Free Kelpie (Come Love a Fey) by Kaye Draper Page A

Ada?”
 I turned to her again, trying not to look impatient.  It wasn’t her fault I
had been dumb enough to let a strange man into my home.
    “I’m
sorry,” she said timidly, “but I just noticed.  Are you um, wearing a new
perfume?”  I looked at her in surprise, and then sniffed at my shirt.
    “No.
 Nothing new.”  In fact, I wasn’t wearing perfume at all.  Leith said it gave
him headaches when I sprayed the “unnatural odor” in the apartment.  I gritted
my teeth as I realized that I was altering my life to suit his whims.
    She
shrugged and gave me an embarrassed smile.  “Never mind.  I just though you
smelled different.”  Seeing my odd look, she backpedaled. “Um, I’m really
sensitive to smells.  Maybe it’s a new air freshener around here or
something.”  She waved me away with a laugh and I continued on to my desk.
    Noah
was waiting for me.  I almost turned around and walked back out the door.  With
everything else, I had been able to avoid thinking of him for the last couple
of days.  I squared my shoulders, refusing to let myself be an emotional wuss.
    “Can
I help you?”  I plastered on my best professional smile as I stashed my purse
in my overhead bin.
    He
looked strained, as if he had been up all night.  “I just wanted to apologize. 
For real.”  Seeing my mutinous expression, he held up his hands.  “I’m not
asking you to take me back or anything like that.  I just wanted to say I’m
sorry, and I am trying to change.  Thank you for giving me the push.”
    He
left before I could reply, thank God.  I have no clue what I might have said. 
I sat down at my computer and started opening e-mails.  I paused to roll my
shoulders, and settled in.  I had just started my day, and pain was already creeping
into my neck and shoulders.  By the time the day was over, I knew it would work
its way up from my neck and into my head.  Over the past five years, tension
headaches had become second nature to me.
    Christie
peeked around her cubicle.  “Hey.  I heard you and Noah broke up.  I’m sorry.” 
    Funny,
she didn’t sound too sorry.  I shrugged.  Everyone in this office always knew
everything about everyone else.  “Don’t be.  I just got smart, that’s all.”
    She
raised her perfectly manicured eyebrows.  “Good for you girl.  He’s bad news.” 
I glanced away from my computer screen to see her eyes following Mr. Bad News as he walked to the coffee maker. 
    My
smile felt brittle.  “Thanks Christie.  It means a lot.”  I had to keep a
working relationship with her after all.   
    I
was hoping the woman would leave, but she didn’t seem inclined to move. 
Instead, she leaned a hip against the wall of my cubicle and settled in for a
chat.  “So what was he like, really?  I mean, I hear he’s quite the lady’s man,
but it’s all just talk, right?”
    Oh
God . 
Now she wanted to do girl talk?  I could feel my shoulders tightening, and my
neck was beginning to throb. 
    A
tiny voice came from behind me.  “Don’t you have work to do Christie?”  I
swiveled my chair, surprised.  Bethany stood just outside my cubicle, her arms crossed,
and a delicate little foot tapping in agitation.  “Get out of here and stop
trying to make Ada feel bad.  You will regret it you if you make her upset.”
    I
almost laughed aloud when Christie turned without a word and went back to her
cubicle.  I heard her start typing furiously.  Who would have thought she would
be intimidated a harmless little thing like Bethany?
    I
gave the girl a smile of gratitude.  “Can I help you with something?” 
    She
handed me a stack of folders.  Her eyes were still snapping with anger.  “I figured
out what that scent was.  You smell like him.  Sorry, it took me so long to
figure it out.  I will not let anyone harm you.  Tell him that?”  She gave me a
beaming smile and left.
    I
shook my head in confusion and tried to make sense of what she’d just