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“Goodness, are you feeling alright?” Polly places the back of her hand to my forehead and then each of my cheeks. “You’re sweating!”
I jerk away from her and clutch my hips, laughing maniacally. “Just scalding hot coffee! Ha! Need to –” I grab the bagel and shove a piece in my mouth. “Gotta cool down,” I grunt with a mouthful. Not to mention need the carbs. Mm…carbs.
“Oh, are we the lucky recipients of Orlie’s goodies today?!” Polly asks with a bright smile.
I force myself to swallow the rest of the bagel. It hurts going down my throat. “What?”
“Orlie’s been bringing treats to each department in the mornings this week.”
“That’s nice of him.” It really is. He’s never been the type of boss to do anything just because. “I don’t know, though. He brought me these himself.”
Polly’s head jerks back. “He hand-delivered you a bagel and a coffee?”
“Yeah, to welcome me back. I guess.”
Her eyes narrow. “That’s awfully friendly.”
“Yeah, well –”
Polly has no reason to suspect anything between Orlie and me and I intend to keep it that way.
“I think they’re worried I’m going to get poached by another company or something.”
“You wouldn’t leave, would you?” Her slight panic is obvious in her voice and I feel immediately bad.
“No, of course not. Wynters is home.”
“Good. I don’t know what I’d do here without you.”
Polly places my to-do list on my desk and, as she does so, the air conditioning kicks into high gear. A cool blast of air thrums through the room.
“Holy cow, is that the…”
“Orlie said he’d take a look at it, but I didn’t think he was actually serious.”
Polly shakes her head. “This is unprecedented.”
“That our boss is acting like a boss?” I say with a light chuckle, ripping off another piece of bagel.
“No, no. Well, maybe.” Her lips twist to the side. “Something’s gotten into him. I’m not sure what. But whatever it is, it’s good for all of us.”
I smile. It’s good to hear he’s been doing well. I’d worried I hurt him pretty badly up at the cabin.
“He must be in love or something,” Polly adds in an excited whisper.
My eyes widen. “What?! What would make you say that?!”
“Everyone’s always nicer when they fall in love. That honeymoon phase where you’re dancing on air and nothing matters except for all the love you have in your heart. If I didn’t know better, I’d say Orlie Wynters has an object of his affection.”
Could that be true? Has he found someone else in these three weeks? God, I think I’ll die if he has. But when I really think about it, one question keeps popping up over and over. It couldn’t possibly be me, could it?
The more daysI’m back in the office, I’m starting to wonder if Polly might be right.
Orlie is…smiling. When I see him in the hall, he doesn’t duck his head down and mutter a hello. Instead, he stands tall and smiles winningly. “Hi, Kira. How are you doing?”
HowamI doing?Orlie never used to ask questions like that. He’d ask, “How’s the project coming?” or “Can we move up the deadline on your latest deliverable?”
He never seemed to care about how I actually was a person.
