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After working through the rest of Gina's duties that afternoon, and Gina not showing up as she said she would, Jamie canceled a few of Alex's appointments and walked to his door, knocking lightly.
"Come in." He was bent over his computer, working furiously as she walked in and closed the door behind her. "My next one here?"
"Yup. I canceled the rest of your afternoon.”
He turned slowly in his chair, an eyebrow raised. “Really?” He glanced at the door. “Did you lock it?”
She shook her head. “I need to talk to you." She walked to the window and looked out over the city. Her ankle was starting to throb from the morning’s adventures, which meant a night on the couch and her laptop on her lap. She wasn't going to overdo it and possibly end up on crutches. That wasn't happening.
She half expected him to tell her to wait a second, but he was at her back, touching her shoulders softly as he pulled her against him.
"What wrong?"
She turned in his arms and slid her arms around his waist, leaning into him. "A lot, I think, but I'm not sure."
"Talk to me. You cleared my calendar for a reason. Did I do something? Is this about Annette? Kristen?" He paled a little.
"No. It's about Gina." Jamie pulled from his hold and walked to the table in the middle of the room. "I kept thinking that I was just going to bug you if I brought it up, but I'm not so sure anymore."
"Is this about her dating Nicholas? I told you I was going to look into that. He's up to something. He's a sly bastard, and is probably trying to get her to come work for him." Alex ran his fingers through his dark hair as he took the seat closest to her.
"He's trying to get all of us to come work for him. I agree that you need to look into him, but I think it's more than that." She handed him the file she'd brought in with her. "We've been working on reconciliations and such for the last week or so, and Mark noticed a new ID was added to some of our expenditure accounts. I looked into it, and Barton came back and said that you were the approver, but the expenses are ridiculous. A trip, a grocery store run, and the latest is two hundred dollars at a candy store. Either you guys are throwing some great parties and I'm not getting invited, or something is up."
Alex's brow furrowed. "What? Let me see this."
He took the file as Jamie bit at her lip. The situation with Gina had to come first, then the damn security system, then she could dig into who this Kristen girl was and what she was up to.
This blast from the past obviously had feelings for Alex; how could she not? Alex has saved the girl from an abusive boyfriend... he was her hero. That couldn't lead to anything good. Why was she looking for him after all these years anyway?
Even Mark's eyes had lit up when they started talking about the girl.
"I don't know what this is, but I'll look into it." Alex's voice brought her from her thoughts. "I can't honestly imagine Gina doing anything to hurt me or the company."
"I know. Me neither, and yet she called in sick this morning and was at lunch with Nicholas today." Jamie pressed her hand to her chin. "I wasn't going to look into her dealings, but I couldn't help myself. She's put all of us behind, and I want to choke her after seeing her at lunch. She's not sick at all."
"Damn..." Alex leaned back in his chair and pressed his palms to his eyes. "Surely she's not up to anything. It's Gina. She's like an older sister to me. We've been through more together than you can imagine."
"I’d look into it, Alex. Something’s not adding up. When we were out for drinks the other day, she said she was tired of arguing with you, and she would leave if things didn’t get better. It was her frustration talking, but now I’m starting to wonder. I'll help with anything you need me to. I hope I'm wrong." She reached out and ran her hand up his thigh, squeezing softly. “Maybe it’s just a slew of coincidences thrown in together.”
The sadness in his face drove a stake into her heart as he looked down at her. "I hope so, too. Hopefully you’re wrong, but something tells me you aren't."
Chapter 10
Jamie checked in with Alex one more time before finishing up for the evening, but he refused to come home just yet. Her canceling his appointments might have been the best thing to happen to him. From what she could tell, his mood was lifting even though he was still knee-deep in work.
They all were. Her later mornings in and the day she had taken off with Mark had set her behind as well. Sitting at Gina’s desk, covering, had forced her to stay put and do both jobs at once, but she was still behind. It didn’t matter, though, the work would still be there tomorrow and the files she took home to work on that night could travel with her. This was the kind of job that you never got ahead on. Jamie was beginning to figure out that if you were ahead, then somewhere, somehow, money wasn’t being made.
She rode home with Mark and they stopped by the local burger joint for dinner, neither of them too interested in cooking. She sent Murray a message as Mark parked her car to see if he could take care of meals for Alex and her the rest of the week. She got an automatic reply to say he was away for another ten days. Must be on vacation, lucky stiff. She got out of the truck and hobbled to the front door, her ankle starting to feel worse than it had that morning.
"You're going to need to go to the doctor if it swells. I'll put some ice on it for you when we get to the house, and then I'll leave you be." Mark smiled and held the door open, and Jamie moved into the much-needed warmth of the restaurant.
"Sounds good to me. A good glass of wine will be perfect company until Alex finally makes it home." She moved to the counter and glanced up at the board, trying to decide if she should make a good decision or a bad one.
"I usually get two of these beauties, but only finish one and a half. You want the other half, or are you in the mood for a whole one?" He stepped up beside her, saving her from having to make a decision at all.