Friendship on Fire (24 page)

DANE ANSWERED THE phone on the fourth ring, just as Josh was about to hang up.

“Josh! How’s my little brother?” Even though there were five years between them, and as adults, Josh stood eye to eye to his six-foot-three brother, Dane never failed to throw “little” at him as often as he could.

“Hanging in there. How about you? Where are you?” Josh asked.

“Heading home, actually. Making my way to the airport now.”

“Dad said I should check in with you. Anything going on that I should know about?” Josh clicked on his computer and opened his email.

“Dad.” Dane laughed. “How does that old man always know when something’s up? There’s no great shakes happening in my life.”

Josh noted an emptiness in Dane’s response. “You sure? What am I hearing in your voice?"

“Shit, Josh. Nothing, really.” Dane blew out a loud breath. “Nothing like the shit that’s going on in yours, thank God.” He laughed again.

“Great. Take pleasure in my pain. That’s a supportive brother for you.”

“Hell, it makes me realize how lucky I have it. No ties that bind.”

Josh heard another twinge of something…loneliness maybe, in Dane’s voice. “You sure there’s nothing you want to talk about?”

“Not at this juncture, but it’s good to know you’re there. I appreciate it. Anything I can do to ease your situation?” Dane asked. “I feel for Riley. I mean it’s hard enough going from Weston to New York.  A whole new world. And the poor thing is attacked by the wolves. You don’t think she did it, do you?”

Josh hated the voice running through his head,
I don’t think so, but how can I be sure?
“You know Riley. You think she’d ever do something like that? Jeopardize a career she just began?” The words felt wrong tumbling from his lips.

“Or her relationship with the boss?” Dane tossed in.

“Right, there is that.”

“No, I don’t, but we never really know someone until the shit comes up the pipes, right?” Dane said something to someone in the background. “I gotta go. My flight’s boarding. See you at home. Love ya, bro.”

Satisfied that his father’s radar must have been off and Dane was just fine, Josh ended the call and turned to his emails, clicking on one from Peter Stafford.

Josh,

I’m in Switzerland with limited access while I’m with the family. We’ve scheduled a meeting on January 4, and I intend to make it. I’ve got a new venture I’d like to discuss. I’ve reviewed Riley Banks’s portfolio, and you were correct. Her talent is unmatched. Please be sure to include her in our meeting, as agreed. I’d like to get her input on the spring lineup for our girls. I believe you have a winner on your hands.

Best,

Peter

Josh closed his email and pushed away from his desk, wishing Reggie hadn’t left him so conflicted about Riley’s innocence. His father’s words ran through his head.
Can your heart live without her?
It’ll all mean nothing without a full heart
. Damn it. He wants her input on the spring lineup? Josh really needed to get some answers and clear her name.

“MR. B., YOU here?” Mia sailed into his office carrying a cardboard coffee tray in one hand and a paper bag in the other.

Josh reached for the drinks. “You’re supposed to be going home to spend the holidays with your family,” he said, though he was glad to see her. His nerves were coiled like a snake. He needed a distraction.

“So are you,” she said. “I knew you’d be here, so I brought you dinner.”

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“No, I didn’t, but that’s what the world’s best assistant does. She plans ahead, fixes problems before they occur, and…” She looked up as she set the sandwiches down on his desk. “Oh hell, I don’t know what else, but I didn’t come here to prove how great I am. I came here to make sure you weren’t falling apart. You didn’t answer your phone messages from me, or the text I sent.”

“It’s been a hell of a day,” Josh admitted.

“I bet. How’s Riley holding up?”

“I haven’t spoken—” He remembered that their relationship was front-page news and added, “I haven’t spoken to her since she got to Colorado, but she texted, and she seems to be okay. Rattled.”

Mia nodded, and guilt swallowed Josh. Mia had been a loyal and dedicated employee, and he valued her friendship. He should have told her that he was seeing Riley, even if under the veil of confidence.

