Page 44 of Her Cadillac Cowboy
Sara’s mouth curled in a frown.
Will would never admit her refusal hurt his feelings, but Sara was smart. She’d figure it out if she could see past her prejudices.
“Well, maybe just a smidgen. I don’t have a lot of time.” She crossed the room, hiked up her skirt, showing enough thigh to make Josh cover his lap with his paper plate. Then she sat beside Will, her legs folded at the knee. “But a full stomach will help me wade faster through my stack of contracts and reports.”
Josh waited for the pain in his lap to subside then butt-walked across the floor to sit closer to her. On the way, he heaped succulent meat and sauce atop a bun, dressed the plate with a huge pickle, and handed it to Sara. “One smidgen, as requested.”
She was only five bites into her sandwich when Will polished his off and reached for another. A few moments later, Josh finished and pushed his plate away. He shifted a bit, then turned to her, two cold cans in his hand. “Lemonade?”
Sara took one and popped the top. “Thanks.”
Josh leaned back against the desk. “Will and I have had a long talk about the advantages of working in the office.”
Will mumbled with his mouth full, “Yeah, it’s a sissy job, but it’s a good way to meet girls.”
Sara frowned. “I hardly think that’s the proper attitude to bring to any workplace, Will.”
“Like you’d know. You don’t do nothin’ but work.”
“Will.” Josh exchanged glances with the boy. The kid returned to stuffing barbecue into his face at an alarming rate.
“Will has promised to apologize to Miss Beadle tomorrow morning, and do his job without, ah, embellishing on the work assigned to him.”
“So that’s what you call semi-pornographic pictures and graffiti—embellishing?”
“Look, give the kid a chance. This environment is completely alien to him.”
“You can say that again.”
“This environment is completely alien to me,” Will mimicked Josh. Josh rolled his eyes at the same time as Sara.
“Thank you, Will. Apologizing is the right thing to do. As for continuing to work in the office, it’s too late. Beadle will quit if I keep Will in the contracts and accounting division, and I can’t afford that right now. I can’t afford more damaged equipment, either. I have to reassign him. As of Monday, Will works in supply under Crayman.”
“You’re worried about pornography and you’re assigning Will to Crayman? The man thinks Hefner and Flynt are gods.”
Sara peered past Josh to Will, who stopped eating and listened to their conversation with an avid gleam in his eye.
When Josh, too, turned his eyes in Will’s direction, the boy hurriedly stuffed his mouth with sandwich. “Will, why don’t you wait for me at the warehouse? You can start on that sanding job we talked about.”
“I’m still hungry.”
“Take what you need with you. I’ll come get you when I’m finished here.”
Will glared at Sara and picked up two sandwiches, then sauntered out the door.
She sighed. “Thank heaven he’ll be gone next week.”
“Ah, Sara, I don’t think so.”
“What are you talking about? You said he wouldn’t be here for more than a week.”
“That was a guess. I got a call from Judge Ryerson’s office today. The police are having some trouble locating Will’s family.”
Sara paused, her sandwich in mid-air. “How long do they think it will take?”
“They don’t know, maybe...”
“Maybe, what?”
