Page 47 of Forever Flirting

“What’s up?”

“I heard there is a rumor going around that after Reilly pulled that stunt with me, that they are transferring him…”

“I heard it was going to be a demotion.”

“I hope they court-martial the man…”

“No way! He got in trouble?”

“I thought Reilly was untouchable…”

“Seriously?”

“That was pretty messed up. Is it true Maestro?”

“I haven’t heard that,” Alex said openly, giving her hand a little squeeze, making her wonder. “But I’m not privy to some of the conversations between the higher-ups. I know that Reilly is still in charge currently.”

“The jerk needs to go, or he’s going to run off everyone…”

“Getting married, having families, and finding someone special seems to do that enough to the team,” Alpo laughed, winking at some of the other guys.

“Who’s Reilly?” Everly asked, leaning towards Alex.

“My boss,” he answered simply. “Everything goes through him, and Reilly has his favorites that he caters to. If he hates you, he makes your life hell…”

“He hates my husband,” Mrs. Merrick, or Sophie, volunteered bluntly. “He makes Ryan’s request for vacation time quite a trial, and sometimes it takes four or five requests before he gets approved for time off.”

“Oh, I see,” she whispered, chancing a glance at Alex, whose lips were tightly pursed in a flat line. She knew he was thinking of his own vacation time and coming back to visit his son. “Maybe things will change soon, and be slightly better in the near future?”

“I hope so.”

As the conversations continued, Everly couldn’t help but feel a sense of peace stealing over her, realizing that this was nice just to be sitting here with Alex and relaxing.

She never was much of a relaxing outdoors type of person. The sunset on the horizon was a signal that the day was getting away from them, and Alex had held her hand for quite a while now, his thumb slowly drawing small circles on the back of it.

When people started to get up, cleaning up the debris and putting away chair, was when it finally hit her – Alex was leaving, and they would be saying ‘goodbye’ soon. Several of the men were coming over, slapping him on the shoulder, smiling at him, and saying their goodbyes.

Alex slowly released her hand, moving to help carry the chairs into the building, as Romeo walked up to talk to him.

“I really appreciate the ride, Romeo.”

“Sure thing.”

… And her runaway mouth opened.

“I can drive you, if you’d like?” Everly volunteered quietly behind the two men – only to see Alex’s gaze holding hers as Romeo looked between the two of them awkwardly.

“It’s whatever you want to do, guys… just let me know.”

“Tomorrow is Saturday,” Everly said quietly. “I’m off and I can take you.”

“That just makes the goodbye longer. It might be easier to rip the Band-Aid off rather than…”

“I’ll let you two talk,” Romeo said, excusing himself. “Just text me in a little bit, Maestro. I’m going to get Dixie home shortly. She’s got an early morning at the café and two wedding cakes to decorate tomorrow.”

“Will do,” Alex said simply, nodding at the thin man with dark hair, before Romeo walked off, leaving them standing there together. “Let’s go ahead and head out – and we can talk.”

Alex escorted her across the tarmac and through the grass to the gravel lot where the line of cars was slowly filling with families going home for the evening. He opened her door for her, then moved around to the other side.

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