“I’m sorry for not telling you about me and Riley, Mia. She didn’t want to come under scrutiny and gossip.”

Mia smiled and sipped her coffee. “Yes, you should have, so I could have protected her. Remember, part of the world’s greatest assistant’s job is to fix problems before they occur.”

“You would have protected her?” He lifted his drink. “Of course you would have. I’m sorry. It was shortsighted of me. But you know you couldn’t have stopped Claudia.”

“No, but I could have watched her more closely and maybe caught her in the act so things didn’t escalate so fast or so far.” She sipped her coffee. “So, this is it? She’s the one you’ve been hoping for all these years?”

Taken aback by the directness of her inquiry, he answered, “I haven’t exactly been waiting around,” Josh said.

“Right. Out of the last eighteen dates, you have returned phone calls for exactly two, and of those two, you have seen one of the women one more time, and that was to take her to an event. She went right home afterward, and you had me end it after that. As I recall, you had me send her an outfit and tell her thank you on the phone, but no thank-you card. I think you were waiting around, even if you didn’t know it.”

“You kept track of my dates?” Josh already knew the answer. Mia kept track of his entire life. It was Mia who’d called him before six a.m. to warn him about the media, and it was Mia who brought him dinner when he didn’t ask. “Okay, you win, Mia. Maybe I have been waiting around, or hoping, for Riley to appear. But even still, it took me by surprise.”

She kicked back in her chair and crossed her arms and legs. “I’ve been thinking about this whole thing. Claudia’s really clever. If she stole all of Riley’s original drawings, then Riley doesn’t have a leg to stand on. What can she possibly do or say that would substantiate that she was the original designer of that dress? Then I started thinking. If Claudia really did do this, then she had to do it here, right?” Her eyes grew wide. “You know where I’m going with this, right? Security cameras. We have them all over the place. Even if we didn’t see anything, it would be recorded. Mr. B., I think Riley might just catch a break.”

“I’m one step ahead of you. Come with me.” He led her to the security room, where Reggie stared at a blank screen, his face a block of stone. “Reggie, this is my assistant, Mia. She’s aware of the situation.”

Reggie spun around and pushed to his feet. “I think you have a very wise thief on your hands.” His eyes darted to Mia, and he extended a hand, his sharp stare softened to an appreciative gaze. “Pleasure to meet you,” he said.

Mia shook his hand. The attraction that sparked between them practically burned Josh. He cleared his throat.

“Wise?” Josh said.

“Wise, yes.” Reggie pulled his attention back to Josh, his eyes darting to Mia with every few words he spoke. “The security camera schedules have been tampered with. Over the past four weeks, the cameras have been set to roll until eleven thirty in the morning. Then they’re off until after nine in the evening. Weekends are off altogether. Whoever is doing this has access to the schedules.”

Josh shot a look at Mia.

“That would be anyone with a master key, as opposed to a front-door key. The cleaning people, me, you.” She nodded at Josh. “Claudia, and I think Clay has one. I think that’s it. But we check the videos daily to see that they’re running. I personally check them every morning at eight.” She closed her eyes and sighed. “Of course they are. They’re turned off later in the morning.”

Josh swallowed hard. He’d given Riley a master key as well, and he’d failed to report it to Mia.

“Well, that nails it, right? It’s got to be Claudia,” Mia said.

“That’s circumstantial at best. This could be a completely separate issue from the design theft.”  Reggie crossed his thick arms over his chest and planted his legs in a determined stance. “I’ve seen it a dozen times. We find a secondary issue while searching for the primary. I’m going to look into the files on their computers. We’ll see what else we can turn up.”

Josh bristled at his use of the word
their
and the implication that Reggie still thought Riley might be part of this whole scheme. No matter how much he loved her, he remained true to his ethical and moral standards and reluctantly admitted what he’d done. “I gave Riley a key. The only spare I had was a master.” He shrugged.

Mia arched a brow.

“It was the one from the safe,” Josh said.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Mia asked.

