Page 49 of Grump and Grumpier

The receptionist’s hands are on her hips as she yells back at him. “Did I force you to eat food that hadmyname on it?”

Almost everyone in the office—except for Derek and Jansen, thank goodness—is gathered around Rob’s cubicle, their eyes wide with interest. I ask everyone to go back to their desks, and tell Rob and Evelyn to follow me to my office.

Even after drinking the glass of milk Owen delivers, Rob still looks like he’s in pain, but he doesn’t throw up. He asks for my box of tissues and blows his nose several times as we talk.

“You tried to poison me,” he accuses Evelyn.

“I happen to like my sandwiches spicy,” she says.

“They’ve never been like that before!” Rob protests.

Evelyn arches a brow, looking pointedly at me.

“So you’ve eaten her lunches before?” I ask Rob, who realizes he’s trapped. He starts to protest, but he knows he’s been beat.

“Theft is a very serious offense,” I say.

“I’ll be happy if you pay me back for all the stolen food,” Evelyn tells Rob.

“A harsher penalty wouldn’t be out of line,” I say, causing Rob to look panicked.

Evelyn shrugs a shoulder. “As long as it never happens again, I don’t think any other consequencesare necessary. It’s incredibly inconsiderate and rude, but it’s just food.”

“That’s a very gracious attitude, Evelyn.”

After Rob thanks her, I ask her to compile a list of all the food that’s been taken, to the best of her memory, and she nods and leaves.

“You could easily be fired for this,” I tell Rob when we’re alone. “Have you taken anyone else’s food?”

“A few things here and there,” he mumbles.

“I’d like you to make a list, too, or if it’s too hard to remember, maybe you’d like to buy lunch for the entire office one day soon to make up for your theft.”

He nods quickly. “Yes, I’ll do that.”

“No further theft will be tolerated, and you should consider this your first and last warning.”

Still red-faced, he nods again, blows his nose, and leaves my office.

CHAPTER 38

JANSEN

Though I have several fires to put out today, and piles of reports to review, my conversation with Charles takes precedence. Derek’s come in for the meeting, too.

“Any updates on the source of the emails?” I ask.

“Nothing yet,” Charles says. “I’ve run them through a few different tracking tools, but I haven’t found any common factors.”

“Another one came in this morning. We’ll forward it to you,” Derek says.

“Okay, good. I have more things to try. It’ll just take some time.”

“Keep working on it,” Derek says. “I don’t know what else you have on your plate, but I’d like this to be among your top priorities.”

Charles gives him a salute. “Will do.”

As Charles is leaving my office, Ana walks by. Sheglances in and nods at Derek and me with a small smile, but unfortunately, she doesn’t stop.