Felicity wasn’t entirely sure either. “I think we should change the subject back to sick animals,” Felicity said, eyes sharp, “to help you have some focus.”
Cooper’s eyes sparkled. “Probably for the best.”
“Mm.” Felicity drew in a breath and tried to ignore the fact that she could smell Cooper’s apple-scented shampoo. She’d probably forever more associate it with phenomenal sex. “I’m going to ask Harvey about the vet-tech scheme today.”
“Since it’s my program, he might be more forthcoming if I’m there, too. So I’ll gate-crash your meeting.” Cooper rose, taking her plate to the sink and washing it. As she bent over, her tight jeans accentuated her ass in ways Felicity was helpless to tear her eyes from.
“You’re staring, Felicity.”
“Hardly my fault,” she protested. “It’s your ass calling me like a siren. Think of me like a helpless sailor dashing herself into the rocks of Scylla to get to it.”
Cooper turned, smiling. “I love how you say fancy stuff like that.”
“It’s not that fancy. Actually, I’m not fancy in the least.”
“You are to me. I’m in a Billy Joel song next to you. ‘Uptown Girl.’”
Felicity snorted. “More like Midwest Girl.”
“You know, that’s the first time you’ve willingly described yourself like that. Without looking like you’re pulling out teeth.”
Well. That was true. For some reason, around Cooper, she didn’t feel as much at war with her roots. She wondered why. “Don’t get used to it,” was all she said.
Cooper laughed.
“I don’t suppose you have any details of your vet-tech scheme here.” Felicity said. “I’d like to read up on it before I see Harvey. It’s good to go into a meeting knowing all the details.”
“Sure. In my office.” She pointed to a door beyond the kitchen that Felicity hadn’t noticed before. “I’ll just finish up these dishes—won’t be half a minute—and I’ll help you find it. I mean…if I can remember where I put it.” Her expression became sheepish.
What was that about? Felicity headed to the room in question, opened the door, and gasped. Paperwork piles were stacked from floor to ceiling. There was hardly any surface not crammed with document boxes and books. Oh. My. God.
“Cooper?” Felicity called out. “Did you know you’ve been attacked by hoarders?”
A minute passed, then Cooper joined her, regarding the room as her cheeks bloomed with redness. “Yeah. About that? I seem to be missing the office-sorting gene.”
Felicity stared, her fingers twitching to reorganize all of it. It’d take, what, half a day? “I could…um…assist, if you wanted.” Really, how hard could it be? “One thing I’m really good at is O&M—organization and methods. I mean… God, how can you stand it?” She spun around to look at Cooper.
“Well, I guess I’m not perfect at everything.” Cooper pulled a face. “I’ve been overwhelmed by this for ages.”
“Deedra warned me you’re a little scatterbrained at organizing things. But I mean…this is complete chaos!” Felicity straightened, reaching a decision. “Not to worry. I will sort this out for you. You go in to work, and I’ll have it ordered and filed and alphabetized before you know it. Then I’ll be in to talk to Harvey with you.”
Uncertainty filled Cooper’s face. “Um…seriously?”
“You think I’m prepared to leave an office space looking like this when I could just…make it right?” Felicity shook her head. “Please let me. I mean, unless you have something top secret or embarrassing you’d rather I don’t know about in here.”
“All my stuff that’s tax-related or private or that I’m afraid of losing, like my passport, I keep locked in there.” She nudged the bottom drawer of her desk with her toe. “Everything else is just…wherever, whatever. Where it lands, it stays. I don’t care if you see it. But why would you want to face it? It just… It’s a lot. And you really don’t have to. We can just close the door and forget you were ever in here.”
“If we’re to be a thing, however short, I’m not letting chaos reside in even one room within my radius,” she said firmly. “It’s done. Go.” She shooed her from the room. “Leave me to perform my magic. You go to work. I’ll see you there when I’m done.”
