“Gary!” Mike barked at him. “There’s a lady present.”
“There is?” Gary gave her a wink. God, he thought he was being cute. How much could she be expected to put up with?
“I towed it back here.”
“Good.” Mike nodded. “Kinley, what do you want us to do? We can get it to a mechanic’s shop if you like?”
And how would she pay the bill, even if it could be fixed? The ache in her stomach turned into a burn. She let out a shuddering breath. She knew she couldn’t. She was going to have to face the fact that until her debts were under control she’d be without a car.
“Can I leave it here for a little bit? Gary doesn’t think it can be fixed, but I’m not quite ready to give up on it yet.”
Mike patted her shoulder gently. He knew her finances were tight, which is why he had insisted Gary go check it for her when he’d heard about her troubles from last night. He was really good to her. Better than most bosses. Completely different from James.
She pushed that thought from her head. Better not think of him right now. Thinking of James had brought her nothing but angst over the weekend. Even if she and Sloan were over, and considering he hadn’t contacted her, she was sure that was a given, she didn’t intend to get involved with anyone else. Let alone James March.
First, he was her boss. Second, he had a different woman on his arm most weekends. Third, he was way out of her league.
“Okay, Kinley. You keep it here as long as you need to. Let me know if you want a mechanic to look at it. I have a friend who’ll charge you cheap rates, okay?”
Tears filled her eyes for a moment. She blinked rapidly. Mike reminded her so much of her dad it made her melancholy sometimes.
“Thanks, Mike. Now, I have to get to work on some invoices.”
Mike laughed. “Don’t know where we’d be without you, do we Gary?”
“Nope. Things wouldn’t be the same around here without Kinley.” The words were pleasant, but the look on his face as she glanced up wasn’t. Unease filled her for a moment, but she pushed that aside. This was Gary. He was a dick, but he was harmless. He turned and left, his jeans hanging loosely around his ass, and she turned to her computer, soon forgetting about Gary-the-sleaze.
11
With a huge yawn, Kinley blinked to focus her vision as she scrubbed the toilet. She didn’t mind cleaning. The only problem was, it gave her time to ponder her other problems. Like the fact that her car was dead, and she had no idea what to do about it, that Sloan still hadn’t contacted her. They were over.
She fought to hold back tears. Nearly three weeks with no word.
With a sigh, she moved to the next cubicle. At least she didn’t have to worry about running into James tonight. Elsa had told her that he’d left that morning and his office no longer needed cleaning. She guessed that meant he wasn’t coming back for a while.
Instead of cleaning two levels of the building, Elsa had assigned her to scour all the toilets. A punishment, she speculated. She’d noticed that Gloria and Elsa had become very friendly. So, she supposed it was about James. She didn’t understand what they thought was going on between them, but she hadn’t argued. What did she care if she had to clean the toilets?
She stood and had to press her hand against the cubicle wall as her head spun. Drat. She’d been feeling off since lunchtime.
Her phone rang, and she frowned. She thought she’d muted it. In her rush to get here on time, she must have forgotten. Taking public transportation everywhere was even more of a hassle than she’d expected. The bus never seemed to run at the right time, and she was constantly running around trying to get everywhere.
Elsa had reprimanded her when she’d arrived five minutes late tonight and told her she’d have to make it up by working late. Even though she’d been early every other night. So, she’d have to take the later bus home. Great.
It wasn’t really catching the bus that was the problem. It was the four blocks she had to walk in the dark to get home at the other end.
She sighed as she pulled her phone out of her pocket, nearly dropping it in shock when she saw the name displayed on the screen. Sloan. He was calling.
She went cold then hot. Was this it? Was he calling to tell her it was over? Why bother? She got it. She’d fucked up and ruined things, as usual.
“You going to answer that or just let it drone on?” a voice asked from outside the stall.
With a scream, she jumped and let go of the phone, watching in horror as it fell into the toilet bowl with a plop. The room went instantly silent.
“No!” She knelt and grabbed the phone, not even flinching as she stuck her hand into the water. Pulling it out, she shook it vigorously.
“Here, give it to me. You need to take the battery out.”
She ignored him, rubbing the phone against her smock then attempting to turn it on. It lit up for a second and her heart nearly stopped with hope. Then the screen went a strange color, and a bunch of squiggly lines appeared.