Mythe: A Fairy Tale (18 page)

The bear had picked its target carefully. With autumn edging quickly toward winter, hikers were scarcer. This meant there were fewer potential witnesses, but also fewer targets. Finding one who was alone and far enough into the back country to allow the bear to truly enjoy the encounter was challenging.

The bear had spent the morning as a magpie, following potential prey from above until finally deciding on this lone man. It had taken a few hours for the hiker to reach an area remote enough to suit his unseen stalker, and with so much time invested in the hunt, the bear was determined to savor the experience.

Keeping the man from escaping had been simple enough. Making him suffer without killing him was more difficult, but worth the effort. The man’s fear was delicious, but the true payoff was still to come. Fear was easy—abject terror required something special.

The bear charged forward again and dragged the man backward, flipping him over with one strongly clawed paw. Time for the real fun.

Stepping away once more, the bear transformed into human form and watched as fear turned to confusion and disbelief on what was left of the hiker’s face. Then, the man’s confusion turned into exquisite terror as death came for him.

Chapter 12

R
ichard checked the time on his cell phone and walked a little faster. He hated to be late.
It shows a lack of respect for other people
, he could still hear his father saying. Well, that certainly wasn’t the case in this instance. He had tremendous respect for the three people he was rushing to meet—and even more for the fourth who would be missing—but he’d been held up and now was late for his lunch with Josh, David, and Jen. He’d called to let them know he was on his way, but being late still irritated him.

Truth be told, he’d been uncharacteristically irritable lately anyway, especially with Josh. Richard felt guilty about that. He loved his brother and they usually got along very well. He’d been short tempered with him lately though. He had to keep reminding himself that Josh was still very young...and in love.

Richard noticed a group of young women watching him and whispering excitedly as he waited for the walk-signal. He pulled his collar up a little higher, ducking his head and hunching his shoulders as if against the cold. He was glad the sun had finally come out after several days of overcast. His sunglasses were less conspicuous in the bright sunlight. The cold windy weather that had chased away the clouds gave him a good excuse for the jacket whose collar he was currently hiding behind as well. The light changed and Richard hurried on across the street, his long strides quickly leaving the women behind.

Josh had been edgy that morning when Richard left the hotel. No doubt he was missing Manda, who had taken the day off and wouldn’t be joining them for lunch. She needed the time off. She’d worked much too hard over the last two weeks. It was good that David was back on his feet so that he could carry the load for a bit. Richard hadn’t seen Manda since five o’clock on Friday. He suspected that Josh had been at her house every night though. He frowned at that thought. He didn’t approve. Josh should know better. He knew he was going to have to talk to his brother about it, but he dreaded it.

He needed to talk to him about shirking his business responsibilities as well. It was almost impossible to pry him away from the Aronson office—and Manda—to attend to other things these days. Not that Richard could blame him. Manda was amazing. Josh couldn’t have chosen better.

Josh had been very low-key about his feelings for Manda, which was probably the best approach. It was the surest way to get past the protective walls she hid behind. An all-out frontal assault would probably just scare her away. Better to go slowly and let the walls gradually fall.

Richard rounded the corner and spotted his destination. He checked the time again. Eight minutes late. The waiter was just bringing drinks when he joined the others at a sunny and private booth on the second floor of the restaurant.

“I’ll just have water, please,” he replied to the waiter’s query, sliding into the booth beside Josh. “I’m sorry I’m late.”

“Don’t worry about it. We barely just sat down,” David said dismissively. “How’d your meeting go?”

“Long!” Richard replied with feeling. “How are you holding up on your first day back?”

“I think I’ll make it. I’m probably in better shape than Manda at this point.”

Richard frowned. “Why? Did she come down with something too?”

Josh answered him with an exasperated growl. “No, she’s just a sneaky little brat! David was just telling us that Manda worked almost all night, every night last week,
and
she worked all weekend, too.”

“Kerry forwarded me an e-mail from Manda from two o’clock Friday morning so I asked her about it,” David explained. “She told me that she herself worked until almost midnight every night, and she knew for a fact that Manda stayed up a lot later than that. And when I talked to the printer we use on this project he said he didn’t get the final files from Manda until last night.”

Richard clenched his jaws as a wave of slow anger threatened. He breathed deeply, willing himself to stay calm. He had a very strong urge to shake the stubborn girl! He took another deep breath. She
was
an independent little thing. No wonder she’d looked so tired—yet she’d never lost her good humor, never once let on that she was under that kind of pressure.

“She must be exhausted,” he said with a grimace. “Poor kid.”

“It’s so typical of her,” Jen commented.

“Yeah, she’s always pushed herself like that for as long as I’ve know her,” David agreed, sounding both fond and aggravated. “She’s such a perfectionist.”

“How long
have
you known her?” Richard asked.

“We met in college. When I was an undergrad and she was a grad student she was my independent study advisor.” He shook his head and laughed. “When the professor told me she was going to be my advisor I was furious. I was the only student she advised and I thought the only reason I got stuck with her was because the professor disliked me. I mean, come on! She was just a kid!”

“I assume that wasn’t really the case?” Richard guessed.

“No. As it turned out, that was probably the best thing that could have happened to me. Not only did she help me learn a lot about design, she also helped me improve my attitude. In case you haven’t noticed, she has a very ‘glass half full’ mentality—even then, when she was going through some really tough stuff. I went back and thanked that professor afterward.”

“So, you’ve been friends ever since,” Josh surmised.

David grinned sheepishly. “Not exactly. We weren’t really friends then. It was more of a mentoring relationship...and the one time I did work up the nerve to ask her out she very politely but firmly shot me down.”

