Page 81 of Outside The Wire

“Hell if I know.”

He leaned forward and started searching on his computer, fully immersed in the discovery of what was so special about wheelbarrows. I strode around to his side of the desk and leaned over his shoulder, trying to figure it out with him.

“Maybe it’s one wheel versus two,” I pointed at the different selections.

“Could be, but who would even argue about that? Is that really something you would have a fight over?”

I shrugged. I wouldn’t argue over a wheelbarrow ever in my life. What could possibly be so fucking interesting about a wheelbarrow? “There,” I pointed at the screen. “Plastic versus metal.”

He rolled his eyes and looked up at me. “Seriously? You want me to believe someone would start an argument over that?”

“You never know. I think it’s all ridiculous.”

“Man,” he shook his head. “This is gonna drive me fucking insane.”

“You? I have to go to dinner with them and I can’t ask what it’s about!”

He sighed, leaning back in his seat. “Yeah.”

“Sorry about this, man.”

“No, I get it.”

“I could ask her to reschedule.”

“No, it’s fine. You’ve been busting your ass all day. We still have a few hours we can get in before you have to take off.”

I nodded, still feeling horrible for leaving him in the lurch. “I can work late tomorrow.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it, man. We’ll get the work done. They can’t expect us to work late every night to get their vehicles done. I’ll ask Massey and Gary to work late.”

“Gary? Good luck with that,” I snorted.

“Well, it’s worth a shot. Get out of here,” he chuckled.

I turned to leave, but the door burst open and Holly fell through the door, gasping for air, bent over and holding herself up with the arm of the chair next to the door.

“Don’t—answer—Mom—dinner—phone—psycho—engaged—bad—” She winced, pinching her side as she sucked in more air.

I hurried over to her, guided her into the chair, and shoved her head between her knees as I glanced back at Wyatt, trying not to laugh at her. “There you go. Deep breaths.”

She popped back up, still gasping. “Don’t?—”

“Yep, you need to breathe,” I chuckled, shoving her head back down. “So, Holly, this is my boss, Wyatt.”

“Nice to meet you. Well, the back of your head.”

She raised her arm in the air and gave a flimsy wave as I rubbed her back.

“So, Holly, why aren’t you allowed to discuss wheelbarrows?” Wyatt asked, crossing his arms as he grinned.

Holly popped up with a panicked look on her face. “No,” she whispered. “She got to you.”

“Yeah, she already called.”

Holly stood, nearly falling over. “I swear, I tried to stop her! I told her you weren’t my fiancé! I?—”

“Holly, it’s fine.”

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