Page 8 of Claiming Her Cougar (Shifting Pines #2)

“I didn’t confront him,” she confesses. “Just said I couldn’t meet him and walked away.

I was afraid I’d cry or shift or scream at him.

That’s what I’m most ashamed of—that I said nothing.

I just walked away. Logically, I know it’s not my fault he’s a lying, cheating scumbag.

He’s the one being unfaithful, but I didn’t say anything.

I slunk away like an omega with her tail between her legs. ”

That is so unlike Valerie. She’s always been fearless and outspoken, not one to let an injustice—real or perceived—go without remarking on it.

“Do you love him?” I ask gently.

“No, but I think I could have, and that scares me. That my judgment could be so off to not recognize a lying scumbag at fifty paces. How can I trust myself to find a good one when the one I thought I found is a deceitful sack of shit?”

I signal for a refill of our mimosas and that we’re ready for the rest of our pedicure.

I know Valerie, and she’s told me all she’s going to about this subject for now.

Maybe it’s the curse of the Carter siblings to not have lasting success in romance.

So far, it hasn’t happened for any of us, no matter how hard we try.

* * *

I’m so glad to be home. I’m excited to hear about Daphne’s trip to France to spend time with her boyfriend, Logan. Fingers crossed it was everything she hoped it would be.

Waving my badge to enter our downstairs office area, I’m eager to start packing so we can move upstairs once the desks arrive and are assembled. Hopefully, Daphne likes the furniture I picked out for our new office.

“Hey, Mallory!” Daphne calls out from her desk, where she’s packing a box.

“Hi, Daphne. Welcome back!” I walk over and hug her. I’m not usually a hugger, but Daphne Foster is my girl. We just click.

“So, how was France? Did you have a great time?” I put my purse down and grab my red plaid mug to get my morning hot cocoa. Daphne follows me into the kitchenette area.

“It was wonderful,” she replies with a happy sigh. “Oh! We got you a present, but I’ll give it to you after we move upstairs.” She finally stops to take a breath.

“You know about the move?” I ask, surprised.

“Uh-huh, Will and Mike told me at Thanksgiving dinner. Oh, yeah, we ended up coming home Tuesday so we could spend Thanksgiving with Logan’s family. The furniture arrived, and the guys put it together yesterday, so we only need to pack up our desks and set up.”

“Wow, everyone’s been busy.”

“Well, I know I don’t want to stay down here with critters. You had a mouse run up your pant leg? That’s insane!”

I shudder. “How about we don’t discuss it and get the heck out of here? The sooner we’re upstairs, the happier I’ll be.”

Daphne hands me a box. “Get packing, then. The sooner our stuff is packed, the sooner we’re out of here.”

“Are we boxing the files we’re taking upstairs or putting them on carts or what?”

“Ooh, good question,” Daphne responds. “I don’t know. Wanna run upstairs with me, check out the space, and ask?”

“Yeah, okay.” I sip my cocoa. “Let me finish this”—I heft my mug—“and pack up. When I left Wednesday, we were caught up, so unless Miller went crazy dictating stuff over the weekend, we’re good.”

I put my clip-on fan, blue stapler, and rose gold unicorn tape dispenser—a prize from a favorite romance author—in my box.

Wow, I hardly have any personal items here.

When I worked with Steve, my late boss, the bulletin boards around my desk were full of leftover pages from old calendars that had pictures I liked and printouts of motivational quotes.

I had knickknacks, framed pictures of my family, and a candy dish full of the peppermints Steve and some of my favorite real estate agents liked.

My desk here at Morgan looks like I’m ready to leave at a moment’s notice.

I don’t even fill half a paper box. If it wasn’t for the fan, I could put everything in my purse and call it a day.

I didn’t realize I was treating this as temporary before now.

Is it possible that after Steve’s sudden death and losing the job I loved and thought I’d be at for years, I’ve been afraid to get attached and settled in?

I hate having deep thoughts on Monday mornings.

Mondays are hard enough, especially after a holiday, without the added layer of introspection.

Daphne looks at my box and then at her box, laughing. She tilts it so I can see, and there’s hardly anything in hers either. “Should we just combine them and sort? Or will we look pathetic going up there with only one box between the two of us?”

I open my drawers and grab the folders of labels and forms and the pad I keep notes on and pile them on my desk. “How about we combine our boxes of personal items, and then the second box could be the folders of labels and forms? That will clear out all the stuff we’ll need and use in one trip.”

“Good plan!” Daphne grabs some folders out of her drawer and adds it to my pile, and then puts the whole thing in her box. She gives me her few personal items to add to mine and, with her box in her arms, asks, “Ready to go?”

