Bear by Mindy Burbidge Strunk

Author:Mindy Burbidge Strunk [Strunk, Mindy Burbidge]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: FiveJoys Press
Published: 2020-06-08T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

Adi put the last sandwich into the small cooler, double checking to make sure hadn’t forgotten anything. Drinks—check. Chips—check. Carrots—check. Chocolate chip cookies, the most important part of the lunch—check. And sandwiches—check. She zipped the bag closed and lifted it off the counter, pausing as she walked past the kitchen table. Ugh. Napkins.

Adi reached out and grabbed a small handful, shoving them into the side pocket of the cooler bag. She took a deep breath. Now she had everything.

Setting the bag down by the front door, she walked over to the stairs. “Hazey, are you ready to go?”

Ridley appeared in the doorway of his office. “I’m ready too.”

Adi smiled, still somewhat surprised that he’d agreed to come on this little outing. While he hadn’t said anything about it, she’d had the distinct impression that he’d been avoiding her since their almost kiss several weeks ago. “I still have yet to see Hazel, so your too was premature.”

“I’m coming! Wait for me!” Hazel flew down the stairs, sounding like a herd of buffalo tromping through the house. She stopped by the front door and folded her arms. “Are you coming?”

Adi quirked a brow.

Ridley rolled his eyes. “Because we’re the slow ones.”

“I’m pretty sure she’ll be waiting on us a lot today. I’m learning she has a lot more energy than I do. But hopefully it will mean she’ll go to sleep well tonight.”

“We can hope,” Ridley mumbled as he moved toward the door, holding it open for both Adi and Hazel. With a sweep of his hand, he motioned them outside. “Let’s get this adventure under way, shall we?”

Adi waited next to Hazel’s door, making sure she didn’t need any help getting her buckle fastened.

When it was obvious Hazel had managed it on her own, Adi swung the cooler over to the floor behind Ridley’s seat. She reached for her own door handle, but the door was already open. Ridley was standing there waiting for her to get inside.

She smiled at him. “Thank you.”

A man hadn’t opened a door for her in years. Her father had done it for her all the time after she’d come to live with him. When she was younger, she’d just thought it was what guys did. Until she’d been left sitting alone in the car as her date went on without her. It seemed Ridley was one of those who had been, as her father would say, raised right. Or did it mean something else?

Deep down, in that place where she kept the secrets that she didn’t even want to admit to herself, Adi hoped that he might feel something for her beyond just being her boss. But that was reckless and foolhardy. If she had learned anything from Jean-Paul, it was that mixing business and pleasure was never wise. There had been so many red flags with him, but she’d ignored them, and she wouldn’t do that again.

Still, she hoped she and Ridley might at least be friends. But the way he had been avoiding her lately, she had given up on the idea.

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