Brianna's Navy SEAL (11 page)

"No, they're not supposed to be orange and yellow.” She flipped to the end and started over, going more slowly. “They're supposed to be white. Yes, all of them. Wait, here it is.” She scanned the order, holding her breath, until she found the color section. The “white” box had a big, dark X through it, while the orange and yellow boxes, two columns and three rows away, were completely empty. “Tell George he's nuts. We didn't make a mistake on the purchase order, and we've never had anything but white lights at the ball before. Yeah, I know. Thanks."

She hung up and pressed the heels of her hands to her forehead. The holiday ball, a charity event held at the country club every year—every
freakin'
year—was two days away. She was supposed to have been working out with Cable this afternoon, but at three-thirty-two her phone started ringing. Country club staff who had been enlisted to receive and store the supplies and decorations had one problem after another and somehow Brie had ended up designated fire stomper.

"Knock knock."

"That works better when you don't open the door first,” Brie told her sister Sophie as she walked in the back door.

"Actually, it works better in the summer. But it's fifteen degrees outside, so what can I say.” Sophie unbuttoned her long Berber coat and dropped it over a chair, then settled into the one next to Brie. “What's going on?"

"Crises. One after another."

Sophie pulled a few papers around to frown at them, then nodded. “Decorations committee, that's right. What could be going wrong with that? Most of the stuff is there already, isn't it?"

Brie lifted her head. “Oh, no. Darcy's heading the committee this year, didn't you know? She had Visions. Things were going to be Different this year. Plus, the club had a water pipe burst and soak a lot of the staples.” She stood and grabbed the teakettle off the stove to fill at the sink. “When the plumbers went down to fix it, they knocked over the box of lights and stepped all over them. Now, George seems to think we're having a Halloween party. The kids at the club called to say the lights are orange and yellow."

"Eww. Sounds like the charity won't be getting as much this year."

"No, most of the stuff is donated or sponsored. But besides the lights, we have sixteen boxes of unicorn horns on headbands that should have gone to a rich girl's sixth birthday party in LA.” She flipped on the stove and retrieved two mugs. “She got our icicles and silver garland that were supposed to drape from the ceiling, creating a mystical ice palace.” She slammed the mugs on the table, then added the sugar bowl and teabag canister. “Oh, and the Christmas tree got knocked over, and all the needles fell off."

Sophie opened the canister and shook out a teabag. “How did that happen?"

"I guess the same geeks who tried to fool around behind it had forgotten to water it for two weeks. They actually had the gall to ask me to come help them clean up the needles. They keep clogging the vacuum cleaner."

Sophie stared at her, her lips twitching. Brie glared, then gave in. They laughed, Brie's tinged with hysteria, until the kettle screamed. Sophie got up to retrieve it and pour the water.

"How come you're dealing with all this crap tonight? Where's Darcy?"

"A very convenient Realtor's convention in Boston. She won't be back until tomorrow. She wants me and Ken to oversee the actual decorating tomorrow."

"Not you and Cable?” Her lips twitched again, but this time Brie didn't laugh.

"Definitely not me and Cable."

"I thought you two were back together?"

Brie shrugged and blew on her tea. “We are. Darcy doesn't care. She's determined to keep us apart. I wouldn't be surprised if she orchestrated every one of these problems, just to keep me hopping."

"I doubt that."

But Sophie had never been on the receiving end of Darcy's scheming. She had watched while she tried to ruin Jake's life in one way after the other, but watching and experiencing were two different things.

For the first time in her life, Brianna was dreading the ball.

Forty-eight hours later, she wondered if her dread had been pointless. She stood in the country club's ballroom surveying the final scene, two hours before the start of the ball. Somehow, everything had come together—with dozens of phone calls on her part and hours of labor by Ken and Cable supervising the college and high school students.

