Page 76 of Grin and Bear It

I let out that breath in a long hiss.

“No point fucking around out here, is there?” If I could hear the strain in my voice, he would definitely be able to. It seemed like everyone was keen to pretend I wasn’t falling apart, so I needed to pretend, too. “If she hates these, I’ll get her more flowers, every fucking flower in the shop, going through them until we find the ones she likes.”

“That’s the spirit,” Lin said and then ambled along beside me as we headed over to the front reception.

“Oh, those look beautiful,”the older woman behind the counter said with a friendly smile. OK, at least one member of womankind approved of them. “Did you forget an anniversary or something?”

“Ah no, these are for Miss…” She wasn’t my teacher, so I didn’t need to call her that. “These are for Ellie Jennings.”

“Ellie!”

Women seemed to appear from everywhere, walking into the reception from the back office, appearing in through doors, until we had a full audience.

“So are you Ellie’s new boyfriend?” one of the women asked, a familiar gleam in her eyes. The mates of other sleuths got the same way as soon as they caught wind of romance in the air.

“We’rehoping to be.”

Lin stepped forward then, leaning on the counter.

“We…” There were a few strange looks and a little twittering, but the ladies seemed to recover quickly.

“Well, kids today, they’re doing things a bit differently,” the receptionist said.

“I would be too if I had guys that looked like that chasing me,” another woman said, blatantly looking us up and down. “Because, damn…”

“Um, right, so if I could just leave them here for Ellie—” I said.

“Let’s see if she’s available,” the receptionist said with a wicked grin, then leaned over and spoke into the microphone. Over the PA system I heard her say, “Ellie Jennings to the front office if you’re available. Ellie Jennings to the office.”

“Shit…” Lin hissed.

Yeah, shit.

Ellie came rushing in a few minutes after, and for a moment everything was all right. Her eyes widened, then she went bright red when she saw the flowers, a small look of pleasure curving her lips. Yes, that, I wanted more of that, so I stepped forward, ready to give the bouquet to her.

“Yourboyfriendsbrought you flowers.”

The woman meant well, all of them obviously getting a second-hand pleasure from what was going on, not realising Ellie wasn’t getting a first-hand one. Her eyes darted around, taking in me, Lin, the office ladies, before coming back to me in horror.

“Oh, we’re not…” She was trying to use a reasonable tone, fob them all off, but the ladies weren’t having it.

“By the look of those flowers, yes you are, or you will be soon,” a woman crowed. “You’ll be just like the parents of the Walker boys…”

The room went perfectly silent and the woman had the good grace to look embarrassed.

“Sorry,” she told me, seeming to recognise who I was finally. “I didn’t mean—”

“What’s going on?”

Officious bitch was the term I’d thought of when I first met June, though I’d shoved that to one side. I didn’t know the woman, didn’t know if that was true, but the pinched expression she wore right now didn’t help change my gut reaction.

“Ellie’s got two boyfriends!” a woman said in a sing-song voice, while the others all hissed and glared at her, trying to make her shut up.

“Ellie…?” June’s gaze travelled from me to my mate in slow motion, her gaze cooling noticeably by the time she reached her. “I had no idea. Perhaps we need to have a little chat about professional boundaries. Ellie, with me.”

“Don’t.” I stepped forward, knowing this was a hopeless situation. “Don’t give her a hard time on my account.”

“I wasn’t intending to give her a ‘hard time’,” June said, her voice growing icier by the minute. “It’s just we have protocols—”

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