XOXO: A Bundle of Cozy Novellas

Edmund

EDMUND

It took Edmund far too many goes before he eventually managed to maneuver his shiny new-ish SUV into the tiny parking spot of the Canopus Software Development company parking lot . He was (again) grateful he’d sprung for the back-up camera and side sensors; it was bad enough Americans insisted on driving on the wrong side of the road, they also seemed to design car park spaces in a width inversely compared to the size of their cars.

You didn’t have to choose the larger model; you could’ve picked a Mini or something else more practical.

Right. Edmund snorted. A Mini—not even produced by a British company any longer. If he was going to live on this side of the pond, he was going to drive a nice large car. Sort-of drive; the wrong side of the road thing had him anxious, even after nearly a year, so he only drove to and from work and maybe to the shop for groceries. Three months he’d owned the car and it still had under five hundred miles on it, something his friend Chance teased him about at every, well… chance.

Turning off the engine, Edmund eased himself out of the car and pressed the fob to lock it. A satisfying beep sounded, indicating he’d been successful. As he pushed through the doors of Canopus Software, Edmund spied his client, Jude Collins, just stepping away from the front desk and into his office, where the door shut firmly behind him. Jude’s personal assistant, Owen Addison, sat at what passed for reception watching Jude’s departure, a harried expression on his face. Jude was difficult on his best days; Edmund had learned to limit their interactions.

“Is Jude working you hard today?” Edmund asked as he approached the desk.

“Let me tell you.” Owen muttered, glancing at the closed door behind him, but he didn’t add anything else other than a directed and friendly, “What can I do for you, Mr. Lake?”

You can continue to look up at me like that while I discreetly ogle you , Edmund thought. “Thank you; I believe I have an appointment with Jude this morning. And please, call me Edmund.”

Owen’s delectable lips opened with a gasp. “Oh, sh—crap, dammit. That’s been canceled and I was supposed to call you—but I forgot. This week has been hell.” He sighed and scooted back his desk chair to open a large drawer. From where Edmund waited, he could see a messenger bag was tucked inside.

“I might as well pack my bag; Jude is going to fire me for sure this time.”

Edmund felt his eyes widen. Owen couldn’t leave Canopus—who would Edmund talk to when he visited the office? He couldn’t get used to another new front-desk person; it was just too difficult. Really, he only came in to the office as often as he did because of Owen.

Owen would likely be horrified if he knew how attractive Edmund found him, as Owen was in all ways the opposite of Edmund, who was too close to his dreaded forty-fifth birthday to contemplate and not what anyone in their right mind would call slim or athletic. Owen was lanky and loose limbed; his dark auburn hair defied gravity and any product Owen used on it. His most striking feature, though, were his amber eyes. Edmund had never seen eyes that color before.

“It’s nothing. Please don’t worry about it. I live close, and it’s easy enough for me to go back home. No need for Jude to know,” Edmund babbled.

Owen peered up at him through thick eyelashes, stopping in the midst of putting something into his bag. “Are you sure you’re not angry?”

“Everyone makes mistakes, and besides, I’m not entirely ready to talk to Jude yet anyway.” That was true. Jude wanted to talk to Edmund about developing a new app, and Edmund wasn’t sure the app was a good idea. He needed more time for research and to play around a bit with his own idea.

“Well, all right. But I’m pretty sure he’ll fire me before New Year’s anyway. I should’ve listened to my friends when they warned me about him.”

“Jude does have a bit of a reputation,” Edmund ventured, not wanting to bad-mouth his client too much. But the unfortunate truth was, Jude was a difficult man, and his reputation preceded him.

“He asked me to try and schedule something for next week. Are you available?” Owen was staring at the computer screen on the desk in front of him as he moved his mouse around, clicking into a calendar app.

As if Edmund had anything going on in his life other than work. There was a slight possibility Chance and John were going out of town for a long weekend, and if so, he would be on cat-sitting duty. John and Chance’s year-old cat, McClane, was a spoiled-rotten menace, but Edmund put up with the beast for Chance. And John too, he supposed.

Since relocating to the small town of Skagit from London after his best friend made the move a year ago, Edmund had purchased a stately old home up on the hill, as the tallest hill in Skagit was known. The house was too large for one person, really. Chance (and John because they were a team) tried to talk him out of the pile of sticks, as Chance dubbed it, but it was love at first sight for Edmund. If he was going to die a bachelor (and there was little doubt his relationship status was changing anytime soon), Edmund was going to do it in a house he loved.

And he’d needed his own place, needed to not constantly be around his best friend’s excessive happiness after meeting the love of his life. Edmund was glad for Chance, but sometimes he and John were a bit much—when the house had come on the market, Edmund hadn’t hesitated.

“Next week is fine for me, any day. What does Jude have open?”

Owen grimaced again, peering at the computer screen and nibbling on his lower lip as he searched for a time. “Thursday the twelfth? He has a nine o’clock or a two-thirty.”

Edmund pretended to think about it. “How about the morning appointment?” He knew if he had to anticipate an afternoon meeting with Jude, he wouldn’t get any work done at all.

“Great!” Owen’s long fingers flew across his keyboard, and soon enough Edmund’s smartphone buzzed in his pocket. “You should’ve gotten the invitation. Thanks so much, Edmund.”

“It’s really not a problem.”

Owen looked at him and smiled, asking, “Did you have a nice Thanksgiving? Do you celebrate? All Americans do is eat a ton of food, pretend to enjoy watching football games, and go to bed early.”

“My friend John put on what he called ‘a spread’ for my friend Chance and me. Well, John and Chance live together—John’s Chance’s boyfriend—so… I…”

Edmund froze. Why was he sharing all this personal information? He didn’t think Owen was homophobic, but how would he know? Edmund never talked about his or his friends’ sexuality; now he wanted to immediately discover the secret to invisibility.

Owen smiled again. “That sounds really nice.”

Something in his tone had Edmund asking, “Did you have a nice holiday?” instead of bolting like he wanted to.

“I didn’t do much. I had to work on Friday, so I couldn’t go anywhere.”

“Do you usually travel? It seems loads of Americans like road trips on holiday weekends.” Edmund couldn’t believe—or, actually, he could—that Jude made his PA come to work the day after Thanksgiving. It seemed to Edmund that Black Friday was almost a holiday in itself, a celebration of modern capitalism.

“I try to visit my Aunt Pearl as often as I can. I only moved here to Skagit at the beginning of the year, and I worry about her. I’m her only family.”

“That’s upstanding of you. I don’t have any family—that’s one of the reasons I followed Chance here from London.”

A door off the lobby opened, and someone Edmund didn’t recognize came inside. “I’m sorry for standing here and babbling. I’m sure I’ve kept you from your work. I’ll accept the meeting and see you next then, ta.”

He all but ran out of the lobby to his car.