Page 32 of The Best Bad Decision

Chapter 10

Atlee

“I don’t know what’s going on, but Valerie is at the reception desk trying to convince the new girl that she’s allowed to come back on her own.” Brandon leaned against the door of my office and shrugged as I groaned. “I don’t know who hired the new girl but she doesn’t believe anything I say.”

“Maybe because you keep calling her a girl?” And he’d gotten caught in the supply closet with the previous receptionist? “And you made spectacularly bad decisions with the last one?”

Rolling his eyes, he pushed off the frame. “She married me and cleared my name. She even brought me flowers and chocolates earlier in the week.”

Because she’d made him sleep on the couch last weekend for some reason he couldn’t quite explain.

“Did you let the new receptionist know that the woman giving you flowers was your wife?” Every time I thought my ability to relationship correctly was completely fucked, I looked at Brandon and realized I wasn’t nearly as stupid as I thought I was.

His head cocked. “Huh?”

Lord.

“Introduce them properly the next time Andrea comes in and stop calling the receptionist girl.” It made him look older than he thought, at the very least.

“What’s her name?” Before I could do more than roll my eyes, he kept going. “And she’s like twelve. I don’t even think she’s legal to flirt with. Girl is accurate.”

I really didn’t want to figure out if he had a point, so I got up and headed out of my office as he huffed and sighed. With the stock market already closed and Brandon preferring to come in at a crazy early hour, he was done for the day. That should’ve meant he went home, but he would usually just wander around annoying anyone who looked in his direction.

It worked in my favor this time because I wasn’t sure why I hadn’t already gotten a call about Valerie. But as I made my way around the office and through the long hallway that led to the front desk, I started to wonder what information the new receptionist had been given.

God, we really needed to figure out her name and why she hadn’t been introduced to everyone yet.

“I don’t know what you mean, sweetie, but Atlee is expecting me.” Valerie gave a low giggle as I came around the corner. She was shaking her head and rubbing her stomach like the pun was hilarious. “Expecting.”

No, I was not going to suffer through terrible pregnancy jokes.

“Valerie.” Nodding toward the front desk, I was glad to see a name plate finally showing. Her name was…okay…that combination of letters wasn’t going to help, so I turned back toward my crazy almost-ex. “You know very well you can’t come into the office without an escort.”

Because the last time she’d come in, she’d been a menace and had been doing her best to spread her own version of reality as wide as she could before I’d found her.

“That’s just silly.” Shaking her head, she made sure to keep rubbing her baby bump. “We’ve got a lot to discuss. But I know you’re busy, so I waited until after the market closed.”

Was I supposed to thank her for being a pest later in the day?

“I am busy, which is why you need to handle anything through our lawyers.” I’d said it so many times it felt like I was living through that Groundhogs Day movie. “I have a meeting I’m going to be late for, so you need to leave.”

Shifting from what she thought was an indulgent smile to something that looked like she was disappointed, Valerie sighed. “How about we sit down somewhere more private where we can handle this like adults? The entire office doesn’t need to hear about your…well…you know what you did.”

Handle what?

What was she implying I did?

“No.” I really didn’t care what she was insinuating and I was not going to do anything that put me alone with her. “Now, I’m going to ask you to leave again.”

“Being stubborn is not as cute as you think it is.” She went back to shaking her head before she looked down at her stomach. “Just remember that later, baby boy.”

Doing her best to look sweet and only slightly frustrated, Valerie let out another long sigh and gave the receptionist some kind of woman-to-woman look that didn’t get the reaction she’d expected. The stone-faced receptionist blinked at Valerie before giving her a fake smile. “Thank you for coming.”

I managed not to laugh, but it was hard. Something about her gave off young Casimir vibes and I had a feeling she was going to be hell on wheels when she was older.

I really hated that Brandon was right about her age.

Ignoring the fact that she didn’t get the reaction she wanted, Valerie aimed a disappointed look in my direction. “I thought you were finally ready to step up and take responsibility for your actions, but clearly you need more time to think.”