I'm Still In Love With the Groom novel · Chapter 6 of 24

Chapter 6: Deposit Slips

I could not sleep, so at midnight I put on my boots and my coat and walked out to the barn.

I told myself I wanted to check on the lights.

A yellow square of window glowed above the tack room, and I stopped in the yard and looked at it.

There was a loft office up there. Kat had mentioned it on Tuesday, a room where the ranch kept its feed receipts and its coffeemaker.

I went up the outside stairs.

The door stood open six inches.

Ryan sat at a metal desk under a bare bulb, with his sleeves rolled and his hair pushed back from his forehead.

A manila folder lay open in front of him, and beside it was a stack of carbon slips clipped together with a binder clip.

He had a pen in his hand and a calculator at his elbow.

He looked up and shut the folder in one motion.

"Annie."

"Don't stop on my account," I said. "I'm a professional. Am I allowed to say that to a stranger?"

"You're not supposed to be out here."

"I'm not supposed to be anywhere. That's how the week has gone."

I leaned on the doorframe.

The coffeemaker on the shelf was still warm, and the room smelled like old coffee and dust.

"Doing the ranch books?" I asked.

"Something like that."

"Quarterly," I said.

He went very still.

"The slips are quarterly. I could see the dates on the top one from here. January, April, July, October. The first of the month, every time." I tilted my head. "Nobody pays a vendor on the first of every quarter unless it's a payment plan."

← Chapter 5 · All chapters · Chapter 7 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend