It seemed crazy and spoke volumes about his sanity, pining for a man he barely knew. Maybe Erin was on to something. That just freaked him out, though. Thane closed his eyes, refusing to entertain the thought of saying the L-word out loud. It was way too soon for that, but he was headed there nonetheless. He just needed to be careful. From this point forward, he had to take the right steps and keep from freaking himself out too much.

He wasn’t his father. Nowhere near close. He could do the right thing by people.

Hopefully.

Chapter 16

This staring out the window he’d been doing for most of the last couple of days needed come to an end. Thane eased out of his reclining office chair and walked the length of his temporary office to close the blinds of both windows before he went to the door, pulling it open, hoping that some of the noise from the masses out front might help interrupt his Levi-focused thoughts.

The temporary corporate office space beyond the door looked very much like the contents of a sardine can. So much so, it shocked him that none of his staff had quit. Glancing out over the large room filled with row after row of desks pushed together with employees sitting side by side while trying to complete their jobs filled him with claustrophobia.

He’d never be able to work in that environment. How had he not really noticed this before?

What the hell was happening to him? Thane took an involuntary step backward at the revelation. He’d always tried to be a decent person; he tried hard to be giving and caring, to help the people in his life, but now it seemed an awakening of sorts had taken place inside him. Since the moment he had driven into Levi’s neighborhood, from that very minute, the world had opened his tunnel-vision perceptions to everything going on around him.

All his failures smacked him in the face.

He’d have to find a way to reward his people for all the inconvenience they’d endured and also begin to dog the hell out of Layne Construction, his construction team doing the remodel back on Main Street. Better yet, Thane stepped back to his desk and sent an email directly to the senior Mr. Layne, personally asking for his involvement on the jobsite. He needed that rebuild completed as soon as possible, and they had fallen way behind schedule.

Sally, his HR Manager, stuck her head inside the doorway as he pushed send on the message. “Thane, I got your expedited EAP on Levi Silva. Julian sent over everything but the payee’s address. I was told this was to be handled sensitively. Can I call Mr. Silva directly or should I have Julian call? If I call, we can have a check mailed by end of tomorrow.”

“I think it’s okay for you to call,” Thane said, leaning back in his office chair. “Let Julian know it’s been taken care of for me.” Sally nodded as David, one of his regional managers stuck his head inside the open doorway, reminding him the exact reason why he always kept his door closed.

“We’re implementing the new menu rollout for the Iron Maya tomorrow. Is there anything we need to know before we head to Dallas for the kick off?”

Thane just stared blankly at him. How the hell was he supposed to know? He hadn’t been in one single planning meeting since the new menu had been created months ago. With the expectant stare still focused straight on him, Thane finally said, “Talk it over with Jenna. She’s better prepared, and shut my door for me.”

He got a thumbs up from David, and Thane scrubbed a hand over his face when the door clicked closed behind the guy. He was frustrated as hell. All he could think about in every situation was an auburn-headed hottie with green eyes and a great smile. He’d even spent the first hour of his Monday morning talking to the student affairs staff at Johns Hopkins.

This had to stop.

Even with that self-lecture, when his cell phone vibrated on his desk, Thane picked it up to clear the alarm he had set while at the JHU meeting that morning. At the time, he didn’t want to come off too overeager so he’d decided to wait what he deemed an appropriate amount of time to message Levi the details. Instead of using his cell phone and its frustratingly tiny keyboard, Thane put that aside and reached for his laptop, typing on the message he already had open.

“I hope I didn’t overstep, but I reached out to student affairs who sent me to financial services to check on your scholarship. Everything’s intact. If I understood correctly, your deferment is good until the fall semester. I took the liberty of issuing an extenuating circumstance report that would allow you to extend the deferment past that point, but only one time.

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