Chapter 12 Much Messier
MUCH MESSIER
“If no one has anything else,” Kelsey said at the table in the conference room on Wednesday, “then I think we are done. Mom?”
“I’ve got nothing,” Karen said. “It’s a slow time of year, but it’s going to pick up toward the end of January, as we know.”
Tax season. Brennan always hated it, but understood it was part of the job.
As a partner, he oversaw some staff preparing taxes, checking their work, and focusing on corporate tax, rather than preparing taxes himself.
Although he still oversaw some Boston clients, requiring occasional travel, it hadn’t yet been necessary.
“Are we going to flex our time this summer again?” Courtney asked. She was on his team.
“Yes. Starting the end of May until the end of September, you only have to work a half a day on Friday as long as your work is done. If you have no scheduled appointments, you can take the whole Friday off some weeks. Kelsey and Brennan will work that out. Whoever you report to,” Karen said.
That day off a week in the nicer weather would be great on the island with Becca. Time he was looking forward to with his daughter.
Almost as much as he was looking forward to more time with Alana. If he could only figure out how to broach it.
Seemed to him, she was more interested in time with his daughter than him.
It’s not like she was talking to him about anything else other than Becca.
And if that was the case, the last thing he wanted to do was make things uncomfortable here. She reported to Kelsey, not him, but that didn’t mean he still wasn’t a superior to her position.
This was turning out to be much messier than he’d thought it’d be.
Between that and the text from Celia trying to set up the play date on Sunday. She clearly wasn’t getting the hint.
Yeah, he lied and said they had something going on. He hadn’t even told Becca and ended up taking her to his mother’s for dinner. This way if it came up, his daughter couldn’t say they weren’t busy.
“Time yet to figure that out,” Kelsey said. “If we are done, everyone help themselves to the remaining bagels and donuts. I’ve got a wedding gown to squeeze my butt into and don’t need the temptation.”
He pushed back from the chair as everyone else did, but left while others grabbed food.
He turned when there was a knock on his doorway a minute later. “Hi, Karen.”
“Brennan,” Karen said, walking in and taking a seat. “We have talked little since you’ve been here. Things have been crazy. When I’ve been here, you’ve been out of the office.”
“It’s always the way,” he said.
“How is island living working for you?”
“So far so good,” he said. “A much slower pace for sure. It’s so nice to drive around and not be stuck in traffic for twice the time it would take to actually get somewhere.”
“Don’t I know that,” Karen said. “Things are working out with Becca?”
“They are,” he said. “If I can’t pick her up from pre-K the days she’s there, my mother does it.”
“You can leave and get her anytime you need to. I know you’ll get your work done after hours if you have to. I’ve never doubted that.”
“Thanks,” he said. “I’m positive that is going to happen during tax season.”
“You know we are flexible and trying to be as family oriented as possible,” Karen said. “I know this was a big change for you. My family, we are used to it, but not everyone can adjust as easily. I meant what I said. If after a year, you don’t want to stay, there is a place for you back in Boston.”
It was the reason he was more than willing to do this. Karen had asked that he give it at least a year, and if it didn’t work, he could return to Boston.
“So far so good. It’s nice to breathe here. Sounds silly.”
“No,” Karen said. “I get it. It’s not as congested. But if you need something you can’t find here or can’t wait, it’s not a quick trip for it either, or costs more to get here faster.”
“I’m pretty adaptable,” he said. “Or I learned to be that way.”
Few knew his situation with Becca and Rene. Nothing more than he had custody. He wasn’t one to bring his personal life into the office and no one asked.
Wrong. People asked. He didn’t answer.
Women liked to gossip and he’d had enough to deal with having a newborn at home he was trying to figure out.
“That’s the name of the game with parenthood,” Karen said. “I’m glad things are working out. My daughter isn’t the same as me.”
He laughed. “Who are you kidding? You two are very similar when it comes to work.”
Karen grinned. “Sure, we are there but not in personality.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure,” he said.
“Shhh,” Karen said. “That’s between us. Few in this office have worked with me much.”
Karen stood up and left after that and he got to work.
His day flew by, just the way he liked it. When he looked at the clock in the corner of his computer, he saw it was almost one. Might explain why he was hungry and got up to get his lunch.
In the kitchen, he saw Alana at the microwave. What he needed to use.
“Hey,” he said. “Smells good.”
“Tomato soup. My grilled cheese is in the air fryer.”
