Valorous(85)

“Thanks for that, and please tell the others, too.”

“I will. I gotta go before the little bastards get a big idea to lock me in here.”

“They are not little bastards!”

“Yes, they are. Call me later and let me know what happens.”

“I will. Thanks for the info.”

“No problem.”

I end the call with Leah and call Flynn.

“Miss me already, baby?”

“You know it, but I just got off the phone with Leah, and there’s news on the job front.” I relay to him what Leah told me. When I’m finished, he’s totally silent. “Flynn?”

“I’m here, sweetheart, just processing it all. What’re you thinking?”

“I don’t know. On the one hand, I feel sort of glad that Mrs. Heffernan is leaving because she wasn’t mean to just me. Everyone dislikes her.”

“What’s on the other hand?”

“You, me, our life together. You’re here. Not so sure I want to be three thousand miles from you for even a day or two.”

“While this is entirely and completely your decision to make any way you see fit, your thinking matches mine on the three-thousand-mile thing.”

“I had a feeling it might.”

“Do you have to give them an answer right away?”

“I’m not sure. Leah said they’re going to call me today sometime to ask me to come back.”

“See if you can think about it for a day or two, and we’ll talk it over tonight when I get home.”

“All right. I will.”

“I’m happy for you that a terrible wrong is going to be righted, no matter what happens next.”

“I’m happy, too. Leah said the board was intimidated by whatever Emmett said to them.”

“Good, they should be intimidated. What Mrs. Heffernan did set them up for a huge liability. I’m glad they were able to see that.” He pauses before he adds, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just processing it all.”

“We’ll talk more later, okay?”

“Sure. I’ll see you then.”

“Love you, baby. So glad they’re doing the right thing.”

“Love you, too. Thanks for not letting them off the hook.”

“Never. I’ll be home as soon as I can.”

“I’ll be here. See you then.”

I return the phone to the table and snuggle into bed, my mind racing with the implications of getting my job back. After lying there for half an hour, it’s clear I won’t be going back to sleep. I decide to get up and make myself useful by doing the ton of laundry that has accumulated over the last two weeks.

I gather our clothes into a basket I find in the master bedroom closet. Flynn told me the laundry room was “up there somewhere,” gesturing to the second floor of Hayden’s sprawling house.

I head up the stairs, enjoying the view of the beach through the two-story windows as I go. I try to imagine what it would be like to make enough money to afford a place like this. “Not going to happen in this lifetime,” I mutter to Fluff, who follows me upstairs. Because there are six doors to choose from, I put down the basket at the top of the stairs and head for the end of the hallway to find the laundry room.

The first three doors open to spacious bedrooms that look out over the beach. There isn’t a bad view to be had in this place. Behind the fourth door is a massive master bedroom. Intrigued, I venture inside to check out the biggest bed I’ve ever seen. It is easily twice the size of Flynn’s California king. What does a single guy need with a bed that size?

Off the bedroom is an equally huge bathroom, where I find the full-size washer and dryer tucked behind a closed door. I’m going to get the basket when the closet catches my eye, and apparently Fluff’s eye, too, as she wanders into the walk-in closet. I call out to her to come back, but she doesn’t. No surprise there, so I go after her.

Holy shit, the guy has some clothes! Most of them in muted colors—grays, blacks, browns. Everything is color-coordinated and neatly arranged. I venture farther into the closet, past rows of shoes and drawers of all sizes to another door that Fluff has nudged open.

“Fluff, come here. We shouldn’t be in here.” She’s in the far corner, sniffing up a storm. The second room appears to be a gym of some sort—until I look more closely at the equipment. I’ve never seen any of this stuff at the gyms I’ve frequented. What the hell is it? On one wall, a set of drawers beckons me.