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Her phone buzzed, and she pulled it out of her pocket, looking at the sky and the lake and breathing deep, so grateful to be alive and have such a beautiful place to live...and work. It hadn’t sunk in that her job was actually not in Chicago anymore—she worked in the best town in the world, the one she grew up in, Strawberry Sands.
Her heart stumbled as she read the text from Alex.
I have some personal issues in Chicago and need to leave right away. All there is to do here is demolition work. You can have another day off. You deserve it.
She stared at her phone. Really? He was just going to leave for “personal issues?” In all the years they’d worked together, she couldn’t remember him taking any time off for personal issues. Except that once with his gram and getting her into a nursing home.
Without thinking about it too much, she sent a text back.
I’ll help you.
That seemed rather bold, and she held her breath waiting for him to respond. After a full minute of waiting, she had almost given up that he would and had started to shove her phone back in her pocket, taking a couple of slow steps toward the school, when it buzzed.
Okay. I’ll wait until you get here.
Be there in three.
She couldn’t keep herself from smiling. He was going to allow her to help him with whatever personal issues he was having. It felt like a gift or another breakthrough in their relationship. Instinctively she knew that whatever they got into today, it would strengthen the bond between them, and while that scared her a little, she also looked forward to it.
Chapter 21
Clara had offered tocome along.
Alex stared at his phone, still hardly able to believe it. She was going with him.
That thought sent a thrill through his entire body. The fact that she would even offer. Of course, he was paying her, and maybe she felt guilty for taking another day off. She had one of the best work ethics of anyone he knew.
But he wanted it to be more. He wanted her to want to go with him, not because of work, but because she liked him.
He supposed that was why it was so dangerous to be involved with someone he worked with. Especially when he was her boss. He didn’t know whether she was doing what she was doing because she liked him, or because she felt responsible.
He put away the tools he had gotten out, thankful that he hadn’t gotten too dirty yet that morning, and walked to the door where he saw her coming up over the hill and heading over the parking lot.
He walked out.
“If you’re doing this just because you think you need to because I’m paying you, you don’t have to go. It’s a personal thing.”