“Smart girl,” Jen teased.

David pointedly ignored her. “We got to be friends after I came to work at Aronson...and then all my other friends begged me to fix them up with her. It does wonders for my scarred ego to watch her politely shoot them all down, too.”

“She’s gone out with a few of them, hasn’t she?” Jen corrected.

“But never more than once. I can’t blame her. None of them are good enough for her anyway.”

Richard laughed along with Josh and Jen, but he thought it was probably a true statement. The waiter returned with Richard’s water and took their orders. When he’d gone Richard took a drink and asked something he’d been curious about.

“So, how did she became creative director so quickly? It’s obvious that she deserves the title, but it
is
unusual for someone her age. Who was it that was sharp enough to spot the talent?”

“That would be Jen,” David said, nodding toward her.

Jen examined her elegantly lacquered fingernails ostentatiously, as if waiting for well deserved applause, then took a sip of soda. Manda kept her fingernails neatly trimmed, Richard thought idly. Much more practical than Jen’s long manicure.

“Curt hired her right out of school to work in the graphics department,” Jen explained. “You know, proposals, presentations, some posters and invitations and things for some of our smaller clients. Most of the big stuff is sent out to an agency. Curt got lucky. She was completely overqualified. She could have had her choice of jobs anywhere in the country, but she wanted to stay here, near her family. Besides, I think she was a little lacking in self confidence and was intimidated by the big design firms. It didn’t take long to realize what a find she was though. I really started to rely on her, but after the first year I think she was getting pretty bored. She
was
going to leave for one of the big agencies then, but I convinced Curt that he couldn’t let her get away. He didn’t really see what the big deal was, but he trusts my judgment so he asked her to stay. He thought I’d gone around the bend when I talked him into giving her a team of her own and letting her pick most of her own projects. David was the only person she wanted on her team, though. She could have had a few more people but she didn’t want them. Anyway, that’s basically how Aronson’s special events business got started, and you know how successful it’s been. That’s why you came to us. It was pretty much all built around Manda. Curt owes me big and knows he it, too. He would have just let her quit!” She looked positively scandalized by the idea.

“She’s really that good?” Josh asked, and Richard was annoyed to see surprise on his brother’s face. He frowned his disapproval. Josh might be in love with this woman, but he honestly didn’t seem to understand how unique and special she was. Once again Richard fought the growing irritation with his brother that had become too common recently. If Josh couldn’t appreciate her, he didn’t deserve her! This angry thought unsettled Richard. He liked Manda and he would hate to see Josh lose her. Jen and David obviously knew how extraordinary she was. Maybe between the three of them they could make Josh understand as well.

For the majority of the next hour, Richard kept the conversation focused on Manda, coaxing information about her from her two coworkers. David and Jen turned out to be perfect, if unwitting, accomplices in his attempt to educate Josh, as they were quite willing to talk about her. They were absolutely eager in fact, which made Richard suspect that they might have an ulterior motive of their own. If they knew that Manda was falling for Josh, they might be trying to encourage him on her behalf, not knowing that he was already in love with her. Josh had been fairly closed-mouthed about his feelings for her. Maybe Manda didn’t realize how he felt. Richard vowed to talk to Josh about opening up to Manda more. After all, there was such a thing as taking it
too
slowly, and there was nothing keeping
Josh
from enjoying a long and happy relationship with the right woman...and he wouldn’t find anyone better than Manda.

They were not quite done with their meal when David’s phone rang, interrupting his recounting of the first day he’d met Manda. Leaving the others laughing at his colorful story, David checked the caller ID on his phone and frowned before answering.

“Shouldn’t you be sleeping or something?” he greeted. Richard concentrated on the voice of the caller, and he could tell by Josh’s focused expression that his brother was doing the same. It was a futile effort, however, since Jen spoke up and drowned out the faint voice coming through David’s phone.

“It must be Manda. I wonder what’s up that couldn’t wait until tomorrow. She doesn’t usually call on her days off.”

Richard was watching David’s face, trying to read his expressions. It wasn’t too difficult when his hand tightened around his phone and he groaned.

“Naturally. I don’t know why we would expect anything different,” David said in a voice dripping with sarcasm and anger.

Their waiter arrived at that moment with their check, asking if he could bring them anything more. Assuring him that they were fine, Richard quickly turned his attention back to David.

“You don’t need to do that. I’ll take care of it,” David assured the caller hastily. Richard could hear Manda’s reply this time.

“It’s going to take both of us
and
Kerry to fix this mess. She’s on her way in too. I hated to call her but she’s already familiar with the project and I don’t have time to bring anyone else up to speed.”

“That bad?”

“Yes, and we only have until five. He wouldn’t budge on that. I can’t say I blame him after Andrea’s little stunt last year. So, we’ll just get it printable, that’s it. If Jerry insists on letting Andrea do this, he can live with the results.”

David sighed. “Okay. I’m on my way.” He tucked his phone back into his pocket and grimaced. “I’ve got to get back. I guess the auction catalog Andrea sent to the printer is completely unworkable. Manda’s almost to the office now.” He took one last drink and stood. “We have to be done by five, so we’re still on for the game, right?” he asked Josh.

“Sure. I’ll catch up with you later,” Josh confirmed.

“Hold on. I’ll come with you. Maybe I can help...or at least tell Curt ‘I told you so.’” Jen reached for the check with one hand and her purse with the other.

Richard laid his hand over the leather folder that the waiter had left. “I’ve got this. You guys just go on. Do we need to cancel the meeting with you and Curt this afternoon?”