Page 50 of Her Honorable Hero

“Sure, what?”

“Could you put them someplace else? The last time they gave me a terrible sinus headache. I’d normally suggest you just keep them on your desk, but I know that I’d smell them there too, and it would just be too overwhelming.”

“Oh, God, Miranda, does it trigger your migraines? Holy Moly, let me get them out of here. You need to tell Griff. He’s going to feel terrible.” She practically ran out the door with the bouquet. Miranda couldn’t be happier.

That bastard. The mean and evil bastard. How dare he try to worm his way into her life. He was dead. Didn’t he get it? He was dead and buried and that’s where he needed to stay. Her mind wound backwards to that horrible night. She remembered everything. Every detail.

She tried to shove it down deep, but she couldn’t. It roiled around incessantly, and she couldn’t focus. She was having trouble seeing the papers on her desk. It seemed to be swimming in front of her eyes.

Miranda picked up her mechanical pencil but it dropped out of her hand. She whimpered.

No! This couldn’t be happening. Not this fast.

She blindly reached for her purse, because lights were beginning to pop before her eyes. She fumbled for her top drawer, and found her purse. Her fingers grasped the nasal spray bottle with the migraine medicine, and she immediately took a hit.

She kept her eyes closed, but the light still filtered through her lids. It was excruciating. She would not let the dragon win. She would not! She was better than this. She could beat it. How long did she wait for the medicine to take effect? Finally, she went to grab her desk phone. She knocked over the handset and gave up trying to press the right button.

“Susan,” she yelled weakly.

She didn’t think she waited long, but it must have been, because she woke to a cool compress on her brow and at the back of her neck, and the lights were out. She felt like she could breathe.

Thank God for Susan and that medicine.

“How long?” she croaked out.

“Long enough for half of the Lefty’s pizza to have been eaten,” Susan said. Her voice was wobbly.

“Shit.”

“Griff is on his way over.”

“Susan, that wasn’t necessary.” She sat up straighter in her chair, then swallowed a few times, and breathed through her nose. Funny how the thought of Lefty’s no longer held any appeal.

She swallowed and it tasted like vomit.

“Are you kidding me? Three-hundred-and-sixty-four days out of the year you scare me a hell of a lot more than Griff. But when it comes to your health, he scares the bejesus out of me. I’m surprised he isn’t here by now.”

“It was just a headache.”

“Headache my ass. This is the fourth time Griff’s sent you those flowers in the last twelve months. Why have you never told me that you were so allergic?”

Well, that was the million dollar question. How could she tell Susan that she was allergic to the flowers because a man everyone thought was dead, was sending them instead of Griff?

What was his deal sending the flowers, anyway? It was about damn time she pulled up her big girl panties and found out, instead of acting like a scared four-year-old.

“They say that you can develop an allergy, and that’s what happened to me,” Miranda lied. “This time it was really bad.”

“I’ll say,” Susan agreed.

Miranda’s office door swung open. Griff gave her a steely-eyed look as he took her in. He looked ferocious.

“Miranda, why did you come to work today if a migraine was blooming?” he demanded as he stalked across the room, then knelt down in front of Miranda. He took the cloth from Susan’s hand and kept it pressed to her forehead, his other hand cupped Miranda’s cheek.

“Oh, Baby, I need to get you home.”

“Where’s Livvie?” she asked weakly.

“I dropped her off at Dex and Kenna’s. She’s spending the night.”