Mythe: A Fairy Tale (17 page)

Manda and David had come up with a theme that everyone liked. They worked on artwork and promotional pieces throughout September, putting in place the elements they could, but knowing that the bulk of work would come at the eleventh hour. That would also be when they passed off the design of the crucial centerpiece of the project, the auction catalog, to Jerry Fieldings’ girlfriend, Andrea. Just the thought of it made Manda cringe...so she tried not to think about it too often.

The two weeks before the auction were always a flurry of frantic activity, and Manda worked and arranged so that their schedule would be clear during that time. When the e-mail came from Curt warning them that the information they needed for the final auction materials was coming their way the next day, Manda and David were ready.

“Shall we have one last long, leisurely lunch before the onslaught?” Manda suggested, and the four of them lingered over an extended lunch for over two hours. On the way back to the office, Manda decided to call it an early day as well.

“You look kind of tired, Davie. Go home and get some rest. You’ll need it.”

“We won’t come back up with you, then,” Richard said. “You’ll want to get things wrapped up and get out without us in the way. Lunch tomorrow? We can bring something in if you guys are too busy to get away.”

“That would be perfect. It’ll force us to take a little mental health break at least,” Manda said, unwilling to give up lunch with Richard no matter how busy they were.

Richard and Josh said their goodbyes in the lobby, leaving David and Manda to ride up in the elevator alone. David was uncharacteristically subdued. In fact, now that she thought about it, he’d been that way all day.

“Are you okay?” Manda asked him as they stepped out onto their floor. “You’re kinda quiet.”

“I guess I am pretty tired,” he said, then hesitated uncertainly before continuing, “but I’d like to talk to you while it’s just the two of us.”

“Sure. What’s up?” When David wanted to talk to her, he just came right out with it. He was certainly never hesitant to speak his mind, and he certainly never found it necessary to announce that he needed to discuss something with her. His obvious discomfort made her wary. His next seemingly casual remark only put her more on guard.

“It’s been great working with Richard and Josh.”

“Yes, it has,” Manda agreed.

“They aren’t at all what I expected when we first took on this job,” he continued.

“Me either,” Manda agreed again, waiting patiently for David to get to the point. He opened the door to their work area for her and followed her in, then dropped onto the sofa. He really did seem exhausted.

“If anyone had told me we would have ended up such good friends with them I would have laughed, but I really like them. I enjoy their company and I think it’s mutual. I think they like hanging out with us, too.”

“I think that’s a fair assumption.” Manda thought she could see where David was headed with this discussion and she was beginning to dread it.

David was silent for a long minute, and then went on. “I know this is probably none of my business.”

“Since when has that ever stopped you?” Manda teased, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

It worked and David chuckled. “Yeah, I know, but you’re like one of my sisters, M. Even more than that, you’re one of my best friends, and I’d hate to see you get hurt.”

Manda sighed. She’d been dead on about what David was getting at. She hated to think she was that transparent.

“I really like Richard. You know that. But I’m also aware of his reputation with women—he’s notoriously gun-shy—and I’ve seen the way you are with him. It’s understandable. He’s a great guy with everything going for him. I’m afraid you’re in over your head though, and as your friend I just want you to be careful. Okay? Look before you leap. Now, if you want to tell me to butt out you can.”

“Like that would do any good,” she snorted, but smiled to let him know she was just teasing again. “Thanks for looking out for me, but I promise you I’ve got my eyes wide open. I’m not entertaining any silly fantasies about Richard. We’re just friends. In fact, I don’t expect that to last once this project is over. They live in a different world than we do, after all...even if they are stuck in ours for now.” Manda had thought this before, but hearing herself speak it aloud lent an almost painful weight and credence to the idea.

David shrugged, as if he too had considered this and found it likely. “If we’re lucky maybe we’ll still get a Christmas card. Now, do you mind if I take off? I’m beat.”

“No. Go ahead. I’m just gonna wrap up and I’ll be right behind you.”

True to her word, she was on her way home soon after David left, and as she watched the world flash past the train window she considered the difference between knowledge and emotion. Logic and reason could sometimes have very little to do with one’s feelings. But you could choose to act according to the logic and reason rather than allowing yourself to be controlled by emotions. She did at least have that going for her.

******

The next day the storm hit with full force. A torrent of information poured in for Fieldings. Manda arrived early to find Josh waiting for her in the lobby.

“I promise not to get in the way, but maybe I can help. You know, fetch coffee, run errands, order lunch.”

Manda smiled at his eagerness. She imagined he was just looking for an escape from the hotel room. He seemed to enjoy hanging out in their space.

“Of course. You’re never in the way. And you don’t have to be our errand boy. We love having you around.”

The phone on her desk was ringing when they walked in and when she picked it up David was on the other end of the line, sounding like death itself.

“I’m sorry, Manda. I’m not going to be able to make it in today. I think it’s the flu. I hate to leave you hanging like this. If you send me some stuff I can try to work on some of it from home.”

Manda dismissed that idea immediately. From the sound of him he would be lucky if he was vertical. His health was more important than the work. “Don’t be silly. I’ll be fine. I can raid the graphics department if I need help. Just get some rest and feel better. Let me know if you need anything.”

“Thanks. I’ll be fine. Stacey’s on her way over.”

“Well, good. Take care of yourself and take as much time as you need.” When she hung up the phone she dropped her head on her desk and groaned.

“David’s sick?” Josh guessed.

“He thinks it’s the flu.”

“So what do you do now? Can you handle it alone?”

“Now I start prioritizing. I’ll delegate what I can and do the things that absolutely have to get done right away. Hopefully David will be back on his feet in a few days. If not...well, I’ll push someone off of that bridge when I come to it.”

Manda buried herself in the torrent of e-mail in her inbox for the next hour, sorting the messages into lists according to due date and the level of personal attention required from her. The list of things she could delegate or postpone was discouragingly short. Most pressing of all—and something she would have to do herself –- was compiling the information for the auction catalog that Andrea would be designing. She would need to get that to her by the end of the following day. She didn’t dare put that off. Andrea’s work was bad enough
without
a tight schedule. Unfortunately there were several other things that she would personally have to attend to with the same deadline.

“Well, here goes nothing,” she muttered to herself, stretching her arms over her head.

“Maybe this will help,” Richard said, carefully setting her teapot back on her desk. “Earl Grey, right?”

Manda blinked in surprise. “Oh! Thank you. That’s perfect.”

“Josh told me you were holding down the fort alone today. I didn’t want to disturb you when I came in. I just thought I’d save you a trip to the coffee room. Let us know when you need a refill, or if we can get you anything else. We’ll stay out of your way.” He smiled his brilliant smile and slipped out of her office with a wink.

Manda stared after him and then down at her teapot in bemused wonder. She turned back to her computer with a small smile playing across her lips, and settled in for a long day of work.

Unfortunately, Manda’s long day evolved into a very long week...and then some. She worked late into the night every day that week and throughout the weekend. By Friday she’d recruited Kerry, one of the designers from their small graphics department, to help her. While not as talented as David, she was at least reliable. More importantly, she was sensible enough not to let her initial awe of Richard and Josh interfere with her work.

The brothers were always around. They unobtrusively made themselves useful, ignoring Manda’s brief and distracted initial protests and taking on the role of errand boys. The sheer ridiculousness of these two famous, rich men fetching and carrying for her would have made Manda laugh if she’d had time to think about it, but she was single-mindedly focused on the avalanche of work threatening to overwhelm her and was just thankful for the two men’s thoughtfulness. She did have to laugh at Kerry’s reaction the first time Josh brought her a cup of coffee though. The other designer had gazed up at him in wide-eyed shock, then mumbled a thank you and turned back to her computer screen, pink-cheeked and still wide-eyed, but trying for all she was worth to act unaffected.

As usual, Josh entertained himself by quietly watching television, playing video games, and surfing the internet between errands, while Richard was occupied with business, often on the phone or working on his sleek laptop computer at the conference table. They did insist that Manda and Kerry take at least a short lunch break every day,
as well as a dinner break when they were in the office late—which was every night. Manda had to admit that these forced breaks went a long way toward boosting flagging spirits and energy.

Manda checked in with Stacey periodically for updates on David’s condition, and was beginning to worry about him when he showed no sign of improvement by the weekend. She was not surprised, therefore, when Stacey called her late Monday morning to tell her that she’d taken David to the doctor and found out he was suffering from pneumonia. It wasn’t too serious but he would probably be out the rest of the week. Stacey was taking more time off of work to take care of him.

After sending David her get-well wishes and admonishing Stacey to take care of herself as well, Manda joined Richard and Josh in the common area, gestured for Kerry to join them, and dropped onto the sofa between the two men. Josh’s arm, which had been stretched out along the back of the sofa, dropped around Manda’s shoulders and gave an encouraging squeeze.

“Bad news? How’s David?” he asked.

“Well, the bad news is that David has pneumonia. The good news is that he should be fine. Stacey’s taking good care of him. More bad news is that he’ll be out the rest of the week. More good news is that we’ve made good progress on the project and I don’t think we’ll have to stay late anymore. I should have everything wrapped up by Friday.” Manda was essentially telling the truth. She did think they could be done by Friday—at least she desperately hoped so. Regardless, however, she didn’t intend to stay late in the office anymore this week. She’d gotten Kerry familiar enough with what was needed that the other designer no longer required Manda’s constant guidance and direction. They would still be working late, but they could work from home. She would miss Richard’s company—and Josh’s too of course, she hastily reminded herself—but she had begun to feel guilty about monopolizing all of their time. She was also getting a little too accustomed to Richard’s constant companionship for her own good.

The two men had insisted on staying every night until Manda and Kerry left. Each night they had brought in dinner for the four of them and then later saw them safely down to meet the limousine that waited outside the hotel to take them home. Manda had protested this extravagance, but Richard had overridden her, declaring that he wouldn’t be able to sleep well if he didn’t know the two of them had made it safely home. Manda had put her foot down when he suggested that he and Josh should escort them home personally though. She feigned offense at his “chauvinistic overprotectiveness” until he relented.

Well, they wouldn’t be needing the limo this week. Manda would make sure she and Kerry were out of the office by five o’clock, freeing Richard and Josh to get back to their regularly scheduled lives. She would miss them though. She was exhausted and burned out, and it had only been Richard and Josh’s more than pleasant company that had kept her energized. She just had to get through one more week, she reminded herself. Everything should be done by Friday. One more long, grueling week...and it would be even worse than the previous one. That was the other reason she wanted to work from home. It would allow her to work even later into the night and then fall into her waiting bed to catch a few hours of precious sleep before morning came and she had to start all over again. One more week. She spared a brief, worried thought for David, and then stood.

“Back to work.”

Chapter 11

T
he bear backed away from the screaming and battered man who was scrabbling across the blood-soaked carpet of pine needles. His fear was exciting, but the brown-furred hunter craved more. Real terror required more than simple physical violence.