Bride by the Book (Crimson Romance) (20 page)

For a brief moment, Angie’s swift fingers halted and she stared at the words Fonda had written. If Vernon fired all the best programmers, his new iteration of VP-Base would never see the light of day. What on earth was wrong with him?

Let’s hope he doesn’t go that far
, she typed.

Yeah. I’m not in the mood right now to hunt for another job
, Fonda returned.

Fonda signed off. Of all the people she knew, Fonda was the one least likely to worry about Vernon Brownwood’s temper tantrums. If Vernon fired Fonda, the world would truly have come to an end.

At lunch, she crossed the street alone because Garner had to drive to the nearby town of El Dorado and file a case. Before he left, he bent over her chair and kissed her thoroughly.

“Stay out of trouble,” he said, laughing down at her. “For some reason, trouble seems to have followed you here, all the way from California.”

“It isn’t funny,” Angie grumbled. “Just when my new life has really gotten on track, here comes all the old trouble, right to my doorstep.”

“And how.” Garner laughed harder than ever. “I’ve never seen anybody like that guy, Peter. Did you work with a whole platoon of people just like him?”

“Not many are like Peter. But he’s unusually good at what he does, so maybe that’s why he’s always been what’s euphemistically termed ‘eccentric.’”

Garner went out, laughing, and Angie looked wistfully down at her little black Rolodex. She knew very well that her wonderful new job might be about to end, no matter how much Garner enjoyed the situation at present. He might have to fire her in order to preserve his own sanity. Literally.

Angie shook off her mood and marched across the street to the New South Diner, where the grits were always well-buttered and the bacon always crisp. Cliff joined her, still expressing great interest in Peter’s Trypster tablet.

“Dolly is allowing me two slabs of butter for my toast every morning,” he told Angie happily. “Laura came in here and bribed her properly, I’ll bet.”

“Who cares, so long as you get butter?” Angie asked reasonably. “You can’t possibly eat a slice of toast with no butter on it.”

“My feelings exactly.” Cliff looked over her shoulder. “Say, Angie, your friend is coming up, and he’s still got that tablet. Do you think he’d let me take a look at it?”

Angie managed not to groan aloud. “I don’t see why not. But you’ll probably get to see more than you want to without ever touching it, if I know Peter.”

Peter had spotted her through the window, it appeared, because he wasted no time in hastening to her side with his loping amble. “Say, Ang, you’ve got the first sequence featuring a field of carnivorous plants. But it might be better if we have them escape a flowing lava field. What do you think? I can do a great job with rivers of lava and fire all over the place.”

Angie looked at the tablet he held out to her. “I don’t know, Peter. It’s hard to scare kids these days. How about a swarm of evil carnivorous bats?”

Cliff’s eyes focused in a longing way on Peter’s tablet computer. “I’ve always been terrified of hypodermic needles, myself. If you’re interested in a kid’s worst fear.”

“That’s an idea,” Peter said, almost to himself. “A bunch of blood-sucking bats with mouths like hypodermic needles. That’ll scare the little buggers.”

He settled in the booth beside Angie and tapped on the screen. “Okay. Blood-sucking bats for the first scene. Now this second scene ... ”

He trailed off into silence, staring in fixed concentration, as Dolly approached with glasses of water and banged them down on the table.

“I’ll have the chicken-fried steak,” Angie announced, “with lots of gravy. Peter, do you want any lunch?”

“Lunch?” Peter looked up. “Oh, sure. Get me whatever you get, Ang. What do you think about having Ra-thor save Lenora from the bats?”

“It’s Lenora’s turn to save Ra-thor.” Angie rolled her eyes. “Two chicken-fried steak dinners, Dolly. With lots of gravy, please.”

Dolly glared at the notations on Peter’s tablet. “He has to put away the game. I don’t serve gamers in here.”

“He will,” Angie promised and hoped she could keep the promise. “And a glass of milk for me. Mr. Holt has finally convinced me that it’s good for my bones.”

“Humph,” Dolly said. “There’s them as says milk is for baby cows, too. But I ain’t got nothing against a good cold glass of milk.”

“Milk?” Peter looked up, interested. “That’s an idea, Ang. How about some killer cows in the fourth scene?”

