Chapter 10
Atlee
“I don’t know what’s going on, but Valerie is at the reception desk trying to convince the new girl that she’s allowed to come back on her own.” Brandon leaned against the door of my office and shrugged as I groaned. “I don’t know who hired the new girl but she doesn’t believe anything I say.”
“Maybe because you keep calling her a girl?” And he’d gotten caught in the supply closet with the previous receptionist? “And you made spectacularly bad decisions with the last one?”
Rolling his eyes, he pushed off the frame. “She married me and cleared my name. She even brought me flowers and chocolates earlier in the week.”
Because she’d made him sleep on the couch last weekend for some reason he couldn’t quite explain.
“Did you let the new receptionist know that the woman giving you flowers was your wife?” Every time I thought my ability to relationship correctly was completely fucked, I looked at Brandon and realized I wasn’t nearly as stupid as I thought I was.
His head cocked. “Huh?”
Lord.
“Introduce them properly the next time Andrea comes in and stop calling the receptionist girl.” It made him look older than he thought, at the very least.
“What’s her name?” Before I could do more than roll my eyes, he kept going. “And she’s like twelve. I don’t even think she’s legal to flirt with. Girl is accurate.”
I really didn’t want to figure out if he had a point, so I got up and headed out of my office as he huffed and sighed.
With the stock market already closed and Brandon preferring to come in at a crazy early hour, he was done for the day.
That should’ve meant he went home, but he would usually just wander around annoying anyone who looked in his direction.
It worked in my favor this time because I wasn’t sure why I hadn’t already gotten a call about Valerie. But as I made my way around the office and through the long hallway that led to the front desk, I started to wonder what information the new receptionist had been given.
God, we really needed to figure out her name and why she hadn’t been introduced to everyone yet.
“I don’t know what you mean, sweetie, but Atlee is expecting me.” Valerie gave a low giggle as I came around the corner. She was shaking her head and rubbing her stomach like the pun was hilarious. “Expecting.”
No, I was not going to suffer through terrible pregnancy jokes.
“Valerie.” Nodding toward the front desk, I was glad to see a name plate finally showing. Her name was…okay…that combination of letters wasn’t going to help, so I turned back toward my crazy almost-ex. “You know very well you can’t come into the office without an escort.”
Because the last time she’d come in, she’d been a menace and had been doing her best to spread her own version of reality as wide as she could before I’d found her.
“That’s just silly.” Shaking her head, she made sure to keep rubbing her baby bump. “We’ve got a lot to discuss. But I know you’re busy, so I waited until after the market closed.”
Was I supposed to thank her for being a pest later in the day?
“I am busy, which is why you need to handle anything through our lawyers.” I’d said it so many times it felt like I was living through that Groundhogs Day movie. “I have a meeting I’m going to be late for, so you need to leave.”
Shifting from what she thought was an indulgent smile to something that looked like she was disappointed, Valerie sighed. “How about we sit down somewhere more private where we can handle this like adults? The entire office doesn’t need to hear about your…well…you know what you did.”
Handle what?
What was she implying I did?
“No.” I really didn’t care what she was insinuating and I was not going to do anything that put me alone with her. “Now, I’m going to ask you to leave again.”
“Being stubborn is not as cute as you think it is.” She went back to shaking her head before she looked down at her stomach. “Just remember that later, baby boy.”
Doing her best to look sweet and only slightly frustrated, Valerie let out another long sigh and gave the receptionist some kind of woman-to-woman look that didn’t get the reaction she’d expected.
The stone-faced receptionist blinked at Valerie before giving her a fake smile. “Thank you for coming.”
I managed not to laugh, but it was hard. Something about her gave off young Casimir vibes and I had a feeling she was going to be hell on wheels when she was older.
I really hated that Brandon was right about her age.
Ignoring the fact that she didn’t get the reaction she wanted, Valerie aimed a disappointed look in my direction. “I thought you were finally ready to step up and take responsibility for your actions, but clearly you need more time to think.”
About what?
“I have no responsibilities for you any longer. That’s for the baby’s father to handle.” I wanted to make it clear I hadn’t gotten her in that situation. “We’re getting divorced and the main reason is that I’m not that baby’s father.”
I should not have to remind her about that every time we met.
Shaking her head again, she sighed. “I don’t know what you’re thinking sometimes. First this and then that…well…”
Letting the pause drag out, she frowned and finally turned away in what she probably thought was a dramatic exit. When Valerie was finally in the elevators and heading down to the lobby, I turned back to the receptionist. “I have no idea what you were told, but thank you for not letting her back.”
“No problem.” The woman with the alphabet soup name shrugged. “I was given a good rundown of who to let in and who to keep out. I’ve also got good instincts.”
Somehow she looked sixteen but sounded forty.
“She’s got crazy eyes. My third stepmother had them too.” The way she shook her head finally helped snap into place who she was.
Her father ran the firm.
Great.
Oh.
She was from his second marriage…and the name was starting to make sense. Her mother had been the trendy one who’d opened a yoga studio and invested in a children’s bookstore if I was remembering right.
“You are correct.” And I probably still had some explaining to do. “She is my soon-to-be ex-wife and is under the delusion that I will take care of her affair baby since she’s ready to play house again.”
Alphabet Soup woman barely held back a laugh. “Some people just aren’t living in reality.”
Wasn’t that the truth.
“I think I should introduce myself just in case.” Holding out my hand, I did my best to give her a polite smile even though I’d just had to air out my dirty laundry. “Atlee.”
“Cordelia.” Her lips twitched as she glanced over at her name plate, so I could only assume my face had given something away. “You’re not going to try to make sense of the spelling.”
Well, at least she understood the problem.
I’d hoped that by the time I’d made it back to my office Brandon would’ve wandered off but I wasn’t lucky enough for that. He was relaxing on my couch and looking a bit like he should’ve had a beer in his hands. “Are you avoiding going home?”
“No.” The way he rolled his eyes as I went over to my desk made the answer more believable. “My wonderful wife is visiting her family, so I’m simply in no rush to head home.”
Why?
“What did you do?”
It was a reasonable question but it got another dramatic expression from the troublemaker. “My honey-do list is as long as my arm but I only have to work on it when I’m home.”
That was a loophole he’d only be able to use once.
“Don’t do anything stupid on your road to being useless while your wife is gone.” He wasn’t the type to cheat no matter how clueless he seemed to be about women, but he was the type to book a last-minute vacation to the other side of the world.
Sometimes he made a lot of work for himself on his road to be lazy.
Brandon waved his hand, clearly unworried. “It’ll be fine. I’ve got days left before she comes home.”
That was so ridiculous I didn’t bother responding to it.
“What did Valerie want?” Brandon’s change of subject wasn’t a surprise. He was too nosy to let it go. “How is your divorce not done yet?”
“Because she’s lost her mind.” Being polite hadn’t helped, so I was going to try being more honest as I doublechecked the material I’d been working on for the meeting coming up shortly. “She seems to think I’m going to step up and play dad for the baby.”
Part of me wished I’d been lying to Valerie about the meeting but I’d just slightly exaggerated the timing.
I was going to get better at being a bigger pain in the ass, though.
If there was one thing I was learning from Casimir, I was being a bit too submissive in other parts of my life without realizing it.
If I was going to submit, I was going to do it consciously and not just out of habit to everyone around me.
He raised one eyebrow. “What made her think that was reasonable?”
“My mother.” I shrugged as he started to cough like he’d swallowed a bug. “They’re both insane and trying to plan a second wedding to renew our vows.”
That didn’t help his ability to breathe but it felt good to vent as he finally managed to get a response out. “They what?”
Getting him up to date on the crazy probably wasn’t necessary but it would help spread the information around the office as fast as possible. I didn’t want there to be any doubt about who that baby belonged to, and Brandon was the best information distribution system we had.
