Page 2 of His Wood Her Fire
“Fuck no.You do it.”
“You know, you never told me why you are being so Scroogey this year,” he said, sitting down across from me while we drank our coffees.
For an assistant, Andy tended to cross the line between what was an acceptable amount of concern and what was really not okay.
But that was part of his charm.He was always meddling and God, I usually loved him for it.But I didn’t want to go there with him.
Not this time.
I lifted my to-go cup to my mouth and shook my head.
“Okay, so what are you going to do?”
“What?You mean about the invitations?Ugh, with the office shutting down the next few weeks for that remodel, I was planning on just holing up in my condo,” I mumbled.
“What?No way!Lo, that is not okay.I know you don’t talk to your brother anymore, but there has to be someone you want to spend the holidays with?”
“Actually, no.There isn’t.I’m fine staying home?—”
“Nope.Not having it.Okay look, Desmond just surprised me with a trip to visit his parents in Vermont,” Andy began, and I raised my hand for him to stop.
“Wait!Did he propose?”I asked, mouth open.
Andy started to blush, but he lifted his hand to show me the gorgeous platinum band on his ring finger.
“And you didn’t tell me?Andy!CONGRATS!”I squealed and got up to hug the lucky bastard.
“Aw, thank you, Lo.I mean, I didn’t want to say something and upset you,” he mumbled, and my heart squeezed.
Wow!
Had I really been that self-absorbed that my own assistant was hiding things from me?
Probably.
And it meant I sucked more than I thought.
“Nonsense.Andy, you are a wonderful man, and knowing you finally found the happiness you deserve with Desmond is truly the best news ever,” I said.
“Thanks, Lo.I appreciate that.But it means the cabin I’d booked us for the holidays is free and I would love it if you took over the reservation,” he replied, smiling so widely I thought his face would crack.
“What are you talking about?Me?In a cabin?”
“Yes, you!Gloria, it’s so freaking beautiful.Here, let me shoot you the details.Say yes and I will have them transfer the reservation to your name.”
I sighed and rolled my head on my neck, shaking it as I focused on my screen.
“I don’t know, Andy.You know, I hate the outdoors,” I said, and I clicked on his email.
“Oh my God.You do not.Besides, this is a luxury cabin rental.Not a tent in the woods.”
“Fine.Let me look,” I mumbled and scrolled through the images.
“You do that, and I am going to finish boxing up the junk on my desk.You are all set, right?”he asked, nodding at my own boxes all neatly lined by the door.
My boss said renovations were going to be three weeks minimum but told us to plan to work from home for the next month.
Luckily, I had just closed a major deal I’d been working on.I worked for a PR firm, handling clients who required special attention based on their fields of expertise.