Page 253 of Show Me

“I feel better.” Mostly. There are still bouts of morning sickness that last well into the day, but they’re becoming less frequent.

He opens the office door. “Go look at the desk.”

I narrow my eyes. “What did you do?”

“You'll see.”

I step inside and stop. Sticky notes cover everything. The monitor. The filing cabinet. The printer. The coffee maker.

DO NOT TOUCH.

ASK RUBY.

NOT THIS BUTTON.

XAVIER MESSED THIS UP TOO.

A laugh bursts out before I can stop it. “Oh, my God.”

Travis is grinning. “He’s been losing a war against office work since you left.”

The desk is buried beneath paperwork. Invoices. Payroll. Material orders.

“He tried,” Travis says after filling me in on the potential catastrophes that I might have to clean up.

The door opens behind us. Xavier steps inside carrying a clipboard and stops when he sees me.

His eyes sweep over me. Checking. “Hey.”

“Hey.”

For a beat, no one moves until Travis points dramatically at the desk. “She found the sticky notes.”

Xavier’s cheeks tinge red. “I was going to clean those up, and I didn’t add the insulting one about my paper loading skills to the printer.”

I shake my head. “No, you weren’t.”

“Fair.”

A smile slips across my face. Relief flashes across his face.

Mark pokes his head through the doorway. “Boss, where do you want the stack of lumber out back?”

“West property. Keep it covered if the weather turns.”

Mark nods and disappears.

I look back at Xavier. “You really scared off two receptionists?”

“News travels fast in a small town.” He lifts a shoulder, and one corner of the cocky grin that always makes my knees weak pops up. “They were temporary.”

“That wasn’t my question.”

The smile disappears as he rubs the back of his neck. “One of them cried.”

Travis points at him. “He yelled at the printer.”

“I was talking to the printer.”