Top Floor (Rendezvous #1)

Chapter 17

“G’morning Claire!” Chad greeted happily as he walked through the front doors of Bishop Lodgings. Claire was leaning against the front desk with her arms crossed over her chest. After his simple greeting, he began to walk towards the kitchen, but Claire stopped him.

“Get over here, Chad.” Her voice was bland and she saw the panic in Chad’s eyes. She knew he was contemplating whether to run or not.

In the end, he ran.

Claire clicked her tongue as he made a mad dash to the kitchen and disappeared through the dining room doors. She didn’t want to cause a scene, so she decided not to chase after him. At least he was mature enough to come to work. If he hadn’t come today, she was personally going to ambush him at his home.

That morning, she had already headed to the daycare to check up on Elli. She behaved the usual as always. Her confession from last night didn’t seem to faze her and if Claire didn’t know better, she might’ve thought that maybe Elli hadn’t been affected at all by what happened. But Claire did know better. She could sense Eleanor’s mood easily due to their close friendship.

What did Claire sense from her friend? Hurt. She had never seen Elli like that in ever. And the cause for her hurt was their mutual and close friend, Chad. It would be reckless to pick and choose sides, but she was definitely pissed with Chad. Before she lost control and accidentally punched Chad or something, she had to get a reasonable explanation out of him first.

But how was she going to get one out of him when he didn’t bother to give one?

At that moment, someone walked through the doors of Bishop Lodgings, but Claire was too preoccupied with her thoughts to notice until that person finally walked to the front desk. He placed his hand on the counter and Claire recognized the hand down to the bone.

She quickly raised her head and stared straight into the dark blue eyes of Logan Bishop.

“Logan.” Claire smiled. “It’s good to see you again.”

He smiled back. “Same, Claire. Can you tell Heath that I’ve arrived?”

Claire was tempted to ask Logan exactly why he was here this early in the morning and what he and Heath were going to discuss, but she decided to not stick her nose into business that wasn’t hers. For all she knew, it might not exactly be about business, but personal reasons.

“Of course. He’ll send down the elevator shortly.”

Logan stood there, smiling at her for a few seconds more and Claire gave him a confused look. Before she could ask though, he nodded his head and walked past the reception desk and towards the elevator that would lead to the top floor.

She quickly picked up the phone and dialed the number for the top floor. After a few rings, Heath answered.

“Heath Bishop.”

His voice sent a shiver down Claire’s spine, but she did her best to look calm in front of others. “Logan is here to see you.”