Epilogue 1
One Year Later
Clementine
" Oh my gosh, thank you, Mrs. O'Leary! I'm so excited!"
I bristle at being addressed as Mrs. O'Leary. Not because I'm ashamed of either the name or the title, mind you, I just hate the formality.
"Clem is good," I remind the bubbling young woman on the other end of the video call. "It's not a done deal yet, you need to clear things with HR and Ranger will want to touch base with you before you get your official offer. It'll probably take about a week."
Anjelica is nothing like me. In most ways, at least.
Jet black curls bob with the movement of her head as she nods and emotional tears fill her perfectly lined eyes.
"Thank you so much, Mrs. O-- Clem." She catches herself and I can tell my approval means a lot to her when I smile at her.
It's going to be interesting enough to work with another woman, let alone one who's so different from myself.
Anjie's a few years younger than me, but she just graduated with a bachelor's degree in animal science and she's got real-world experience working with large animals.
Maybe married life has made me soft, or maybe my maternal instincts are already starting to kick in, but I like the girl and I can give her the opportunity that took years to come around for myself.
"O'Leary! Get your ass out here, pronto!"
Sounds like my husband thinks I've got something to answer for.
Remembering not to holler back while I'm still on the call with Anjie, I turn back to the beaming face on my office computer screen.
"I'll be back in touch as soon as I have the final word from Ranger. You should hear from someone about housing in a day or two."
"Sounds like an emergency." Anjie giggles and waves a manicured hand in the direction of her speaker where she can obviously hear Gunner cursing up a storm outside as he gets closer to my office.
Rolling my eyes at the drama being carried out in my name out there, I smile. I sure as hell don't giggle, that's for sure. I'm not sure I've ever giggled .
"My husband seems to think so, anyway. I'll let you go and when you get out here, we'll get you caught up on all the details."
With a mutual nod, we end the call just in time for Gunner to storm through my office door without bothering to knock.
"Where's the fire? You can't just come barging in here without knocking, O'Leary."
To be fair to the man, he may have walked in without knocking, but he did shut his trap long enough to be sure he wasn't interrupting something important.
"What the hell is this?" He raises one hand and waves it in the air while he fusses with his hat with his other hand. "When were you planning on tellin' me about this?"
It's cute, really, watching him fidget like this.
Leaning back in my chair, I prop my boots up on the edge of my desk and wait for him to spin himself out.
"How long were you going to try to hide this from me, Clem? We talked about this, you know I don't want you working near the animals when your--"
"Chill out, O'Leary, you're going to stroke out on me if you keep up like this."
"Clementine! If you get kicked again, or, or--"
I'm on my feet, pulling my husband close and taking his hat from him just to save it from more abuse before he completely smashes the thing.
"You done?" I quirk a brow and look up at him, waiting for him to stop sputtering.
Taking the hand that's still waving the positive test in the air, I hold him still and smile at the scowl he levels at me.
"I started interviews two weeks ago," I tell him softly, letting him process what I'm telling him and giving him a chance to get used to it. "The test came out positive this morning. I hired a new assistant today; we're just waiting on your brother to give her the final approval. She should be on site by the end of the month."
Under my hands, I feel the muscles in Gunner's back begin to relax.
"You hid it behind the spare toilet paper in the cabinet. How long were you planning on keeping it from me, Clem?"
"Well obviously, I didn't put a lot of effort into hiding it, did I?"
Stepping up on top of the toes of his boots to give me a little height advantage, I pull him down by the scruff of his neck and force a kiss out of the grumpy bastard.
"I thought it'd be nice to surprise you with the news tonight instead of waking your lazy ass up before I left for work this morning."
The man does like to push out the alarm clock as long as possible. He's usually still snoring when I head out to start my day. I guess that's one of the perks of having your name on the company.
"You'll get one of the men to step in for the next few weeks till your new assistant is ready to take over."
He tries to say it like it's an order, but he knows me better than that.
"I'm not gonna take unnecessary risks, Gun--"
"You're not going to take any risks! I'm not going to spend my days worrying about you and our baby out here when I can't be around to keep you safe."
He's never gotten over not being the first to get to me last year when I took the kick to the ribs. He's really never gotten over owing Riley Ralston a favor. A big one. Let alone having to walk back a lot of trash talk on the neighbors.
"Maybe you should just keep me locked up in the house for the next nine months."
"Sounds like a damn good plan, now that you mention it."
I think he's joking, but next thing I know, I'm over his shoulder staring at a damn fine ass filling out a worn pair of Wranglers in a way that makes me less inclined to fight over getting carried out of my office and off my job.
"It's ten o'clock in the morning, O'Leary! I can't just leave work."
My crew watches me get hauled off the work site. A few of the guys do their best to hide smirks, one of the girls waves and tells me to enjoy myself.
It's a good thing I've got a damn good crew.
If I've learned anything about sharing O'Leary's bed for the last year, it's that I'm not likely to be back at work for the rest of the day.
I guess it's one of the perks of having my name on the company.