AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“My boss. What did you do to my boss? He’s being…nice.” I shuddered. “It’s scary, Harvey. He thanked Daniel for going out to collect the lunchhe himselfordered.”
“Oh, that.” Harvey fought back a laugh. “He asked me how to be a better boss, and I told him he should try complimenting his staff and saying thank you once in a while.”
I wrinkled my face up. “I should have known it was you. Now the office is all weird. He even smiled.”
“Man, he really applies himself to stuff, doesn’t he?”
“Tell him you made a mistake, and we don’t want him to be nice.”
“No can do.” He shook his head, sitting down. “He really wants to try to be a better boss to the three of you.”
“If this is a ploy to make me change my mind about resigning, tell him to cut it out. I won’t change my mind. Ever.”
“I know, I know.” He waved his hand. “Can’t you just humour him? He’s trying.”
“Oh, he’s always been trying,” I said through gritted teeth. “Trying my patience.”
“Is it bad if he tries to be nicer to you? You have to live with him for six weeks, after all.”
I opened my mouth to make a smartarse retort, but whatever it was died on my lips. He wasn’t exactly wrong, was he? The idea of living with the Theodore Black I knew was positively terrifying, but a nicer version of him who could say ‘thank you’ didn’t seem all that bad.
Wow. The bar really was low.
“Right,” I replied after a moment. “I suppose you’re not wrong. It doesn’t make it any less creepy, though.”
Harvey grinned. “He’s not as bad outside of the office as he is in it.”
“We know different out-of-office Theodore Blacks.” I walked over to the door and glanced back. “By the way, tell Aunt Fizz I don’t know if I can make it to her party because of this trip. I know we’re leaving before, but I’ll try and see if I can make it back.”
He nodded. “Will do. Shouldn’t you be getting back now? For your little lunch date?”
“Shut up and stop giving my boss weird ideas!”
***
“This is for you, and this is yours,” Theodore said, setting food cartons down in front of both Daniel and Melody. “I noticed that whenever you order Italian food for lunch, you always have a mushroom risotto, Melody, and Daniel always has a carbonara.”
My babies both blinked at him.
Concern flitted across his face. “Did I get it wrong?”
“No, sir, no,” Melody said quickly. “That’s exactly what we order.”
His expression immediately brightened. “Good. I thought I’d made a mistake.”
“Um, thank you, sir,” Daniel said, pulling the food down from the higher ledge onto his desk. “That’s very kind of you.”
“Not at all. You’re working hard.” Theodore turned to me. “Are you ready?”
“Just a moment,” I said. “I need to send this email first.”
“All right. I’ll wait in the office for you.” He picked up the bag and carried it into his office.
“Miss St. James!” Melody whispered, getting to her feet and staring at me with wide eyes. “Really, what’s gotten into him today? Is this poison? Are we going to die? Aren’t executioners always nice to their victims before they kill them? Is this our famed last meal before we’re dropped into a pit of lions?”
Ah. They werebothwatching too many movies.
I sent the email I was working on and got to my feet with a soft laugh. “No,” I said, gathering the files she’d printed out earlier for me and my small work laptop. “He’s an extremely observant man. It’s actually one of his better qualities.”
