one silver-colored laptop. I stepped forward, pulling back the chair, and sat.
Glancing around the area, I could see down the hall. The seat was comfortable.
“I miss her,” I said to no one.
It was funny how you could grow attached to someone in your life in such a short time. I had barely known her a week. It was Friday, and this past Saturday was when I saw her at Nathan’s birthday party. Technically, I had known her since December, but with a ten-month period of not speaking.
I pulled open a few drawers. Most were empty, but one had a pad of paper with my name written on it. And a little heart as the dot over the “I.” But as I looked closer, I saw it wasn’t my name; it was Julia’s but with my last name.
My mouth fell open.
Did Julia have a crush on me?
“Have you been demoted?” a deep voice came from the hallway.
I quickly shoved the pad of paper back into the drawer. My jaw ticked as I knew without looking who it was.
“No, Hamish. How can I be demoted when I’m not an employee of The Blue Spot? Remember, since I’m an investor, much like yourself, I can use the office when I’m in town.”
“And their employees, it seems.”
I tightened my fist. What was with him? Normally, Hamish and I got along wonderfully. He’d crack jokes, and I’d give him technology advice. We had a relationship, a guy bond, that worked. But ever since he blatantly flirted with Julia yesterday in front of me, he had been a dick.
I stood with my fists on the desk. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
He folded his arms in front of his chest. His perfectly tailored gray suit puckered at the elbows.
“It means you were toying with Ms. Nutters. Using her like a child with his favorite calculator.”
I frowned. I knew he’d use that against me one day. Back in college I confided in him that when I was young, I had an obsession with calculators. Collected them. My brothers laughed at me, but Hamish never did. Now I see he was just waiting for the right time to break that tidbit out.
“So funny. The nerd loves his calculators and his hot assistant.”
My eyes widened. I hadn’t meant to say the last part out loud.
Hamish’s right brow lifted. “Love? No wonder you’ve been acting so grumpy. I thought it was low blood sugar, but it was something much sexier.”
Was I in love with Julia? It was more lust than love, but I cared for her. She was the mother of my child.
“What?”
He winced. “That sounded better in my head. Never mind. Let’s head on over to The Blue Chip for lunch and talk about it.”
I shook my head. “How about we head to a restaurant in town? Too many ears in Blue Chip.”
Julia’s sister Laura was the chef at Blue Chip. The last thing I wanted was to have one of the waiting staff overhear my talk of how I felt for Julia and then it getting back to Laura.
He clapped his hands and rubbed them together. “Great, I just bought a Lamborghini Estoque. Love driving it. Can’t wait to take it down one of these curvy mountain roads.”
I gulped. I wasn’t a fast car aficionado like Hamish. Steady was my game. After the accident at the construction site that killed my dad, I preferred to play it safe.
“The road to town isn’t long or curvy. In fact, it’s straightforward. Maybe we should just take my good old reliable Volvo.”
The face Hamish made told me he either just caught a whiff of the new body spray Dave from accounting was making everyone smell, or my Volvo wasn’t up to his standards.
“Holy hell, Monty. No wonder you’re single.”
My glasses had slipped down the bridge of my nose, so I pushed them back up. “Fine. We’ll take your new car,” I grumbled and walked around the desk.
We headed down the hall, and after a minute, we walked out the mosaic-tiled lobby. The day was cool but dry. I inhaled a deep breath of the crisp mountain air.
This place was growing on me. As much as I missed the West Coast and Silicon Valley, I enjoyed the slower pace and smiling faces I found in Castle Ridge.
I couldn’t help but gape at Hamish’s car. It wasn’t what I was expecting. Less futuristic than a typical Lamborghini and more of a classic, sporty design. Like something I’d see Sean Connery drive in a 1960s