What's Yours is Mine (10 page)

The delivery men exchanged amused glances. She raised her chin, defiant. “The guy on the phone said you’ll assemble it for a fee. How much?”

The burly dude shook his head. “You gotta set that up in advance. He shoulda told you.”

“I’ll pay double.”

He looked mournful. “Can’t. We’ve got five more deliveries. Sorry.”

As the two men headed out the door, Will frowned at her. “Why do you need equipment to exercise? What’s wrong with going for a run?”

“It’s inefficient.” She went to the kitchen to find a knife so she could open the box. She’d just have to figure it out on her own.

Will watched her. “I assume you’ll take the thing with you when you leave.” He smirked. “Assuming you can even put it together, of course.”
 

And with that, he left the room. Wise, because she was tempted to smack him.
 

Instead, she knelt in front of the box and sliced the knife into the tape, cleaving it neatly. She could do this. Follow a few instructions on a piece of paper and, presto, workout machine. Besides, she wanted to see Will’s face when she’d assembled it on her own.
 

She picked up the phone and dialed work. Thora picked up after one ring.
 

“Hey, Thora, I can’t come in today.”
 

Thora sounded baffled. “Are you okay? One day out of the office, normal people do that. Not you, of course, but still. But two? Have you lost a limb? Do you have whooping cough? Can you come in anyway? In a wheelchair, if you have to. Things are piling up here like you wouldn’t believe. You know how Stan is at managerial stuff. He thinks everyone’s a saint, but they all turn into sinners when his back is turned.”
 

“It can’t be helped. I may need to take a few more days at home. I’ll be involved with everything, just telecommuting. It’s not so different from when I was on the road.” Darcy started to tip the box over, thought better of it, and slid the parts out one by one. They were surprisingly heavy.
 

“Yeah, but we had Gretchen doing this job then. Not very well, granted, but still.”

Alex wandered into the room, his eyes lighting up as he saw her pull a big metal, um, thing out of the box. “Are you building something? Can I help?”

On the phone, Thora said, “Do I hear a kid’s voice? A
kid
?”

“Not mine, don’t worry. Listen, what time is the meeting? Can you set me up with another video conference?”

“I guess. But these papers, you need to sign…”

“Bring them by my condo. I’ll sign.”

“Thought you’d never ask. I’ve
got
to see what’s going on over there. If you’re running a day care on the side or what.”

“More like an insane asylum.”
 

The doorbell rang. Will answered the door. “I didn’t order groceries.” He sounded irritated.
 

“Listen, Thora, I’ve got to go. See you in a bit.” She clicked off and headed to the front door, where Will was frowning at a delivery guy holding a whole lot of bags of groceries.
 

“Yeah, those are mine. Bring them into the kitchen, would you?” She grinned at Will’s expression. “I was hungry. I can’t keep ordering takeout. Thought it was time to stock my kitchen with normal people food.”
 

His annoyance should have felt like victory, but left her feeling unsettled.
He’s not your friend,
she reminded herself. He’d nearly lost her her job.
 

Or had he? She had to find out what really happened four years ago, if only for her own peace of mind. So she could hate Will with a clear conscience again.

~*~

“Please don’t do that. I just assembled—oh, there it goes.” Darcy rocked back on her heels as Jakey yanked the support bar out of its groove.
 

Will chuckled to himself and stuck his hands in his pockets.
Serve her right.
Though he winced every time she held one of his tools the wrong way, and if he told her she was holding that strut upside down, it might go faster—but that would be—

Oh, hell. “You might want to turn that the other way.”

Darcy glared at him as if suspecting mischief. But that was her bailiwick, not his. He was a straight shooter. Well, most of the time. And no, he wasn’t going to think about this morning, and how he’d—they both had—feigned sleep. That was a mutual unspoken understanding.
 

Which didn’t make it right.

He abruptly turned and walked away. Too much. It was all too much.
 

A knock came on the door. Sheila, back so soon? That didn’t bode well.
 

But it wasn’t Sheila, it was a woman barely out of her teens, with a magenta streak down one side of her long blonde hair and a blue streak down the other side of her—well, her hair was mostly cropped short on that side.
 

