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"What is it?" Paula asked in her small voice as Malcolm gave it to her.
"It's a puzzle," he told her.
"No," she said since it didn't look like the kind of puzzles Malcolm had gotten her which were flat and had cartoon characters on them.
"It's a different kind of puzzle," Malcolm told her then he thanked Mr. Argent. That was such a nice and unexpected gesture from him.
"It's no problem," Mr. Argent said, his voice gruff but a more pleasant expression on his face than usual.
Leaving himself a reminder on his phone to return the puzzle before they left, Malcolm took Paula to the outer office where she sat down on the floor in the corner next to Malcolm's desk. She took up her coloring book and pencils, and she seemed fine with that until Malcolm went into Mr. Argent's office to get his instructions. That made her anxious but not as much as before. While Malcolm noted down all the changes to the documents, he kept an eye on Paula as she alternated between her coloring book and the incomprehensible wooden puzzle.
"We go home now?" Paula said in a hopeful voice when he came out.
"Uh, no, sorry. I just started working. It's going to be a while," he told her apologetically.
"OK." She settled back down to finish coloring all around a drawing of a flower instead of inside it. Malcolm wasn't about to tell her she was doing it wrong. After a moment, she lifted up her head again to ask, "Uncle Malcolm, am I working?"
"You sure are. You're working hard. I'm going to pay you in pretzels," Malcolm said but kept his eyes on his own work and made a mental note to get some from the vending machine as soon as he took a break.
If they were busy, Malcolm would often work right through lunch as would Mr. Argent. For Malcolm that wasn't an option today. He had to stop for Paula's sake.
Going into Mr. Argent's office, Malcolm told him, "I'll be ordering lunch for Paula. Can I get anything for you?"
Mr. Argent looked like he was going to refuse lunch, but then he rubbed his temples and said, "I haven't eaten since..." Obviously he couldn't remember since when. He looked past Malcolm toward his desk and the corner where Paula was coloring. "Maybe you should take your niece out to lunch. You don't want her to be cooped up in here all day."
"You wanted to review the changes before..."
"The main stuff is done, the rest can wait. I'll be going to lunch too. I need to stretch my legs and move around. And eat," Mr. Argent said. It was unlike him to insist on a break, but Malcolm was grateful and not about to question it.
He took a moment to admire Mr. Argent's physique as he stood up and turned to take his suit jacket from the back of his chair. The movement drew Malcolm's eye to his muscular back, his shoulders.
As Mr. Argent put his suit jacket on, Malcolm turned away but at the last second noticed a pink envelope fall out of the jacket pocket. Malcolm was going to go back and pick it up for him, but Mr. Argent snatched it up too fast and put it in his desk like he didn't want Malcolm to see it.
Malcolm did see it, he even noticed that it said from D to K. Mr. Argent's first name was Derrick. Pretending he didn't see anything as he walked out, Malcolm did wonder who would Mr. Argent give a card in a pink envelope to? Valentine's Day was in a month, so maybe it was an early Valentine's card. Malcolm hated to admit it, but he envied this K.
Chapter 2
Malcolm got Paula ready to go to lunch and they ended up running into Mr. Argent by the elevators. They went down in the elevator with him and Paula looked up at Mr. Argent. "He's bigger now," she whispered to Malcolm.
Mr. Argent quirked up a corner of his mouth at that and said, "I stretched out my legs, that's why. When I sit too long, I get shorter."
Malcolm was kind of shocked at him being so whimsical, but it made Paula smile shyly. Mr. Argent was full of surprises today, and this new side to his personality made him look even more handsome.
Before stepping out the front doors of the building, Malcolm made sure Paula's coat was buttoned. He was taking Paula to a diner close by, and Mr. Argent was probably going to some fancy place where high powered executives congregate.
Mr. Argent wasn't going his own way yet though. As they all went out, he stopped and asked, "Would you two let me take you out to lunch?"
Malcolm was surprised at the lunch invitation and speechless for about a minute. He decided to consult with Paula. "Mr. Argent wants to have lunch with us, is that Ok?"
"Mr. A is hungry too. He needs to eat," she said.
Malcolm turned to Mr. Argent and told him, "I think that was a yes. Where did you have in mind?"
"La Plume," Mr. Argent said. "It's close. We can have a nice walk there."
They walked down the busy street and Paula held onto Malcolm's hand while looking around curiously. Meanwhile, he fretted over where they were going. La Plume was an expensive French restaurant, the kind of place where Malcolm might havemade reservations for Mr. Argent, but not a place where he would actually eat. It wasn't business oriented, but it wasn't a place to take a three year old either. It was fancy and French, and now they were stuck going there.
Malcolm had gone to working lunches with Mr. Argent, but this felt very different and also strange. Since Malcolm hadn't made reservations at La Plume, he didn't know if they could get in. If they couldn't, that might be for the best.
