s pay and overtime that I realized there was something wrong.
My workers were all shorted at least two hours apiece last week. And the week before.
Only, the money in my account reflected the correct amount of payment.
I sighed.
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I made yet another call to Folsom.
This one a lot less satisfying than the last.
“Folsom,” I said. “I have a couple of things I need done…”
“Anything,” she replied instantly.
“I have about fifteen grand missing from my account,” I said. “And I need help finding an office worker that’ll be my practical right-hand man. You have any suggestions? I have no doubt that you’ve already got your fingers in many pies around here.”
“You’d guess right,” Folsom replied. “Give me about two hours. I’ll figure out where your money went. Then I’ll get you a list of applicants that are qualified to do what you’re asking, and pass a background check.”
“Thanks,” I sighed. “You’re really the best.”
“I’m something,” she hung up.
I signed the last check, dropped them off at the box where all the men would come to collect the paychecks tomorrow, then headed to my bike.
It was only as I was driving to Bain and Diana’s that I realized that I didn’t have Matilda’s number to confirm that she would be there.
Even worse, I didn’t even know where she was.
Hating that bit of news, I thought about how it would go if I asked Matilda to move in with me.
In the end, I decided that maybe it would be better to just move her in, and not give her a choice. Then she wouldn’t have time to overthink anything.
Plans started to form as I turned onto the street that Bain and Diana lived on.
When I could see their house, I could also see that Matilda’s van was already there, too.
Worse, I could see that she was standing out on the front porch and a… donkey was running around her.
I pulled the bike to a stop right beside her van, then looked at the donkey.
At least, it looked like a donkey. Albeit a miniature, miniature one. The size of a medium-sized dog.
I walked up and came to a stop as the thing zoomed past me.
“Umm,” I said as I looked at the little thing with so much energy that it exhausted me just watching it. “That’s a donkey.”