Rachel, Out of Office
by Christina Hovland

Copyright © 2021 by Christina Hovland. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Publisher.

Chapter One

“It’s not easy being a mom. If it were easy, fathers would do it.” — Betty White

Rachel

“Not like that.” Rachel Gibson shook her head even though her client couldn’t see her. “Don’t be afraid. You can’t mess it up. Do it just like I showed you. Once it’s aligned, then slip it right in. Boom. Done.”

She glanced at the digital clock on the top corner of her laptop.

Crap, crap, crap. She was so late. A-freaking-gain.

She normally didn’t take clients in her bedroom, but she’d turned off the camera, so it wasn’t a big deal.

“I think I’ve almost got it,” the deep male voice assured in a tone that was not assuring.

Rachel stilled, took a deep breath, and did her absolute best to relax the tension from her shoulders.

Perfection is not measured by degrees. It is created by degrees. She played the mantra over in her head. This particular adage was the extent of the philosophical genes making up Rachel’s DNA. Seeing that most of her genetics came from a family who preferred to crack jokes at inappropriate times to deflect from thoughtful conversation, it was a miracle she’d inherited any deep thoughts.

That said, this philosophical saying was her go-to in the reality of her daily activities as the owner, manager, and only employee of her very own virtual personal assistant company. Also, as a mom to her two boys. Twins.

Anyway, perfection was within her grasp, degree by degree—if she could simply keep her shit together.

Or get her shit together. Either way.

She let out a sigh, watching her client’s progress on the screen. This client was in California, so their time zones were close. Rachel was in Denver, and thanks to the beauty of the internet, she could work virtually with clients nearly anywhere. Although the new Australia client was starting to seriously cost her on missed sleep.

“Darn,” he said. Once again, he fudged the design. Perfection would not happen for him with this graphic design lesson.

“Just line it up,” Rachel encouraged. “Don’t overthink.”

Most days, her uncanny ability to find solutions to client issues was outweighed only by her inability to deal with her own crap. Sometimes she even considered taking up the joke-cracking schtick that worked so well for her brothers and parents.

“I can’t get it. I’m telling you,” he replied, frustration lacing his tone.

Man, she did not have time for this. She had to get out the door. They’d need to reschedule for later, which stunk because she didn’t have time later.

Hell, she didn’t have time now.

“Okay, wait, I think I did it.” James sounded as relieved as she felt.

Thank goodness. She glanced at his work-in-progress on the screen of her laptop. Oh, thank, thank, thank goodness. Yes, he had it. She released a long breath.

“I can’t believe I got it.” He laughed, switching the video monitor from the graphic design program on the screen to his webcam. “You’re the best, Rachel.”

He gave her two thumbs up.

Even though he couldn’t see her, Rachel couldn’t help it…she smiled. One more happy client. She’d been working with him for the past hour so he could create his own graphics for his start-up company. He’d finally figured out how to copy and paste and now he knew how to move the images around. Perfection by degrees. Her motto in process.

“I’ll practice some more and then we can chat in a few days,” he said, the pleased tone of his words causing that bloom of pride she adored so much in her job.

“Let me know if you need anything else,” Rachel said, raising her voice into the speaker of the MacBook placed precariously on the edge of her dresser. She’d set down the computer so she could simultaneously apply her eye makeup while observing his progression on the screen.

They said their goodbyes, and she closed the laptop. Then she yawned. Last night had been another doozy. Could she get away with crawling into bed to sleep for the next eight hours? No. She could not.

Because the load of shit that needed to be done would not do itself.

That was the answer to that.

Accepting her newest client (the Australia guy) was the perfect supplement to her income. Unfortunately, she’d never been good at pulling all-nighters. Not even when she’d been an undergrad or when her twins were teeny tiny, itsy-bitsy, cutie patootie babies.

One step at a time, one project at a time, one client at a time, she was making all the things happen all the time. After all, the difference between boiling water and hot water was only one degree.

The difference between crossing the finish line in first place or second place was usually a matter of millimeters.

And the difference between “horribly late” and “let’s just reschedule” was nearly always separated by Rachel’s underestimation of time management.

“Rach?” her best friend Molly called from downstairs. “C’mon, hustle up. We’re going to be late.”

Yes, they were. But what was she supposed to say when James had needed an extra hour this afternoon? She did what she always did. Solved. The. Freaking. Problem.

“Coming,” Rachel hollered, hoping her voice carried out the door and down the staircase.

“Late,” Molly called back.

“Two seconds,” Rachel called again. Rubbing the remnants of concealer over the dark bags that seemed to have permanent residence under her eyes, she quickly pulled her hair up into a twist, securing it with some corkscrew bobby pins her mother-in-law insisted she try.

Former mother-in-law.

