Chapter Twenty
Ryan stopped into the bakery on his way into work on Monday morning. He wasn’t delaying getting there, not really. He needed more caffeine that was all.
“Hey, Ryan!” April greeted him with a warm smile. “How are you doing?”
“Good, thanks. How about you?”
“Yeah. Great, thanks. What can I get you? The usual?”
“Please.” He stopped in here often enough that she knew he needed a caffeine hit, a big, regular, black coffee, nothing sweet or fancy.
She set it on the counter in front of him. “There you go.”
“Thanks.”
She was giving off a weird vibe. It seemed she had something to say but didn’t have the nerve. He smiled. She was a sweetheart. He didn’t want her to think that she had to be careful what she said to him.
“What is it?”
She gave a nervous laugh. “I’m not sure I should say.”
“We won’t know till you try. Go ahead. I don’t bite.”
“Okay. Well, it’s just, you know I like Leanne. She was so kind to me; she helped me a lot with my divorce.”
Damn. That was the last thing he’d expected. He’d come in here to delay seeing her. Not to hear about her yet again. “Yeah.”
She shrugged. “I know you two have a lot of history …”
He nodded, wondering where she was going.
“I just hope that the two of you can work it out.” She gave him an embarrassed smile. “That’s all.”
“Thanks.”
The door opened behind him and he turned, relieved at the interruption. At least, he was relieved until he saw who it was. Donovan. He nodded curtly, and Donovan nodded back.
“See ya, April.” He let himself out. He didn’t need a showdown at eight o’clock in the bakery. What he needed to do was get his head together. He could have gone to Leanne at any point since Saturday night and proved to her that he wasn’t a liar. He would have, too. He wanted to, but the one thing he hadn’t figured out in their conversation out on the deck was how important Donovan was to her. If she needed time, he’d give it to her. What he didn’t want to do was finally tell her the truth only to have her turn to another guy to help her figure it out.
He wanted to run the guy off. But that might only make things worse, even if she did come around when she knew the truth about what had happened.
He got back in his truck and sat there for a few moments. He didn’t know what to do. He wanted to force the issue, but he didn’t want to blow what he knew would likely be his only chance to finally make things right.
At least, he had some breathing room. She was going to be in the office today, but she’d told him they should stay out of each other’s way until he could prove to her that he wasn’t lying. He could choose his moment, and hopefully, get it right.
He parked around the back of the office, and while he was getting out of his truck, Dan came and parked his Jeep next to him.
“Morning.”
“Morning.” Dan smiled. “Are you ready for this?”
“I plan to stay out of the way. I’ll be in my office if you need me.”
“Okay. I was thinking I could bring Lee in to talk to you this afternoon.”
“Does she need to talk to me?”
Dan cocked his head to one side. “Don’t you want to? I thought you guys were okay after the other night.”
“We are.”
“Are you sure you don’t have a problem with Donovan? I don’t think there’s anything between them. I think it’s just a cover story.”
Ryan had to smile at the term. Cover stories were his department, not Leanne’s. “I don’t know what the deal is. But it doesn’t matter. I don’t need to have much to do with either of them, do I?”
“I guess not. And it’s not a problem?”
“Nope. Now, are we going to stand out here all morning or are we going in?”
Dan smiled. “We’re going in—on one condition.”
“What’s that?
“Let me bring them in to see you this afternoon. I said I’d take Lee around to see everyone, so she knows exactly what we’re doing. It’d be more uncomfortable to have you be the one person we avoid.”
“Okay. Fine. What time?”
“It’ll probably be three-thirty or four by the time we get done with everyone else.”
“Okay. I’ll make sure I’m available. And we still need to talk about my meeting with Sullivan last week.”
“We do.” Dan grinned. “I’m looking forward to getting to that.”
“Yeah. I think it’s going to work well.”
“I’m not going to have time today, though. Unless …”
“What?”
“Missy’s going up to see Emma and Holly tonight. Do you want to have dinner?”
“Sure. It’ll save me having to cook.”
“Okay, great. We’ll figure it out after we get done with Leanne.”
Ryan nodded.
“Am I allowed to ask if …?”
Ryan smiled through pursed lips. “No. You’re not. I’ll tell you what I’m thinking tonight.”
“Okay. But you’re not mad at me anymore?”
“I couldn’t stay mad at you for long, nerd, even if I wanted to.”
“And you don’t want to?”
“Nope.”
~ ~ ~
Leanne smiled at Brayden. He was good. She could see why Dan was grooming him to step up and head the cyber team. He was a way off being ready yet, but he was smart enough and he’d be a good leader.
“Thanks for giving us the rundown.”
Dan had left her and Donovan with Brayden while he’d gone to take care of some problem that had come up. Leanne could imagine that there would be all kinds of problems coming at him daily in this setup, and she was surprised that he hadn’t yet brought someone in to field them for him. Dan was more comfortable working alone on his computer—being the brains behind the operation, not the troubleshooter and the face of it.
Brayden gave her a shy smile. “Thanks for wanting to know. I’ll feel more comfortable coming to talk to you now I know that you understand what we do in here.”
Donovan chuckled. “You have no worries there. I’ve seen Leanne go back and tell clients how to improve their systems before she gets involved on the legal side.”
“I can believe it. I’m just not used to people understanding what I’m talking about most of the time. That’s why it’s such a relief that you two do.” Brayden frowned. “Is this it now? Are you guys here to stay?”
Leanne pursed her lips. She thought they were. If it weren’t for Ryan it’d be a no-brainer for her to say that yes, she was all in. She looked at Donovan. He seemed thrilled to be here. He’d surprised her with how well he interacted with the guys and just how much he knew.