“I forgot, and she’s never used it.” Josh saw the disappointment in her eyes, and knew he deserved every bit of it.

Mia arched a brow.

“I’m with her, Mia, morning and evening. She’s never here alone.”

“A run of the electronic keys will tell us when specific employees entered the building. You do have a list of the employees and their key codes, right?”

Mia nodded.

“Does this door stay locked?” Reggie asked.

“Yes,” Mia answered.

“Then unless the key records have been tampered with, we should have a few more answers. And key records are ten times harder to falsify than cameras. Josh, I’ll need you to complete that paperwork I gave you so we can request it all on your behalf.”

“No problem. I’ll get it done now.” Josh answered without thinking, his mind still stuck on the fact that Riley had a master key.

“Depending on what we find, we may need to consider that other employees could be involved with these security tapes. I’ll let you know when we wrap up this end of the investigation,” Reggie said.

“I’ll take you over to their desks,” Mia offered. She turned on her heel and walked away.

Josh’s legs were rooted to the floor. Could Riley have done this? He sank into the chair Reggie had just vacated and covered his face with his hands. He had phone calls to make. Another round of inquiries to the people he trusted. Clay, the cleaning woman, Wella…and Riley.

THE EVENING BREEZE blew across the front porch of Riley’s parents’ single-story home.  Riley watched the sun dip behind the trees and hunkered down in her thick sweater, anticipating the chill it would bring. She heard the front door creak open and turned to see her mother joining her on the porch. Her once dark brown hair now laced with plentiful threads of silver hung just above her shoulders in thick waves. She wore a barn coat over her sweater and carried a bottle of wine and two glasses, which she set down as she seated herself in the rocking chair next to Riley.

“How’s my girl?” her mother asked.

Riley considered herself lucky to have always enjoyed a strong relationship with her mother, Arlene. Her mother had always used a tender tone, even when Riley knew she’d deserved a strong reprimand, and because of that, she’d always felt comfortable seeking her advice.

“I’m okay, Mom. It’s good to be home.” Riley had been thinking of Josh all afternoon. She wondered what he was facing back in New York. Was the media hounding him? Had he found any further evidence of Claudia’s guilt? Was he having doubts about her? About them? She was still wrestling with the harsh reality that by being linked to her, Josh’s reputation would be tarnished.

“We’ve missed you, but we all knew that one day your time would come. You’re too talented to be wasted at Macy’s,” her mother said.

“Thanks.”

“Do you enjoy the work as much as you’d hoped you would?”

She knew her mother was dancing around the subject of Claudia’s accusations, but she, too, was not ready to jump in and discuss it. “I’m only doing assistant work right now, but yeah. I do like it, and I like New York in general—or at least I did.” The porch boards creaked beneath her rocker’s rhythmic motion.

“That’s good,” her mother said. “You’ve always been able to adapt to change easily. Even when you were a little girl, when we’d travel to see Aunt Betty or to go on a summer trip, you never had trouble sleeping in new beds or adjusting to new schedules.”

“I remember.” Riley smiled at the memory of her aunt’s gingerbread cookies. She always had a batch ready when Riley arrived.

“There’s not much you can’t handle, Riley.”

Her mother looked at her then, her hidden meaning exposed in the glint in her eyes and the nod of her head.

“I’m not so sure,” Riley admitted. “Mom, how did you know Dad was everything you’d ever want?”

“I didn’t,” she admitted. “I’m not sure he is now, either.”

Oh no. Please don’t tell me any more bad news
. She fixed her stare on a knot in the railing and set her rocker into motion.

“I love your father. He’s a remarkable, caring man who would do anything for you or me. But, honey, we never know today what we’ll want tomorrow, or why.”

Riley met her mother’s gaze.

