Defy the World Tomatoes (23 page)

“I realize that, but let me say my ex-husband never expected me to make a success of Defy the World. He gave me a generous settlement, but still, he thought I’d do poorly at running a business, spend the money foolishly, and beg him to take me back.”

“He didn’t know you very well, did he?” Jeremy took another bite of his sandwich. It was the best he’d ever eaten.

“He didn’t know me at all,” Christy Joy confided softly. “But then, he wasn’t the man I thought him to be either. Oh, I knew he was ambitious, but ruthless is a more accurate term. His law practice didn’t leave much time for a wife and family, but when we were together, he expected a perfection I had no desire to achieve. So rather than become his version of a Stepford Wife, I left him. It’s not an insult he’ll ever forgive.”

Christy Joy paused and, while Jeremy nodded thoughtfully, he offered no insight of his own. Nor did he volunteer any regrets over any of his past relationships. She knew him to be quiet, but his silence now provided ample evidence that she’d said too much. Embarrassed, she rose hastily to her feet.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to burden you. Please excuse me, I need to check on Twink.”

She hurried up the stairs before Jeremy could swallow a mouthful of sandwich and assure her she was wrong. His appetite gone, he finished the sandwich anyway rather than waste the time and money it had cost her to make it.

When she’d visited his boat, he’d greeted the fact that she’d confided her fears for Defy the World’s future as a sign she really did trust him. Now it seemed that she’d changed her mind, and he didn’t understand why.

He could just make out Griffin’s silhouette against the front window. That guy was so damn slick, while he was about as smooth as a scrap of sandpaper. The candle on the counter had begun to sputter, but when he rose to find another, he spotted a trickle of water inching across the floor.

“Griff, get back here,” he yelled.

Griffin was at his elbow in an instant. “I didn’t think we were in much danger of flooding from the side. Come on, let’s go back outside and see what we can do to divert the water from the building.”

“Maybe we can use another tarp and some plants to block the door.”

Griffin yanked on his coat and hat. “Let’s hope so, or we’ll just have to lie down in front of the door and block it ourselves.”

Jeremy’s shout pierced Darcy’s restless dreams, and she rolled off the couch, tripped and bumped her knee hard on the floor. By the time she recovered from the sharp burst of pain and hobbled down the stairs, the men were already outside. Even in the dying candle’s faint glow, she saw the water pooling near the counter and understood where they’d gone.

They’d all been so concerned about the front of the shop flooding, clearly they hadn’t given enough attention to the nursery side. “Oh damn!” she cried, for if water was backing up into the nursery, then her office was sure to flood. Terrified she might already have lost all her work, she tore out the door without bothering with a coat.

Chapter Thirteen

When Christy Joy had first approached her about going into business together, Darcy had begun keeping a journal to record their hopes and dreams as well as their practical concerns. Those initial discussions had led to the creation of a well-defined business plan. There had been no question of trust between them, but they’d still taken the precaution of hiring an attorney to draw up their partnership agreement.

Darcy’s copy was in the file cabinet in her office, but before she could reach it, Griffin grabbed her and lifted her clear off her feet.

“You’re likely to drown out here. Go back inside.”

“But my office
—
”

“I’ll see it doesn’t flood. There’s a dip by the door into the shop, that’s why the water’s leaking under it, but there’s a step up into your office so it’s in no immediate danger.”

“Well, maybe not immediate, but
—
”

Griffin put her down at the side door. “As soon as you’re inside, we’ll block off this door and come back inside from the back stairs. Just leave everything to me, Darcy. I won’t let you down.”

She nodded numbly, went back inside and got the mop to clean up the water that had seeped inside. Once she’d finished, she kept a close watch, but whatever Griffin and Jeremy had devised was working, and there was no more evidence of the torrent outside.

The front was also still dry, but with constant checking the next hour passed in a watery blur. When Griffin and Jeremy finally came back inside, she was seated at the children’s table with her head resting on crossed arms. She sat up at the sound of their voices, but couldn’t bring herself to rise.

Griffin sat on the stairs. “There were firemen at the corner laying out sandbags, and we talked them out of a few. The water’s still rushing right through the nursery, but we’ve banked the flow toward the center and away from the building. The pottery shed is definitely leaning, but with any luck it won’t collapse and we can shore it up once the rain stops.”

Darcy eased back slowly in the small chair. “If we had any luck at all, the rain wouldn’t have lasted more than an hour or two.”

“Don’t get all excited, but the sky appears to be clearing.”

“I’m too tired to get excited about anything,” she murmured and put her head back down on her arms.

“Why don’t you go on home and sleep for a couple of hours?”

It was a very tempting suggestion, but she couldn’t leave. “No, I’ll stay here.”

