“Afternoon, officers,” I called. “New beat?”
The cop, who wasn’t much older than me, gave Peyton a leering once-over, then squared his shoulders and widened his stance. “You got a problem?”
“No problem. Just usually see Officer Connolly around this block. I work around the corner.” I tilted my head to Eddie. “This is Eddie.”
Peyton added. “Eddie is a friend of mine. I volunteer over at Little East Open Kitchen. It’s a local food bank on—”
“I know where it is. Little thing like yourself shouldn’t be around these type of people. They’re dangerous. You could get hurt.”
I closed my eyes, knowing how Peyton was about to respond.
“They’re dangerous? Don’t you think that’s kind of a generalized statement? It’s no different than talking about Italians and saying they’re all a bunch of mobsters, Officer Canatalli.”
I tried to temper where the conversation was heading. “Eddie here has been getting hassled by some teenagers lately. That’s how he got that gash there on his head. Peyton went down to the precinct to report it, but nothing was done about it.”
“Yet another reason why he shouldn’t be hanging out here on the street. We were just telling him it was time to move on for today. Sergeant wants the street cleaned up.” The cop kicked Eddie’s foot again, and Eddie’s leg recoiled as he balled himself into a position to protect his head.
“Eddie doesn’t like to be touched. He prefers people to keep a few feet away.”
“So do I. That’s why I don’t sit on the sidewalk where someone will physically remove me if I don’t get up.”
Rookie asshole.
“Come on, Eddie. Come with me.” Peyton extended her hand.
Eddie looked at me, then the officers, then back to me before taking her hand to get up. He lifted his black garbage bag over his shoulder. The bag was bulging, and after two steps, a small hole in the bottom spread wide, and everything he owned began to spill onto the sidewalk. The impatient policemen started to complain. They had no compassion.
Peyton had her guitar case slung over her shoulder, and she kneeled down, setting it on the sidewalk, and removed the instrument.
“Here, Eddie. Use this. The case just made it heavy anyway.” She slipped the guitar’s strap over her shoulder, and Eddie eventually bent and stuffed everything into her case.
As we walked back toward my office, I whispered to Peyton, “What are we going to do with him?”
She shrugged and gave me that sweet smile I could never resist. “I don’t know, but there’s plenty of room in that big, new office of yours.”
Chapter 10
Reese
I was busy with work the entire day, although that didn’t keep me from thinking about the boss at random times. It sort of helped to break my day into segments. Work on a tagline for Divine. Daydream about the boss. Research SEO keywords. Daydream about the boss. Lunch. Daydream about the boss. No wonder I was still at work at eight o’clock with all the time I’d slacked off.
When footsteps approached my door, my pulse quickened, anticipating it might be Chase. I hid my disappointment by being extra bubbly.
“Hi, Josh!”
“Burning the midnight oil again, huh?”
“I’m playing catch-up with so many things, and I want to be able to participate. Your team is incredible. They know these products inside out.”
“They are pretty great. But sometimes a fresh look at things wins out over experience. Chase told me two out of the three concepts we’re working with originated from you.”
“It was a team effort.”
He smiled warmly. “Gonna head out. Don’t stay too late.”
“I won’t.”
Just as he turned away, I thought of something I kept forgetting to ask. “Hey, Josh. Do you think we’ll work this weekend? A…friend asked me to go away for the weekend, but I wasn’t sure if you planned to come in or not. Lindsey mentioned that sometimes the team works weekends when they have a big project going on.”
“I don’t think so. But I’ll check with Chase tomorrow, see if he has any plans. He likes to get us out of the office when we do weekend brainstorming sessions.”
“Okay. Thanks. Have a good night.”
A few minutes later, I was shutting down my laptop and packing up my desk when Chase walked in. He was in gym clothes—loose shorts and a faded Mets T-shirt. God, he looks sexy. I was beginning to realize I thought the man looked good in anything.
“You wear that T-shirt around Samantha?”
“I wear this T-shirt because of Sam. Drives her nuts.”
“You two have an interesting dynamic, that’s for sure.”
“How was the rest of your coffee with your friend? You two talk about me some more after I left?”
“I was just telling her the story of how we met, that was all. Don’t let it go to your head.” Of course, what we were discussing would have inflated his ego, but he really didn’t need to know that.