“Killer cows?” Dolly stared at Peter in clear outrage. “There ain’t no killer cows around here, mister.”

“Not around here,” Peter explained. “In here.” He tapped his tablet screen.

Dolly glared at it. “That ain’t nothing but hire-o-glifics. This guy’s crazy as they come, folks. I wouldn’t listen to nothing he says.”

She scribbled something on her pad and marched off, muttering.

Angie and Cliff exchanged glances and struggled to keep from laughing.

Peter cast a temporarily focused glance after her and looked back down at his tablet. “On second thought, maybe an evil tribe of females with giant water glasses on trays to sic the cows on our heroes.”

“I don’t know, Peter.” Angie decided she might as well laugh now, since she probably would have no reason to later. “But I do know that if you want any lunch, you’d better put away the tablet and keep your mouth shut.”

Garner returned to his office about mid-afternoon and found his secretary typing busily away at the forms he had left with her. He still professed amazement that a woman with absolutely no secretarial training had managed to turn herself into quite a credible secretary via books and computer knowledge, and he professed himself overjoyed that she had chosen his office to practice her new skills. He had definitely come out ahead on this deal.

He stepped inside, fully intending to kiss her thoroughly, until he spotted Peter Van Holden ensconced on one of the chairs near Angie’s desk.

Peter almost lay in the chair. Another six inches in a downward direction, and he would be on the floor. Above his head he held his tablet computer while he frowned at something on the screen.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Holt,” Angie said professionally. “You have two calls to return, and Mr. Denberg phoned about the drunk-driving case. I’ve put the numbers on your desk.”

Garner adapted himself to the new reality and admitted that Angie might have a point. Peter Van Holden definitely detracted from the professional atmosphere Angie had brought to his office.

“Good afternoon, Angie,” he said, taking his cue from her. “I see we have a visitor.”

She gave him a speaking look. “No lunch for poor Peter. He didn’t put away his tablet fast enough, and Dolly refused serve him.” She glanced at Peter. “Not that he noticed.”

“I see. How long has he been here?”

“Since lunch. He showed up at the diner just after Cliff and I got there.” She smiled in a deprecating way. “I thought it might be better if I kept him here instead of letting him wander next door to visit Cliff.”

“You probably know best. Get your notebook and come on in my office. I’ve got some instructions to give you.”

He held open the door to his office and shut it the moment Angie had stepped inside. When she turned to see why, he took her in his arms and kissed her with all the joy and passion he felt just in looking at her.

“Now don’t tell me this is unprofessional behavior,” he said. “Because I intend to do a lot more of it in the upcoming days.”

“So long as you close the doors,” Angie said, quite demure. “Especially when Peter is around. Sometimes he acts like he thinks he’s my father.”

As if to lend credence to her words, the door opened and Peter wandered in, frowning at the tablet in his hand. “I need a computer. I’ve got to check something on my office desktop.” He looked up and frowned. “Why are you hugging up to Angie? Who are you, anyway?”

“He’s giving me some instructions he wants carried out.” Angie stepped out of Garner’s arms with what dignity she could assume. “Where are your manners, Peter? Don’t you know better than to go walking into offices that have closed doors?”

“Never bothered anybody before.” Peter peered at Garner. “Does Vern know you’re kissing Angie?”

“You’ll have to be sure and tell him,” Garner said. “In the meantime, why don’t you try using the computer on Angie’s desk? She’s got it about as fine-tuned as possible.”

“Doubt if I’ll be able to tell him anything,” Peter muttered. “He was screaming about the game contract this morning. Couldn’t get a word in edgewise.”

“Daddy called this morning?” Angie asked. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“He didn’t ask to talk to you. He was too busy yelling at me.” Peter lapsed back into his fog of concentration and turned back to the door. “I’ve got to check the specs from the last game. Otherwise, it’s back to writing a whole new block of code.”

He excited and closed the door behind him.

“Is he really as spacey as he acts?” Garner asked, staring after him.

“Yes, especially when he’s in a programming fit.” She headed toward the door. “I’d better try and get him to go back to my place. Otherwise, we’re going to be minus a computer.”

“Minus a computer?” Garner followed on her heels. “You can use mine.”

“I mean really minus a computer. As in, there will be pieces of it lying all over the office.”

