Page 13 of Coming Home

He laughs and leans back in his seat. “Good morning to you too.”

I stand with my hands at my side, unable to sit down. I’m on edge, and I know it’s crazy.

“Yeah, good morning, we need to talk,” I tell him gruffly.

“Okay. Talk. What’s up?”

“In the meeting yesterday, you mentioned wanting to work from home some.”

He nods.

“What are you going to do with Elle?”

He scratches his beard. “Honestly, when I let go of my last assistant, Lilian took over everything and worked between Ford and me. We were worried about overloading her with stuff, but Lilian’s pretty efficient, and I know she’s struggling to find things for Elle to do.”

“You can’t fire her.”

He’s surprised at my outburst. “I wasn’t going to. I was thinking about shifting her around a little. Maybe over to the distillery with Austin.”

“No.”

He seems taken aback. “No? What do you mean no?”

“Fuck, I know I have no rights here… I know I just got home and I’m trying to tell you how to run your company…”

Lucas cuts me off. “Fuck that, Huddy. This is our company. You have just as much say as any of us in what happens here. So don’t sell yourself short.”

I pull my shoulders back. “Fine. When she’s not working for you, I want to have her decorate my house. I’ll pay her for her time.”

Lucas crosses his arms over his chest. “Do you think that’s a good idea?”

“Why isn’t it?”

“Well, because it’s obvious she’s got some shit going on.”

“What do you know?”

He holds his hands up. “Nothing. I know nothing. I was planning to talk to Walker about it and see if he could look into it, but I haven’t had time.”

“I’ll do it. I’m going to see Walker today.”

His eyebrows dip. “Is that what this is? You’ve always had a thing for helping people…”

“You act like that’s a bad thing.”

“No, it’s not, but it may be better if you weren’t involved. You have enough shit going on.”

I laugh incredulously. “Really? Because compared to my normal life, I feel like I have nothing going on.”

Lucas stands up and leans on his desk. “Look, Huddy. I get it. You’re bored, and this thing with Elle is something to help pass the time. You’ve only been home a short while. It’s going to take you time to get back into things, but filling your time with Elle’s problems is not the way to do it.”

I point toward the closed door. “I can help her.”

Lucas crosses his arms over his chest. “At what cost? It’s obvious she’s into you. You want to help her, and you’re going to end up hurting her. Just let it go.”

A part of me wonders if he’s right.Why am I doing this?Should I turn this over to Walker and let him figure it out? He’s a good guy.

“And in the meantime, Elle can go out to the plant to work for Austin.”

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