Road to Casablanca (33 page)

Erick stood speechless in front of his father’s desk unable to say a word.

“Is this what you call leading a more respectable life, son?”

“Dad, it’s not what you think… I….”

“Are you mocking me?
 
Are you purposely trying to make our company
and
me look like fools?”

Erick stared at him realizing that there was nothing to be said, at least not yet, that would change his father’s already made-up mind.

“Answer me, Erick!
 
What do you have to say for yourself? Or did one of your bimbos cut your tongue out while you were away?
 
No, don’t tell me, I don’t even want to think of what kinds of kinky activities you were involved in.
 
You turn my stomach!”

Dad needs to get laid
,
big time
.
 

As he thought about his father’s uptight behavior, Erick started to laugh, infuriating his old man even more.

“What are you laughing about?”

“Actually, Dad, you need a date.
 
You really do.
 
You need to lighten up.”

“Don’t you go changing the subject on me, son.
 
You were in direct violation of our agreement and for all the many reasons I should disinherit you, I should do it for insubordination alone.”

Forrest’s face was red and Erick was still laughing, although he half hated to.
 
He really wasn’t purposely trying to make his father angrier.

“It’s not what you think, Dad, but I don’t expect you to believe me.
 
As I told you, I went to
Morocco
with a lovely and decent woman and was caught in a situation by those wicked photographers.
 
Petra
and I have been friends for years, and only friends, but like I said, I don’t expect you to believe me.”

“Who is this woman and what is her name?”

Erick looked down at the desk, and choked to fight back tears for the first time in his life.

“Her name is Cindy; Cindy Brown.
 
She lives in
Dallas
and is the best woman I’ve ever known.
 
I love her, Dad, I really do, but that’s just it: this whole thing got blown out of proportion and she left me.
 
I have no way to find her now.”

 
“What kind of games are you playing with me, Erick?
 
Is this a ploy to get your inheritance back?
 
Well, let me tell you something.
 
You are finished, do you understand me?
 
Finished!
 
I’m going to call the lawyers and tell them to redo my will immediately.”

It was December 11 now, meaning Erick had only two more weeks to get a wife, but he didn’t care about any of that now.
 
He was heartbroken, and the only thing he could think of was Cindy.

“Fine; I don’t want your money.
 
I never wanted it anyway.
 
You don’t get it.
 
I love Cindy and there is nothing I want in the world now but to get her back,” Erick shouted as he walked from his father’s office and back down the hallway into his own.
 
He hated to shout in earshot of the employees, but he couldn’t help it.
 
The whole situation was an absolute mess.

He saw Gloria at her desk typing away and he realized he had acted horribly to her the past few days. He wanted to be a better man and stop being his father’s son, which is what he knew his father wanted anyway.

“Good morning, Gloria. I wanted to tell you I appreciate everything you did for me the past few days. I couldn’t have gotten through it without you.”

Gloria looked up from her computer, a look of stunned amazement on her face, “You are most welcome.”

“Do you have a few minutes right now to talk?”

“Of course; what is it?”

“Step inside the office.”

Gloria followed him to the office and closed the door behind them, “How can I help?”

 
“I have to find Cindy and you said there is no way to get the agency to give her personal information to us, correct?”

“That’s right.”

Erick had been so infuriated when he heard this yesterday he wanted to go to those imbeciles personally and tell them off, but now he’d had a change of heart.
 
He wanted to be nicer, but still expected to get exactly what he wanted.

“I’ve been thinking about it and we need to employ a private investigator immediately, and I need an afternoon flight to
Dallas
.”

“Leaving today?”

“Yes, and as soon as possible.”

“And coming back when?”

“I don’t know yet. Make it three days from now and if need be, I can change it.”

Erick knew this would infuriate his father even more since he was now expected to make daily appearances in the office.

 
“On second thought, today’s Tuesday so book it to come back on Sunday, if that’s okay.
 
I might as well stay the whole week.”

“Hotel, too?”

Erick did not want to stay in a hotel.
 
He did not want to be anywhere but in Cindy’s arms.
 
He shook his head, hoping that by the time he arrived the hotel wouldn’t be necessary.

“No.”

He took the wedding rings from his front pocket and stared at them, twisting them around in his hands.

“Just a rental car.
 
And make it something expensive and exotic like a…oh, I don’t know…a Lamborghini or something like that, okay?”

“Yes sir; right away,” Gloria confirmed. She turned and quickly got back to her desk to make the arrangements.

“Oh, and Gloria? Please do whatever it takes to get this private eye to find her – the sooner the better.
 
This is an emergency and the longer it takes, the more the situation is in jeopardy.”

“I understand, and I will do everything in my power to help you.”

“Thank you.
 
It means everything to me, Gloria.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Can you get Diana Lovemore on the line?”

“Of course I can, sir, but as I said….”

“I know they can’t give out the information, but I need to tell her something, okay?”

“Right away.”

Gloria rang the phone through to Erick’s office and he heard a familiar voice answer.

“Welcome to the Lovemore Agency, where our goal is to bring more love into your life.
 
My name is Bambi; how may I help you?”

“Bambi?”

“Yes.”

“Erick Redmund.
 
Is Diana in?’

“Yes, right away.
 
How was your trip?”

Erick took a deep breath.
 
It was all he could do to keep from pouring his heart out to the ditzy receptionist, but he realized it wouldn’t do any good.

“More than I could have ever imagined.”

“That sounds great!
 
Hang on, k?
 
I’ll get her for you.”

Two clicks later the husky voice of the woman who started it all was on the line.

“Erick!
 
How are things going?
 
We weren’t expecting to hear from you until next week sometime.”

“Yes….uh…I just wanted to call and say…uh, thanks.”

“Well you’re most certainly welcome.”

“Cindy Brown was…I mean is…the best thing that’s ever happened to me in my entire life.”

“Well now, that is something.
 
I’m so happy for you both.
 
So what’s the next step?
 
Moving in together?
 
Marriage?”

Marriage, Erick knew in his heart, was the only option for him, but with things the way they were, he wasn’t sure it was possible.
 

“I’m not sure yet…I’ll…have to keep you posted on it.”

“Wonderful, Erick.
 
We are always so pleased to hear about our client’s success.
 
May I send out a testimonial letter for you to complete?”

Always the saleswoman.

“Uh, sure; go ahead.”

Hopefully Erick could find Cindy, straighten this mess out and if that happened he would not only fill out a form, he would gladly shout from the rooftops.
 
That is, if it wasn’t too late….

Erick stood staring out at the Hollywood Hills once more, this time feeling completely different than he had before his trip to
Morocco
.
 
Sure, it would be great to hobnob with the celebrities in this town, but right now he was only concerned with one person in the whole world, and her name was Cindy Brown.
 
The trouble was, he had no earthly idea how to find her, or if she would speak to him when he did.

“Cindy, I’m coming for you.
 
Hang on!”

Chapter Thirty-One

That evening, Cindy went out to dinner with
Victoria
and filled her in on the scoop about her lunch date with Stan.
 

“He is a nice guy, but it’s not the right time.”

“What do you mean?”

“I still can’t get over Erick.”

“Don’t be silly.
 
You just met the guy a week ago.
 
Surely there’s room for somebody else in your life.
 
You know what they say about dating, don’t you?”

“No, what?”

“You fall off the horse, you gotta get back on and ride!
 
And the sooner the better!”

“That sounds like some bad Texan advice to me.”

“Take it from somebody who knows: its good advice, my friend.”

“Stan is nice, I like him, and for now I need to keep him as just a friend.
 
That’s it.”

“Okay, you’re the boss.”