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The door closed behind all three of them and Nikki started rifling through her desk drawers.
“So, just to get the ball rolling,” Johnny started. “Remember when I used to work for Ortega Construction?”
“Sure. Mr. O. The guy who taught you how to build a house.”
“Right. Well, I called him a couple months ago to see if he had room for what we needed.”
So far this made sense.
“But he’s too busy right now and it would be a twelve-month wait.”
She made a face and kept digging. There had to be an aspirin or a Midol in here somewhere.
“He referred me to André Debois. Said he did freelance carpentry in the summer, and he might be available. I interviewed him last night, found out he’s Sabine’s brother, and I was going to ask you how you felt about him working here after he’d hit you, but then you started yelling at me.”
Nikki gagged.
“What’s going on, Nikki?” Johnny asked in that “dad” tone he used on his younger brother, Shawn.
“I’m just trying to find some Advil, boss. Becausesomeonehit me with their car last night and wow does it hurt.”
She shut the desk drawer with more force than she intended and her gaze tangled with Johnny’s.
So not just the dad tone but the dad frown too.
Awesome.
“Start talking,” Johnny said calmly. Not mad, not upset. Just Johnny being Johnny.
“I get it, okay,” she started. “Nikki Talks Too Much has a secret? What? How could that be?” She scratched her cheek and forced a closed-mouth smile. “It was embarrassing, okay?” She waved a hand at André but didn’t look at him. “We dated, we were engaged, he dumped me.” She twitched at the lack of truth in her words. “I mean, he ghosted me without an explanation, but getting dumped is getting dumped.” She huffed. “It was more than two years ago and I haven’t seen him since.”
She looked at André then.
“Until he hit me with his car.”
Johnny ran his tongue over his lower lip and pumped his eyebrows. “’Kay.” He turned to André. “Now you.”
André rubbed the back of his neck. “She said it all.”
But Johnny wasn’t satisfied with that answer and frankly neither was Nikki.
“Did you know she worked here?” Johnny asked.
André grimaced. “Yeah.”
“Did you hit her on purpose?” Johnny asked.
André’s eyes snapped up and his frown turned severe. “No!”
Nikki almost laughed.
Johnny held up his hands but he didn’t look apologetic at all. “I had to ask.”
“I hadn’t seen her in so long I wasn’t sure how to bring all that up.” André’s eyes flicked to Nikki. “It didn’t seem relevant anymore.”
Those words hit like a bullet to her heart.
Of course.
