Mythe: A Fairy Tale (50 page)

When Manda asked him about it, Richard put on his most charming smile and promptly talked her into spending the rest of the weekend shopping for furniture and other household basics. By Monday evening, much to Manda’s surprise, the essentials were in place and the loft was livable. While it was far from fully furnished and decorated, there were beds and dressers in Josh’s and Richard’s bedrooms, a comfortable sofa and coffee table, and a dining table and chairs. Kitchenware, bed linens, towels, and all of the other essentials for day-to-day living were in place. Even Manda’s house was in fine shape.

Fulfilling his promise to help her with her household chores, Richard had arrived on Manda’s doorstep on Monday morning with a cleaning crew in tow. He’d driven her to work, leaving the hired-guns to do her spring cleaning for her. They were, he assured her, completely trustworthy, and Manda considered that high praise given both Richard’s tendency toward over-protectiveness and his understandable concern about privacy. She therefore put up
only the most perfunctory resistance—her hands were still very tender, she rationalized to herself; it wasn’t that she was just glad to get out of housework.

Richard and Josh moved out of the hotel on Tuesday morning, right on schedule, and that evening they had an informal housewarming with Manda, Mikey, David, and Stacey. Richard had been in the office all afternoon and drove Manda over after work. She would have enjoyed the short walk to the loft, but the media had renewed their interest in her ever since her little fall. Now, however, their fascination was further fueled by speculation that she and Josh were having an illicit affair behind Richard’s back. Manda found rumors of this supposed love triangle ridiculous, and by mutual agreement, none of them would acknowledge them. Curt and Mikey both agreed that they would die down in their turn. In the meantime, however, Manda had to avoid the train again, and walking to and from the loft wasn’t an option either.

The loft began to come together as a comfortable home over the following weeks. Manda arrived one evening to find the water-colored photographs she’d given Richard for Christmas proudly displayed on a prominent wall. Richard informed her that he intended to decorate the entire space around them—with her help, he hoped. Manda was flattered but a little overwhelmed.

“I’m really not an interior designer or decorator. Are you sure you wouldn’t rather hire someone?”

“I’m sorry, Manda. I’ve been monopolizing all of your time, haven’t I? I shouldn’t have asked.” Richard was so apologetic that Manda couldn’t help but laugh.

“That’s not what I meant at all! I love helping you. I just don’t want to let you down. I don’t know the first thing about decorating.”

“You say that, but your home is beautiful,” Richard countered.

“Well, I know what
I
like. That’s not the same thing,” Manda argued.

“But that’s perfect,” he insisted. “Josh and I both love your home, and you know us better than any interior designer would; so between the three of us we should be able to come up with something comfortable. We don’t want some cold showplace. We want something that feels like home. So, will you help us?”

With Richard’s assurance that it would be a team effort, Manda agreed. They spent a good deal of their free time for the next several weeks shopping for things for the loft. Of course the press picked up on this and a new flurry of rumors resulted. Stories of Josh and Manda were replaced with reports that Richard and Manda had been seen shopping for furniture together, and speculation that they were setting up housekeeping as a couple. Manda ignored these rumors just as she’d ignored the previous ones, though she did sometimes secretly fantasize about what it would be like if they were true. She tried to keep such daydreams to a minimum though. Better to keep herself firmly grounded in reality. It was safer.

To Manda’s delight, their efforts to create a comfortable and welcoming home paid off. Richard’s tastes were traditional, while Josh’s were more contemporary. The result was eclectic and relaxed. As their home grew more comfortable, Manda expected them to spend more of their time there and less at the Aronson offices. Mikey had moved out of the hotel at the same time that Josh and Richard had, moving into one of the apartments downstairs from the loft, so it was no longer as convenient for them to be in the office every day. They defied her expectations, however, and were there as much as ever. Without the excuse that they were staying just downstairs, Manda realized just how much they were around while she was at work and she worried that others might find their continual presence inappropriate or an annoyance. She broached the subject with David during one of the few times when they were alone.

“Tell me the truth, Davie. Does it bug you that Richard and Josh are around here all the time? Do they get in the way or distract you?”

David, who was sprawled on the sofa with a sketchpad, shrugged absently. “Naw. I’ve gotten used to it. Most of the time I don’t even notice they’re here anymore. They try pretty hard to stay out of the way. Besides, it’s convenient since we’re working on their stuff so much of the time.” He continued his sketching
for a few minutes, then narrowed his eyes and sat up as if something had just occurred to him. “Unless you want me to be bothered,” he said, regarding Manda speculatively. “If it bothers
you
having them around so much, I don’t mind if you want to put the blame on me. I honestly don’t mind having them around, but if you want me to I can ask them to stay away because it’s interfering with my work.”

Manda grinned. David really was a good friend. “Thanks, but that’s not necessary. I enjoy having them around...and yes, especially Richard!” she added in response to David’s arched eyebrows. “Do you think Curt has a problem with it though?”

David looked at her as if she’d lost her mind. “You’re kidding, right? You seriously haven’t noticed how often our illustrious leader has been bringing clients by to ‘discuss’ projects with us lately?”

Now that Manda considered it, Curt
had
been stopping by with clients much more often in the last few months. Well, ‘much more often’ wasn’t very accurate, as Curt had
never
allowed clients into the creative area before. Manda had always gotten the impression that he disapproved of their unconventional environment and only tolerated it on Jen’s insistence.

“You’re right!” Manda acknowledged with a bemused smile. “He came by with that guy from WebStorm just yesterday!”

“I know,” David said with a laugh. “Since Richard and Josh have been hanging around he’s used any excuse to bring clients by to meet them. He’s been very subtle about it, except that he never, ever did it before they were here! I think it’s probably been pretty good for business, so I wouldn’t worry about the guys hanging around here if I were you. They aren’t bothering anyone and the prestige factor is pretty high.”

