Page 15 of An Unexpected Everything
Flynn:
Don’t throw things. We are in a workplace after all.
I rolled my eyes and set down my phone. Working here was odd. People trusted me because I was good at my job, and maybe because I was a Cage. Yes, there was weariness, mostly on my end, but I felt like I could do good work here. And I wasn’t slowly gaining an ulcer. I could even work from home if I wanted. They had given me the option, but I really wasn’t a remote worker. I needed the vibes of other people around me. After all, I had grown up in a big family, and apparently an even bigger one than I had known. I liked the noise, and the interruptions. I immediately went to work and opened up my main file.
I wasn’t technically working on the Cage’s finances. My job was to take an accounting of the businesses they were acquiring or workingwith. Including any partnerships that they had. My job was to report misconduct, financially or within the workplace by the employees, officers, or directorsof the organization. I wasn’t just an accountant, I had to use investigative techniques in order to discover those financial crimes. It didn’t always make me the most popular accountant out there. Not that many accountants were popular.
Once a year I would do a surprise audit of the Cage finances just to ensure that the company didn’t have any weasels finding their way in. I liked the fact that the Cages were on top of that. Taking care of their own, while ensuring, as they helped others, they didn’t get screwed in the process.
So far, I hadn’t found anything out of the ordinary, but it could happen. Even a slip-up could lead to something worse.
My phone buzzed right before lunch, and I looked at the screen without thinking, my mind in a million directions.
Weston:
Are you planning on heading back up to town at any point? Maybe looking at a Cage house of your own on a lake?
My heart fluttered, and I had to wonder exactly why he was texting. It made no sense. I didn’t know this man. Or why he had left. Or why I wanted him to continue to text me. But he was the one reaching out after all this time and I’d promised myself I’d stop being the icy princess others claimed I was.
Me:
I have a decent place of my own.
That was a lie. I had a small apartment that I didn’t quite like. I could afford something better, but I was saving for a dream house. I hated spending money.
Weston:
I’m sure one of your brothers would let you stay in one of their houses. They stay empty more often than not. They’re not the type to rent it out to strangers.
Me:
Why do you want me to come up to Cage Lake?
Weston:
It’s your family’s town. You should see it.
Disappointment set in over my shoulders, but I had to wonder why I would be disappointed at all. I didn’t want him to want me. That would just complicate things.
Me:
The town was beautiful when I visited. But I’m really a city girl.
Weston:
I remember.
Sadness twisted with the disappointment, because that was a problem. He had been a small-town boy, me a city girl.Cue the rock song.But he was supposed to have stayed. A summer fling was supposed to be more in the end between us. And it hadn’t been.
And then things had changed. And not just because Weston had left.
Weston:
I have to get back to work. I’m working on a Chevy that wants to explode on me.
Me:
I still don’t know how to change my own oil.
