What's Yours is Mine (31 page)

Sheila sauntered back into the condo, leaving Darcy openmouthed and stunned.

~*~

After Sheila left, Darcy snuck back inside and cut herself a slice of frittata. The Calderon folk were chatting in the courtyard with Will, and the boys were safe on the patio. She ate the eggy goodness with her fingers down by the tiny inlet, sitting with her legs tucked under her on the gravelly sand, watching Sheila’s boys play peek-a-boo with the mild surf. Her favorite work skirt was probably getting irreparably stained. She couldn’t bring herself to care.
 

After an hour, Will came down the path. It seemed natural when he sat beside her. She leaned against his shoulder as they watched the kids play in the surf.
 

Alex had rolled up his pants. He waded into the cool water, tossing pebbles as he went. Jakey had managed to soak his entire body. His clothes were dripping. He sat in the shallows, gleefully splashing a mixture of sand and water in the air, getting it into his hair, smearing it on his cheek. But he was gurgling happily to himself, talking up a storm about water and sand and Alex and wind and wet. So it was all good, right?
 

She’d probably make a terrible mom. Moms were supposed to be worried all the time, weren’t they? “Zen is about being in the moment, right?”

Will grunted his assent. “Why?”

“Because the overall right now? Not so great. But this moment? Awesome.”

He smiled into her hair. His lips touched her neck, sending a shiver through her. “I’m almost glad Janet screwed up and stuck us together.”

She buried her face in his shoulder. “Me too.”
Even if this doesn’t go anywhere after today. It’s worth it.
“Last night Grant said he’s got too much administrative work, right? He doesn’t have enough time for coding and whatnot?”

 
“Is there a reason you’re thinking about Grant when you’re snuggled up against me?” Will pulled away to peer into her face. “Does the thought of admin work turn you on? I should know this before we go any further.”

“I was just thinking. Administration work is a lot like managing a household. And your sister’s pretty good at that, right?”

Will released her completely and sat back on the rock. “Did she get fired? Did she tell Stan off?
 
I swear...”
   

“No, we came to an agreement.”
     

After Darcy explained, Will whistled.
 
“You realize this means you’ll lose your job, right?”

“I… uh…”
 
She hadn’t.
 
Not exactly. But yes, of course. How stupid was she?
 
If Sheila uncovered anything and Darcy acted on that knowledge…?
 

And yet how could she not?
 

Her phone vibrated against her thigh.
 
She glanced down. “That was fast. It’s your sister.” Darcy took a deep breath and hit Talk. “Hello? Sheila?”

 
“Nancy Drew never felt like a snake and a liar, did she?”
 
Sheila sighed, the sound an explosion of air in Darcy’s ear.
 
“Stan is much nicer than I expected. I see what you mean about him. I feel like I’m doing something wrong uncovering his wrongdoing.
 
I mean, really. Anyway, there’s nothing on this computer I could find, and he doesn’t even have one on his desk. So it’s got to be in that locked file cabinet. You know the one?”

Darcy did. But there was no interrupting Sheila, who sounded like she was hyped on caffeine but was probably running on jittery energy. “He just left. For a midmorning meeting, he said, but Thora, do you know her? Wait, she’s your assistant, of course you do.” She took a deep breath, clearly trying to calm down. “Anyway, she said he takes a nap in his car by the boardwalk. He’s got this big set of keys. It’s been sitting on his desk all morning taunting me. I just went into his office, though, and it was gone. Like he’d taken it with him. I thought I might have to, I don’t know, seduce him to get to it later.” She laughed, nervous giggles.
 
“But it was just in the peace lily pot.”

“Hidden there?”

“Or maybe it fell, I don’t know. Anyway, one of the keys fit. But here’s the thing, I don’t understand the filing system here. I looked for the file under the year and under your name and under Slippery Elm and even L for Lotion. It’s not anywhere.”

“Oh boy. I’m not sure. Without seeing it…” Darcy shook her head, thinking. “Is there a computer on the desk near his file cabinets? I think there is.”

A pause. “Yes, yes, there is.”

