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snow lay on my driveway. It had been
cleared—by a truck, going by the marks—and it had been salted. I
stared, growing colder by the second as my frozen mind tried to
process what I was seeing. Someone at the clearing company must’ve
made a mistake and plowed the wrong driveway. Well, I wasn’t about
to look this gift snowplow in the mouth. Cheered immensely, I
turned around. The extra time this gave me called for that French
toast.
    “You’re in a good mood this morning.” Ashley
appeared at my desk, dark circles under his eyes.
    “Hmm?”
    “You practically bounced past my office. I’m
a morning person, but that was just unnatural.”
    “Someone accidentally cleared my driveway
this morning.” I heaved a happy sigh. “No snow clearing. It’s the
best thing to happen to me in ages.” Plus, I hadn’t received any
gifts for two days. It seemed whoever had been behind it had taken
pity on me.
    “Right.” Ashley looked pained. God, that
probably made me sound really pathetic.
    “You look like you didn’t get much sleep,” I
said, lowering my voice a little. To be honest, he looked like he
was about to pass out.
    Ashley sighed and rubbed his forehead. His
suit looked as immaculate and well tailored as ever, despite the
state of him. The purple tie fit the dark hue of the outfit
perfectly, and it brought out a hint of green in eyes I’d always
thought of as dark brown. “Amal’s in Germany,” Ashley said. “He’s
having trouble with the account over there, and he misses his
daughter. I was on the phone with him until four a.m. the past two
nights helping with the sales report. It’s a clusterfuck.”
    “Oh no.” I checked my watch. Carl wouldn’t be
in until after lunch today due to a meeting with some big shot from
France. “Meet me back here in half an hour,” I said. I grabbed my
coat and wallet, and turned. Ashley stared at me. “Off you go,” I
urged and stepped past him.
    Half an hour later, Ashley reappeared at my
desk, eyeing me with wary curiosity.
    I grinned. “Follow me.”
    “What? Greg, what are you doing?” Ashley
whispered urgently when I aimed for Carl’s office. I’d drawn the
blinds on the narrow window beside the door, as well as all the
ones facing outside. I’d made up Carl’s large, comfortable couch
with a blanket and pillow I kept on hand for Carl just in case. On
the little side table stood a steaming mug of hot chocolate I’d
bought from the coffee shop around the corner.
    “Lie down.”
    “I couldn’t possibly.” Ashley laughed, but I
caught him staring at the couch.
    “Yes, you can. I’ll lock the door behind me
and get you out of here before Carl returns. No one comes in here
without going past me anyway. If you want to come out, just buzz
me. The number’s by the phone.” Before he could protest, I added,
“I’ll reroute all your calls to my phone and take care of it.”
    “Greg…” Ashley scrubbed a hand through his
hair, making it stick up.
    “You look ready to fall over. Go on, even if
it’s just half an hour of peace and quiet.” I put my hand on his
chest. He looked startled, his eyes bright and wide when they met
mine. Slowly I pushed him back until he sank down. Then I bent to
untie his shoes.
    “You don’t have to do that,” he murmured.
    “The universe did me a kindness this
morning.” I shrugged. “One I desperately needed. I’m paying my
dues, that’s all. Let me do this.”
    “All right.”
    Something touched my hair: Ashley’s sleeve as
he was removing his suit jacket. I took it and hung it over a
chair.
    “Relax,” I whispered before squeezing through
the narrowest gap in the door I could manage and locking it behind
me. I quickly made my way to Ashley’s office and rerouted his
calls. Then I stopped by the co-ops’ desk and tasked them to go on
a coffee run at eleven. There were four of them, and they just
smiled at me like nothing was wrong. I found it hard to believe
they were the ones trying to embarrass me. I