Chapter Four

Jack

"Are you sure you want to take on the responsibility?" Jack pushed the stack of papers to the corner of his desk. It'd been a long day and he wanted to make sure he'd heard her correctly. If she wanted to host the get-together at her place, it was perfectly fine by him. She could certainly have that headache!

"I wouldn't have gone through the trouble of working out a few details if I wasn't."

He was waiting for her to remind him that Christmas was her favorite time of the year, but she miraculously refrained from doing so.

"Then I'd like to give you some money to help offset some of the expenses. I know the others will help, but I'd like to do my part as well. I don't keep personal checks on me anymore, so will you be okay if I write you one from the business account?"

He couldn't quite figure out the expression on her face. Was she leery of taking a check from him?

"Dr. Sewell, I—"

"Or I can stop by the bank if you prefer cash. I couldn't do it today as they're already closed, but I can have it for you within the next day or two."

"No, no. A check is fine. You don't even have to do that if you don't want to." Loren stood up and took a few steps towards the door.

"If you'll hang on a second, I'll go ahead and give it to you then."

Jack slid open the bottom desk drawer and removed a bulky leather-bound checkbook. He hadn't filled out one of these in quite some time so he double-checked that everything was correct before handing it over to her.

He hated the tension that had developed between them recently. Loren was the type of employee he wished he had a dozen more just like her…minus the holiday enthusiasm. If she thought he didn't like her, then she was surely mistaken.

"Wait, this is too much," she said and quickly handed it back to him.

Jack was sure he'd filled it out right. He glanced down at the check, scanned over his scribble, then slid it over again. "It's correct."

"I mean, if you want me to serve filet mignon to everyone—"

"That's up to you." He flashed her a toothy smile. There was the humor he was used to hearing from her. "Lobster is pretty good too, you know."

"I'll keep a list of everything so you'll know exactly what the money is being used for."

"Loren." She was taking things a little too far now. "That won't be necessary. I trust you."