Mr. Sheffield poured over his paperwork trying to get his mind off of one thing- Miss Fine and Niles. Every time he thought of the two of them he felt his face heat up and anger rise in him.
C.C., back from a two-week business trip to California, glanced at him from the couch across the room of his office.
"Maxwell?"
"Hm?" He replied half-interestedly.
"What seems to be the trouble? You've been so quiet and reserved since I came back this morning." She looked around for a moment, "And something else is different…something's missing. Actually two things. Where's the Whine a.k.a. Nanny Fine? And speaking of her, where's Butler Boy?"
Maxwell's mouth twitched to the side. "They're out shopping," he said tersely.
"Oh? Together?"
"Yesss." Maxwell gritted his teeth.
"Max-we-ell, you look so tense," C.C. walked behind his chair and put her hands on his shoulders. "Let me give you a shoulder rub," she said huskily.
Maxwell glanced up at her and scooted away. "No! That's quite all right, C.C. Thanks for the thought." He inhaled a deep breath and took his reading glasses off.
"You know…if you miss Nanny Fine, I could gladly fill in for her," C.C. said, her voice getting deeper and lower. She hopped onto his desk. Papers flew in all directions.
Maxwell stood up, "NO. Really, I'm fine. I just need to get my mind off of some things…or some people."
C.C. looked into his face questioningly. "So what is going on between Nanny Fine and Niles? The uh…the girl…the little one…uh…"
"Gracie?"
"Yeah! That one said they'd been awful chummy lately. More than usual…like going out a lot, just the two of them."
Maxwell slammed the desk drawer he'd opened shut. "I'm sorry C.C.," Maxwell headed for the door, "I really can't work right now. I need to go…and think." He quickly left the room.
C.C. looked around alone and bewildered at Maxwell's hasty departure. "Call me!" She shouted after him.
Maxwell headed for the kitchen, loosening his tie and dropped it over a chair. He undid the top two buttons of his shirt and opened the fridge. He was a bundle of nerves. Something to soothe…something to soothe…his eyes scanned the contents. Ah, a bottle of vintage white wine. That would be calming. He poured himself a glass and thinking about it, decided to take the whole bottle out with him to the living room. He settled himself on the couch. He could hear the children faintly. They must be upstairs. He hoped they wouldn't come down and see him like this. His thoughts of course, wandered to Miss Fine. He wondered what she was doing…where she was…was she thinking about him?
Bloody hell! Why had he been so stupid? He should have known she'd find someone else if he…if he didn't tell her how he really felt. He just didn't know that that "someone else" was going to be his right-arm, his companion, his friend—Niles. Oh how he missed her. He missed her so much. H glumly drank his wine and undid another button on his shirt without thinking.
Suddenly the front door burst open. Maxwell turned around to see Fran and Niles looking as gloomy as he felt.
"I'll take your packages up for you Miss Fine," Niles said quietly and headed upstairs. Fran nodded and slowly hung up her coat in the closet. She shut the door and leaned on it for a moment. A sharp exhale of breath escaped her and she put a hand to her eyes. Apparently she hadn't even noticed Mr. Sheffield watching her from the couch.
At first Maxwell thought she might just be exhausted. Worn out from shopping and all. But then suddenly he heard her sniffle and realized—she was crying. What on earth? He instantly felt drawn to her and willed himself to stay on the couch. He watched her, feeling extremely uncomfortable. Like he was watching her getting undressed. He saw her fumbling through the coat closet, picking through her coat pockets. He realized what she was looking for.
In the next instant he was at her side clutching the box of tissues from the living room coffee table. For a moment, she didn't know he was there and he wafted in her flowery fragrance. His eyes wandered over her hair that gleamed from the wet snow in it. Her head suddenly jerked up and Ran realized that Mr. Sheffield was standing right behind her. She knew it was him because she smelled his sharp musky cologne. It always had made her feel faint and intoxicated. He was very close to her, she could easily sense that. She felt her neck tingling from his breath on her. She tried blinking back her tears and was mostly unsuccessful in her attempts. She tried straightening up to look her best and all that. To not let him know the state of hurt she was in. But these efforts exhausted her and she finally just turned around, the wreck that she was, and let him see her.
He was holding a box of tissues as if it were a barrier between them. He held them out to her, a sort of peace offering. She nodded, still blinking back tears and unwilling to let him see her face. She quickly blew her nose and dropped the tissue as she finally looked up at him.
The first thing she noticed was his shirt buttons undone. Oh how that made him look so sexy. Why did he have to do that? Great, now that was all she was going to think about. She took her gaze upward and noticed also his thick dark hair was somewhat disheveled and his face showed tiredness in it.
As she looked up at him, Maxwell saw that her eyes were shining like those crystals you hung on your rearview mirror to catch the sunlight. He looked at her, his heart going out to her. N matter what was going on, he still was greatly affected by Miss Fine's being terribly upset. He sat the tissue box down on the end-table and took a step towards her.