“I think my starting to date again is making her crazier.” The only part I wasn’t going to talk about was that dating Casimir had started out as one neighbor helping another. “It could be the dating-a-man thing, though.”
Hiding that wouldn’t help in the long run no matter how things turned out with Casimir.
Brandon blinked one time but that was the extent of his surprise. “I’d have thought she’d be the type to take that as a challenge, but she’s not right in the head, so it could go a variety of ways.”
He’d always taken the overly honest route and had never liked Valerie, which should’ve been a clue from the very beginning.
“There’s no logic in anything going on in my life right now.” Including Casimir but that was for entirely different reasons.
He was…
There wasn’t one word to describe Casimir. Between his feminine side and his dominant personality, he was unique in the best way. That might’ve just been because I’d dated very conventional people without realizing it.
“New man just as nuts as Valerie?” Brandon laughed when I rolled my eyes. “You look like the type to attract crazy.”
He was ridiculous.
And possibly correct depending on the definition.
“No. Thankfully.” Casimir was wonderfully logical and an incredible communicator even if I didn’t always understand how I felt about his questions. “He’s very down to earth and straightforward.”
And feisty and take-charge in a variety of ways…like sending me limits lists and topics to think about.
I’d never gotten to know someone like that but I appreciated how logical the system was. There was just something relaxing about such an organized plan where I don’t know was a reasonable response to something new.
The only downside was that it left me with a lot of questions about my past and how I’d missed so many things about myself.
One aspect of it was that I seemed to have attracted all the wrong type of men when I’d been in college.
Looking back, when I compared them to Casimir, it was clear they’d all been on the submissive end of the spectrum.
How they’d thought I was dominant I’d never understand, but it helped make sense of a few different things. I wasn’t uncomfortable around men even though I liked them, and I could see myself with them in a long-term sense.
I just couldn’t do that when they were submissive too.
Just having a penis and a pleasant personality wasn’t the only thing I needed to look for when dating a man. I really wished I would’ve come to that realization earlier in life, but I wasn’t sure how I’d have done it.
“If I want someone to ignore me, I’ll go back to the front desk.” Brandon’s dramatic huff had me tuning back in.
“Her name is Cordelia but the spelling is confusing, so don’t bother trying to figure it out.” The distraction had him frowning and his brain shifting gears. “Someone also gave her a rundown on the problem children and I’m betting your name was on the top of the list.”
He just brought in entirely too much money for most people to bother with it.
“Some people just can’t move past a few little inconveniences.” His response said he’d learned nothing from the closet incident. “Hey, the dating a guy thing…”
Had he finally realized he was homophobic?
I raised one eyebrow and waited to see what kind of crazy would fall out of his mouth.
“Are you rainbow enough to join the LGBT Chamber of Commerce or are you just a little colorful? Just dating a guy isn’t going to cut it.” He seemed to think the question was reasonable but I wasn’t sure how offended I should be.
I was going to have to ask Casimir about it later.
He had better instincts for things like that than I did.
“I have no idea what that scale looks like.” He frowned as I tried to decide how to respond. “I’ve never been to one of their meetings if that’s what you’re asking.”
What did he actually want to know?
“They told me just dating a guy isn’t good enough to get in.
” Brandon just kept going and made me realize I really might attract insane people.
“I wanted to join because I think that fall dinner would be a great place to make new contacts but they wouldn’t let me join. It’s a thousand dollars a head.”
How had he offended them?
A thousand dollars a head for a dinner?
“Um, I’ve never actually talked to anyone running the organization but I’m rainbow enough to count.” However that was defined. “And dating a man should count as long as you weren’t just going to dinner with a guy to get a two-for-one special or something like that.”
Why else would a straight man date a guy?
“Or to pick up women?”
He blinked.
I was not going to ask what he’d done…because he might actually tell me.
When had my life gotten so strange?