Christy Joy had been coming down the stairs every few minutes to check on things and had offered her one of the sandwiches, but her stomach was tied up in knots. She doubted she was being of much use to anyone, but at least she was there. When Griffin bent to kiss her cheek, she sat up in surprise.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you. You just looked so sweet, I didn’t think you’d mind.”

His lips had been cool against her cheek, and now she was positive he was going to be sick. “Take off your coat and hat, and I’ll give you another sweatshirt if that one’s wet.”

“No, thanks, it’s still dry. What about yours, Captain?”

Jeremy was seated on the top step. He just shook his head. “I’m fine.”

“Neither of you is fine, and you know it,” Darcy insisted. “Maybe we can heat some water over scented candles and make you some tea. How did people keep warm before they had electricity?”

“They lit fires, but that’s not a good idea in here,” Griffin responded with a deep chuckle.

“No, it sure isn’t, but maybe I can talk the landlord into putting in a fireplace.”

Griffin laughed again and removed his hat, gloves and coat. “I hear the guy’s totally unreasonable, so I doubt he’d go for it.”

Jeremy laughed with them, then sprang to his feet when Christy Joy appeared at the top of the stairs. “How’s Twink?”

“She’s asleep, which is a good place to be on such a rainy afternoon.”

“I agree, and it’s nice being on dry land too.”

He sure didn’t look dry, though and, forgetting her earlier disappointment in his reticence to confide in her, Christy Joy brought him a towel and tossed one down to Griffin. The telephone rang in her apartment, and she hurried to answer before it woke her daughter. When she returned, she was near tears.

“That was J. Lyle. He heard how hard it was raining here and that the power had gone out. He wanted to make certain Twink was all right. I assured him she was snug in her bed, but he went on a rant about a cold, dark apartment. He said he was on his way to get her and hung up.”

Darcy left her place at the children’s table and started up the stairs. “Please don’t be upset. He probably won’t be able to reach us in this weather.”

“You know J. Lyle, he’ll rent an amphibious vehicle if he has to, but he’ll be sure to arrive in a few hours.”

Jeremy reached out for her hand and gave her fingers a fond squeeze. “Doesn’t Twink ever visit her dad?”

“Sure she does, but those are scheduled visits, unlike today, which he’ll undoubtedly describe as a damn rescue.”

“How big a guy is he?” Griffin inquired.

“He’s six feet tall, one hundred-eighty pounds, and he runs and belongs to a gym. What are you thinking, that you’ll just punch him out?”

“That could get messy,” Griffin offered, “but it will help that there’re two of us.”

Christy Joy just shook her head. “He’ll call you Popeye, Jeremy, I can hear it already.”

“It won’t be the first time, but I’ve always been rather fond of Popeye and don’t regard it as an insult. Of course, if you’d rather I weren’t here when he arrives, I’ll wait in Darcy’s office until he leaves.”

Christy Joy slipped her hand from his, sat on the top step and hugged her knees. “Wouldn’t you rather return to your boat? At least there you could make some hot soup and have a bunk to lie down.”

“What, and miss out on all this fun?” Jeremy sat beside her and gave her a hug. “No, ma’am, I’m staying right here.”

Darcy looked toward Griffin, who was observing her with a curious glance, but he made no such cheerful declaration, and she was too proud to let him know how much she liked having him there. His presence was a comfort until a rumbling blast of thunder shook the whole building.

“That was too close!” Christy Joy cried.

“I thought you said it was clearing up,” Darcy reminded Griffin.

“I meant it at the time, but clearly weather forecasting isn’t an exact science.”

Darcy left the stairs to check the front door but the situation hadn’t worsened. She strained to see the shops on the opposite side of the street, but there wasn’t so much as a candle’s glow from any of them. Maybe their owners were working frantically in the dark to prevent flooding, but there was no evidence of it from where she stood. She was about to turn away when Griffin came up behind her.

“Do you think we’re going to end up sitting on the roof like those poor flood victims in the Midwest?” she asked.

“Probably not.”

His voice was softly reassuring even if his words were not. “Well, I wish we had an inflatable raft handy just in case.”

“Darcy, look at me.”

She swallowed hard before she turned toward him, then still had to force herself to look up. There was barely enough light for her to see him clearly, but he looked too serious to mistake his mood.

“I meant what I said about playing on the same team,” he whispered, “and I wasn’t simply referring to sweatshirts. I’m looking for a lot more from you. Is it just this building that holds you back?”

“Is that a trick question?”

Griffin drew in a deep breath. “I’m doing my best here, Darcy. Help me out.”

That Griffin Moore would even make an appeal for sympathy made it difficult to form a coherent reply. “Let’s not do this now, please. I’m too tired to think straight on any subject, let alone one as important as this.”

