Free Impervious (City of Eldrich Book 1) by Laura Kirwan

in the ass.
     

Chapter 11
    W ith a jerk, the elevator car stopped and the door slid open on the third floor.
    Like many old buildings, city hall was rumored to be haunted, with the third floor at the center of most of the stories. Meaghan didn’t care. She’d known people over the years who had experienced unexplainable things. She hadn’t. Whether that had more to do with them or with her, she wasn’t sure. Meaghan would worry about ghosts if and when she saw one. And if she was right about the fireworks to come, at least a few of the living people in the building were scarier than the dead ones.
    Haunted or not, city hall was a beautiful old building, rich in detail and character, unlike the ugly sealed brick-and-glass boxes she’d worked in before. The windows even opened. Encounters with the supernatural seemed a small price to pay for fresh air.
    A few steps from the elevator, a glass-and-wood door marked “City Solicitor” in ornate gold script stood open. Meaghan walked into an open reception area containing two desks. A young woman sat behind one of them. The nameplate identified her as Kady Cressley. The nameplate on the other desk read “Natalie Segretti.”
    Kady gave Meaghan a glowing smile and jumped to her feet. “Ms. Keele?”
    Meaghan smiled back. “That’s me. And it’s Meaghan, okay?”
    “Got it.” Kady walked around the desk. “I’m Kady.” She wore jeans and a plaid hoodie. “We are so happy you’re here. Especially Jamie. I don’t think he wants to be the big boss anymore.”
    “Yeah, I got that feeling. He was way too eager to bring me stuff when I hurt my foot.”
    Kady tried to muffle a laugh. “Oh, he’s so ready not to be in charge. Let me take you to your office. Natalie’s around here somewhere. She’s the office manager.”
    A four-person office needed a manager? Meaghan wondered if Natalie could be the queen bee she suspected lurked somewhere in the building. But that wasn’t the feeling she got from the way Russ and Jamie spoke about Natalie. They seemed to like her quite a bit.
    Kady led Meaghan down a short hallway and gestured at the open doorway. “Here’s your office. Not as big as the downstairs offices but a lot more fun.” She giggled. “At least I think so.”
    Meaghan walked through the doorway and her mouth dropped open. The small office was round. Meaghan realized she was in one of the turrets. Light streamed in from three directions through six windows, tall and narrow to compensate for the curve of the walls. Even with the gray rain clouds hanging in the sky, the office was filled with natural light. Meaghan couldn’t wait to see how it looked on a sunny day.
    “Do those windows open?” Meaghan asked.
    “They sure do,” Kady said with obvious pride.
    “Wow. I’ve never had office windows that open before.” Meaghan laughed, delighted with the space. “I’ve never had a round office either.”
    “Not big.”
    “Who cares,” Meaghan said. “It’s round.”
    Meaghan had never fallen in love with a room before. The space felt right. It felt good.
    It felt like home.
    She shook her head, chalking up the rush of feeling to the general weirdness that seemed to be swirling all around her. It was stress-induced, she was sure, manufactured by the too-rapid transition from the life she’d long known, a bad case of nerves caused by being abruptly dumped into a whole new life.
    Kady giggled some more. “I know, right? That’s what I thought the first time I saw it. A bitch to furnish, though.” She stopped and looked at Meaghan, waiting for a reaction. “Sorry.”
    Meaghan raised an eyebrow. “You know, I’ve heard that word before. Even used it a few times. Sometimes I use much worse words.”
    Kady relaxed and her smile returned. “That makes things easier. Natalie and I both swear like dock workers. Drives poor Jamie nuts.”
    Meaghan dropped her purse and umbrella behind the desk and Kady took her on a tour of the rest of the small