“Sure am!” I swallow my last sip of cocoa, wipe my mug with a tissue, and tuck it into my box.

We take the elevator up to the third floor and go to our new office, saying hello to everyone calling out to welcome us.

“Here we are! Office sweet office.” Daphne leads the way into our new space.

“Wow, they got so much done over the weekend. It even has a new office smell!”

I’m amazed; they not only cleared out all the boxes from when this was used for storage but assembled the desks I selected. The desks look great in the space.

“They really did. I got us a plug-in air freshener because it was musty in here.” Daphne looks around, clearly satisfied. “Okay if I take this desk?” She puts her box on the desk in the middle of the room, leaving the corner desk for me. I was hoping for the corner desk, so I’m great with it.

“Sure! I got to pick the furniture. You get to pick the space you want.”

A knock echoes on the wall outside our door. We look toward the sound, where Will is standing in the doorway, one shoulder propped on the frame.

“Moving in?” Will enters our office and looks at me. “Setup okay?”

“Yes, it looks great. I wasn’t expecting it to be done for today,” I reply.

“They were able to deliver everything Saturday, so we made it a family project, putting it together while our wives shopped.”

“They had races. If your desk falls apart, blame Will. Mike and Logan did my desk,” Daphne explains.

I laugh. “I’m sure it’s fine.”

“If it’s not, blame my son,” Will answers.

“How are we moving our working files up here? Do you want them boxed, or are we going to use file carts?” Daphne asks.

“How about we use the carts as much as we can,” Will suggests. “Are you ready for your computers to be moved up here? Mallory said you’d just need a laptop with the file management system on it so you can close out files down there.”

“Whatever Mallory says. She handles the opening and closing of files in the system for us. I’m ready to be up here for day-to-day work as soon as our computers and working files are up here.” Daphne looks at me for confirmation, and I nod in agreement.

“All right, I’ll tell IT to move them.” Will leaves our office, so Daphne and I are alone again.

I turn to Daphne. “Did they tell you they’re closing our department in the new year? Pretty sure they were going to tell us today, but Miller accidentally spilled the tea last week. I told Mike I wanted to continue in the legal department. I assume they’ll talk with you about what you want to do.”

Daphne chews on her lower lip. She’s nervous, and that makes me nervous. “I have stuff to tell you, but I don’t want to go into it here. I have errands to run at lunch, but do you want to come over for dinner? I’ll order something. Want Chinese?”

“Sure, okay. Logan won’t mind? I know you guys just got home.” I worry about what she has to tell me. She had Thanksgiving dinner with the bosses. Maybe she knows more about the department closing than I do.

“No! He won’t mind at all. I think he was going to hang out with his cousin, but even if he’s home, he’ll be working on picture stuff.

Won’t be in our way in the least. Do you want to come right from the office?

I know you live out in the boonies, so it would be silly to drive all the way home just to turn around and drive to our house. ”

“Yeah, thanks. I need to swing by the library to pick up some DVDs I requested, but then I’ll come by?”

My phone vibrates, signaling a text. I pull it out to check, hoping it’s not family drama.

Liam: Hi, survived the weekend?

Me: Hi, I did. How about you?

Liam: It was good. Crazy. Big family, plus people brought guests. It was good though.

Me: Happy to hear it. What’s up?

Liam: I was wondering if you wanted to grab lunch today or dinner sometime this week? I’m out of town later in the week, but I’d like to see you before I go.

Wow. I wasn’t expecting that. I think about my conversation with Valerie, but Liam technically isn’t a coworker, and even if it turns out he works for Morgan Development and not the building service company, he works in maintenance, not the legal department. Our paths won’t cross professionally.

Me: Sure. Want lunch today? Francisco’s again or somewhere else? I’m going at noon.

Liam: Francisco’s works for me. I’ll meet you there. I’m at a property in Atlantic City now.

Me: Sounds good. See you then. Bye, Liam.

Liam: Looking forward to it, Mallory.

“What has you smiling like that?” Daphne asks.

Crap. I don’t want to say anything about Liam yet. There’s nothing to talk about.

“Something stupid my sister sent me. It’s nothing.

” I give Daphne her belongings and unpack my few things.

Maybe I’ll bring in some pictures tomorrow.

I’m finally ready to put down some roots here.

Morgan Development is where I want my future to be.

I need to remember that’s my priority. Not cute guys who gently carry little gray mice to the woods so they’ll be safe.

The messes with Ethan’s and Valerie’s love lives are great reminders that the Carter siblings are cursed when it comes to love.

I can’t forget that and sacrifice what I can have in my career here for a crush.

Keep it casual, Mallory. Liam can be a fling, not a forever.