She was still wearing the pretty quarter note necklace he’d given her, which was far more revealing than her hesitant excuses. He leaned down and kissed her lightly, pulled her into his arms and rested his cheek against her shiny dark hair.

“All right, we’ll postpone that discussion, but for now, I’ve realized this is a poor location for a recording studio. It’s not been difficult to move your stock to the back and, if we need to, we can carry the bird houses, garden angels, ceramic fountains and all the other cute stuff upstairs. The electronic equipment I’d planned to install for recording would be next to impossible to move, to say nothing of the concert grand I’d intended to buy.”

“You could put everything upstairs,” Darcy murmured against his chest. While he sounded sincere, she refused to get her hopes up only to have them shattered with the first ray of sunshine.

“No, there’s not enough room. I’d have to be on the ground floor, and this rain has proven that’s simply not practical.”

“Storms this bad don’t come along often.”

“It would only take one to ruin a significant amount of work. I’m not willing to take that risk. I’ll extend your lease another year, or five, if you like. What do you say?”

Darcy snuggled against him rather than admit it might already be too late to save Defy the World with the losses they’d sustained that week alone. Perversely, she wished he’d chosen to extend the lease simply because he loved her far too much to crush her dreams. Still, whatever his reason, she was too grateful for his change of heart to quibble over the cause.

“I’m overwhelmed. Give me a minute or two to get used to the idea, and then I’ll thank you properly.”

Griffin grasped her shoulders and took a step back. “Have you eaten anything today?”

“No, but
—
”

“Either go upstairs and make yourself a sandwich, or go back to sleep on the couch.”

“I don’t recall putting you in command here.”

“You did when you called me this morning. Now look, if you’re too tired to think, you’re much too tired to put in any more work, should your help be needed.”

He was right, of course, and a wide yawn stopped what would have been only a token argument at best. “Maybe I could do with another little nap,” she agreed reluctantly. It seemed as though she’d merely lain down when hours later J. Lyle woke her with a frantic pounding on the backdoor.

Christy Joy ran up the stairs with the flashlight to let him in. He was dressed in a trench coat and hat, and wrestling with a black umbrella. He pushed past her to drip water in a splattering oval all around them.

“I had to park the car a couple of blocks away and walk into town. A policeman tried to stop me at the corner, but when I explained why I was here, he told me that you’d reported Catherine missing last week. Why wasn’t I called before the police?”

Christy Joy fought not to cringe under his accusing frown. “We found her almost immediately,” she swore. “Really, there was no need to upset you.”

“Oh no? How did you expect me to react when I finally found out about it? Never mind, it’s plain you’d no intention of ever admitting you can’t keep track of our daughter.”

Darcy had been a bridesmaid at their wedding and seen J. Lyle on several occasions since. He’d never been one of her favorite people, and now she liked him even less. While fair-haired and blue-eyed, he was as striking an individual as Griffin. Unlike Griffin, however, who appeared largely uninterested in his remarkable good looks, J. Lyle made a point of dressing as well as any
GQ
model. She couldn’t even imagine him in a pair of Levi’s.

Upset by how rumpled she must appear, she stepped out of the apartment just as Twink bounded up the stairs and leapt into her father’s arms.

“Catherine! I’m all wet,” he scolded. He set her down quickly and pushed her away. “You’re coming home with me. Help your mother pack your things.”

J. Lyle recognized Darcy standing in the shadows and nodded curtly. “Why make yourself miserable here, Christy Joy? You and Darcy should come home with us.”

“Thank you, but no,” Darcy replied.

Griffin had heard more than enough and, seeing how easily Twink had distracted her father, he climbed the stairs and extended his hand. “Good evening, I’m Griffin Moore.”

At first startled, J. Lyle’s expression slid from pinched spite into a relaxed grin. “It really is you, isn’t it?” He pumped Griffin’s hand warmly. “I attended one of your concerts last year in San Francisco. Transcendent is the only way to describe the whole experience. I’ve bought several of your CDs. I had no idea you lived here in Monarch Bay.”

Darcy caught Christy Joy’s eye and shook her head. Her ex-husband was doing his best to schmooze Griffin, but he would have overheard the way J. Lyle had greeted Christy Joy and Twink and not been pleased by it. Expecting the worst, Darcy held her breath.

Rather than respond to J. Lyle, Griffin looked to Christy Joy. “Would you like to send Twink home with her father for a few days while we clean up here?” he asked.

Christy Joy rolled her lower lip through her teeth. “If you’re sure you’ll have a safe trip home, J. Lyle, it might be best.”

“Well, of course we’ll have a safe trip,” he assured her. “My Mercedes is a big, solid sedan and less than a year old. I brought along a car seat too.”