She took one look at him and whistled. “You the reason Darcy is working from home?”
 

“I—uh— not exactly. Not that way, anyway.”

Behind him, Darcy was grunting as she shoved the left ski into the right ski slot. Strangely enough, it didn’t fit. “Thora, don’t tease the inmates. They bite.”

He grinned at Thora. “You probably already know Darcy bites, though. Have you been working with her long?”

“Only since she got the promotion. She’s an awesome boss, though. I want to be her when I grow up.” Thora sashayed over to the couch. “So you’re not her boyfriend. You available?”

Behind him, Darcy choked.
 

Will was liking this girl. “Matter of fact, I am.” He leaned forward. “Tell you what, convince Darcy she has to get back to the office pronto, and I’ll make you dinner.”

The doorbell rang again. This time it was indeed Sheila. Her hair had already fallen out of the neat bun she’d had this morning, her button-down shirt had lost a button, and her makeup was smudged. She’d been crying in the car. Dammit.
 

“Sheila—”
 

She shook her head. “It’s not happening. They look at me and they see someone who didn’t go to college, who has no credentials. Why would they take a chance on me? I wouldn’t. I mean, I know how to make peanut-butter-and-apple sandwiches, I know how to make a boo-boo go away, but—

Behind him, Darcy piped up. “Sounds like a skill set for preschool. Have you checked any? There must be some around here with openings.”
 

Sheila glared at her. “You’re the one who cost my brother his career at Golden Organics, aren’t you? I knew I recognized your name. Are you after his home too? What else do you want to take away from him?”

Will put his hand on Sheila’s arm, trying to calm her down. She smacked his hand away. “Stand up for yourself. Be a man. Kick her out.”

For once, Darcy kept her silence. A minor miracle. But she did look at him, her gaze narrowed.
 

There was nothing he could say that would appease Sheila and not make Darcy explode. So he just shook his head. “It’s complicated. Trust me.”

Darcy snorted. “Yeah, because you’re so very trustworthy.” If he didn’t know better, he’d have thought she looked hurt. He was the one who’d lost everything because of her. What did she have to be hurt about?

Ignoring her, Sheila snorted and turned away. “Alex! Jakey!”

Jakey toddled forward, knocking the elliptical-trainer box into Thora’s leg. He looked up at her with sorrowful eyes. She tched at him. “S’okay, little guy.”

Alex sat back on his heels. He was holding a wrench, overtightening a bolt on the elliptical. That was going to be the wobbliest exercise machine ever. “I’m not ready to go yet.”
 

“Alex.” Sheila looked like she was about to lose it. “Alex. If you don’t come right now, I swear I’ll—”

Will interjected. “Your mom is feeling wiped out from her meeting. Why don’t you take her home now and feed her some cookies and milk. I bet she’d love to watch
Mythbusters
with you.”

Alex jumped up. “Can we watch the one where they drop the car from the top of the building?”

Sheila mouthed
thank you
to Will and grabbed Alex, hugging him tight. “Sure thing, sweetie.”

“Mommy. That’s too tight.”

“Sorry.” She let him go, then turned to Will. “If you need help with this—” She glanced over at Darcy, who was now poring over work-related paperwork with Thora on the couch. “This problem of yours, let me know.”

“You’ll come beat someone up for me?”
 

“You know it, bro.” They bumped fists, and Sheila headed out the door, racing after her two boys.
 

Beyond her, he spotted a familiar figure. Janet Gillooly was talking to a neighbor. Wasn’t that Jennifer? Graphic designer, worked at home, had a tiny yappy dog. He’d helped her put up curtains last week.
 

Now Janet was hugging Jennifer, clearly saying good-bye. As Janet moved on to the next doorway, Jennifer paused in her own door, glancing over toward Will. He raised his hand in a little wave. Jennifer did the same, then disappeared inside.
 

Janet dropped a flyer on the mat of Jennifer’s next-door neighbor and walked on to the next condo in the row. Hmm.
 

“Janet!”
 

She didn’t hear him.

“Janet!” He waved this time.
 

Oblivious, she scribbled something on the edge of a flyer and stuck it under the condo door.
 

