Page 60 of Found By Him

Shaking my head with a smile, I open the door to find her friend on the other side. Maggie is short—maybe 5’1” on a good day—and curvy like Gisella. She has shoulder-length sandy blonde hair and oversized glasses, dressedcasually in black leggings, a cropped t-shirt, and flip-flops. She’s cute if you’re into miniature buxom librarians.

“You must be Jack,” she guesses as she looks me up and down.

“That I am. Maggie, I presume?”

She nods and walks past me. I can’t tell if I passed her inspection.

“Gisella is changing. Would you like a glass of wine? Or water? I also have diet soda.”

“Wine would be great.”

She follows me into the kitchen as I grab both bottles off the counter and put one in the fridge. I pour two glasses and slide one to her. She takes a sip, eyes never leaving me as I put the food in the oven. She’s opening her mouth to say something when the doorbell rings again.

I asked Ian to come over tonight so we can talk through some cases. He’s been out of the office most of the last two days, so I haven’t had a chance to catch up with him there. I excuse myself to go let him in.

I open my door one more time. “Come on in. Gisella’s friend just got here. We can go into my office and talk in just a few.”

“Okay, boss.”

I sigh. I’ve told Ian countless times he doesn’t have to call me boss. Especially not when we’re at my house. I follow him into the kitchen when I almost knock him over because of how abruptly he stops in front of me. I’m about to give him shit about it when Maggie turns. Her face goes slack when she spies me and Ian.

“You!”

Next to me, Ian stands up straighter and points at himself, then at Maggie. “Me? What about you? What the hell are you doing here?”

“I’m here to see Ella, you schmuck.”

I notice Gisella standing in the hallway entrance, having come back from changing, looking as mystified by this interaction as I am. I gesture for Ian and Maggie to hold on. “Wait, you two know each other?”

Ian scoffs next to me before rubbing his eyes with his fingers. “It’s complicated.”

Maggie huffs out a humorless laugh. “Complicated. That’s one word for it.”

Ian puts his hands on his hips in frustration. “Well, what would you call it, Mags?”

Maggie turns away from him and grabs Gisella’s glass of wine from the counter. Ignoring Ian’s presence, she stalks past Gisella and moves into the living room, sitting on the couch as if nothing unusual has happened. “I got your wine, Ella.”

“Oh, uh, okay. Great,” Gisella replies as her eyes jump between her friend and Ian.

I slap Ian on the shoulder, knowing I’ll get more information out of him. “Come on, man. Let’s go in my office.”

Ian doesn’t say a word as he heads down the hallway. I make a stop at the fridge to grab a couple of beers, following him after dropping a kiss on Gisella’s head as I pass where she stands frozen. My kiss snaps her out of her confusion because she squeezes my arm affectionately and joins her friend on the couch.

This night is becoming much more interesting than I anticipated. I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing.

32

Jack

Iclose the door behind me. “What the hell was that?”

Ian appears downright disgruntled as he lounges on the loveseat on the far side of my office. He sits forward and places his elbows on his knees, aggressively threading his hand through his hair as he studies the ground before he flops back onto the couch. “Fuck, like I said, it’s complicated.”

“I’m going to need more than that. Maggie is Gisella’s friend, and I would prefer not to be required to make sure you both behave when you have to be around each other at various social events in the future.”

Ian takes a few swallows from the beer I handed him. “It was a hookup gone wrong.” He pauses thoughtfully. “Or maybe right. I guess it depends on who you ask.”

“And if I am asking you?”

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