She hated to admit it, but the room did look like the ice palace Darcy had been aiming for. They'd gotten the white lights just in time, and they glowed through the garland and icicles hanging from the ceiling. White and silver candles glowed on blue-clothed tabletops, sparkling off silver and crystal. A tiny stage had been set up next to the dance floor. Darcy had commissioned from a local printer a giant poster of all the children Brook Hollow had lost to illness or accident since the first ball. That poster backed the stage, flanked by a display listing all the local charities they'd collected for and the good that had been done. In the center was another poster on an easel, describing the new foundation fashioned after Make-a-Wish. The money they would raise tonight would help form a base for fulfilling needs and desires of the area's sickest kids. Brianna never would have expected Darcy to display that much compassion.

On the opposite wall they had created a collage of town photos, including tree-lighting ceremonies on the square, people dancing at the balls, kids who'd been honored or memorialized or aided, the snow sculpture contest they used to hold—all the images of the season. Around and between the photos were handmade ornaments Darcy had had the elementary kids make in class. The only sign of the “inner Darcy,” as Brianna had begun to think of her, was the absence of Macgregors and McKennas on the wall. Brie hadn't realized it until it was too late, and had managed to find only one shot of Jake lighting last year's tree that could be used.

"It looks good."

Brie turned and smiled at Cable, who wiped his sleeve across his forehead.

"Thanks to you.” She caught a drip from his temple. “You're sweating."

"Hot in the kitchen. We were helping move giant pots of water. God knows how they do it when we're not here."

Brie knew perfectly well the kitchen staff could handle the pots. They were three-quarters women or gay, and they wanted to watch Cable show off his strength.

"Who's we, anyway?” she asked, figuring he meant Jake, who had managed to be roped into helping almost every committee.

"Me and Ken."

She laughed. “No way."

"Sure. He's stronger than he looks."

Brie didn't want to talk about Ken. He'd stopped making excuses to see her, but gave her puppy-dog looks whenever she saw him.

She looked at her watch, then at the nearly empty room. One staff member was folding extra napkins at a table, and the A/V guy from the high school was hooking up the microphone and projector.

"I think everything's good here. I need to go home to get ready."

"I'm with you. We driving together?"

"If you want to."

"Of course. I'll get you at seven-thirty."

They parted with a kiss at the door and drove home separately, Brie feeling like they'd reached a new comfort level in their relationship. Casual contact, general assumptions, but not yet taking each other for granted. She knew that after the ball they'd go home, make love, and wake late tomorrow to indulge in coffee and donuts in bed, cuddling with the Sunday paper until noon. It sounded so good, she almost wished she could skip the ball.

Brie wore a long coat when Cable picked her up, and only smiled coyly when he asked to look at her. She'd slicked her hair into a high ponytail up on top of her head, with long curls cascading out of it and wrapping around her neck. He thought the combination of neat and untidy was just her style.

Her makeup was heavier than usual, which meant they wouldn't kiss much tonight, but she looked so beautiful he didn't care. As he helped her up into the truck, he caught a whiff of perfume and noticed that she'd painted her toenails to match the gold shimmer of her strappy shoes. Not very practical, but enticing. Like the bow on a package you couldn't wait to tear open.

It was mild for December, so he hadn't bothered with a top coat over his tux. He'd chosen a less traditional style, with a stand-up satin-edged collar on the jacket and button-collared shirt instead of a tie. The shoes were, as always, a hair too tight, and he hoped Brie didn't want to dance much.

When he got into the driver's side, she slid a hand down his arm.

"Nice. Very nice.” She fingered the collar, then stroked her fingertips across the back of his neck. “Very expensive, I imagine."

"They were having a special."

"I like it."

A few minutes later they pulled up to the valet circle at the club, right behind Jake and Kira. They greeted them and walked in together, both Cable and Jake whistling when the women removed their coats and handed them over to be checked.

Kira beamed. “First time I could get into this since Joey was born, and the last time until after this one's born.” She slid a hand down the flaming red gown. Jake couldn't seem to get the goofy grin off his face as he tucked Kira into his side.

"I well remember what this dress did for us."

"Ignore them,” Brianna said, slipping her hand over Cable's elbow. “They won't stop reminiscing all night. It'll be, ‘this is where I saw you’ and ‘remember when Kleinfelter announced his endorsement of you?’ and ‘ooooh, let's go check out the desk where Joey was conceived.’”

