Page 38 of The Grump I Loathe

Eddie bit her lip as if trying not to smile. “Maybe you’re hindering the protocol,” she teased. “I think we’ve established you’re not exactly good at the ‘fun’ thing.”

“This is not helping,” I snapped.

“Are you asking for help?” She pursed her lips in a way that was damn distracting. “Because if you are, there’s a magic word.”

“Please,” I growled.

“Nope,” she said. “The word is actually ‘Eddie, the funnest, most awesome person I know, please bestow upon me your good ideas and save my Juni Protocol from certain doom.’”

“Those would be many words,” I muttered. “And you’re on thin ice, Edith. Watch it.”

She waggled her eyebrows at me. “Sounds dangerous. Danger can be a little fun.”

“This isn’t a joke.”

She stood up. “All right, calm down, Lord LockMill. I never said it was a joke, but if you really want the kids to enjoy the protocol, you have tothinklike a kid.”

“How exactly do you propose I think like a kid?”

“You start by being inspired. And you’re not going to find any inspiration holed up in your ivory tower like this.” She jutted her hip out in a way that had me thinking of my hands on her waist. “Do I have your permission to work my magic? Because if we’re gonna do this, we need to do it my way.”

I drummed my hand against my desk. At this rate, my way was only going to send me home to Grace in an awful mood. “Fine.”

Eddie’s face curled into a wicked grin as she did her best evil villain laugh. Over the course of the next fifteen minutes, she transformed my office. The shades were open, a bowl of M&M’s appeared, and she connected my Spotify playlist to the overhead speakers.

“Top artists. Scarlet Rush,” she said, her lips puckering as she scrolled my playlist.

“Grace listens to that.”

“Sure,” she teased. “I can spot a Rushie from a mile away. Just admit it, Connor, you were at theLove, Scarlettour.”

Despite her teasing, I was marginally better by the time she’d sprayed my office down with peppermint oil because it was apparently good for concentration.

Hope you’re not brooding at the office,Max texted me.

No time. Eddie’s here. She’s turned on music and now my office smells like Christmas.

Ah, gonna do a little office tango?Max wrote, sending a winky face.

Shut up. I tried not to let my thoughts stray back to the club. That wasn’t the real me anyway. The real me focused on taking care of people and solving problems. He didnotput himself first or focus on his own needs with no thought of the consequences.

Eddie was too young for me. Too joyful. Too unsullied by the realities of shitty people and shittier relationships. Getting together with a guy like me was the last thing she needed. Not to mention the employee thing.

If you’d stop overthinking everything,Max wrote,it could be a good thing.

I know you’re the one who told her it was a good idea to show up here on the weekends.

Excuse me for noticing the way she actually wakes you up instead of letting you sleepwalk through life.

I don’t care if she helps me land a damn rocket on the moon. Butt out.

Max insisted I was letting the world pass me by since the divorce, but he was wrong. I’d narrowed my focus after the divorce, homing in on what really mattered. Grace and the company. I stashed my phone away as Eddie returned with a bright red marker to compliment all the black already on the board.

“Okay,” she said. “Let’s start with the most obvious solution to your problem. What does Grace like in her video games?”

My eyebrows drew together. “I don’t know. She plays everything.”

“Youdoknow,” Eddie said. “Because there’s something she’s drawn to the most. Think.”