Page 108 of Bossy Hero

Although I don’t know how long it’ll be until I can return. Maybe they’ll let me work remotely for a while.Ha. Sure, they won’t.

“Shh. Not the point,” Sammy squawks at me. “First, Shep and Kri finally announced their long-suspected relationship in one of those meetings, right?” She ticks off her first and second fingers. “In another meeting, Klein broke his laptop when his one-night stand was announced as the new intel person, stealing the job right out from under him. More juicy drama kept hidden from us.”

Pausing to suck in a huge swell of air, she taps the pad of her third finger. “That brings us to today. The crème de la crème of entertainment. Despite it happening right under our noses, we missed it because we weren’t in the meeting.Gah! What a cruel world.”

I roll my eyes, my smile steadily fading.

Undeterred, my daughter rants on. “A triple-decker drama sandwich with fries on the side. First, they got to tell everyone about the assassination attempt, which had to have every last jaw on the floor.”

She glances at me to make sure her nonchalant reference to theincidentdoesn’t trigger me like it did last night. I flick the wrist on my good arm, easing her guilt. I’m too damn tired and sore for another PTSD episode.

Without missing a beat, she piles on. “As if that wasn’t enough for one meeting, Tomer had a screaming match outside the room with a girlfriend nobody knew he had. Not to be rude, but I wasn’t sure he had feelings. Oh, but he does. And did you see her? That girl is stunning. Turns out, Chuck isn’t such a no-fun-fuck after all.”

She splays her hands in front of her face. “But wait. There’s more.”

I giggle to myself.

“For the final act, Tomer’s girlfriend breezed in with fanfare trumpets to announce to all of Redleg that she’s Big Al’ssecretdaughter.”

Sammy’s vibrating with excitement. Probably a case of theslap-happiesfrom being awake most of the night. Exhaustion can make you loopy. Meanwhile, I’m rubbing my shoulder and contemplating finding a closet to sneak into for a few hours of peace and quiet.

“Go ahead and let that rattle around your head for a beat, will ya? Tomer clearly knew he was dating his boss’s secret daughter. Do you know what that means?”

“Sammy, I already talked to Alan about it. And a little bit to Lettie and Tomer too. Yes, I’m well aware of what it means.”

“Boom!” She puts her curved hands around her head, miming her head exploding. “Tomer issooofucking screwed. He really fucked up this time.” She clicks her tongue, punching a fist into her palm. “God damn meetings.”

“You forgot another bomb, dear,” I offer flippantly, resting my eyelids.

“Which one?” she asks.

I peek at her through one eye. “One involving Leo’s boss and me.”

She shrugs. “Meh. That’s barely a blip compared to the rest of that shit. Everyone pretty much already knew about you guys from when we saw you on his boat at Crabby’s.” Her pretty eyes dance toward the ceiling like she’s recalling something, and a smile caresses her cheeks. “And the million other times you thought you were slick but weren’t.”

My lips pucker involuntarily. “Such as?”

“Mom, you two eye fuck each other every time you’re in the same room. It’s obscene, and I need you to stop. Plus, you’re the only one allowed to call himAlan. And—” She slams her lips together, cutting herself off.

“What?”

She shakes her head. “Nope. Forget it.”

“Samantha.” I sharpen my glare at her. “Don’t lie to your mother.”

She peeks toward the open door and whispers, “Can you keep a secret?”

“Apparently not when it involves dating Alan.” I flop my hands to my lap and huff. “But yes, I’ll keep your secret as long as it’s not illegal or morally unjust.”

“Your conditions are lame,” she grumbles, sliding her chair closer to me. “Here’s the other thing that tipped us off. Leo found Big Al’s Redleg tablet at your house one morning. He took it and hid it. But you can’t tell Big Al that.”

When I don’t respond right away, she arches her brows knowingly. “Additionally, it was reported that you were acting suspiciously in your bedroom and wouldn’t come out to see your son. The security system was coincidentally off, so he couldn’t check the nanny cams. Any of that ring a bell,Mommy?”

Ah yes. The first time I accidentally said I love you.

“I shoved him out the bedroom window that morning so Leo wouldn’t see him,” I admit, laughter bubbling out of me at the memory. “I threw his shoes out into the bushes.”

We both break out in hysterics, clearly needing the moment of levity after this chaotic day.

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