Dust of Snow (6 page)

“Greg…” Ashley scrubbed a hand through his
hair, making it stick up.

“You look ready to fall over. Go on, even if
it’s just half an hour of peace and quiet.” I put my hand on his
chest. He looked startled, his eyes bright and wide when they met
mine. Slowly I pushed him back until he sank down. Then I bent to
untie his shoes.

“You don’t have to do that,” he murmured.

“The universe did me a kindness this
morning.” I shrugged. “One I desperately needed. I’m paying my
dues, that’s all. Let me do this.”

“All right.”

Something touched my hair: Ashley’s sleeve as
he was removing his suit jacket. I took it and hung it over a
chair.

“Relax,” I whispered before squeezing through
the narrowest gap in the door I could manage and locking it behind
me. I quickly made my way to Ashley’s office and rerouted his
calls. Then I stopped by the co-ops’ desk and tasked them to go on
a coffee run at eleven. There were four of them, and they just
smiled at me like nothing was wrong. I found it hard to believe
they were the ones trying to embarrass me. I barely knew them, so
why would they? Of course I didn’t exactly know anyone at work well
aside from Carl and maybe Patricia.

Had Carl been right? Did I really have a
secret admirer? I felt a strange pang when I remembered my note,
and that whoever it was had seemingly obeyed.

For the first half hour I expected Ashley to
buzz me, asking to be let out. The next half hour I spent resisting
the urge to go peek at him. At eleven o’clock three things happened
at once. My phone buzzed, the co-ops walked through the back door
carrying coffee, and Carl stepped through the front door.

Shit.

I answered the buzz with, “Just a second,” I
hastily thanked and paid the co-ops, and I watched Carl approach.
Before he could nod his hello and reach for his key, I said, “Sonny
at HR’s looking for you. It seemed urgent.”

Carl made a face, stared at his office door
for a frantic heart-in-throat second, and then handed me his coat.
“I’ll go see him now. Is one of those coffees for me?”

I handed him the cup that had been meant for
me and watched him disappear among the cubicles. As soon as I
stepped inside his office I hauled Ashley to his feet and shoved
the second coffee into his hands. Flinging Carl’s coat over the
couch, I grabbed Ashley’s shoes and jacket and steered him toward
the door.

“Wh—” Ashley began, resisting my manhandling.
He was adorably sleep fuzzy.

“Carl’s back, and I have exactly one and a
half minutes to clear this place up before he works out Sonny
didn’t need to see him at all. Out.”

“Okay, I—” Ashley’s mouth was still open when
I shut the door in his face. I stuffed the blanket and pillow in
the cupboard, ran around to open the blinds, hung up the coat, and
opened the door to reveal Carl standing there, his hand raised to
unlock it.

“Sonny said he didn’t talk to you at all
today. He didn’t need me.” I winced internally, but I figured Sonny
deserved it for handing out private information.

“Oh, I must’ve misunderstood.” I smiled
blandly. Carl gave me an odd look, glanced around his office, and
then headed for his desk. I mourned the loss of my latte.

“All right. If you have time now, I’d like to
go over next week’s branch meeting.”

I forced a bright smile. “Let me go grab my
tablet.”

I heaved a sigh of relief once I stood
outside his office. Not that Carl would’ve minded the intrigue, God
no. But there was no sense in encouraging him. He’d probably think
Ashley and I were having an affair or something.

At the thought, I barked out a laugh, and
gazes swiveled my way from the nearby cubicles. I cleared my throat
and grabbed what I needed from my desk. Me and a smart, older, very
handsome man like Ashley?
As if
.

At half past one I was passing by Ashley’s
office on my way to the supply closet when he called me inside.

“Dinner,” he stated.

“Uh.” I surreptitiously glanced at the clock
over his head. “I just had lunch.”

“No, I mean you and me, tonight.”

Oh.

My mouth went dry. Was he…? No, he was just
being nice. “I can’t. I have a… thing.” With Mother, since it was
Thursday, which I didn’t want to tell him in case he was starting
to like me. After all, I’d told him free snowplowing had been the
highlight of my year, and he’d already met my cat. If I mentioned
Mother, I could kiss any prospects of his respect good-bye.

I could cancel on Mother, but I’d really
enjoyed last week, and I didn’t want to ruin the easiest we’d been
with each other in… well, ever.

Ashley straightened a little in his chair. A
light pink flush sat on his cheekbones. Was he getting a fever? “I
see. No problem.” He smiled without dimples and looked away.

I hoped I wasn’t coming across as rude. “You
look better than you did this morning,” I tried. “Less tired. You
have more”—I waved a hand at my face—”color.”

“Yes, you were right. I was about to ready to
drop. That nap really helped, and thanks for the coffee.”

“That’s all right.” He didn’t have to take me
out to dinner for
that
. “Anytime.” I was about to turn away
when I asked him, “Did you buy your Secret Santa gift yet?”

“I did. I’m looking forward to the party next
week.”

“Me too,” I lied.