“Here’s what we’ll do. I’ll call you back in five minutes, and we’ll set up a video call. You can swivel the monitor and show me what you’re talking about. Hold folders up to the camera. That way I can direct you.”
 

They worked the details out, and then Darcy got off the phone, handing it back to Will. He pocketed it and stood up. “I guess we’d better get the boys out of the water.”

“You don’t have to be involved in this.”

“Oh, but I do.”

“You know what we’re doing?”

He didn’t respond directly. Instead, he turned to his waterlogged nephews. “Alex, Jakey, want to have some strawberries and cream?”

The boys did.

~*~

After settling the boys with his special stash of Legos and squishy things, Will watched Darcy set up her computer while talking Sheila through her part on the speakerphone. Watched and wondered.
 

No, he didn’t wonder. He knew. He’d known for a while, he realized now. He just hadn’t wanted to admit he knew.
 

He loved her.

She was brave, strong, capable, and knew who she was and what she wanted. Even if he disagreed with her on a whole host of things, he marveled at her clarity.

And in her way, she was as moral as he was. She’d never adulterated the lotion. Truth was, he’d known that from the first night she’d shown up in his bed, righteously angry and full of fire. But he couldn’t admit it, not even to himself, because then he’d have no defense against her. Against his own feelings for her.

He’d felt like he was in love before, sure. But that was more giddy lust and sexual attraction, and dissipated quickly. This was frighteningly more.
 

He had a strong impulse to race out to the pickup truck and haul ass out to the desert, out in the middle of absolute silence, sand and scrub and a few lonely birds and him. To run away.
 

Just like his mother had.
 

Shaken by the unexpected train of his thoughts, he stood behind Darcy, hands on the back of her chair, watching her move through the keystrokes. She crowed her success when Sheila’s anxious face appeared on the computer screen, a dusty, long, low file cabinet behind her.
 

“Oh, thank God. For a moment, I thought the webcam wasn’t working.”
 

 
“You ready for this?”

“More than.”

Darcy glanced at Will, who nodded his agreement. “Show me what you’ve got.”
 

Sheila went over to the file cabinet and pulled it open. The search was on.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Stan’s filing system turned out to be impenetrable. A few times, Sheila pulled out a file that made it feel like they must be getting close. The Jumping Jasmine Flash shampoo was aborted just a few months before they pulled the plug on the Slippery Elm lotion. Surely the file in question would be next.
 

Nope. After Jumping Jasmine Flash came Soapin’, a soap on a rope for kids that had gone to production two years earlier but never took off.
 

Another drawer, another round of hope. Sheila glanced at the clock in the office. Darcy glanced at the clock on her computer. Will’s fingers tightened on the chairback behind her; she could practically feel his tension transmitted through the wood. “Sis, I think you need to stop. Finish tomorrow.”
 

“Just a few more. I’m almost done. I don’t want to come back in tomorrow. I already feel like a liar and a sneak.” Sheila riffled through the new set of files rapidly. “These ones are labeled with acronyms. ACDC 79. ELO 85. At least they’re alphabetical.”

“Names of bands, dates he saw them. We just have to decode the relationship to product.” Darcy chewed her lip, thinking.
 

“Look for SWW 86.”
 

Darcy craned her head up to look at Will. He responded with his crooked smile. “Slippery Elm. Slippery When Wet. Bon Jovi, 1986. Don’t ask me why I know that.”

Sheila gave a laugh-snort. “You were six years old.”

Will smothered a laugh. “Not me. And the incident in question happened a few years later.”

Either the computer color calibration was really bad, or Sheila turned crimson.
 

“I hate to break up the sibling teasing, but can you give that a try, Sheila? You’re close to the right spot.”

Sheila turned back to the file cabinet, then froze.
 

The sound was audible through the computer speakers: the creak of a door opening.

Stan was back.
 

“Crap.” Darcy spoke in a whisper, but Will put his finger over her lips. Stan might see them on the screen, yes, but it was just as likely that he wouldn’t even bother looking. He was largely oblivious to modern technology.
 

Sheila hastily pushed the file cabinet closed, but too late.
 

“What are you doing?” Stan’s voice, normally so cheery, sounded flat, almost dead.
 

