“I think we have one of those.”
“Oh. Then some pencils, a sharpener, and a few pens.”
Clint smiled. “You are a breath of fresh air. I hope Tanner appreciates you.”
“I hope so too.”
Clint paid and then drove them back to the office. “Where would you like all of this stuff?” he asked as they stepped into the main area.
“Just put them next to my desk. It will take me all day to clean up Tanner’s office. I don’t need more clutter in there.”
“Good luck.” His cell rang. “Gotta take this. You going to be okay?”
“Yes.” Ella loved challenges, and Tanner’s office posed a big one.
Clint handed her a key. “For the front door in case you need to go out to lunch.”
“Thanks.” Everyone she’d met was so trusting, which gave her a real sense of being welcomed. Plux was a far cry from living on top of Wagner’s Mountain, that was for sure.
The first order of business was to organize what needed to be scanned so she could decide the best way to catalog the items in the computer.
Three hours later, she’d not only put the mess into neat piles, she’d scanned half of them. Her stomach grumbled. As much as she didn’t relish running into Sasha, without a car, Ella wasn’t sure where else to eat that would be quick.
Clint had left right after his phone call and had not returned. After locking up, Ella headed over to the New Frontier Diner. As soon as she stepped inside and didn’t spot Sasha, Ella relaxed. Because it was close to two, the place wasn’t packed. In fact, it was emptier than last night for which she was thankful. Ella slid into the same booth where she and Tanner had dined.
A few minutes later, a woman who looked to be in her fifties came over and handed her a menu. “Welcome, I’m Carolyn. Can I get you anything to drink?”
“I would love a coffee. Black.”
Carolyn didn’t write it down. Instead, she stared. “Weren’t you in here last night with Tanner?”
He must be a regular. “I was.”
She pointed a finger at her and then smiled. “You’re his new girlfriend. Half the town is abuzz to meet you.”
Oh, no. Had they learned her real identity. “Why is that?”
“Are you kidding? Tanner is the most eligible man in town. All of the ladies are after him.”
Without thinking, Ella pasted on a smile. “Please tell them that he’s taken. Very taken.”
Carolyn smiled. “I am glad to hear that. Tanner needs a good woman by his side. All the man does is work, work, work. I’m hoping he’ll have time to relax now that you’re here.”
“Oh, we did plenty of relaxing when he visited me in Thedia.” Ella winked. She couldn’t believe how easily that lie flowed from her lips, but she owed Tanner for saving her and for giving her the job. It wasn’t as if she was the one who’d announced she was his girlfriend.
“So you’re his mate?” Carolyn asked with a glint in her eye.
Decisions, decisions. “Why, yes I am.” Ella hoped Carolyn couldn’t see the pulse beating rapidly at the base of her throat. The lies were compounding—or was it a lie? If her inner snow leopard was right, Tanner was the one for her.
Carolyn grinned. “Let me get your coffee.”
She hurried off. Ella hoped she hadn’t made things worse for Tanner. If so, her employment might be short-lived.
After another wonderful lunch, she headed back to the office where she finished scanning the rest of the papers. It was actually rather easy to decide which folders they belonged in. She’d organized them according to supplier. She then checked Tanner’s computer and found his organizational system wasn’t as bad as she’d feared. All it would take was a little tweaking.
Once she placed the file in the correct folder on the computer, she then shredded the paper. When she was done, his desk was almost clean.
The papers too large to scan were stored on the bookshelf with the appropriate label underneath. Even Tanner should be able to understand her system. Since he hadn’t returned from his trip to Thedia, she figured he’d been successful in unearthing her car and was driving it here. If he hadn’t been, he would have flown back and arrived a while ago.
The next step in organizing Tanner McCarson was to sort through his top desk drawer. Now that was a real chore, though she didn’t make much headway. Maybe tomorrow she’d buy him a drawer organizer and try again.
Someone knocked on the office door, and a second later, Clint stuck his head in and glanced around. “Wow. I don’t recognize the place.”
Ella couldn’t have been more pleased. “Do you think Tanner will like it?”
“That is hard to say. He doesn’t like change, but I know he’ll appreciate your effort.”
That wasn’t what she wanted to hear, but Tanner had instructed her to clean up the mess. “I imagine it will take him at least a month to mess it up again.”
Clint laughed. “True. By the way, Tanner called. He has your car, but there was a bit of roadwork on the way here. I wouldn’t wait for him. It’s past five, so you might as well head back to the hotel.”
“That’s okay. I want to do a bit more work.”
Clint nodded to the dry erase board. “Do you want me to mount that?”
“Would you? That would be great.”
“Sure, I’ll get some tools.”
When he left, Ella went to work redoing some of his computer folders by color coding them according to account. With time, Tanner would come to see that her way was the best.
Clint returned. “Where do you want this hung?”
She really appreciated that he was giving her free reign. “I want Tanner to be able to see it in case I need to write reminders on it for him.”
“You don’t know Tanner very well, I see.”
What did that mean? “Maybe not, but he seems a little lost and is in
