How had things gotten so out of hand? The board meeting and now Gary? All this was her fault. She sniffed but didn’t bother looking for a Kleenex.

Her door creaked open, making her jump.

She frantically tried brushing the tears away. She figured he’d be out of the office for the rest of the day, but here he was, concern etched on his face.

“Heather, what is it?” he asked quietly. “What’s wrong?”

How could she tell him that Gary was trying to take Finn away from her? “It’s... nothing.” She searched her drawer for a packet of tissues.

“That’s not true.” He walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. It was so hard to ignore how much his touch soothed her. “Today has stressed you out. I didn’t even stop to think that it would be harder on you. The board was tough, and I just expected you to head back to work. I should have told you to take the afternoon off.”

“I’m fine,” she insisted.

“No, you’re not,” he said. “Take the rest of the day off. And work from home tomorrow.”

“But, Simon—”

“I’m serious,” he said. “Work from home until this story blows over. It’ll probably be out sometime this week, so I’m giving you permission to work from home for the rest of the week. You’ve got company access from your laptop. Have your calls directed to your business cell phone. Stay with Finn.”

“What about you?” she asked weakly. Being home with Finn sounded so good.

He shrugged. “I’ll come in and work.”

“You need me, Simon,” she said.

Simon stared down at his hand and her gaze followed his. He frowned, suddenly realizing that he was touching her. He jerked his hand back like he’d just touched a hot stove and quickly shoved both of them into his pockets. “I need you at your best. You’re not at your best if you’re crying at work. Today has taken its toll and you need time away from Dover.”

“It’s not fair to leave this burden on you. Boss or not. This mistake includes both of us. I can’t run and hide if you’re not.” She chewed her lip, apprehension seizing her. Part of her felt like she was asking him to come hide with her. She pushed the thought away as images of what kind of things they could do while hiding filled her mind. It wasn’t fair. She was the one who told him she wasn’t interested. Like he’d done back in high school. Now she’d gone and done the same thing. Not that it made her feel any better. He was a good man. Simon had been so strong all day. So confident. It wasn’t fair for her to fall apart now when he needed her the most.

Now she was angry at herself for crying at work. Her call with Gary had just thrown her, made her so upset. Her ex was determined to take Finn away from her. And he was going to use this scandal to do it. Gary had all but admitted that he was going to take advantage of the scandal and paint her as an unfit mother.

Then, after she’d hung up on her ex, she’d crunched some numbers. There was no way she could afford the fancy lawyer Simon had gotten for her a month ago, and that’s when she’d burst into tears. She could only afford the lawyer she’d relied on before, which made fighting Gary that much harder. The thought of losing Finn had sent her into a fit of hysterics and then Simon had walked into her office.

“How about a compromise?” he said. “I’ll show up to work in the mornings for the rest of the week and then work from home in the afternoons. It’d be like I’m hiding, too. Sort of. I can work from my office and avoid unwanted media attention.”

“I don’t mind stopping by your place if you need me to do anything,” she offered. She realized how that sounded after it came out. “I mean, I don’t want the media to think I’m coming by because...”

“Just park in the underground parking lot.” A small grin played on his face before it quickly disappeared. “That area’s safe from reporters, so you’ll be able to get to my apartment without much trouble.”

She straightened, feeling slightly better. She couldn’t afford not to work right now. She was going to need all the money she could make. “Sounds like a good plan.”

He glanced at her and furrowed his brow. “Is there anything else that’s bothering you?”

“No,” she lied smoothly. If she told Simon about her troubles with Gary, he’d just do something crazy like offer to pay for that fancy lawyer again. She couldn’t take more of his money. Especially not now that he’d been so good to her even after she had closed the door on them. “Why do you ask?”

“It’s been one hell of a day. You mentioned you were going to call your ex,” he replied. “Gary didn’t seem all that happy to see me at your place before. I hope I haven’t contributed to any friction between you.”

“You haven’t,” she replied firmly. Not exactly the truth. She had no intention of telling Simon how bad her phone call with Gary had gone. “He spoke to a journalist as I told you, but that’s it. He’s got nothing else.” She’d caused enough trouble for Simon. She was lucky he hadn’t fired her. They were going to keep things professional, so there was no excuse to tell him about Gary’s move for sole custody.

Heather refused to allow her professional life to get mixed up with her personal life ever again. With a custody battle looming over her, Simon had to stay her boss and nothing more. She had to think of Finn.