He was stuck. If he went over, Darcy would probably slam the door, lock it, and stick a chair under the handle. Then she’d call Tim to claim sole occupancy. Earlier, with Jakey’s safety at stake, her calculating businesswoman side had taken a breather. He had a feeling she wouldn’t be so understanding about a chat with the agent. Whatever Janet was up to, he’d have to wait to find out. Even if he had a sneaking suspicion it had something to do with this mess.

Chapter Eight

When Will came back inside, Darcy set her pen down. Her signature could wait a moment longer. “You may not want to hear this, but your sister needs a new wardrobe. She’s not going to convince anyone she’s ready for prime time if she’s dressed like an ’80s’ refugee.”

“You’re right.”

Darcy let her breath out in relief. He was going to accept her suggestion. Maybe he was opening up to her, just a little.
 

“I don’t want to hear it.” He picked up his computer and went out to the back deck. Great. She could never win for losing. Not with him. She shouldn’t want his approval. She certainly hadn’t given a damn about his feelings yesterday. And yet somewhere in the interim, she’d started to care. Not her best idea.
 

With an effort, she smiled at Thora and handed her the pages. “I think that’s it. Like I said, I’m not sure yet when I’ll be back in the office, but if you can keep conferencing me into meetings, it’s almost as good, right?”
 

Thora wasn’t buying it. “So what’s the deal between you two? And when did he work at Golden?” Her eyes got big. “Did you sleep with him and get into an ugly tangle when Stan fired his ass for sexual misconduct in the workplace?” She waggled her eyebrows for emphasis.
 

Darcy almost laughed. “If only it were that simple.” She was tempted to tell Thora the whole sordid story—the theft, the supposed adulteration, her demotion—but it wasn’t her style to confide. So she shrugged. “It was years ago, and it was just business. It’s not important.”
 

Thora twisted a lock of magenta hair around her pinky. “What’s his name again?”

“Will Dougherty. He worked in Design and Packaging.” She felt a pang she hadn’t felt in years. Four years, to be exact. Back when she’d looked forward to his calls, his witty emails. Back when she’d genuinely liked Will, or what she thought she knew of the man. More than liked. And maybe that was why she wanted him to like her again now. A foolish, girlish wish, but there it was.
 

As Thora left, Darcy spotted flyers fluttering on every doorjamb. It looked like Janet’s card was stapled to the top corner of each sheet. Whatever Janet was up to, Darcy hoped it worked. They couldn’t go on like this for much longer.
 

Which meant she needed to talk to Will. That was going to be fun.
 

He looked up reflexively as she slid the glass door open and stepped out onto the back deck, but his gaze flicked away immediately, back to his computer. He was talking into the phone. “I know exactly what you mean, intelligent but laid-back. Describes the perfect woman too, right?” He laughed. Still not looking at her. “I’ll email the link as soon as I put the images up, say an hour? Good, okay.” He clicked off, then finally looked at her. “I’m not up for another fight about who deserves this place more.”
 

Darcy sat down across from him. “I don’t hate you, you know.”

“Doesn’t matter. We’re stuck here until one of us backs off. Who likes or doesn’t like whom has become irrelevant. Just leave my sister out of it, okay?”

“I didn’t mean to put her down. It’s—she needs a job, right?”

“Desperately.” He put his computer on the patio table. She had his full attention now.
 

“Have you read
Blink
, by Malcolm Gladwell? He says we make most decisions in a split second, even before we’re aware we did. So if Sheila walks hesitantly into an interview wearing a style from two decades ago, they’ll sense her desperation right away, and they’re not going to like it. She has to march in there like the job is already hers. Isn’t that what you do?” She gestured toward his cell phone resting on the table. “I hear you on the phone. You talk to your would-be clients like they’re your best pals. They don’t even consider not hiring you. You own it. Your sister doesn’t.”
 

He picked up his phone, turning it over in his hands as if seeing it for the first time. “She let life grind her down. I don’t know how a new suit can fix that.”

“You’d be surprised.”

“She won’t listen to me anyway. I’m her little brother.”

Darcy laughed.