Cooper chuckled and shook her head. “You really are something else.”
“I’m aware.” Felicity tried to sound indifferent, but she felt too delighted and warm for that. “And really, it’s no trouble. I’d find it harder not to do it.”
“I can see why your boss thinks so highly of you,” Cooper said.
“Well…” Felicity wasn’t sure what to say to that. Elena had promoted her. She’d also sent her on this assignment because she had doubts that Felicity was capable of thinking outside the box. So really, Felicity wasn’t entirely sure what Elena truly thought of her. She pushed that depressing thought away and repeated, “Go. I’ll text you if I have any questions about what needs to go where.”
Cooper grinned. “Okay. You win.”
“Of course I do,” Felicity said, and smiled. “It’s me you’re dealing with now. Remember that.”
“Oh, I will.” Cooper looked half dazed and a whole lot amused as she headed out the door for work.
* * *
Felicity marched into Living Ruff just before lunchtime, her mind whirring. She’d sorted out Cooper’s entire life in just three hours. The woman’s existing filing system was a menace but had been hugely satisfying to untangle. Felicity had texted her a few times throughout the morning, supplying photos showing the piles getting smaller and querying whether she’d intended to file a wedding invitation from 2009 under Bills.
Cooper’s replies had been three smiley faces and one “Oops. That wedding was for one of my exes—probably a Freudian move filing it there.”
Of more concern was the vet-tech trainee program file. Not for what was missing but for what was in it: everything. Cooper had forgotten to mention she’d apparently thrown herself into the project with enthusiasm. She’d fully costed it out, including every local college offering vet-tech qualifications, their responses to her queries about her scheme, deans ranked from “helpful” to “useless,” and suggestions involving clearing out the storeroom on Living Ruff’s ground floor to make temporary accommodation for the applicants in case the college insisted on them having a fixed address before applying. Duties and ideas for how to further train vet techs in a Living Ruff apprenticeship scheme were listed in exhaustive specificity. It was astonishing in detail, even if it wasn’t the slightest bit organized.
The moment she went through the folder, Felicity knew that if Cooper had conveyed all her findings and research to Harvey, there was no way he’d need to spend more than few days working out whether to go ahead on the program. It was already done. It was all here. So why the delay? He’d been sitting on Elena’s donation since September 2 of last year. It was now March 17. What did he need to think about when he had all this work at his fingertips and $1.4 million to fund it? That was the question.
Cooper was talking to Gabriel Mendoza, the other vet, when Felicity entered Living Ruff’s office.
“Ms. Simmons,” he said with a small smile. “We meet again! And this is Felix, my chinchilla.”
Felix peeked at her from Dr. Mendoza’s shoulder. The tiny gray creature had huge round ears and a fluffed-up tail. Adorable! Felicity hoped her aching need to stroke the little thing hadn’t turned into a meeping noise or anything embarrassing. “Felix,” she repeated, her voice strained. “Okay.”
Cooper eyed her closely, a smile tugging at her lips. “You’re dying to pet him, aren’t you?”
“She is?” Dr. Mendoza asked in surprise. “She looks like she’s dying to flee the room.”
Felicity gave them both grim looks and folded her arms.
“You can pet Felix, if you’d like,” Dr. Mendoza said kindly, “if you’re gentle and slow with your movements.”
“I don’t think so,” Felicity said. That way there be dragons. Although knowing her, she’d want to pet the dragons, too. “Can we get down to business, please?” She glanced around. “Where’s your director?”
“About that…” Cooper sighed. “I told Harvey you wanted a meeting. He said he had to duck out for a little while. He apologized.”
“Well, that’s annoying.” Felicity sighed. “When will he be back?”
“He didn’t say.”
Dr. Mendoza glanced at his watch. “I’m due for rounds. It is wonderful to meet a potential donor of your standing, Ms. Simmons,” he said before leaving with a wave.
“He knows who I am now?” Felicity asked once he’d left.