He thought it was funny there was an air fryer in the break room, but the women seemed to use it for everything that a toaster oven would do.
He’d never thought of heating grilled cheese in it.
“That’s interesting.”
“How is that?”
“Your lunch is one of Becca’s favorite meals. We’ve got staples in the house at all times. Grilled cheese, chicken strips, fish sticks, and fries. The last three go into the air fryer. Never thought to do with grilled cheese though.”
“I only use it to heat,” she said. “I made it in a pan this morning. I have to say, Becca is a great eater. One of my cousin’s kids is fussy about food.”
“Oh, I’ve had a lot of hits and misses. But I always tell her she has to at least try something. If she doesn’t like it, then she doesn’t have to eat it.”
“Good thing she’s not fussy,” she said. The microwave dinged and she removed her soup, her fingers almost dropping it on the counter.
“Watch it. I’ve burned my fingertips on those things before.”
“I didn’t think it’d get that hot. Good thing I didn’t spill it.”
“It’d ruin that pretty shirt of yours if you did.”
He might have gone too far saying that when she turned sharply and held his stare. Her eyes were almost the color of a summer sky against the light blue of her silk shirt tucked into tan trousers.
Without looking down, he had to guess what was on her feet. He didn’t want to be too obvious he was checking her out.
“It would ruin it. Just like that pink boa,” she said.
He rolled his eyes. “I know you’re thinking I purposely got taco meat on it so I didn’t have to use it again.”
“Didn’t you?” she asked. Their voices were lower as they talked.
“I swear I didn’t,” he said. “You heard Becca. She wanted me to keep it on and it got in the way when I was making her dinner.”
But he wouldn’t complain that when he threw it in the washer that it fell apart. Didn’t mean his daughter wouldn’t have him wearing one of the other colors next time.
“You were a good sport.”
He put his leftover dinner from last night in the microwave.
“No,” he said. “You were a good sport. I don’t know a lot of adults who would have humored her that much or that long.”
“I had a great time. It’s sad, but it might be one of the better nights I’ve had in years.”
He laughed. Was that a hint for him to ask her again? If Becca was with him, she’d do it for him.
Yikes. That was a horrible thought, that he needed his daughter’s help.
“I’m glad,” he said. “Becca hasn’t stopped talking about it.”
“Alana.” They turned when Kelsey was standing in the doorway. “Nicki is looking for you. You’ve got a call.”
“Oh,” she said. Her hand was moving to the air fryer, pulled it open and yanked out her sandwich to drop on a plate. Then she dashed out, leaving her soup on the counter. “I’m going.”
He opened the microwave, stirred his lunch and then started it again. Kelsey was still standing there staring at him.
“Just ask her.”
“What?” he asked.
Kelsey rolled her eyes. “You two are going to light the building on fire with sparks. Just ask. I know my cousin, she won’t say no, and I don’t care if you’re worried about the work part of it.”
Brennan didn’t say another word before Kelsey turned on her heel and strutted away.
If Kelsey could see it, why couldn’t Alana?
Or did she and wasn’t sure if he was?
Too complicated.
He grabbed his lunch and Alana’s soup.
After he dropped his lunch on his desk, he knocked on her door and held the soup up. She was off the phone. “You left this in there.”
“Thanks. I would have remembered it soon.”
He moved closer and put the container on her desk. “So, I was wondering if you’d like to have dinner sometime without my daughter dictating the activities of the night?”
“Like a date?” she asked.
“Yes. If you don’t want to, sorry if I’m reading things wrong.”
“You’re not,” she said.
He smiled. “Then how about it?”
“I’d love to.”
He heard clapping and swung his head around to see Kelsey walking by the door grinning and holding her thumbs up.
“She’s a piece of work,” he said.
“Yep. Did she tell you to ask me?”
He didn’t like the uncertainty on Alana’s face.
“No. Well, sort of.” He didn’t need Kelsey saying anything else.
“She told me to do it and that you wouldn’t say no.
Something about sparks setting the building on fire.
I thought it was just me. It’s hard for me to figure out if you were more interested in Becca. ”
She laughed. “She is a sweetheart. I don’t want you to think one has anything to do with the other.”
“I’m glad,” he said. “This feels awkward and I don’t want anyone else to hear us. We’ll talk later.”
She nodded her head, her face flush. Not with embarrassment, but more like joy.
He knew. He was feeling it too.