I smiled at him. “I baked you some brownies.” I stated the obvious.
He smiled then, a small smile. “I like brownies.”
“Great!” I took my hand back and unwrapped the plate and pushed it towards him.
He carefully selected one and bit into it.
I waited for his appraisal.
“These are pretty good,” he said around a mouthful of brownie.
“Are you surprised?”
“A little.” He smiled.
I nodded. “Don’t blame you, I was surprised too.” I laughed.
Jared popped his head in, “Can I come in and get coffee or is this a private party? Whoa! Brownies!”
Jared started for the table.
“Paws off, these are mine!” Logan growled.
“Not to worry.” I pulled a second plate of brownies from the bag, “I brought some for you and Stephanie too.”
“Thanks!” Jared smiled and accepted the plate.
I turned back Logan. “I mean it, you’re my hero.” I whispered.
Logan stared at me and if I didn’t know better, I believe he blushed a little.
He simply nodded.
I stood up and he did as well. I walked over and gave him a hug. I expected him to stand there with his arms at his side, he surprised me by gently wrapping his arms around my shoulders and leaning down to whisper in my ear.
“I’m glad you’re alright.” I stepped back and nodded. “Me too.” Then I turned to leave.
Ethan winked at me on my way out.
“Hey Ethan, Logan is putting moves on your girl.” Jared called out.
“Shut up or I’ll punch your lights out.” Logan threatened.
I heard Jared laughing as I closed the door behind me.
Next stop my office.
I hadn’t mentioned to Ethan that I planned to stop by the office today. I wasn’t going to work all day although I did feel the need to check in with everyone. Especially, Sherry.
“Kay, what are you doing here? You should be resting at home.” Sherry greeted me.
“If I do anymore ‘resting’ I’m going to lose my mind.” I smiled back at Sherry.
She fell in step behind me as I walked into my office. “How’s everything going?” I asked surveying my desk for mail or papers to sign.
“Well, it’s been a little odd, not having you around and I just can’t get over Michael.”
“I know, me either. I trusted him so completely.” I said sinking into my desk chair.
“What are you going to do?” she asked.
“Well, we have to have a corporate attorney and you can bet I am going to vet the heck out of them before I bring them on board.”
Sherry nodded.
“Does Ethan know you’re here?” Sherry blurted out.
“No, why. Should he?” I looked at her directly.
“No, I guess not.” She blushed. “I just worry you’re doing too much.”
“I’m not staying all day. I just need to get back into control of this company before anyone else tries to take it over.”
“Okay, well, let me get you the mail,” she offered.
Sherry left and came back with a small box.
“What is all of this?”
“I think just about every employee sent you a get-well card. I didn’t want to overwhelm you, so I was holding them until you felt better.” Sherry explained.
I looked inside the box. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah”
“Holy cow! There are a lot of envelopes in here.”
Sherry nodded smiling. “I know.”
“Well, I guess I better start opening them.”
“I’ll leave you to it.” She returned to her desk.
I reached in the box and pulled out a handful of envelopes. I was so touched by the outpouring of well wishes by the employees that I was brought to tears a few times. Some of the letters were from the children of employees who had benefited from a scholarship program. It was nearly eight o’clock when I got to the last one. Tomorrow I would start replying to them all.
“Kay?” I heard Sherry shuffling things at her desk.
“Yes?”
“It’s getting late so we should probably call it a day.” Sherry called out.
“Okay, you’re right.” I began tidying up the cards and letters.
Just then my phone buzzed with a text from Ethan.
“Leaving work, up for company?”
Crap.
“Um, sure. How long before you can come over?” I clicked.
“About fifteen minutes,” came his reply.
“Can we make it thirty?” I countered.
“Sure. Everything okay?”
“Yep, everything is fine.” I gathered my things and Sherry and I walked out together. “See you tomorrow.” I said to Sherry
“Are you sure that is a good idea? You’re not supposed to be back until next week.” She reminded me.
“I’m just going to start replying to all the cards and well wishes.” I told her.
“I can do that for you,” she offered.
“I know but it wouldn’t be personal then.”
Sherry looked at me dejected.
“You can help, how about that?” I suggested.
“Okay, I don’t like it, but okay.” She scowled.
I was tempted to break a few traffic laws to get home before Ethan got there but better judgement prevailed. It probably wouldn’t have mattered. When I pulled into the driveway, Ethan was already there leaning against his car waiting for me.
“Hi!” I said walking towards him from the garage.
“Hi.” He straightened to walk to the house with me. “Where’ve you been?”
I was glad it was dusk and hoped the shadows would hide my cheeks reddening. “I stopped by the office.”
“And what time did you go in today?” He held the door for me as we stepped into the mud room and then the kitchen.
“Uh, when I left your office.”
My back was to him, but I could imagine the look on his face. He caught my arm gently.
“Kay, please tell me you haven’t been working all this time?” The pleading look on his face stabbed me right in the heart.
“Well, I wasn’t actually working.” I said turning to face him.
He put his other hand on my shoulder. “Kay, you have to take care of yourself. I don’t want anything else happening to you, do you understand?” His eyes were warm and gentle, and I wanted to kiss him.
“I was just talking to Sherry and reading some get well cards.”
“This whole time?” he said, disbelieving.
“Well it was quite a