“How can you know in your thirties what you’ll want in your forties? You haven’t been there yet. Love is a powerful thing, but desire is, too, and one without the other can be deadly to even the strongest relationship.” Her mother paused to pull her jacket tighter across her chest. “I didn’t know when I married your father if I’d still want to be with him in two years, much less thirty, and I knew that despite how much he professed his love for me, there was no way he could possibly know either.” She looked out over the mountains. “I took a leap of faith, and I hoped for the best. I knew that I loved him, and I knew that I desired him. The rest”—she shrugged—“I figured I’d deal with along the way.”

“And?” Riley pushed.

“And desire and love wax and wane in relationships. Even the strongest of them. I’ll let you in on a little secret that my mother shared with me.”

Riley leaned forward, ready to hear her grandmother’s secret.

“I’m not so sure that God knew what he was doing when he gave us the idea of living together, even after being married. Men and women are just wired differently. We think differently. We have different wants and needs, and that alone can drive a couple apart pretty quickly.”

So I was right; you don’t have a loving relationship with Dad?

Her mother smiled up at the starlit sky. “So I had a heads-up going into my marriage, and I knew that we’d probably come across some frustrating times when I’d feel like I hated something your father did or wished he’d do something I knew he never would. I think my mother saved our marriage by sharing that with me, because when those times came, I was prepared. I saw them for what they were. Tiny bumps in a very long road. I didn’t give up, and I didn’t walk away. And when desire seemed very far away, we both worked to reel it back in.”

How could I have been so wrong?
“So?” Riley asked.

“So, you might never really know what the future holds, and you have to go on what your heart tells you when you believe you’ve found your forever love. You’ll know when it’s time to take that giant leap of faith.”

Riley let out a breath. “A giant leap of faith.”

Her mother picked up the bottle of wine and poured each of them a glass. “And a little wine might help clear your mind.”

“Yeah, it just might.” Riley sipped the wine, processing what her mother had just revealed.

“Riley, relationships aren’t always hot and heavy, and sometimes it’s that deeper, more meaningful love that pulls you through. Being held by the person you cherish most, or hearing their voice at the end of a particularly grueling day, those can be far more powerful than the initial hot and hectic passion of new love.”

Riley felt her cheeks flush. “I didn’t mean…”

“No, but you wondered. Every woman wonders about what will happen when that wears off, and that’s where your leap of faith comes in, and your strength and courage to bring yourself and your partner back to the place where you both are happiest.”

Riley nodded.

“You and Josh. Do you want to talk about it?” her mother asked.

“I don’t know, Mom. I miss him already, you know. That’s crazy, and I know that. I just saw him this morning, but every time I think of him, I see his face. And seeing his face brings goose bumps to my arms.” She held out her arm, and her mother ran her hand over the bumps. “But there’s so much more.” Riley continued. “He’s so different than I thought he’d be. When we were growing up, I was crazy about him, but he was a Braden. A good-looking, confident guy who was wildly out of my reach.”

“Don’t pull the wool over your eyes, Riley Roo,” her mother said. “You steered clear of Josh because of that silly feud between the Bradens and the Johnsons. If that nonsense hadn’t been going on, I’m not sure we could have kept you two apart.”

Her mother hadn’t called her by her childhood nickname since she went away to college, and that should have made her feel warm and safe, but Riley was too hung up on the fact that her mother knew she’d had a major crush on Josh—and that he had one on her. Before she could respond, her mother continued.

“You could have had any man you wanted—and you still can. Not that you need one, mind you, but you’re smart as a whip and pretty as can be, and your personality has always drawn people to you.”

Riley let out a laugh under her breath. “Thanks, Mom. You knew about my crush?”

“Honey, everyone knew about your crush.”

Oh God!
  “Really? Thanks, Mom. Maybe you could have clued me in that I was ogling him too blatantly or something.”

“It wouldn’t have mattered what I did. You would have continued. You couldn’t stop yourself any more than Jade could stop loving Rex.”

“Okay, fair enough,” Riley said. “Anyway, that’s not what I meant. I just meant…I don’t even know. I always felt like he’d be more…I don’t know…stuck up or something, especially now that he’s at the top of his career—or at least he was before I came along.” Her smile faded.

