he thought she looked particularly pretty today. The slight flush that lingered on her cheeks was definitely becoming.
“Scott? What are you doing here? I thought you and your dad and brothers were driving to Missouri for the Razorbacks game today.”
“We were. But Eli had to be on call because one of his partners broke an arm in a Thanksgiving biking accident. Then Jake’s son came down with a virus and our plans all fell apart. We gave our tickets to Mom and Dad’s neighbors and their kids. They were happy to get them.”
“I’m sorry your plans were canceled. You really needed a break from work.”
He felt his mouth quirk into a half smile. “Are you saying I’ve been surly lately?”
“Not surly, just... Okay, maybe a little surly,” she said with a quiet laugh.
He could count on Tess to be honest with him, sometimes brutally so. Somehow she always managed to do so without crossing boundaries of the employee-employer relationship, even when she was annoyed with him. And she had been annoyed with him on several occasions.
He cleared his throat. “Sorry about that. You have to admit, the past few months have been challenging.” They’d dealt with a couple of big, complicated jobs, a burglary at a job site that had cost them several expensive tools, even a break-in here at the office earlier in the year. Speaking of which...
He frowned. “Why was the security system turned off? You shouldn’t be here alone on a weekend, especially after dark, without that alarm activated. As I’ve just proved, anyone could have walked in.”
She lifted an eyebrow. “Didn’t you have to use your key?”
He was still surprised she hadn’t heard him enter the first time, which only illustrated how focused she’d been on her conversation. “Well, yes, but still...”
Relenting, she smiled. “I’ve had the security system on almost the whole time I’ve been here. I turned it off when I ran out to my car for something I’d forgotten and I was going to turn it back on after I finished a phone call in my office.”
He kept his expression as unrevealing as he could manage. He knew she’d be embarrassed if she thought he’d overheard too much of that call. “I want you to be safe when you’re here alone. Keep the blasted thing turned on.”
Sending a salute toward him that was just short of impertinent, she said, “Yes, sir. I’ll do that.”
He sighed and shook his head. “Insubordination. Remind me again why I keep you around?”
She laughed easily, slipping back into the comfortable relationship they’d forged during their years of working side by side. “Because you know this entire enterprise would collapse without me.”
He chuckled after she pretty much echoed his thoughts from earlier. He had to concede her point.
She’d made her mark on every aspect of his business, from the state of the reception area to the total of the bottom line.
Speaking of the reception area... He suddenly noticed decorations that hadn’t been there a few days earlier. A Christmas tree sat in the front corner, decorated with gold-and-white ornaments and tiny white lights. A strand of garland wound with gold ribbon draped the front of the reception desk, matching the wreath on the door. On the tables sat frosted glass holders with fat white candles. All very subtle and tasteful—very Tess, he thought with a faint smile. She could have assigned one or two of the clerical workers she now supervised to decorate, but she’d no doubt taken care of it herself, as she had every Christmas since she’d started working for him.
“You came in today just to decorate?”
“I thought I’d get the decorations up while I had a quiet afternoon to work on them. I’m almost finished.”
“Looks nice. Is there anything I can do to help?”
“I’ve got it, thanks. There are only a few more things I want to do.”
Nodding, he moved toward the closed door of his own larger office to the right side of hers. “Let me know if you need anything. I’m going to review the paperwork for that Springdale job we start Monday, just to make sure everything is lined up.”
“I left a couple of contracts on your desk for you to look over and sign. They could have waited until Monday, but since you’re here...”
“I’m on it.”
He glanced over his shoulder as he opened the door with his name engraved on a brass plaque. Tess stood half-turned away from him, frowning in concentration at the Christmas tree, which looked perfect already to him. She really did look pretty today. He thought fleetingly about telling her so, but something held him back.
He made a cup of coffee with the pod brewer on his credenza. “Would you like a hot drink?” he asked through the open doorway as the enticing aroma filled his office. The rack beside the pot always included a variety of herbal teas that he knew Tess liked. They often shared drinks at his desk as they discussed business.
“No, thank you,” she called back without making an appearance. He told himself he wasn’t disappointed that she was too busy for a cozy chat, which meant he had no excuse to procrastinate any longer with the work he’d come in to see to.
Taking a seat at his desk, he tried to concentrate on paperwork for the next twenty minutes. Despite his resistance, his thoughts kept returning to the one-sided conversation he’d accidentally overheard, and the glimpse of insight it had provided into Tess’s personal life. Of course, he couldn’t have worked so closely with her for six years without knowing some things about her.
Through night classes and online courses, she’d completed her business degree and had earned postgraduate hours since she’d started working with him. He knew she took pride in those accomplishments. During that same time, he’d seen her deal with the illness and loss of both her parents. He’d gotten the impression the majority of the caregiving had been on her shoulders because her sister had been so busy with her young children. Yet he’d never once heard Tess complain. Whatever she dealt with in her off-hours, she’d always reported to work with her usual serene efficiency.
Serene. He repeated the word in his head, thinking how well it suited his assistant. Throughout several major work upheavals, when he’d been edgy and bad-tempered amid the confusion and mayhem, Tess had remained...well, Tess. She came in every morning with a smile, an encouraging word and a roll-up-her-sleeves attitude that let her tackle each day’s tasks with single-minded focus.
One would think someone so agreeable would be a bit of a doormat, easily intimidated, perhaps. Not Tess. He’d witnessed her hold her own with even the most belligerent, disgruntled employees and clients. One of his job foremen had confided to Scott that Tess reminded him of a nun who’d taught his junior high math classes. “Nice lady most of the time,” he’d clarified. “But get out of line, and you’d get a ruler across the knuckles before you could spit.”
Scott could imagine Tess wielding a mean ruler if necessary. But he’d never thought of her as a nun—had he?
He cleared his throat and reached hastily for his quickly cooling coffee, almost knocking over the cup in his clumsiness. He salvaged the papers on his desk at the last moment and with a muttered curse.
“Everything
