Dreading having the conversation with him, I gingerly walk into the office and glance around. I’m the first one in, even before Mathew and no one gets in before him. I dump my bag and coat at my desk and go to the kitchenette to put on some coffee.

“Oh, hey! Good morning!” I say, extra cheerfully, when he walks into the kitchen a few minutes later. I’m so jittery I almost spill the coffee. “Would you like some?”

“Um, yes, sure,” he says, obviously surprised to see me. “You’re in extra early.”

“Yeah, I wanted to catch you actually. Before anyone else got in. I hoped we could clear the air.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, I was really disappointed when you told me I haven’t been pulling my weight around here. I’ve been trying so hard.” I quickly blink back the tears that are threatening to escape and take a deep breath, waiting for his reply.

I’m surprised when he touches me kindly on the shoulder. “Lauren, I’m so sorry.” His voice is quiet and sincere. “I know I’ve been in a bad mood this week and I apologize for letting my personal affairs affect me professionally.”

I look at him and notice the tiredness and angst in his eyes. “Personal affairs?” I ask quietly, not knowing whether I should or not.

He stares at the floor for a moment.

“It’s ok if you’d rather not tell me,” I add. “I don’t want to pry.”

“No, it’s fine,” he says, shaking his head and making eye contact with me again. His normally clean-shaven jaw is covered with blonde stubble. “It’s my ex. When I got home Monday night, I found the custody papers she sent me. She wants full custody of our son. She wants to take him away from me.”

“Oh God, I’m so sorry!”

“It’s ok. I spoke to my lawyer last night and she thinks we have a pretty good case so it should be ok. But it really freaked me out, thinking she might be able to take him away from me.”

“I really hope it all works out for you.” I can’t imagine what he must be going through right now. And here I am, wrapped up in my own silly problems, as usual.

He smiles. “Yeah, me too. But I’m really sorry for being grumpy with you.” He pauses. “And I had an awkward encounter with your aggressive boyfriend too, telling me to back off. I’m sorry Lauren. I’ve just had so much going on in my head the last couple of days. I know you’ve been doing a good job.”

“It’s ok, I understand,” I say, smiling, although my blood is boiling thinking about Jackson bullying a man who is under so much stress.

“You have no need to worry about your position in this team. Your work has been excellent. The report you finished yesterday was far more thorough than anyone else usually manages. I was very impressed. I shouldn’t have let anyone else affect my opinion of you.”

“Thanks,” I say, the relief flooding through me.

“So as long as you continue to do so well, as far as I’m concerned you are the leader of this team for as long as you want.”

“Really? That’s fantastic. Thank you so much!” My heart is pounding. I can’t believe the good news.

“I’m really glad you came in early so we could talk about this,” he continues. “I was planning to pull you aside today and have a chat. I felt really bad about snapping at you.”

“And I’m really sorry about Jackson,” I say. “He got funny about seeing us out together the other night, but I had no idea he would accost you like that in the street!”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. Didn’t he tell you? He got in contact with me last night. Found me on our company Facebook page. He apologized. Asked me if I wanted to come along to softball sometime.”

This is news to me. My heart starts singing. Maybe I’d overreacted when I’d stormed out of his house last night, but maybe that’s what it took to get him to say sorry. Tough love worked this time. “He’s a really nice guy, most of the time,” I assure him. “I’m sure you two will get along. Just a bit protective I guess.”

“I can understand why,” he says, grinning. “And I’m not saying that in a creepy way. Yes, you’re gorgeous, but you’re also a genuine caring person. Not to mention hard-working and intelligent too.”

I can feel my cheeks getting hot and I look away. “Um, thanks. Another cup of coffee?”

He’s laughing. “Although you should really work on accepting compliments better. Look, I know things got a little… flirty, shall we say, that night after our first day working together. But if I’m honest, that was purely the booze talking. You’re not really my type.”

I grin back, incredibly relieved. “I’m just glad we’ve sorted things out,” I say. “It was really worrying me, but to know you think I’m doing a good job is all I wanted to hear.”

“You are.” He grins again. “So keep up the good work.”

“I will, but on another note… what is your type?”

He laughs. “Petite. Long dark hair. Dark eyes. I guess… Why, you have anyone in mind?”

“Maybe,” I reply, raising my eyebrows and smiling.

“I see…” He grins, then holds out his coffee cup for me to top off.