Page 50 of Up In Flames
“I was going to stay late anyway.”
There was only one time Hal worked late.
“Simon working late?”
Hal scowled at me, but didn’t dispute my assessment of the situation. “We’re not talking about me. We’re talking about you. How’s the hand?”
I flexed my fingers. My thumb and part of the back of my hand was slightly pink, but it didn’t hurt. Was it supposed to? Had the accident fucked up my pain receptors? I’d gotten out relatively unscathed. The migraines were a bitch, but I hadn’t had one of those in months.
“I’m all right.”
“Not sure I believe you, but okay. We’ll go with that for now.”
I lifted my gaze to find Hal regarding me with concern, but also an abundance of patience. He didn’t mind that I wasn’t spilling my guts all over him or that I was quietly having a breakdown in my mind, missing my friends.
His gaze softened. “If you wanted to take the rest of the day, I’m sure Simon wouldn’t mind. You’ve stayed late every day this week.”
Will had been training hard this week. Apparently there was more to being a fireman than playing with hoses. But all next week he was off, except for a twenty-four-hour shift in the middle of the week. We still talked every night, but he trained late so I stayed late so I wouldn’t sit at home and stare at the wall and wait for him to call. It felt a little less pathetic to be a workaholic than to be a sad, obsessed man waiting by the phone for his crush to call.
Crush was the wrong word. Will was my boyfriend. A secret, but still the most important person in my life.
“I’d rather work. If I go home I’m just going to sit there and stare at the wall.”
Hal nodded as though he understood exactly what I meant. I didn’t know that he didn’t. Maybe he knew how fucking shit it was to sit in a room and stare blankly at a wall so you wouldn’tthink of unpleasant things. I hadn’t done that in months, and I didn’t want to start again.
“I get that.” Hal took a sip of his coffee, then frowned at the cup. “Why is this so bad? Have you tasted this?” With a grimace, he set his cup aside. “Don’t drink that.”
“Is it poison?”
“I doubt it, but it might as well be.” Hal shuddered. “Whoever made this pot of coffee should be sued.”
“Who are we suing?” Simon glided into the room and frowned at the empty coffee pot. “I just made a pot.”
I shared a look with Hal. He was already up and out of his chair, intercepting Simon who was getting ready to make another pot of coffee. He shouldered Simon out of the way and grabbed the empty coffee pot.
“Full offense intended, Simon, but that coffee was the worst thing I’ve ever tasted. I don’t want to know what you did.”
Simon leaned against the counter and watched Hal mutter at him about how to make a proper pot of coffee. The warmth in his expression gave me butterflies in my stomach. Will looked at me like that sometimes.
Suddenly, Simon’s attention was on me. “Oren. Good to see you taking a break.”
“I was trying to convince him to take an early day,” Hal said, throwing me under the bus.
“You do look like you could use one.” Simon managed to say things like that without them sounding mean, like he could tell that I felt like shit because I looked like shit.
“He’s been here late every day this week.”
“Snitch.” The urge to stick my tongue out at him was only trumped by the urge to not look like a child in front of my boss. “I’m nearly done with the project you asked me to take care of.”
“Perfect, then Hal can finish it up this afternoon, and you can go home.”
“It’s fine. I can stay.”
“Oren.” Simon sighed and pushed away from the counter. Moving across the room, he dropped into the seat across from me where Hal had been. He folded his long arms on the table in front of him and leaned forward, closing the distance between us. I had to force myself not to lean back.
“I can stay. I can do the work.”
“I know you can. You’ve done a great job so far. And I want you to keep doing a great job for me, and that’s why I’m asking you very nicely to take the rest of the day off. It’s already after lunch. It’s only a few hours, and you’ve more than worked those the rest of the week. Hal and I can wrap it up for you, and you can come back tomorrow morning, and I’ll have a shiny new thing for you to obsess over, okay? Sayokay, Simon.”
