“I doubt that will be necessary.” Olivia could only imagine what would happen if Kelsey saw them together. She didn’t think her assistant-slash-friend would embarrass her in front of the guy, but Olivia would know what she was thinking and that would be enough to make her self-conscious.
When Kelsey took a sip of her coffee from the extraordinarily large travel mug she used, Olivia sighed and put her breakfast dishes in the dishwasher so they could get to work. She was aware that Kelsey was busy with her phone, but she didn’t think much of it until she gave her a look with eyebrows raised.
“He doesn’t say much on Facebook, but people tag him in pictures a lot. And you’re right, he’s definitely hot.”
“I’m not really comfortable with you invading his privacy like that.” And because she’d said it, she had to stay where she was instead of going to look over Kelsey’s shoulder at her phone screen.
Kelsey looked up at her and shrugged. “If he cares about people invading his privacy, he should make use of his privacy settings.”
“Good point.” She still didn’t move, though. “That’s kind of a gray area, isn’t it? Just because he doesn’t either understand or doesn’t care about privacy settings doesn’t mean I should creep on his profile.”
“You’re not. I am,” Kelsey said, using her finger to scroll down her screen. Then she glanced at the clock. “And technically I don’t start working for another three minutes, so you’re not paying me, either, if that was going to be your next argument against me looking at this photo of a sweaty, shirtless Derek playing football in somebody’s backyard.”
Okay, that got her moving. She ignored Kelsey’s laughter as she yanked her phone out of her hand.
And yes, a sweaty and shirtless Derek was worth the possible—but probably minor—violation of her own personal sense of ethics. Especially a shirtless Derek who was not only running with a football, but laughing as one of the guys who’d helped get her out of the elevator tried to grab him. She could tell that if there were a few more frames, they would show the guy missing him.
“Do you want me to save the photo and send it to your phone?”
“No.” That would definitely be creepy. She handed the phone back to Kelsey before she could succumb to any more temptation she’d feel guilty about later. “Did you finish editing the podcast?”
“Of course. Once you’ve reviewed it and it’s good to go, I’ll send it to Wes.”
The podcasts weren’t Olivia’s favorite part of her job, but her agent and Brynn had convinced her they were worth doing. They helped sustain interest in her first book, which focused on organization and working efficiently for college students, and helped generate interest in the book she was working on now, which was more business-focused. And Brynn did a lot of the heavy lifting. She’d designed the podcasts with something of a radio show format. She did the intro and asked questions that were sent in by listeners or via social media and then Olivia answered them, offering suggestions for solving problems under the planning and organization umbrella.
The bonus in Brynn being the host, so to speak, was that it kept Olivia positioned as the expert on the topic. She’d rolled her eyes the first time Brynn said it, but the number of subscribers kept growing and the questions kept coming, along with invitations to speak and to be quoted in industry publications. Kelsey did the editing because hers was a fresh ear and she enjoyed it.
Wes was the fourth member of the McGovern Consulting team and, like Brynn, was a part-time employee who worked remotely. He did the technical stuff, like maintaining the website and uploading the podcasts and—much less frequently—videos to her YouTube channel. Brynn maintained the face of their social media, but Wes was their behind-the-scenes guy. Olivia had managed the nuts and bolts of her online platform herself in the early days and she’d enjoyed it, but it hadn’t been long before it was more practical and cost-efficient for her to hire that work out.
Once she’d signed off on the podcast and done some other administrative tasks in the office, Olivia left to take care of two follow-up meetings. She always went back two weeks after setting up a system to answer any questions and make sure they were using the system efficiently.
Kelsey left early because Olivia had scheduled several hours at the end of the day to work on her book and she preferred to be alone when she did. She considered the work she did to be very interactive—the clients’ workflow and personalities determined the best method for working more efficiently—so presenting information in a more generic format wasn’t easy. But her first book had been a bestseller and continued to sell well, and her agent felt this one would, too.
Once she’d closed her notebook and turned her laptop off, she ate a quick meal while flipping through the information she’d received from Village Hearts. Kelsey had printed the email and attachments for her, and some papers she set aside to look at later. But she scanned through the contact list.
She hadn’t gotten Derek’s number last night, even though they’d talked about how he didn’t respond when he was busy. Maybe he’d simply assumed he’d call first and she’d save it then. And once others had started leaving, she’d taken the opportunity to walk away before the standing there got awkward and she did something stupid, like kiss him goodnight.
Because, despite her certainty that dating wasn’t a priority right now, she’d wanted to.
There were no telephone numbers on the list, though. Olivia had been added to a shorter list at the top and then, after a divider, was a multipage list of names. She assumed those were all the volunteers who helped out in some capacity, and it annoyed her slightly that there were no descriptors attached. Just names and email addresses. It didn’t make sense to give contact information without any indication of what one would contact a person for.
One name on the second page caught her eye.Amber Gilman.
It wasn’t a common last name, so two of them involved with one charity probably meant there was a connection. Sister? Mother?
Wife?
No, it couldn’t be a wife. At least she didn’t think so. The lack of a wedding ring or a telltale pale strip where one was supposed to be probably didn’t mean anything, since she wasn’t sure if firefighters usually wore wedding rings or not. But he seemed like such a good guy and she didn’t want to believe he’d flirt with her if he was married. Nor did he seem stupid enough to flirt in front of a bunch of people who must know Amber. Assuming he evenwasflirting. It had been subtle and she wasn’t sure now if it was just wishful thinking on her part.
She might be his ex-wife.
Olivia wrinkled her nose and set the paper aside. She didn’t really have room in her life for any relationship right now—which was why finding a guy still wasn’t part of her life plan—but she definitely didn’t have time for a messy relationship. And divorces were messy. They made families messy and, in her parents’ case, so hostile every aspect of life for every member of the family was tainted by their anger. There had been zero chance of Olivia going to college in Virginia because she was sick of choking on the tension between her parents. Her aunt and uncle’s divorce had been almost as bad, and her cousin had the police to her house at least six times during hers.
Maybe it was his sister or his mother, she told herself as she changed into leggings and a sweatshirt and settled on her bed to watch television.
At twenty after seven, her phone rang. She didn’t recognize the number on the screen and normally she let unfamiliar numbers go to voicemail, but the chance it might be Derek—and the accompanying spike in her pulse rate—made her reach for the phone.
She answered on the third ring. “Hello?”
