Page 104 of Boston
“It’s just ahorse,” the rude woman said. “You guys, I amdyingof heat. We have got to go.”
Boston wanted to stop and talk to Dolphin for hours just to spite her. Instead, he ran his hand down the horse’s neck and said, “I’ll be back to bring you in soon.”
“I don’t think he knows he’s a horse.”
“Andie, you are beingso rude,” Margo said.
The other three women moved ahead, and after only a few steps, the trio burst out laughing. Boston frowned at their backs, glad to bring up the rear.
“I’m sorry about them,” Margo said.
“It’s fine.” Boston waved his hand. “Certainly not my most difficult hiking group.” He grinned at her, wondering why she was friends with them.
She made no move to catch up or continue the conversation, and they simply walked back to the meeting place in silence.
“All right, ladies,” Boston said. “I just have one piece of paper for someone to sign, saying all members of your party made it back, safe and well.”
He held out the slip of paper, and Shawna took it from him with a flirtatious smile. “I’ve got it, cowboy.”
“You’ll get an email once I file that,” he said. “Which I’m going to do to get out of this heat.” He grinned at them. “It’ll have a link to review the hike, and me as a tour guide. We appreciate reviews, but of course, they’re not required.”
“Do you take tips?” Margo asked.
“Yes,” Boston said. “But they’re also not required.”
She dug in her hip pack and pulled out a ten-dollar bill. To his surprise, the rest of the women did, too, and he took their forty dollars and pocketed it with a “Thank you very much,” anda tip of his hat. If they thought he was some dumb, bumbling cowboy from the country, he could play that role.
They moved away in a group, twittering and laughing, and Boston shook his head and headed for the back of the lodge. He sank into the chair at his desk with the longest sigh he’d ever sighed, his muscles relieved to be at-rest.
“You’re still alive,” Julie said.
“Barely.” He shot her a dark look. “I don’t see a brownie on my desk.”
Julie half-rose out of her seat and pointed with her stapler. “That’s because a bunch of people have been putting paperwork there. It’s underneath that.”
“They put paperwork on my caramel brownie?” He pulled the pages back, but Julie had put a toothpick in the brownie and that held up a piece of plastic wrap over it. He grinned at her. “You’re a lifesaver.”
“I’m surprised you doubted me at all.” She gave him a mock glare and sank back into her seat.
Boston woke his computer, because he had emails to send for the anniversary party that weekend, and one last checklist that had come in from the wedding party that he needed to distribute to the photographer. He did both of those items and then opened the slim drawer at the top of his desk. He kept his own personal checklist there, and he ran through the items for the Anderson anniversary party, checking off the directions for parking and which gate they should come through.
Directions that should be sent out at least seventy-two hours in advance. He’d barely made it, but now he wouldn’t have to field a phone call from Mrs. Anderson.
The wedding on Saturday had a far longer checklist, and Boston went through each item, double checking that everything had been done, though some of the boxes had been marked off for months.
With both of those done, he put his clipboard away and pulled the papers in front of him that had accumulated on his desk.
“Oh, these all go to Ernie,” he said, glancing up at Julie. “Why are they on my desk?”
In fact, he had a slip of paper just like this that needed to be logged to show that the hiking excursion from that day had been completed successfully. Once he did that, Ernie had a workflow that then sent an email to the guests with the review link that Boston had already spoken of.
“He went home with a fever.” Julie tilted her head and gave him a dry look.
“Well, I’m not the assistant over excursions,” Boston said.
Julie grinned at him, and he did not like the predatory look about it. “Apparently you are. You know how to log those, right?”
“Yes,” Boston grumbled at the same time his stomach did too. He worked through the paperwork, ignoring his phone. Once he had everything in, he clipped the pages together so that he could give them back to Ernie, and he wrote “done” on a yellow sticky note and stuck it on the top paper.
