Page 72 of The Guy Who Became My Grumpy Boss

Peter moved next to me, heedless of who was there, and put his hand on my back. “Ignore her.”

I nodded, because I didn’t know what else to do.

Was I mad? You bet I was, but I was worried that this wasn’t the end of what Marissa would do to me to get to Peter. I also pitied her. She’d obviously liked Peter for a long time, and she believed I’d taken him from her, which was true. She was heartbroken and angry, and broken, angry women did irrational things.

Peter guided me down the stairs. “We have a lot of people to visit within the next three hours, are you up for it?”

I’d never imagined Peter being my rock, but here we were. We reached the nearest team who were already tying boxes of pasta together and clamping them to their ramp. They had enough pink fabric piled to one side to satisfy the most princessy of princesses, and the four people talked and laughed and poked fun at each other.

“What’s your theme?” Peter asked.

One woman stood. “Cotton candy.” She held out a drawing of their plan, and I studied it, trying to get my mind off of Marissa.

It didn’t help that I could hear her high-pitched voice and her cackling laugh from across the room.

The center of their hole consisted of a spiral ramp that sat in the midst of a funnel of pink fabric.

“You’re sure someone can get a hole-in-one?” Peter asked.

“We all did it yesterday,” the woman said. “Even though these ramps are a little steeper than the ones we had, it should still be doable.

Peter nodded, then his fingers brushed my back and we moved on.

After a few holes, I got my brain working again. I warmed up to talking to people and started asking more questions so Peter wouldn’t have to do all the work.

Most teams seemed excited, and a few people were already talking about winning the awards.

As we moved from hole to hole, my eyes would drift to Marissa, who looked to me to be putting on a performance for anyone watching.

Lance took it all in stride and kept her moving.

Unfortunately, unless her hour expired before we crossed paths, we were on a collision course.

Peter must have noticed, because he went in a differentdirection. I caught Marissa’s gaze at that moment, and her expression rivaled Peter’s category five.

Instead of letting her get to me, I took a moment to text my friends.

Jessica:Remember the shrew? She literally called me a fat cow in front of the whole company.

I cringed when I noticed my hands were shaking.

Ashley:She did what?

Brooke:Pretty sure she can be fired for that.

Teresa:Did you punch her?

I snorted.

Jessica:Ashley is the punching girl.

Ashley:I do have big guns.

We’d arrived at the next stop, so I sent a quick reply.

Jessica:I’m in the middle of mini golf right now, but I had to share, mostly so I wouldn’t push her off a cliff. More later.

I put my phone away, and each time it buzzed, I imagined it was one of my friends sending a thumbs up or a fighting gif.

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