Just for This Moment (Wishful 4)

“Get what?”

“Your style of getting things done.”

Before Myles could think of a reply to that, Wes began to hum “The Wedding March”.

Piper walked into the conference room, attention still down the hall. “Why do I get the sense that if the President appointed her a cabinet member, she’d manage to straighten out everything wrong with the government inside a month?”

“Probably because she could if she put her mind to it.” Gram, of all members of his family, was the one most likely to follow words with action. She was, he supposed, where he’d learned that.

“Your grandmother is a scary, scary woman.”

“And my bride is a very frazzled one.”

Piper’s face was a little wan, and her hair, which had been pulled up into a knot at the back of her head, stuck out at odd angles. “Does it show?”

His lips twitched. “Well, it looks like you started to run your fingers through your hair and then got stuck.”

She reached up and patted her hair. “Oh hell. No wonder your grandmother was giving me a death glare. She’ll probably have me booked for a total makeover when I’m supposed to be giving breathing treatments and steroid shots.”

“About that. We have itineraries.”

She made a pained face. “How bad?”

“I haven’t looked yet, but I’m sure we don’t get to sleep for the next nine days. Do you actually have time for this cake tasting?”

“If you don’t, I expect we’d all be happy to take a field trip to taste stuff for you,” Zach offered.

“Seriously, we really support cake,” Wes said.

The corners of Piper’s mouth fluttered into a tired smile. “I really don’t have time, but we’re calling it lunch. Otherwise I won’t get a chance to eat. We’re slammed today.”

“Cake for lunch. I can get behind that. Just let me finish up here. You want to go wait in my office?”

“I’ll go do something about…this.” She gestured to her head, then offered a tired smile to his staff. “Sorry to interrupt.”

“Not at all, honey. And congratulations!” said Patty.

Everyone else echoed the sentiment and Piper headed down the hall, itinerary in hand.

Myles got updates on various outstanding stories, finished handing out assignments, and added to his list of things to check on for the next edition.

“One thing we’ll need to discuss is division of labor while I’m gone. I don’t anticipate being out of the office for more than a few days, but I’d feel better having a plan in place while I am.”

“What? You’re not going on a honeymoon?” Wes asked.

“We’re just taking a long weekend for the wedding and a couple days away. The honeymoon will come later when work slows down for us both.”

“And when does work ever slow down for you?” Patty wanted to know.

“I have aspirations for later this year, once Simone knows all the ropes here and we can, hopefully, bring in some more help. Circulation is going up, and I think that trend will continue, so I’m optimistic we’ll actually be in a position to do that.”

“Here’s to that.” Simone lifted her coffee cup in a toast.

“Anyway, once I have a chance to go over the itinerary, I’ll have a better idea what I’ll need someone to cover, so we’ll talk about that later. Meanwhile, there is cake calling my name. Dismissed.”

Piper was sprawled in a chair in his office, hair still a mess, a frown bowing those lovely lips.

“What’s wrong?”