Page 19 of Dear Grumpy Boss

Chapter Five

Elise

“Ms.Levy!”

The front desk clerk of my apartment building, Terrence, waved me over. “You have a delivery.”

“Oh! Okay.” I stopped at Terrence’s desk as he disappeared through the door behind him.

It was the end of my first week of work. All I wanted was to go upstairs, put on yoga pants, pour a glass of wine, and have a debriefing session with Saoirse. But I could slow my roll for a delivery, especially since I had no idea what it could be. Surprises were my favorite.

Terrence reappeared, carrying a sweet little bouquet of pink flowers. He placed them on the desktop in front of me.

“Here you are, Ms. Levy.”

“Oh wow, these are so pretty.”

He grinned. “They are. Enjoy them.”

I picked up my flowers, telling him to have a nice weekend. By the time I made it up to my apartment, I had checked every place I could for a card. Like the previous three weeks, there wasn’t one.

Saoirse spotted the flowers right away when I walked in. “Oooh, another bouquet from your secret admirer?”

I placed them on the kitchen island and laughed. “I’m sure Elliot had his assistant send them to me then forgot he told her to do it. It’s a ‘welcome back to Colorado, please don’t jump off a mountain’ gesture.”

She swung the spatula she was using to cook around in the air in front of her. “Isn’t it more fun to imagine they’re from someone other than Elliot?”

I shook my head. “I’m not quite ready to romanticize my life again. My feet are stuck to the ground.”

There was also the fact that I hadn’t been in this state long enough to have acquired any admirers, secret or not. And if I had one, I wouldn’t know what to do with him. The only reason I was functioning like a semi-normal human every day was out of necessity and spite. I wouldn’t let my broken heart break the rest of me. When I was ready to one day use my heart again, I needed the rest of me to be whole so I could put myself back together.

She blew out a puff of air. “Fine. Be practical.”

I laughed on my way out of the kitchen, retreating to my bedroom. Slipping into yoga pants and a purple hoodie, I mused to myself that I really should stop by the Andes company store so I’d have at least one piece in my wardrobe.

I could hike. I used to love going on hikes. My Chicago life had been a world apart from how I’d grown up. Patrick wasn’t very outdoorsy, so I became not very outdoorsy too. But I was getting back to me.

And I needed hiking apparel.

Next week, I’d buy some cute hiking gear from the shop and take myself on a hike.

I still had at least a bottle of wine to drink before I thought about that.

We were eating the dinner Saoirse had made—chicken fajitas, fresh guac, homemade tortillas—and I was on my second glass of wine in addition to the edible I’d had before dinner.

“Weston made me eat lunch with him today.”

Her eyes went wide, and she started coughing, her hands flying up to cover her mouth.

“Oh my god, don’t just blurt things out like that when I’m chewing,” she admonished. “Give a girl a chance to swallow.”

Our eyes met, and because we both had a twelve-year-old boy inside us, we snickered.

Saoirse wiped her mouth. “Okay, tell me everything.”

I shrugged. “His assistant asked me to join him for lunch, I politely declined, so he brought lunch to me.”

She sucked in a sharp breath. “You politely declined.”

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