The meemaw to her twin boys.

The momster who usually always got whatever she wanted, even though Rachel couldn’t quite figure out how she did it.

A quick pop on the scale on her way out of the bathroom and she’d be on her way. One swift step. She could do this. Gah. She hated this part of the day.

She closed her eyes when the digital display blinked, and she considered whether the three cookies she’d eaten after lunch were going to prove to ruin her afternoon. Deep breath and she opened her eyes, glancing down.

Shit.

Damn, that thing was being a total asshole.

For the record, she’d eat the cookies again just to spite it.

Also, they were really yummy and a gift from a client. They’d arrived at her doorstep warm—with bonus ice cream—and what was she supposed to do? They were meant to be eaten warm. So she ate them…warm. That was what one did with divine cookies.

“Rachel, seriously,” Molly called, but her tone sounded as though she’d just discovered the remnants of a dozen warm cookies from Heather’s Cookie Co. on the dining room table, and she didn’t really care if they were that late.

Double crapola.

“Don’t eat those,” Rachel shouted, grabbing her favorite sling-back black sandals on her way out of her bedroom, her toes sinking only briefly in the carpet because she was on a sprint.

Dammit, Molly was as good as Rachel for spiderlike senses around carbohydrates and sugar. Rachel should’ve put them away. Of course, her best friend would find the residual cookies.

But Rachel had plans for them—there were four left.

Two for each of her boys.

If Molly ate one, then there would be only three and that meant an argument that Rachel did not want to referee.

So if Molly ate one, then Rachel would have to eat one, but she’d already had plenty, and she didn’t really want the scale to be more of an asshole because her best friend ate a cookie.

That made sense, right?

“Seriously, Molly, don’t eat that.” Rachel took the steps two at a time, skidding around the bottom of the bannister, deftly stepping over errant Legos scattered like land mines, past the corner of the office she’d set up there.

Yes, she could cut the third cookie in half for the boys. While that might teach them a lesson in sharing, it brought more challenges and probably the food scale to get an exact weight so things were precisely fair.

So it’d just be easier if—

She scooted around the corner into the dining room where the box lay open on the table.

Cookie in hand, Molly’s dark curls bobbed against the exposed pale skin of her shoulder as she turned to Rachel. Rachel, who had reached the room three seconds too late.

Molly lifted her looked-to-be-recently-threaded eyebrows as she bit, her hazel eyes sparkling with the perpetual perkiness that had become her brand.

Rachel made a strangled sound.

“Wha?” Molly asked as a few errant crumbles fell from her lips.

Rachel took a breath as her cell buzzed in her pocket.

“Want some?” Molly asked around the mouthful of carb-laden goodness.

Rachel shook her head, glancing at her cell. A client. She needed to take this.

“Don’t pick that up.” Molly’s eyes turned to slits. “We’ll be even later. Not just cookie late, but client late. You know we can’t be—”

“It’s Cassie.” Rachel stared as the number flashed on the screen.

“Cassie?” Molly asked.

“Client.” Cassie had a tendency to try to do things herself that she really should let Rachel handle. “It’s probably important.”

“It’s after hours,” Molly said, totally correct in that assumption.

Rachel bit at her bottom lip. Molly wasn’t wrong…yet…

“That is why you shouldn’t pick it up.” Molly clearly knew better than to reach for the phone, since she and Rachel had been friends forever. But, since they’d been friends forever, Rachel knew Molly’s fingertips must itch to grab the cell and bat it out of reach. Crush it under her tennis shoe. That sort of thing.

“It is after five,” Molly continued. “We have a Little League game to get to. Your kids and my kid are expecting us not to be late. And boundaries are important.”

“What if the call is important?” Rachel wished she had powers of telepathy so she could reach through the signal and determine if it was something that needed to be dealt with before she picked up and made them both late. Later.

“What’s the likelihood that it’s not something that can wait until tomorrow?” Molly asked, her tone one of soothing comfort that usually worked for getting her way.

Molly had a knack for getting people—everyone—to bend to her will. Sometimes she used the brute force of her personality and sometimes, like now, she used a gentle touch. Molly was diverse in her manipulation techniques like that.

She’d make an excellent mother-in-law someday.

Rachel warred with herself and the decision at hand. If she answered the call, she’d be late, but her client would be happy. If she didn’t answer the call, she’d be only a little late and Molly would be happy.

“My clients hire me because they know I’ll always go above and beyond.” Her heartbeat increased even as she glanced at her friend. The above and beyond thing was right on her business cards. In bold italics.

“True.” Molly continued nibbling the cookie but kept one eye on Rachel and one eye on the phone. She also started toward the door.

“Not answering is not going above and beyond,” Rachel declared.

