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I point toward the doom room and ask, “What the hell is that?”
“That? Oh, it’s my office. It’s a little cluttered. Just ignore it.”
I can’t ignore that. I don’t know a single person on earth that would be able to ignore that much clutter. Papers are stacked on the desk, the chair—really every available flat space—and I shake my head.
“Trust me, I have a system.” He tries to reassure me, but the pink in his cheeks tells me he’s lying to himself.
“That’s not a system. That’s the categorical definition for a lack of a system. How do you even work in that?”
“I don’t,” he mumbles. But I heard him.
Pushing him to the side, I nudge the door open more before it stops. I lean in and peek around the corner, and sure enough, there are boxes filled with paper stacked against the back of the door.
“What even is this?”
“When I took over for my dad, he left a lot of the paperwork for me to get a feel for how he filed. I’m not very tidy when it comes to this stuff, and I tend to just make it work.”
“You…just make it work?”
He nods.
“Is this for the nursery or for the landscaping part of the business?”
Embarrassed, he looks down at his feet before mumbling, “Both.”
“Oh my God, Warrick. How do you keep track of everything? How do you do business like this?”
He scrubs a hand along the back of his neck. “Yeah, it’s on my to-do list to tackle after the start of the new year. But you could say organization isn’t my strong suit. I like to grow things. To plug them in the ground. Paperwork? It’s not really my thing.”
“No shit.”
“Don’t worry about it. I won’t make you look at it any longer for fear of your soul up and leaving your body.”
“I could help,” I say before I think better of it.
Anything would be better than what he’s got going on right now. And while I avoid the man, he’s not a bad person, just a messy one from what I see. Organization is my love language, and I couldn’t in good conscience let him try to tackle this by himself. He might end up buried under a pile of Post-its, never to be heard from again.
“You could…help,” he says.
“Yeah. This is what I do. I mean, what my job is. I’m a virtual administrative assistant. I help my clients stay organized and on task, book their travel, help them with project management, that kind of thing. Your office is right up my alley.”
His eyes light up, and I know he’s going to take me up on my offer before he even opens his mouth.
“I mean, sure, yeah, if you have spare time, I’d appreciate it.”
I do have the time. Most of my workload slows down for the last few weeks of the year as my clients gear up for the time off they’ll be spending with their family, so my calendar is light.
The question is, do I think that I can get this office in shape before my own work picks up again?
I’ve worked bigger miracles in the past.
But…it’s a lot of time to spend with Warrick, who’s already appealing to me. Between the dates and spending the day at the nursery, I worry for my self-control around the affable, attractive goofball.
You can do it, Chip. You just keep your head down, get the work and dates done, and then go on with your life. Warrick isn’t your Prince Charming.
“I can be here early tomorrow and get started. Fair warning, I’m going to need your help in getting this all sorted before I figure out some sort of system for you. Are you going to be around?”
He nods. “Yeah, we do brisk business on the weekends, but the weekdays are a little slower, so I’ll have more time to help.”
