Page 62 of The Forever Rule

“There’s a park around here I think, we just have to walk a block.”

“No problem, I’ll follow you.”

“I live a few streets down, but it’s not walkable. I usedto come here to do some work on my laptop when I was able to find a seat.”

“You worked from home sometimes?” I asked, curious.

She snorted and gave me a look. “Do you really think that he was that enlightened about working from home? No. But I always had to bring work home, and sometimes I didn’t want to sit in my house and work until way too late. So I spent Saturday mornings at my laptop in the café. It was like a retreat.”

“That sounds like he’s an asshole.” I sipped my iced coffee with some form of milk and sweetener. I hadn’t been too descriptive when I ordered, but it tasted just fine.

“Is working from home something that you’re interested in?” I asked, oddly curious.

“Maybe? I really like the office.” She paused. “Should we be talking about work?”

“I’m not your boss, Blakely. And we do tend to spend a lot of hours on work.”

“It’s your name on the side of the building, at least metaphorically.”

I laughed. “No we don’t have our names plastered on the side of that building.”

“That building?”

I winced. “We may have a few buildings in that small town that I mentioned.”

“Cage Lake. Well, if you’re not going to be plastered on the side of the building, you might as well be in the town name,” she said with a laugh.

“I didn’t name it. If that helps.”

“I don’t know if it really does.” A smirk played on her lips.

I shook my head and took another sip as we finally made our way to the small park. People were walking around with strollers, little kids on bikes, but it wasn’t too busy. It was that time in between lunch and dinner where people were already at their afternoon activities, so it made sense.

“I tend to bring work home because I can’t help it, and I know a few of my employees like working from home. Others do this hybrid sort of thing. I don’t care as long as the work gets done. Although there are a few things that do work better when you’re in the building.”

“I get it. I really want to get to know everybody so I can figure out what path will work for me. So I like coming into the office. But I have to say, being able to work in my pajamas? That would be amazing.”

And now I was trying not to imagine what Blakely wore to sleep. Well, that wasn’t helping.

I cleared my throat so I wouldn’t have to adjust myself in public and gestured toward her coffee. “So how’s the coffee?”

“Light and sweet, just like I like it. I can barely taste the coffee.”

I grinned. “Sounds like a plan. Anything to annoy that man.”

“Exactly. Spite is a great motivator.”

I nodded. “Tell me about it.”

“So, how’s your family doing?” she asked.

I raised a brow.

“What? We talked about work, and the other part of you that I know is your family, at least the periphery. And I’m running out of topics without putting my foot in my mouth. Except for the fact that I think I just did that.”

I sighed and put my hand on the small of her back again to gently push her out of the way of an oncoming bicyclist. “We’re fine. Just working often.”

“Isabella said that your first monthly dinner didn’t blow up. So that’s a good thing.”

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