Cable raised his eyebrows, but neither Kira nor Jake seemed to mind Brianna's revelations.

"Why don't we go check out that desk?” Kira said, looking up at Jake with sparkling eyes. They moved off down the hall, and Cable turned his full attention to Brie.

"You look like a Greek goddess.” He nudged her away from him so he could look again. The white dress she wore kind of gathered at her neck, then draped and clung in folds past her breasts, around her waist, and down to the floor. The whole thing hung from a gold collar around her neck. Her arms were bare except for a snake-like cuff around her right upper arm.

"Maybe we should go ‘check out that desk,'” he murmured, tugging her back into his arms. “You wore that just to turn me on."

"Of course I did.” She nuzzled his jaw. “There's no other reason to go to all this trouble."

He chuckled. “Making me the envy of all the other men here works pretty well, too."

"Most of the men,” said a voice behind them. They turned to see Sophie in an emerald-green slip dress, and her husband Parker looking like he was born to wear a tuxedo.

"She may look hot,” Sophie continued, “but my man's got eyes only for me. Don't you, honey?” The last three words had a hard edge, but Cable could see she was teasing. The threat was unnecessary. Parker did only have eyes for Sophie.

As they entered the ballroom together, pausing to hand their tickets to the attendant, Cable felt like part of the family. He wondered what it would take to make that a permanent feeling.

Brianna made the rounds, talking to school board members and parents, sipping champagne and accepting compliments on her dress and on the decorations. She gave Darcy credit for her ideas, but also made clear that she and Ken and Cable had done all the grunt work.

Sometimes Cable wandered the crowd with her, sometimes they got separated, but she could always sense where he was, whether it was two feet or an entire room away.

She also sensed when Darcy walked in.

Of course, that wasn't a psychic connection. That was the sound of evil entering a room.

Okay, that wasn't fair. It was true, though, that part of the room went silent, and then murmurs broke out. The rest of the room turned to see who had come in. Darcy stood at the entrance, posing and basking in the attention.

Brianna couldn't see what was such a big deal. Yes, her dark blue dress was cut to her navel and the slit up the side went high up her hip. But that wasn't much worse than many of the other gowns in the room, including Sophie's, which looked like underwear.

Then several people looked at Brianna, and she raised her eyebrows. She hadn't thought anyone knew about the competition over Cable. But that wasn't it; they weren't looking at him to see his reaction. She glanced over where he'd been talking to Steve Dvorak, and he was looking at her instead of Darcy. That was gratifying.

She looked back at Darcy to try to figure out the big deal. Her dress was draped semi-toga style, gathered on one shoulder, and she had a silver cuff similar to Brie's on her left upper arm. Her hair was piled up on her head and cascaded down her back. Brie knew she'd gotten extensions to get it to fall so far. She couldn't judge her, though, since she had gotten them herself.

Overall, her look was similar to Brie's, only darker. She'd tanned, or used a sunless tanner, and dusted her skin with fine silver glitter. She complemented the decorations perfectly, which Brie was sure was her intent. But she looked like a negative of Brie, which she knew was not.

After a few seconds, everyone went back to what they'd been doing and Darcy walked further into the room. Brie started to turn back to the fellow teacher she'd been chatting with when she realized someone else had come in with Darcy. She almost choked on her champagne.

Ken
was Darcy's date?

He trailed behind her as she began working the room. His navy tuxedo was just a shade darker than Darcy's dress, and he looked pretty good in it. His hair was smooth—no comb-over—and the lack of glasses somehow made him seem more confident and mature. The only drawback was the eager puppy look he wore.

When had he switched his attentions to Darcy? He wasn't her type at all. He had no power or presence—there was no attention factor. Brianna could only assume Darcy had a use for Ken.

"It could just be that he arrived at the same time, and is hanging with her because he's on her committee."

Brie leaned back into Cable, who'd walked up behind her. “I don't think so."

They watched a moment as Darcy moved from one group to another, snapping her fingers at Ken.