Under_The_Whispering_Door_by_TJ_Klune

“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Jesus Christ,” Nelson muttered. “Of all the obtuse…” Whatever else he
had to say trailed off into mumbling under his breath.
Mei appeared down the stairs, dressed smartly in the same suit she’d
worn to Wallace’s funeral. She brushed her hair off her face. “I mean it about
those muffins, man. If I come back and find they’ve burned, there’ll be hell to
pay. Who have we got now?” She plucked the file from Hugo and began to
read, eyes darting back and forth. “Huh. Oh. Oh. Well. I see. Interesting.” Her
brow furrowed. “This … isn’t going to be easy.”
Wallace glared at Hugo. “You said you were the only one who could touch
it.”
“Did I?” Hugo asked. “My bad. Mei can too.”
She grinned at Wallace. “Saw yours. Lots of good stuff in there. Question:
Why did you think wearing parachute pants was cool in 2003?”
“You’re all terrible people,” Wallace announced grandly. “And I want
nothing more to do with you.” And with that, he went back to pulling down
the chairs, refusing to even glance in their direction.
“Oh no,” Mei said. “Please no. Anything but that.” She shoved the file
back into Hugo’s hands. “All right. Number two, here we go.”
“Make sure you don’t show up three days late,” Wallace said. “Heaven
forbid you do your job correctly.”
“Aw,” Mei said. “You do care. I’m touched.” She stood on her tiptoes and
kissed Hugo’s cheek. “Don’t forget about—”
“The muffins. I know. I won’t.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders,
hugging her close. Wallace wasn’t jealous. Not at all. “Be careful. This one
isn’t going to be like the others.”
Wallace didn’t like how worried he seemed to be.
“I will,” Mei said, hugging him back. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Wallace turned to tell her that the number of people who showed up at a
funeral was not indicative of the value of a person, but Mei was already
gone.
The clock on the wall resumed its normal pace, the seconds ticking by.
“I’ll never understand how any of this works,” Wallace said.
Hugo’s only response was to laugh as he turned and walked through the
kitchen doors.