Relieved that she could continue to indulge in Richard’s company all day without fear of Curt’s disapproval, Manda’s outlook was optimistic…at least until the middle of April when she was forcibly reminded of her comment about Fate correcting its mistake.

* * * * * * *

Halfway through April, Emily and Andy and the kids were preparing to fly out for a vacation in Hawaii when Andy was called away on business unexpectedly. Rather than postpone the entire family’s departure until his return, they decided that Emily and the kids would fly out as planned and he would meet them after he concluded his business. The one glitch was that Emily refused to leave her car in the airport parking lot and had an almost pathological distrust of cab drivers. After seeing to Andy’s rushed departure, she phoned Manda a few hours before their flight was scheduled to leave and begged a ride.

“You can just drop us off at the terminal. You don’t even have to get out of the car. Please? I tried to call you earlier but you didn’t answer and I can’t find anyone else to drive us.”

Manda agreed without complaint. It wasn’t very much of a favor considering all Emily had done for her. Richard had just dropped her off after dinner and a play downtown (which was why Emily hadn’t been able to reach her…she’d had her phone turned off during the play), so she was still dressed. She could pick up Emily and the kids, drop them off at the airport, and be in bed by midnight, no problem.

Unfortunately, she ended up having to wait for Emily, who kept remembering last minute things she needed to do. Manda had to speed a little to get them to the airport on time. It had started snowing right after Emily called her and the roads were getting icy. Speeding in the increasingly slick conditions made her nervous and she was frazzled by the time she turned her car toward home. She was looking forward to cuddling up in her nice, warm bed for the night when she spotted a car pulled off on the shoulder of the road. Because of the blowing snow she didn’t see it until she was almost past it. A man was kneeling in a rapidly forming snow drift, attempting to change his rear tire in the darkness of the deserted road. She’d already passed him and was thinking about how miserable he must be out in the icy wind and wet snow when she realized that his biggest handicap was really the pitch blackness. She hadn’t seen any light aside from his taillights and headlights. She wouldn’t
have seen him kneeling beside his car at all if her own headlights hadn’t briefly swept over him. If he just had some light the job would go much faster and he could get out of the cold sooner.

Without thinking twice, Manda turned her car around and circled back to where the man struggled with his jack. She stopped behind his car, so that her headlights illuminated the area where he worked.

The man looked up from his task and shielded his eyes, trying to see who had stopped. When he realized Manda’s intent, he waved and mouthed the words “thank you” before continuing his work. As Manda watched him, however, she realized that he was struggling more than normal to accomplish his task. He must have lost the handle to his jack, she decided, because he was attempting to crank it up using a small screwdriver.

Manda hadn’t intended to get out of her car. She’d only planned to give him the benefit of her headlights while she sat safe and secure with her engine running. At the rate he was going though, he would be at this for hours and the temperature was dropping. She had a perfectly good jack in the back of her car. If she lent it to him, he could be done quickly and they could both be on their way. Squaring her shoulders with this fresh resolve, Manda zipped up her coat, fished her can of pepper spray out of her purse, tucked it into her pocket, and opened her car door.

“I have a jack you can borrow,” she called to the man.

“That would be great! Thanks a million. A few cars have driven by and no one else stopped to help. I really appreciate it!”

Manda hurried to the back of her car, eager to get the jack and get back into her warm vehicle. She’d just opened the cargo area of her SUV when a shape materialized out of the blowing snow at her side...a large, wolfish shape! Rigel!

“Richard!” she gasped softly. “You scared me! What are you doing here?”

A low growl rumbled in Richard’s chest as the stranded motorist rounded the corner of Manda’s car. The man stopped and took a step back, startled by the unexpected presence of the massive dog. Richard took a step toward the man and growled again, and the man beat a hasty retreat back to his own car.

“Richard!” Manda hissed, shocked by Richard’s aggressive attitude. She quickly retrieved her jack from its compartment and took it to the now nervous man. Richard walked a step ahead of her, eyeing the man suspiciously as he timidly took the jack from Manda.

“I’m very sorry,” Manda apologized with an angry look toward Richard. “He’s usually very well behaved.”

“No problem,” the man mumbled while continuing to watch Richard nervously.

Manda hurried back to the warmth of her car, allowing Richard to jump into the front passenger seat ahead of her. He left snowy footprints on the upholstery and she paused to brush them away before getting in.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded in a low voice. “And what’s with the attitude? Don’t you think that poor man is having a bad enough night without you growling at him? Was that really necessary?”

Richard narrowed his eyes and growled again. His ears were laid back aggressively and Manda suspected that she was finally going to see what one of his spectacular explosions of temper looked like. Her own anger flared and she glared back at him.

“We’ll discuss it when we get to my house,” she grated softly, and then sat in silence while they waited for the man to finish. The minutes seemed to stretch on for years—years of emotional turmoil on Manda’s part. She was distracted by her own thoughts when the man brought back her jack. His light tap on the window startled her and she jumped a little, prompting another deep growl from Richard.

“Stop that,” she growled back, though she should have saved her breath since Richard ignored her anyway. Manda rolled her window down just far enough for the man to pass the jack through. He handed it to her and thanked her quickly.

“Thanks again for stopping. Drive safely.” He was both very grateful and very nervous, and he turned and hurried back to his car—eager, Manda was sure, to put as much distance between himself and this lady’s huge, snarling dog as he could.

Without another word, Manda put the jack on the floorboard in front of Richard, rolled up the window, and drove home in silence. When she got home she parked in the garage and went straight into the house, leaving Richard/Rigel sitting in the front seat of her car. She sat down at the dining room table and waited.