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Sean was already in organizational mode and began talking aloud, almost to himself. “You won’t want your back to the window, but if you put the little reception desk there, toward the middle of the window and facing the door to your office, it gives the appearance of foyer space.”
“Yes, perfect,” Amalie said.
Sean nodded. “Then you’ll want to be at the back of the room, like the boss you are, seeing everything before you, but with a wall at your back.”
Amalie blinked and for the first time looked him square in the face.
“Like Wild Bill Hickok, who always played cards with his back to the wall?”
Lord. Her eyes are as blue as the shirt she’s wearing.He grinned. “Except for the one time he didn’t. Now which desk do you want for reception?”
Amalie pointed, and Sean picked it up like he was carrying a box of groceries and set it where she’d directed, and then they moved the long table to a side wall and put the ornate desk at the back of the room.
“Now for the computers. Are they all the same, or—?”
“The same, but this one has more memory. Put that one on my desk, and set up the printer on the long table. It’s also a fax machine. I don’t often have need of one anymore, but it depends on the clients I have and how they communicate, you know?”
Sean nodded. “Yes, ma’am, I do know. I get all kinds of tech problems dumped in my lap, and sometimes regarding communication devices that are almost as old as I am. So, if this setup suits you, I’ll get to work.”
“It suits, and stop calling me ‘ma’am.’ Amalie, please,” she said.
Sean nodded, but as she turned to walk away, her hair shifted away from her face just enough that he saw a scar on her jaw and what looked like burn scars on her neck. He’d already seen the burn scars on the top of her hand, and all of a sudden, he was viewing her in a new light. She was a survivor. And, in his eyes, about as close to beautiful as a woman could get.
But this was business, and so he got down to it.
Amalie pulled one of the padded office chairs into a corner by the window and settled in to watch him work. Every so often he would pause to ask her a question about the layout, but as soon as she answered, he went quiet again. She grabbed her Kindle and began pretending to read, but when he wasn’t looking, she watched, trying to figure out why he looked so familiar.
He was down on the floor halfway under a desk when his cell phone rang. She looked up as he rocked back on his heels, checked caller ID before he answered,then watched the smile spread across his face as he said, “Hello.” She knew it was someone special from the sound of his voice and was suddenly lonely that she had no one like that in her life.
When Sean saw it was his mother calling, he guessed something was about to be added to the grocery list.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“Oh, not much. How’s it going on the job?”
Sean glanced up at Amalie. “It’s going great. I won’t be late coming home, if that’s what’s bothering you.”
Shirley sighed. “Wiley’s bringing a guest.”
Sean chuckled. “Which one?”
“I didn’t ask,” Shirley said, and sighed again.
“Just as well. Then it’ll be a surprise. Do you need extra stuff for the meal?” Sean asked.
“Maybe another bunch of romaine lettuce?”
“Consider it done,” Sean said. “Love you. See you later.”
“Love you, too, honey,” Shirley said.
Sean laid his phone back on the desk.
“Sorry, that was my mom. A couple of my brothers are coming to eat supper with us tonight, and I need to pick up extra for an unexpected guest.”
“You still live at home?”
Sean gave her a look. “My mother is divorced. I have three brothers. We all moved back to the old homeplacewith her after our grandmother died. It’s up on the mountain. Best move we ever made. I work out of the office at home. Aaron and Wiley are both officers of the Jubilee police force. Aaron is married to a schoolteacher here. Wiley has a girlfriend or three. And the baby brother is a sous-chef in New York City. Mom’s had a hard life. Everyone else is gone now. I chose to stay with her. I’m the only ‘man of the family’ left, so to speak.”
