Page 54 of 27 Kisses

She slams her hands on the desk. “The wedding was over a week ago. Why haven’t they taken that thing yet?”

“You tell me.”

This close, I can see her eyes are red and puffy. She flings up her hands. “I don’t know. Evidently, I don’t know anything. Just ask Jonah. He’ll tell you.”

“Nat…” I move closer, but she shakes her head. “What’s going on? Why did you yell at Jonah?”

She snorts. “When did we start hiring twelve-year-olds?”

“Stop stealing my lines. Do you want to talk about it?”

She shakes her head again. “Men suck. You know that right?”

I laugh. “Better than most.” Something isn’t adding up. “Is this about Ramon?”

Her eyes close for a second, and then she drops into her chair. “No. Not Ramon. I mean, I wish. It’s my boyfriend.”

“Wait, what? You have a boyfriend?”

“Rude, boss.” But her lips twitches, and I take it as a good sign.

I pull the empty chair around and sit across from her. “I mean, you’re always talking about Ramon, so…” I shrug, not wanting to insult her.

“Yeah. The guy is hot and so damn sweet.” She sighs. “Do you think he’d give me a chance?”

“Nat.” My voice is sharper than I intended. “I’m not indifferent to your situation, but I have a hot Irishman waiting for me, so could we move this along?”

Her mouth drops open as she stares at me. “Wow. Way to be sensitive.”

“Nat, I’m begging you?—”

“I’m madly in love with Ramon, but that’s not relevant to our conversation. My boyfriend—ex-boyfriend, actually—is a jerk. He’s breaking our custody agreement and keeping Bella for Christmas.” She taps her finger furiously on the desk. “It’s my year to have her.”

“You have a child?” I ask, my voice rising an octave. I tamp down my surprise and squeeze her hand. “I’m so sorry, Nat. I didn’t realize.”

Her mouth opens and shuts. She tilts her head. “When I say this, I expect your outrage on my behalf?—”

“Outrage? Eh. More like concern.”

“On my behalf,” she says again, “to remain the same. Bella is a Great Pyrenees.”

“A dog.” I immediately know by the look on her face that it’s the wrong thing to say. Is this what happened to Jonah? And is he still hiding in the TARDIS? “That’s horrible.”

“Ha. Nice try.” She studies her nails. “Go back to your hot fifty-year-old boyfriend.”

“Not fifty. Not even forty.”

She flashes me a quick smile, but it fades just as fast. “Seriously. I’m fine.”

“Okay. Putting that aside for now, why are you here? Why is Jonah here? I gave everyone the week off.”

“Well, someone had to clean up the disruption in the spacetime vortex.”

“The wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff?”

She narrows her eyes at me. “Hold up. You’re a fan?”

“I’ve watched some episodes.” I take her hand. “Focus, Nat.”