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Me:Of course, just let me know what time.

Wendy:I’ll text if another delay.

Putting my phone in my bag, I entered the lobby and started toward the security line.

“Miss Kincaid,” the iPad wielding man called out, waving me over. “Go right through, your elevator card is at the front desk. Ms. Suze at the end of the counter will give it to you.”

“Thanks,” I said, slightly overwhelmed. The lobby was much busier this time, and I felt like I was back in elementary school, in danger of getting in trouble for cutting lines.

Just as he said, however, a professionally dressed woman was waiting for me by the time I reached the desk. “Here you are, Miss Kincaid.” She gestured behind me. “Go to those elevators and enter this passcode to call the elevator. Mr. Amato’s office is on the twenty-fifth floor.” She handed me another card with my name on it. “Here’s a security ID. Have a nice visit.”

“Thanks so much,” I said, turning away before rotating back. “Can you please not tell Theo, I mean, Mr. Amato I’m here? I want to surprise him.”

“He may already know,” she tilted her head toward all the security, “but I won’t say anything, just in case.”

“Thanks.” My steps were bouncy and excited as I got into the elevator.

Almost a whole week off. I can’t even remember the last time I had that much time off.

I can sleep and read uninterrupted. Plus, I’ll be able to spend some more time with Theo.

I have to start looking for another job. And I’m probably not getting paid this week if the café is closed, so I should stick around the apartment. I should also stock up on ramen. No big deal.

Pushing those thoughts aside as the elevator opened, I stepped out into another beautiful waiting room. This one was more masculine and smelled like Theo.

The pretty brunette behind the desk looked up in surprise, but smiled warmly. “Hi Miss Kincaid, Theo didn’t tell me you’d be coming in today.”

It took me a moment to remember her name from my previous disaster of a visit. “Hey Rosa. And, please, call me Dahlia.” I glanced at the office door quickly. “He actually doesn’t know. Is he available? I can sit and wait if he’s busy, I probably should’ve called ahead.”

“No, no,” she said, standing up.

Based on last time, she’s probably afraid I’m going to make a run for it and is preparing to tackle me down if I try.

She pointed to a door. “He’s on the phone, but go on in.” When I hesitated, she lifted her hand to make the ‘talking’ gesture. “He’s on the phone with a chatty client. He’ll be even more thrilled to see you than usual.”

“Thanks.” Slowly, I opened the heavy wooden door, peeking my head in.

Theo looked up from his desk, his questioning expression changing to a dimpled grin. The sleeves of his black dress shirt were rolled, his hair a bit messy. “Steve, I’m going to need to call you back.” Without giving the person any time to respond, he hung up.

“That was rude.”

“He’s been talking for ten minutes straight without taking a breath. I’m sure it’s not the first time someone has hung up on him.” He shrugged. “Come in. Everything okay?”

Nudging the door closed behind me, I smiled at Theo. “I quit!”

Theo

Staring at Dahlia, I pushed away from my desk. “Run that by me again.”

“I quit. At Weggies. There was eggplant. Wait, let me go back.” Dahlia started talking a mile a minute, little of it making sense. “Have you ever had baba ganoush? Okay, that’s not important right now, but we’re going to dinner there sometime. Jerk Bill was being a jerk, and he said… Hold on, there was an old lady cooking with expensive mushrooms, and—”

“You’ve lost me.”

“Sorry, it was a crazy afternoon. Basically, Bill was being a jerk, I had enough, so I quit.”

Working hard, I hid how fucking thrilled I was. The only reason I hadn’t had Luc digging into the asshole’s secrets was I’d hoped he’d help Dahlia reach the decision to quit. Now that she had, I was free to find a way to make his life as miserable as he’d made hers.

“Just like that?” I asked.