“I was just trying to figure out the organization around here. Making sense of things on my first day. Is there a problem?” Sheila’s voice quivered just a little.

Stan moved into view. “People kept telling me today that I hired you too hastily, without going through proper channels, and I said no, I trust Darcy’s recommendation. But then someone recognized your name. You’re Will Dougherty’s sister, aren’t you?”

Sheila shrugged, covering nerves. “I thought Will left on good terms. He likes you, anyway.”

Stan’s demeanor quickly shifted. “And I adore him. I just wish you’d told me. Or that Darcy had. Tell me now. Come into my sitting room. I’ll brew you some of my special tea. We can have a chat about your brother and you’ll tell me what you were looking for in my private filing cabinet.”

Stan guided Sheila out of the room, his arm across her back, so very avuncular it gave Darcy the shivers. Sheila gave a darting glance back toward the computer, toward them. She looked scared. Then they were gone.
 

Darcy stared at the computer, willing the webcam to zoom into Stan’s inner office, or at least to extend electronic ears that far. No such luck. All she could hear were murmurs. She muted her computer microphone, to be safe, but kept watching intently, just in case.
 

Will, meanwhile, had left her side. “Kids!” He scooped Jakey up, along with a box of toys. “Alex! Get your shoes on. We have to go for a ride!”

Darcy closed her computer and stood up. “I should come.”
 

“No. You shouldn’t. I have to rescue my sister. You don’t. And if you show up there now, you’ll probably lose your job.”

“I think I lost it the moment I agreed to have Sheila do this.”
 

Will paused by the door, his right shoe still half-on. “And that’s okay with you?”
   

Was it?
 

Everything in the room seemed painfully vivid. The light from the skylight falling on Will’s intent face. The brightly colored Lego blocks on the soft wool rug. The food smear at the edge of the rug. Jakey’s thick tawny hair, his stubby fingers. Alex’s sneakers, a scuffed navy blue, and his intent face as he struggled to yank them on. The scent of melted butter and garlic lingering in the air.
 

All of it. Here. Now. This slice of time and space. This moment, this breath. Right now. Whatever happened next, there was no turning back. Her life was about to change.
 

It already had.

~*~

Will opened the door to Stan Golden’s inner office and stepped inside, ready to do battle.
 

Sheila sat in an armchair on the far side of the room. Stan was bent over her.
 

Will clenched his fists. “Sheila, are you okay?”

Stan straightened up. “And hello to you too, Mr. Dougherty. What a pleasant surprise.” He was holding an electric tea kettle. Steam rose from the oversized mug in Sheila’s cupped hands. Will’s steps slowed. Had he misread the situation entirely?

No. The cup wobbled in Sheila’s grip. The lines around her mouth were white with tension.
 

Stan set the tea kettle down on a side table. “I’d offer you refreshment, but it’s not terribly polite of you to barge in like this. I was having a pleasant conversation with your sister. Very enlightening.”

Sheila glanced toward Will, then looked away.
 

Will frowned. “I have nothing to hide. Unlike you.”

Stan raised his cup, toasting Sheila. “Here’s to a pretty lady.” He took a sip, then made a face.
 

Will smiled, bitter. “What’s the matter, Stan? Your tea have a dollop of triclosate in it? I hear it’s great for clearing out the sinuses. Wonderful antifungal too. Too bad it causes infertility and cancer.”

Sheila set her mug down on the table with a rattle.
 

Stan shook his head at Will. “So impetuous. Always jumping to conclusions. What if that triclosate were from an entirely different production line? Not even ours. Other companies make their soaps at that factory too, you know. It’s in a lot of conventional lotions.”

“Four years ago when we spoke on the phone after I was fired, you told me Darcy had ordered it without your permission. Now I know better, so you have to find a new falsehood. I’ll give you that, you lie smoothly. You certainly have enough practice.”
 

Stan sipped his tea, seeming nonchalant. “You put too much stock in honesty. You’d be much better off if you learned from your erstwhile roommate. She stayed home, didn’t she? She’s not getting involved in this. Smart woman. I always liked her. She knows how to play the game.”