16. Epilogue
Epilogue
“ . ..so Vera and Dylan are going to coordinate with our British office and work out whether that project is a ‘must have’ or a ‘nice to have,” Duncan Amor said with a nod across the meeting room to the two consultants. “And that’s a wrap for—”
Next to him, his assistant coughed, nudged him under the table, and, one finger flat on the paper, pushed a Post-it note over the desk toward him. Duncan looked mildly annoyed at the interruption as he picked it up to read, then he swung his attention toward Hunter.
Caught off guard, Hunter tried to resist the urge to slide under the table as he casually shifted his elbow to cover the doodles he’d been doing on his notepad.
“Of course,” Duncan said. He made a finger gun, cocked it, and shot it at Hunter. “Our new associate, Hunter.”
What was the appropriate reaction to being shot with an imaginary bullet from your boss’s finger? Was there one? Or should Hunter just ignore it?
He went with an awkward pat to his chest and a quick nod around the table.
“Made a match right out the gate,” Duncan said. “I gotta admit, I had my doubts about you having the right stuff when you let the cat out, but I was wrong. Well done. Keep it up. Not the cat thing, though, that was too far.”
He looked at his PA, who politely shook her head, and then clapped his hands together.
“Then that’s a wrap,” he said. “Back to work.”
Everyone trailed out of the room, except for Hunter, who sank down in his chair until his tailbone was barely balanced on the edge. On the other side of the table, Hester paused halfway through gathering up her notes and gave him a sympathetic smile.
“The hangover,” she said.
Hunter gave her a horrified look and pushed himself up straight. “Oh, no!” he spluttered. “I’m not… I wouldn’t come to work—”
“No, case hangover,” Hester said soothingly. “We all get it. You spend so much time worried about their lives, and then you’re meant to just let it go. I mean, you might never find out if Tess is able to come back into her kid’s life?”
Hunter glanced down at his hands and pulled a slightly guilty, but really sorry, face. “Actually, I’ve checked up on her,” he said. “She’s doing fine. They’ve been out to see her, and she’s come clean to the kids. I think she’ll be OK. But–”
Hester looked at him expectantly. Hunter tried to say something, then cast a worried glance after the rest of the team. When he did speak, he leaned over the table and dropped his voice.
“I didn’t…I didn’t do anything,” he said.
Then he remembered his expense reports and quickly corrected himself.
“I mean, I did. I set up so many meet-cutes. There was a coffee mix-up and the cat guy, and the kennel attendant, and a mix-up with a takeout order and his mail getting mixed up with a hot neighbor and… But I didn’t actually set him up with Joe. That just…happened.”
Hester pursed her lips and lifted the stack of papers to her chest, arms crossed over them. She waited long enough for Hunter to sweat and then smiled at him.
“It happens more than you think,” she said. “Sometimes Cupid just takes a case off us. What are you going to do? He’s the boss.”
She winked at him and left.
Hunter watched her go and then looked down at his notebook, the fat little angel winking at him in ink from the corner.
“Cupid?”