FOUR

“I KNOW WHO’s behind the gifts,” Patricia blurted as
soon as we sat down with our salads for lunch the next
Wednesday.

“What? How?
Who
?”

She laughed a little when I clasped a hand in
front of my mouth at my startled outburst. A quick glance around
assured me no one seemed to take any notice, apart from maybe
Ashley, who held my gaze for a second before he returned to what
looked like a lunch meeting with his team of sales guys. He wore a
dark-blue suit with a pink shirt underneath. His broad dark-red tie
was done up in a trinity knot, which made my mouth go a little
dry.

“I promised not to tell.”

“What?” I snapped my attention back to
Patricia. “Wait, seriously?”

“Yes, but only because you didn’t seem so
bothered anymore lately. I told him he had until the end of the
week to come clean, and then I’d tell you anyway.”

“O-kay?” I processed this information while
stabbing at the good bits in my salad. It was true I wasn’t as
bothered since the gifts had stopped, although truthfully I’d
missed them a bit. Apart from the flowers. I didn’t miss
those
. “This guy, he’s not making fun of me?”

Patricia shook her head, arugula leaves
sticking out of her mouth.

“Is he someone I would like?”

She shrugged but didn’t meet my eyes.

Huh. Interesting.

I continued to chew that over for the rest of
the day, trying to discern who was keeping an eye on me at work,
but all I seemed to manage was to make people wonder why I kept
eyeballing them. It stayed on my mind all evening and well into the
next day, until I bumped into David while I grocery shopped for
Thursday dinner with Mother.

“Hey, Greg,” he said sheepishly. He looked
good. Familiar, in a way that warmed me a little. I had caught
sight of him from a distance once or twice, and I’d always made
myself scarce, afraid of how I’d react. I wasn’t entirely sure what
I was feeling in that moment, but I smiled at him anyway.

“Hey. How have you been?”
Too
formal
?

“I’m good.” He rubbed the back of his neck,
looked at his feet, the contents of my cart, and then, finally, at
me. “I’ve been hoping I’d run into you one of these days.” My face
must’ve betrayed something, because he straightened and gave me his
boyish grin. “You look good, man. Don’t lose any more weight,
though. There’ll be nothing left of you.”

“Right.” I laughed nervously. “Well, I should
probably—” I pointed over my shoulder.

“Hold on. Will you meet me for a drink? Maybe
tonight? So we can catch up.”

“Why?” I blurted before I could stop myself.
I let go of the cart and wrapped my arms around myself. Why were
supermarkets always so damn cold?

David’s jaw flexed and he stuffed his hands
in his pockets. “Because I’d like to hear from you. How you’re
doing, and maybe, you know. Talk.”

“Um, yeah. I think that could be nice.” I
phrased it like a question even though I didn’t mean to, and David
sighed.

“Look Greg, I know I made a mistake. I’m
trying to make up for it now. I just want to see if we can’t
reconsider our relationship.”

Reconsider? I hadn’t heard from him in over a
year. But he wanted me back? My stomach summersaulted and my mouth
went completely dry.

David huffed a breath when I didn’t say
anything and leaned closer. “I’m putting myself on the line here
for you, Greg. It’s not easy for me either to admit I was wrong.
Will you come for a drink with me, or not?”

I blinked at him rapidly as my chest became
uncomfortably tight. “I… I can’t. I’m meeting Mother.”

He glanced at my cart and his face twisted.
“Of course,” he said. “It’s Thursday. Can’t go a week without
visiting
Mother
now, can we?”

I had to grind my teeth together to stop my
bottom lip from quivering as he walked away.

“What’s the matter, Gregory?” Carl asked the
next morning during our meeting. He rolled the Rs of my name, and
again I wished he was less of a decent person and would at least
take advantage of me a little. But when I opened my mouth I
realized this was not the man I wanted to confide in.

“Nothing’s the matter,” I said, keeping my
head down.

“I’ve had to repeat myself three times. You
never make me repeat myself. You look like you haven’t slept at
all.”

Well, he wasn’t wrong. “I’m fine.” I rose to
my feet. “If that’s all, you know where I am if you need me.” Carl
said nothing as I left his office, but I could feel his eyes
burning holes in my back. The chance encounter with David had left
me unbalanced, and I didn’t want to spend the day stuck in my own
head.

“Hey.” I knocked on Ashley’s open office
door.

Ashley lifted his head, blinked once, and the
glazed-over look in his eyes disappeared. “Gregory, hey, come on
in.” His usually immaculate suit was a little rumpled this morning,
and I noticed a small patch of scruff in the dip of his jaw he’d
missed shaving.

“We’re allowed to take a half day today,” I
said. “In preparation for the party tonight. I was wondering if you
wanted to go and grab lunch later.”

“Lunch?” He blinked at me owlishly. He had on
black-rimmed glasses today, and I realized he usually wore
contacts.

“Yes, you know, the meal between breakfast
and dinner, unless you’re a hobbit.”