Pieces of Us (Missing Pieces #3) - N.R. Walker Page 0,41
finished the week on a good note. I helped the customer load the bike onto his trailer while Davo and Sparra finished up in the shop. When I came back in, Juss was there helping them.
He looked like he’d just woken up, which meant he must have slept for about four hours. “Hey,” I said.
He shoved his hands into his hoodie pockets and smiled. “Hey. Just wanted to see the fellas before they left. Let ’em know I’ll be back to work on Monday.”
“You feel up to that?” I asked.
He gave a nod. “If I take it easy this weekend, yeah. Just small stuff, though. And if it’s too much, I’ll just tap out.”
I grinned at him. “Sounds great. And you’ll be fine. I know it.” He had always been determined, but he also seemed to have a newfound respect for his limitations.
“It helps that the boss loves me and we live right upstairs,” he added.
“Yes, he does.”
“Hey, Jusso,” Davo called out as he wheeled the toolbox into the storage room. “Gimme a hand with this.”
So while they busied themselves with packing up, I went to finalise a bit more paperwork. I was filling in the weekly EPA report when Davo and Sparra called it a day, and Juss came into my office. He parked himself in his usual spot—his arse against my desk. “Just gotta get this motor oil disposal written up, then I’m all done.”
“That’s okay, take your time, I’ll just wait right here.” He was quiet for a bit while I entered in some numbers. “Will you miss this? The paperwork? The office?”
I snorted. “God, no.”
“This office could use a pot plant,” he said randomly.
“Uh, I guess it could.” I looked around the office. It was functional but drab. It was also dusty as hell. “I might give myself one job this weekend, and that’s to clean the shit out of here before Toni starts.”
“Yeah, it could do with some organising. Some trays and maybe some new pens and stuff. I don’t know what office people like.”
I chuckled, because this was proof that Juss was feeling much better. He was having proper connective thoughts instead of the zombie he had been since his stay in hospital earlier this week.
“Oh, what’s this?” he said, reaching for a pile of mail that still sat in my in-tray. Something else I was going to attack this weekend. “This one’s for me.” He flipped through the envelopes. “And one for you.”
Oh, shit. “They came the other day. I was going to bring them upstairs, sorry. I got busy. Um, I think they might be those test results we were waiting on.”
His gaze shot to mine. “The blood tests?”
“Yep. I forgot about them, to be honest. We got a little sidetracked, didn’t we?”
He hummed and studied the envelope, turning it over in his hand. Then he held it out to me. “Can you read it for me? I don’t think I could handle bad news right now. If something’s wrong, just say, ‘Oh goodie, more dick swabbing,’ and I’ll understand.”
Chuckling, I took the envelope. “I can read it for you.” I undid the envelope and unfolded the paper. It was the lab results, and after a quick scan down the list, I handed it back. “No more dick swabbing.”
And yeah, I was relieved. Not for the prospect of sex, but because he wasn’t joking when he said he couldn’t handle bad news right now.
“Oh, thank God,” he said, reading over it. “Now do yours.”
I undid mine and read over it. “No more dick swabbing for me either.”
Juss grinned. “I can swab it for you if you want.”
I laughed and handed him my lab results so he could see. “And just so you know, baby. This doesn’t mean we have to rush into anything. It just means we can, when you’re ready.”
He looked up from the letter and leaned down for a kiss. “I know. But thank you for saying it.”
I finished up the last of the report and shut the computer down, and making sure everything was locked up, we went upstairs. Juss suggested lamb and salad for dinner, which sounded bloody good to me, and it would take all of fifteen minutes to make. He put together the salad and I grilled the meat, and when we sat down to eat, his phone buzzed on the table.
He looked at the number and let it ring out. “Not gonna answer it?” I asked.
“No. It’s my mother. Should have got a new number