Page 10 of A Winter Wish

There was a moment of quiet and Lexie wondered whether she should say something—acknowledge the man who had put them in this situation.

But Theo spoke again, and the moment was lost. “Come on.” He gestured toward the back room. “I’ll show you how we do the accounts.”

“Yippee,” Lexie muttered under her breath.

Theo led her to the back room, where she’d stashed her suitcase earlier that morning. There was a mini fridge, an old armchair—and one desk. Clearly, at some point the room had been made to look nice—with bright green walls and a fancy coffee machine—but it had become inundated with clutter. Theo and Lexie both stepped around Lexie’s abandoned suitcase, and then Theo sat down and woke up the monitor—though Lexie was pretty sure this must be Ange’s desk. There were homemade Christmas cards sitting there, clearly made by young hands—one a weirdly shaped Christmas tree, the other a star with many points. Next to the cards was a photo of Ange with two toddlers—grandkids, maybe?

“The password is Mothball23—Ange’s suggestion.”

Lexie placed her hand to her heart in mock sincerity. “Wow, you’re telling me the password? Have I proved myself worthy?”

Theo didn’t bother to answer her, and he moved his chair an extra inch away when she came to stand behind him so she could see what he was doing.

She cleared her throat. “So are you planning on—?”

She was cut off by the sound of the office door opening as Ange came in, holding two steaming mugs. “Here, I brought you some—Argh!” She stumbled, nearly tripping over Lexie’s suitcase.

Lexie lurched toward Ange and managed to rescue the mugs before the liquid spilled everywhere.

“Sorry!” Lexie said. “I didn’t know where to leave it.”

Ange frowned down at the suitcase.

“I’m staying at my friend’s tonight,” Lexie explained. Fran had invited her round for a proper girls’ night in—facials, wine, popcorn, the whole lot.

“Right. And, ah, how long are you planning on staying there?”

“Just one night.” Then they were doing something together for Christmas Eve tomorrow. “But I hadn’t really unpacked at my mum’s so it seemed easier to bring the whole thing…”

Which clearly sounded stupid, from the look on Ange’s face. But it was something she’d gotten used to doing—packing everything up, taking it all with her. She decided not to mention there was a green canvas bag too, which was sitting in the corner by the coats, out of harm’s way, due to the fact that her breakable wish jar was stowed in it, along with some overnight essentials.

“I see. Well. I brought you both tea. I put an extra sugar in yours, Lexie—thought you could probably use it.”

Theo leaned back in the swivel chair and crossed his arms but said nothing in response to the dig. And fine: even through the shirt he was wearing you could tell they were impressive arms. Just because you hated someone didn’t mean you couldn’t appreciate a nice set of arms.

“And what is it you’re lecturing her about now, Theo? Or are you just going to keep reciting the brochures, which she can look at herself?”

“He’s showing me the accounts,” Lexie said, injecting a healthy measure of sugary sweetness into her voice.

“Accounts? For God’s sake, Theo.”

“We have to make a profit—she needs to know the accounts,” Theo said, deadpan.

“The way you ‘know the accounts,’ you mean?” Ange held up her fingers to demonstrate the air quotes. She huffed out an impatient breath. “We have an accountant, Lexie. And then the rest is down to me. None of the rest of them would have any idea if we were turning a profit or not if I didn’t explain it to them in the quarterlies.”

“And, er, who are the rest of them?” She was thinking of Harry—she doubted very much that he got an invite to the P&L meetings.

Ange put her hands on her hips and gave Theo a look that made him shift uncomfortably in the chair. “You are boring her with accounts rather than telling her who she’s going to be working with? I swear to God, T-Rex…”

Lexie let out a short laugh. “T-Rex?”

Theo said nothing to that, but Lexie saw a muscle in his jaw spasm.

“He only gets called that when he’s behaving like a bigheaded dinosaur. Like now. And get out of my damn chair while you’re at it, Theo.”

Theo did as he was told, while Lexie wondered if he had been deliberately trying to bore her—maybe he thought she’d quit if it was too dull? But what use would that do anyone? He could whine about it all he liked, but they were stuck in this together. Or maybe he just wanted to punish her. Which boded well for the next twelve months.

Ange sat down, while Lexie took a sip of her tea—sweet, like Ange had promised. “Your dad was the founder and director, of course—and he had the largest stake in the business, which is why he could hand it over to you. Then there’s Mike. I was hoping he’d be here to meet you, but he’s spending Christmas abroad. Anyway, Mike’s a director, so he gets bonuses and the like if the company does well, but he doesn’t actually own any of it—that’s now you and Theo.”