"This place is always good about getting the food out quickly. It's one of the reasons I love it so much." Jamie drug her finger through the syrup on her pancakes and licked at it. "This homemade syrup is the other."
The laughed and talked through her father's next steps as they shared breakfast together. By the time they were done, she felt better, more centered and grounded. She was a good woman, and the issue didn't rest with her worth, but with Alex's understanding of how to really treat a woman, and accept a good one in his life.
She was ready to have a sit down meeting with him to really lay things out on the table. He'd spoken several times of taking their relationship to the next level. She was more than ready to make it happen.
Jamie was surprised to see Paul gone for the day, and a note that Mark had left her a message. He seemed in good spirits, and calling him back would be rude, even it Alex wouldn't approve. There was nothing but a comfortable budding friendship stating between them. If things worked out with her and Alex, Mark would be her future brother-in-law. An already established relationship with him was smart.
She got up to close her door before calling him back. Alex was out, so there was no concern about him walking in on her, but Mark wouldn't be calling about anything that wasn't confidential or personal in nature.
"This is Mark."
"Hey. It's Jamie Connors."
"Hey Jamie. You guys made it back safe and sound then?"
"We sure did. I just walked in from having breakfast with my dad. Crazy times."
"Oh yeah? What's going on?" He coughed softly.
"My father is finally fed up with my mom. He's filing for divorce. It's a good and bad thing, I guess, but don't let me bore you. Tell me why you called."
"Divorce seems to be in the damn water. I'm sorry to hear that. You know I'm here if you need someone to talk to, though I bet my brother would be a strong shoulder to lean against too."
It warmed her to hear Mark push her toward Alex. He really was a really good guy. Too bad Alex hadn't figured that out, though she understood the tune of past hurts all too well herself.
"So what's going on?" Jamie asked.
"I wrapped up the estate sale yesterday, and everything went well. We sold a lot of the larger items, which helps with cleaning up the place and finally closing everything down."
"That's great news. Do you want me to talk with Alex about him coming back up to help with the final clean up?" She pressed her pen to her lips and sunk back into her chair.
"No. I can get it. I'm thinking I'll come in on Saturday to have those papers signed in the next few days. I would have told Alex just to hang out if I'd known how fast they wanted to move with everything."
"I wish we would have known. I hate for you to make a trip up here."
"It's all good. I could probably use an excuse to get the fuck out of here for a while anyways. It's less than amicable at home right now." He snorted. "I'd be searching for a reason to visit if this hadn't come up."
"I'm sorry about that." She shook her head as sadness rushed through her. "I'll talk with Alex about the papers and seeing if you can just stay at the house with him. I live on the property, so we'll have dinner or something while you're in as well."
"I'd love that. With money kinda tight at the moment, I'm not sure if I can afford a hotel."
"Don't worry about that. We'll work it out."
"Well, I appreciate that. Listen, please don’t mention to Alex about the money. I don’t want him to know my situation on that." He coughed again. "I'm gonna let you go. Call me soon and let me know what Alex thinks about me coming up. Thanks again for being so great. I'm blessed to have met you, Jamie."
"Me too. Take care." She hung the phone up and leaned back in her chair. Alex had to figure out how to make up with his brother. She wasn't even in the family and yet had to play the middle man like a sister or wife might.
It was ridiculous and she didn't at all get paid enough for the level of drama Alex was bringing to the table.
Enough! It was time to work and focus on that. Before her sister’s wedding, Jamie had spent night and day working. Now she was being lax and focusing too much on making her relationship work and shoving food in her mouth. It was time to get back to the pattern she had when she started her job here.
She worked through a few new projects she had on her desk for the rest of the morning. It was almost unnerving to realize how much easier it was to work without Paul there. It wasn't because he was chatty, but something about having another person in the room just let her inefficient.
"Speaking of." Jamie got up and walked out into the hall as her stomach growled. She needed to talk with Gina about getting her officemate his own office, and then lunch could be up next on the agenda.