Thankfully, the traffic lights seemed to be on his side, turning from red to green and shaving time off their commute. He pulled into the drop-off lane with three minutes to spare.
“Have a good day, guys,” he said as the twins grabbed their backpacks.
“You too.” They both gave him a peck on the cheek, and then he watched them walk into the school building.
After a glance in his rearview mirror, he pulled back onto the street to head to work. He’d have to thank Sofiya for outfitting the office with a Keurig. He hadn’t had time for a cup of coffee,and he desperately needed some caffeine. He found an empty parking spot on the street that didn’t require parallel parking and navigated his SUV into the space.
It sounded crazy, but now that he was at work, he felt like he could slow down for a minute and relax. Get that cup of coffee, check his emails, and take a moment to breathe instead of rushing around like a crazy person. He’d tried numerous times to get Nathan and Natalie more organized so things weren’t always so chaotic, but those plans and systems never lasted more than a couple of days before the kids slid back into their disorderly ways. He’d finally given up and told them to keep their bedroom doors closed so he didn’t have to see the disarray and lose his mind that nothing—literally nothing—was in its place.
The doors to the office building slid open automatically, a welcoming wall of warmth beckoning him inside. The first floor was nothing more than a lobby with the elevator along the back wall, restrooms to the left, stairwell to the right, and a pedestal with a glass case housing a list of businesses on each floor.
He took a step, and something crunched under his foot. He was used to the clacking of heels, but not a crunch. Hopefully no one had broken glass and then not cleaned it up. Gingerly he raised his foot in case the crunchy culprit was something sharp.
Pine needles? Why were pine needles on the floor of the lobby? His gaze rose. A trail of spikey coniferous leaves led toward the stairwell.
What in the world?
Curiosity getting the best of him, he opened the door to the stairs. More green needles littered the risers heading up to higher floors. Scuffling sounded above his head, and he looked up the narrow chute of space that the stairs wrapped around.
Pine needles rained down, and he closed his mouth in the nick of time to keep himself from choking on them.
“Why couldn’t you have used an artificial tree?” a femininevoice asked. “It would’ve come in a box that would fit in the elevator and would have been easy to carry.”
A second person grunted. “Sofiya wants,” she panted, “an authentic Christmas experience. How is a fake tree authentic?”
Mackenzie.
It kind of scared him that he recognized her voice right away. He probably wouldn’t have last week, they’d had so little interaction. Then again, last week almost seemed like a lifetime ago. Maybe because of the competition, he was keenly aware of the way she softened the “r” sounds in her words. It made him think maybe she was originally from the South, although her accent—if he could call it that—wasn’t strong.
He couldn’t think of any other reason he’d picked up on such details. She was pretty, yes, with her wildly long hair and equally long eyelashes that she liked to hide behind. Not to mention her small, shy smile that beguiled him. That hint of an upturn to her soft-looking lips that made him wonder what went on in that head of hers.
“Ouch! Tanner just poked me in the eye.”
Tanner?
A thump sounded, followed by “Tanner?”
He’d thank Keri for echoing his thoughts, but then he’d make his presence known. Not that he had anything against offering to help the ladies, even if one was technically his rival, but the whole situation held the forecast of entertainment.
“Oh good, we’re resting,” Keri panted.
“Just for a moment.” Mackenzie sounded a little winded as well. “And doesn’t he look like a Tanner to you?”
“It looks like a tree,” Keri drawled.
“When I saw him in the lot, I thought he was gorgeous with all of his lovely branches, and the song ‘O Tannenbaum’ came to mind. Then his branches got frisky and started poking me in inappropriate places. I didn’t want to call him Frank, so Tannenbaum got turned into Tanner.”
“I’m not sure how to respond to that except to say thank you for not naming it Frank. One Frank in the office is one too many.”
“Speaking of Frank, any ideas on what you’re getting him as a Secret Santa gift?” The acoustics in the stairwell made Mackenzie’s voice echo.
“I was thinkingAn Idiot’s Guide on How Not to Be a Male Chauvinist Pigwould be a great present. What do you think?”
“Definitely a ‘we gift’ for everyone. Ready to start again?” Mackenzie asked.
“Only two more flights, right?”
“Yeah. We’re at the corner now, so we’ll need to turn again.”