“Don’t make the boys wait,” Molly said quietly, turning to her friend. Her understanding of the battle going on inside Rachel was abundantly apparent.

And that’s what did it.

The boys.

Her boys.

Rachel wouldn’t let her boys wait.

“I’ll just catch up with Cassie in the car on the way.” Still, Rachel had to force herself not to return the call.

Her phone immediately rang again, as it did regularly throughout the day and often during the night, too. Since she was a virtual personal assistant, she had three large clients. In three very different time zones.

This was her job. Her business. The thing that, aside from her children, brought her the most joy.

Most days.

This time, however, it was her ex calling. The father of her eight-year-old twins and the supposed-to-be one-night stand that turned into way more than either of them had bargained for.

Mouthing, I’m sorry, she immediately pressed the phone to her ear. “Gavin?”

Molly rolled her eyes, shaking her head, while making gagging noises unbefitting the cookie she still worked on.

“Rach.” He did not sound like he was anywhere near the baseball field, or in a car on the way to the baseball field. No, he sounded like he was in an airport.

A slight feeling of vertigo pulled at Rachel, like the gravitational field of the earth seemed to get stronger.

No. He needed to be at the game. The boys were so excited.

She gripped the phone in her hand and closed her eyes.

Gavin’s a good guy. Gavin’s a good guy. Gavin’s a good guy.

“What’s up?” she asked, hoping her perky tone betrayed the inner turmoil swirl, willing him to say he was on his way to the game to see their boys even though she knew deep down he wasn’t and she’d work her magic and all would be well. The only one who would pay the price was her.

“Dakota has a last-minute installation in Boston,” Gavin said, obviously distracted because he was Gavin. Distracted. “We’re heading there for the weekend. I’ll be back in time to help set up for the boys’ party, but we’re going to miss tonight.”

Yes, gravity. Her legs felt heavier by the second.

“Gavin, they want you there.” They need you there.

“If I could be there, I would, you know that.”

She did. Sort of.

He sounded genuine. Then again, he always sounded genuine. Genuine was Gavin’s thing. If Gavin had a thing.

Dakota and Gavin had been engaged for a while. He worked tons of hours, in an office. Dakota, meanwhile, had carved out a name for herself as an artist who painted, and sculpted, a variety of animals in bathtubs.

Yes, this was a thing.

Dakota worked tons of hours with this gig and was, as Gavin had explained, kind of a big deal. Rachel didn’t mind her. She was nice to Rachel’s kids, and that’s what mattered.

Meanwhile, Rachel also worked tons of hours…from her home office, so custody and the majority of childcare had been delegated to her.

Which was fine because, as she’d insisted and they’d agreed, the boys needed her stability.

“Rachel?” Dakota had apparently confiscated the phone from Gavin.

“Hey, Dakota.” Rachel struggled to hold her phone and pull on her shoes simultaneously.

Dakota? Molly mouthed rolling her eyes dramatically with more gagging sounds.

Rachel nodded, ignoring her friend to focus on the conversation. Molly hated Dakota.

“Gavin and I sent the boys a surprise for their birthday. It’ll be there tomorrow. I hate to ask, but would you mind—”

“I’ll grab a video for you.” Rachel hopped to stand, mentally rehearsing what she would say to the kids so they wouldn’t feel the entire sting of this disappointment. Your dad wanted to make it tonight, but he had to go to Boston. Don’t worry, he has a big surprise for you both.

“You’re the best.” Dakota’s muffled voice sounded as though she’d covered the speaker before she spoke.

“Not a problem.” A birthday surprise was an excellent distraction. A birthday surprise was something for the boys to look forward to. A birthday surprise was the perfect redirection for their disappointment.

This wasn’t the first time she’d helped Dakota and Gavin co-parent virtually. It wouldn’t be the last, she was certain of that. Gavin was not a hands-on kind of father. Then again, he hadn’t really signed up to be a dad, so she did her best not to make it miserable for him.

“Bye, Rach.” Gavin’s voice sounded like an echo, since Dakota still had the phone.

“Bye,” Rachel said, thumbing the off button.

Rachel liked Dakota. She liked Gavin, too. It wasn’t his fault they’d based their marriage on one night of mediocre passion that led to their boys.

It wasn’t hers, either.

It just…was.

Molly was still making gagging faces in between cookie bites. She didn’t understand this part of things.

Gavin and Rachel had tried. Tried-ish.

But, despite his mother’s proclivity to shoving them together, guilting them together, and offering to pay Rachel to ensure they stayed together, their marriage was as dull as their kitchen knives.

Let’s just say, if their marriage were an entrée, it had no seasoning at all.

No one really understood what had happened on that one night eight years ago that had changed their lives. The night she hand-selected Gavin from a group of guys for her first ever supposed-to-be one-night stand.

