Page 45 of Naughty Heart

I offered a smile and a nod in return. “Sounds good, Dad. If you need anything from me, just let me know.”

“Will do. Later, son.”

The next thing I knew, I was alone in my office again. I quickly moved to my desk, picked up my phone, and was about to call Evelyn when I glanced across the hall toward her office and noticed her door was closed. When she left earlier today, her door had been open.

Relief swept through me, the feeling consuming me completely. Though it was rare for me to ever see her door closed, the fact that it was indicated she was at least back and safe. I knew I’d been worried about her, but until I recognized that she’d returned, I don’t think I fully understood the magnitude of the concern I felt for her. Beyond that, it was then it hit me just how much of an impact this woman had made on me in such a short time.

But as much relief as I felt, there was a bit of frustration lingering there. Evelyn could have easily popped her head in to let me know she’d returned.

Unable to stop myself from letting her know as much, I stepped out of my office and knocked on her door.

When she opened it a few seconds later, I barely took two seconds to assess the situation and said, “I thought something happened to you.”

Evelyn sent a look my way that indicated she believed it was impossible for me to be worried. “Nothing happened to me.”

“You could have let me know you were back,” I noted.

Something strange washed over her expression. “I’ll remember that for next time.”

“I would appreciate that. I was really worried.”

Evelyn didn’t respond. I could have sworn I saw her narrow her eyes slightly at me, which made absolutely no sense. But it happened so fast, I couldn’t be sure. She turned slightly in her chair, reached for her purse, and pulled out my credit card before handing it over to me.

Since she made no additional move to speak or explain herself, I asked, “Did something happen while you were out? What took you so long?”

“I’ve been back for a little while,” she returned.

“Okay. That’s good. But I expected you would have been back between the meeting I had earlier and the time my father showed up to meet with me. You weren’t.”

She threw her hands up, frustration and something else washing over her. “I don’t know what you want me to say, Malcolm. I’m sorry. Not all of us are so lucky to be able to buy our way out of our problems. We don’t all have the money you do to be able to just fix everything going wrong in our lives.”

Stunned into silence, all I could do was rapidly blink my eyes.

If anyone else had ever dared to speak to me like she just had, I’d have gone right back at them, and if they were an employee, they’d never work at Westwood’s again.

But I couldn’t do that with her, because what I just saw wasn’t who I knew her to be. As I stared at her, I could see what I’d missed when she first opened the door.

Evelyn had been crying.

In an instant, there was an undeniable need to protect her, to figure out what went wrong, and fix it by any means necessary.

And based on the way she’d just spoken to me, judging by those words she’d said, it was clear there was something I could do to fix whatever happened.

What happened to Evelyn from the time she left the office until now? Where was the woman I’d spent the morning finding myself growing fonder of, particularly when she burst out laughing at my aversion to nutcrackers?

“Are you okay?” I eventually asked.

She shook her head. “No, Malcolm, I’m not okay. But I will be.”

Whatever was going on, I had this overwhelming urge and desire to fix it for her. But with the way she was talking to me, I didn’t think she was going to share so easily. “Please tell me what happened? What’s going on?”

“It’s nothing.”

I cocked a brow. “If there’s one thing I know about you, it’s that you’re not stupid, so I know that you know I don’t believe there’s nothing wrong. Something happened. You’re not okay, and considering all that you just spewed at me, I’m asking for an explanation.”

Evelyn closed her eyes, rested her elbows on her desk, and pressed two fingers on each hand into her temples. She inhaled deeply as she moved her fingers in a circular motion against her head.

When she opened her eyes again and brought them to me, I could see the defeat and a hint of sadness written all over her face. “Fine. You want to know the truth?”