She hurried out to her desk, where Peter sat frowning at the computer screen and tapping experimentally at the keys.

“Say, Ang, there’s no way this thing can handle a download of the size I’m going to need. Do you think I could—?”

“I’ve told you, the computers at my place can handle anything you want. You need to get back there, Peter. These are older computers designed strictly for office work, and there isn’t much you can do to improve their performance for the kind of work you do.”

“Maybe so,” Peter said doubtfully. “Well, I’ll do what I can.”

He went to work and within minutes became so absorbed, Angie doubted whether he would have noticed if Bonnie and Clyde stopped by to empty his pockets.

“He’ll be busy for another hour, I hope,” Angie said, resigned.

“Maybe you should move your home computers down here for him.” Garner slid his arm around her waist and drew her back inside his office. “You could keep an eye on him a lot easier. He’s really an interesting guy. I’d like to watch him work.”

“That’s what I’m trying to avoid.” She came readily, much to his delight. “You haven’t seen chaos until you see Peter when he really gets into a programming job.”

“How about creating a little chaos in my system?” he asked. “I could use a good shaking up.”

“Poor man. You must have had a rough afternoon at the courthouse.” She slipped her arms around his neck. “What can I do to make it up to you?”

“You can take up where you left off when Van Holden came in,” he said and breathed in the unique lemony scent that clung to her hair and skin. “I was calming down nicely until then.”

Angie obligingly took up where she left off, and Garner soon found himself forgetting all about the visitor in his front office.

• • •

Overall, Angie thought the day could have been worse. True, Peter ensconced himself at her desk and took over her computer, working between it and his tablet, but he stayed quiet and remained in place. That was really all she asked. Since Garner kept her in his office the rest of the day, she had no complaints.

When she told Peter it was time to leave for the day, he shut down readily and followed them out.

“I was getting hungry anyway,” he confided. “Is there a pizza place around? I’d better gas up if I’m going to get any work done tonight.”

“I’ll order one in for you,” she said. “Come on, Peter. You’ll be able to work at my place. I’ll put a card table up in the bedroom for you.”

“And some coffee,” he said. “Is there a Starbucks around? I sure could use one of their double espressos.”

“I’ll make you some strong stuff,” Angie promised, remembering the days when she had leaned heavily on powerful caffeinated beverages herself. “But what you really need to do is go back to your office in Palo Alto. You’ve got all the things you need on your office computers, and there’s a Starbucks and a pizza place across the street.”

“I don’t know, Angie.” Peter settled on the back seat of Garner’s Blazer. “I’m finding everything I need just fine, and between you and me, it’s a heck of a lot quieter here. Maybe I’ll open a programming office here. That accounting fellow says I’m welcome to use his spare office.”

Angie registered a mental note to warn Cliff. “You’ll miss all your programming buddies in Palo Alto.”

“Haven’t missed ’em yet.” Peter settled back and glanced around at the blooming flowerbeds and neatly trimmed lawns. “This is a nice place. Besides, you’re here, and you understand Ra-thor and Lenora better than anyone else.”

Garner grinned at her. “See? You can run, but you can’t hide. Palo Alto found you.”

Angie smothered a groan. “So long as it’s just Peter who found me, we may come out okay.”

“It won’t be just Peter for long,” Garner said, smiling tenderly.

“You mean Daddy will have an apoplexy when he discovers Peter is here?” Angie asked, curious. “Peter said something about Daddy calling the house this morning and really getting ticked when Peter answered the phone.”

“I figured as much.” Garner sounded satisfied. “We’ll soon see if I’m right about Palo Alto following you here.”

Angie felt cold all over at the thought. She had high hopes about her new relationship with Garner, not to mention her new life, and she did not need anything or anyone else from Palo Alto following her to Arkansas and ruining everything.

Besides, now that Garner had called her attention to the possibility, she had begun worrying that Vernon might indeed have something seriously wrong with him.

She needed to have a long talk with her mother, at a time when Vernon was nowhere nearby. That meant catching Celia before she left the Stanford campus, which meant allowing for the two-hour time difference.

“Say, Ang,” Peter said suddenly from the back seat. “What do you say we pull an all-nighter on this thing. We’ll be a lot further along, and—”