Page 68 of His Curvy Distraction

I shrugged. “It’s the only thing that makes sense. They sat on that picture for a while. Possibly the same with this new source.”

“The picture was real?” Amelia asked.

I nodded but didn’t look at Natalie. “It’s real. But it was taken out of context and was not anywhere close to what it looked like.”

Amelia shook her head. “It doesn’t matter to me. What you do in your personal time is your business. Even if the picture wasn’t taken out of context, it’s no one’s business but your own. As for you firing someone, disgruntled former employees are never seen as reliable sources because they have a grudge. The paper should have known that.”

“Thank you, Amelia. Your support means a lot.”

I glanced at Natalie, but she stayed silent.

“Enough about all of that. Do you have an update on the budget?”

Amelia nodded and took a seat across from my desk. “Natalie has all the numbers.”

My gaze swung to Natalie. She stepped closer, clutching a file folder in trembling hands. She sat next to Amelia and opened the folder. “Um, so, this is the budget. It’s all the things we want to do, broken down into the three phases we are hoping to have.”

“It’s almost entirely blank,” I said.

She glanced at Amelia, and Amelia simply raised her eyebrows for Natalie to respond.

“Yeah, um, the weather hasn’t been cooperating lately, so we haven’t been able to get the work done. And phases two and three we know we won’t be able to do for a year or two, so I haven’t priced those out.”

“But phase one needs to be done by summer. Things need to be moving or it’ll never happen.”

“Yes, but the weather?—”

“Can’t be the excuse for everything. Contractors are working on their spring schedules now. If you don’t get people lined up, there’s no way any of this will actually happen. I was hoping to see more progress. What has the money already spent gone to?”

Natalie fumbled with the folder again, flipping pages. She grabbed a paper clipped section and lifted it from the folder. “So this is— Crap!” She dumped the entire folder on the floor. Papers went flying everywhere, scattering to the carpet and sliding underneath my desk.

Natalie dropped to her knees, snatching sheets from the floor.

“Let me help you,” Amelia said, leaning down and gathering the papers closest to her.

I heard Natalie inhale sharply and wanted to help her. To tell her it was all going to be okay. I retrieved the papers that slid under my desk and pretended I couldn’t hear Natalie and Amelia whispering on the other side of my desk.

“Are you okay?” Amelia whispered.

“No. I thought you were going to talk about some of this.”

“You are doing fine,” Amelia said.

“Yeah, I’m crawling under his desk and making a fool of myself.”

“Just take a breath, Natalie. You know what you have here. It’s all okay.”

Amelia sat up, smiling at me before turning her gaze back to Natalie. I saw the worry and the pride on Amelia’s face. She was letting Natalie fail. Letting her fumble and be awkward. Because it was how Natalie would be better.

And Amelia was trusting me to not attack her.

Natalie hugged the folder and all the papers to her chest and avoided my gaze. She tried to sort through things without dropping all of it again, but there was no way she would be able to do that.

“Why don’t you use the desk to organize your paperwork?” I suggested.

She looked up at me like I was offering her so much more than a temporary flat surface. “Thank you.”

I nodded, handing over the sheets I’d gathered for her.

---