The evening had resulted in one of them climaxing. (Spoiler alert, it wasn’t Rachel.) He’d called her a few times after, but she hadn’t returned his calls because that would’ve totally ruined the point of having a one-night-only curtain call.

Then—and oh boy, was it a big then—were the words, “Congrats, it’s twins.”

That part did not suck, because Rachel loved the hell out of her boys.

Besides the children, she and Gavin had shared a marriage that lasted a few months before they both came to their senses and recognized they made much better co-parenting friends and partners than co-parenting spouses who slept across the hall, because he snored like a freaking freight train on fire and she, so he told her, hogged all the blankets.

They were excellent…friends. Friends who had two kids together and eventually lived separate lives because it was just more comfortable for everyone.

“What did they want?” Molly asked, the dislike of Gavin apparent in her tone.

“Long story.” Rachel grabbed the keys on her way to the door. “I’ll fill you in on the way.”

Where Rachel and Gavin got along fine, he and Molly despised each other. Which Rachel didn’t understand.

“He’s not coming to the game,” Molly correctly guessed.

Phone stuffed into her pocket, Rachel flicked on the slow cooker so dinner would be ready when they arrived home. She tossed the extra cookie in a zip-top bag so it would be safe in her purse—once her boys discovered she kept tampons in the interior pocket, they avoided the thing at all costs.

“I guess that means Travis will attend instead,” Molly mused.

She had been working to convince Rachel to practice her flirting skills with Travis Frank for the past four months.

The idea was so far beyond ridiculous, so off the beaten path that it didn’t even show up on Google Maps.

But flirting was Molly’s job, so she looked for opportunities everywhere. Rachel didn’t blame her because Molly literally taught the basics of dating and had to keep her skills sharp for her clients. She used her inability to take no for an answer and her MyTube channel to teach others the intricacies.

“Dave might come,” Rachel said, hoping it was Dave who would attend. Gavin had two brothers. She got along fabulously with Dave. Not so much with Travis.

For a lengthy list of reasons substantially longer than Molly’s meddling.

“It’ll be Travis,” Molly said, a small, knowing smile teasing the edges of her hot-pink-painted lips.

“Probably.” It usually was Travis who filled in when Gavin couldn’t make it. Rachel started the mental prep work for dealing with him. “Do not start up about him again.”

Molly bit at her bottom lip, apparently refusing to respond.

Rachel could literally feel her matchmaking friend brewing an idea to push Rachel and Travis together. Last time he’d been to a game, Molly manipulated them into sitting thigh-to-thigh on the bleachers. The time before that? Her car broke down and she asked Travis to drive them home. Then Molly caught a ride with the umpire’s wife instead.

Oh, to be sure, Molly didn’t believe Rachel and Travis had any business being together. She just wanted to piss off Gavin.

It was her way.

“I like Travis.” Molly bit at her bottom lip, saying the words with the caution of one merging onto a road littered with construction. “I like it when he comes to the games.”

When Gavin couldn’t make a game, one of his immediate family members always showed up to—and she was quoting him here—“represent the family.”

Like they were mafiosos or something.

They weren’t.

They were, however, loaded beyond belief because Great-Meemaw Frank had created the first Puffle Yum and sold the shit out of the toaster tarts.

Rachel paused, setting the purse strap onto her shoulder. “Travis is a fantastic uncle.”

She made it a point to enunciate that last word. Because any idea of flirting with Travis or doing anything beyond friendly chatter with him was an absolute nopers.

“Is that new?” Molly gestured to Rachel’s bag. She may have been a black belt in flirting, but her distraction techniques could use some work.

Rachel knew how Molly operated and, in her mind, as long as she didn’t verbally commit, she would weasel her way out of an implied agreement later.

“I grabbed it at the Coach outlet in Loveland last week,” Rachel said. The rose-colored over-the-shoulder bag was the last on the shelf, and Rachel had fallen in deep lust with it on first sight.

“I think I need at least two of these,” Molly mumbled, examining the stitching.

“Too bad, I got the last one.” Rachel grinned, nabbing the bag away with a smirk.

Molly shook her head. “There are always more online.”

“Dinner’s cooking, I have my keys, shoes, purse, go bag, sunglasses, boys are going straight to the field after school.” Rachel inventoried everything she needed for the game.

“You ready now?” Molly asked.

“Let’s go.” Rachel dropped her sunglasses into her bag and held the front door for her friend.

This week was Molly’s turn to drive.

Which meant Molly would be busy driving the vehicle and Rachel would spend the thirty-minute drive to the baseball field calling Cassie back and then chatting about everything but her least favorite Frank brother. So perhaps, just perhaps, Molly would leave it alone.

Maybe.

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Release Date: November 16, 2024

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