“Oh, honey, you know better than that. None of the Bradens are like that. I’m not sure why you had that impression, but they’re a very nice family. Very accepting, hard-working. Hal has done well by each of his children.”

“I know all of that now. It just took me by surprise, and now I worry that I’ve brought shame to their family.” There. She’d said it aloud, and with the words, a heavy load lifted from her chest. 

“Oh, honey, I’m sure that you’re overreacting.”

“We’re on Yahoo! News, Mom.”

“Yahoo! News?”

 “I forgot you don’t use the computer. You really should, you know. Yahoo is a big website that provides email to millions of people and carries the news along with it. My big mug has been spread all over to millions of people, along with an article saying I stole designs that I didn’t steal.”

For a minute, her mother didn’t say anything. She sipped her wine and looked out over the field in front of the house.

Riley wondered what her mother must think of her now.

“Now I can see why you’ve been walking around here with a heavy heart,” her mother said. “Riley, you didn’t steal the designs, so how could you have shamed anyone? It’s the person accusing you who should be ashamed of herself.”

The difference between Weston and New York was staring Riley in the face. If the same accusation were made in Weston, Riley could have confronted the accuser face-to-face, with the community backing her based on her reputation alone.

“It’s not that easy,” Riley explained. “I don’t know if she can place formal charges against me, even though they’re my designs. I don’t know what impact this will have on Josh’s career, or mine, or our relationship. Oh, Mom, it’s such a mess.”

Her mother nodded. “I don’t claim to be very worldly, but I do know that in time things like this blow over. While you’re in the thick of it, it might seem like that could never happen, but trust me. Time really does heal all wounds.”

“It might heal wounds, Mom, but it won’t be able to heal careers. And what if even though Josh loves me, he wakes up one day regretting that he stood by me because a year from now, or six months from now, or in ten years, this whole thing comes up again at some inappropriate time, like a fashion event or something else with a lot of media coverage?”

“What if he does?” her mother asked.

“I don’t know,” Riley cried. “That’s why I asked you. It would suck, I guess.”

“Yes, Riley, it would. But what if this whole thing never happened, and you and Josh remained together, or got married, and a few years down the line Josh woke up and said he didn’t love you anymore? Would that be any better?”

Riley finished her wine in one gulp. “You’re supposed to make me feel better, not worse.”

“Don’t you see, Riley? All you can be certain of is the here and now. The tangible, the time that you can hold on to and enjoy, one kiss at a time. You can beg for all the answers you want to, but understand that we’re all guessing at the tomorrows of the world. You have to take hold of the now and make the most of it. Savor it. Josh’s family is a testament to that. Do you think they thought they’d lose Adriana at such a young age?”

“No, but…”

“Don’t you think she told Hal a million times how much she loved him and that she’d never leave him? It’s all a leap of faith.”  

Her mother refilled their glasses, then continued. “The way I see it, you should be less worried about the shame you might bring to others and more worried about reclaiming the rights to those designs you no doubt worked long and hard to create.”

“Josh is working on it,” Riley said.

“Since when do you let other people fight your battles?”

“Kinda harsh, don’t you think, Mom?”

“No. I’m being real, Riley. You’ve always stood up for yourself. You’ve confronted bigger rivals in your life than some New York woman. Remember in fourth grade when sixth-grader Alex Harper got it in his head that he was going to make fun of Jade every day?”

“Yeah, but we were kids,” Riley said.

“Yeah, you were. But that didn’t stop you from going right up to him and socking him in the nose.” Her mother shook her head. “I still remember his mother shouting at me on the phone, and I was so damn proud of you. I didn’t love that you settled the issue with your fists, but I was proud that you had taken charge of a situation that the teachers and principal failed to handle. I have faith in you, Riley. There must be something you’re overlooking. Some proof of what you’ve created.”

“Well, if there is, I can’t think of it.”

Her mother frowned. “Then you’re not thinking hard enough, and maybe, just maybe, you’ve fallen into the victim line and can’t find your way out.”