Diamonds & Disguises

by Laina Turner

  “It’s fine.” I sighed. “It’s been a total ghost town, but I expected it. How about you?”

  “Well, I have some news to share. You up to having dinner out tonight?”

  “Sure. What’s the news?”

  “I’ll tell you at dinner. Listen, I have to go. See you soon. Love you.”

  “Love you too.” I set the phone down. He sure seemed in good spirits. More so than last night. I couldn’t wait to hear what he had to tell me. I needed some good news.

  Chapter 5

  I was putting the finishing touches on my make-up when I heard the door open. “I’m back here!” I yelled at Cooper. Or at least I hoped it was Cooper. No one else had a key to the house except Jared but he’d moved out a few months ago and would not just walk in. He’d kept the key for emergencies.

  “You look beautiful, as always.” I heard his voice as he leaned against the bathroom door behind me. I could see him in the reflection of the mirror and I smiled, turning around and giving him a kiss. He looked pretty good himself in dark denim jeans with a white distressed t-shirt and a casual blazer over it.

  “You’re so sweet. So do you. Why the secrecy around dinner? What’s this big news? Why can’t you tell me now?” I badgered him playfully.

  “What secrecy? I asked if you wanted dinner. Most normal people eat dinner. Though you’re not necessarily normal.”

  I punched him lightly in the arm. “Watch it, pal. But seriously. We don’t do dinners out in the middle of the week. At least we haven’t in a long time. Not with your crazy schedule. What gives?”

  “So now you’re slamming my weekday desire for takeout and my crazy schedule?” he said, mocking me. Clearly by his manner, he wasn’t about to give up his big news, but I knew something was going on. Fine. I’d go with it. I did love a surprise. As long as it was a good one and Cooper seemed too happy for this to be a bad surprise.

  “Will you at least tell me where you’re taking me?” I asked when we were in the car, pulling out of the parking garage.

  “That new place you said you wanted to try.”

  “The sushi place?” Now that was exciting. I’d been wanting to try the place since they opened two months ago, but we both been so busy we were too tired to go out. Cooper and I spent a lot of time eating takeout in front of the TV. We were both homebodies anyway and were perfectly content with this routine, but it was fun to mix it up a little and go out.

  “Yep. I thought it would be a great way to share my news and take your mind off the last twenty-four hours. You’re not too tired, are you?” He looked concerned, which made my heart melt.

  I reached over and took his hand. He was so sweet and not for the first time I felt so grateful we were together. We’d been through a lot in our relationship. One that dated back to high school. Not that we’d been high school sweethearts, but I’d known him forever it seemed and if it was up to me, I’d keep knowing him forever.

  We reached the restaurant, which was decorated in blacks and reds, and were seated quickly. The place seemed slow for a weeknight. Especially at seven pm, which was the beginning of the dinner hour here. Most places would at least have a packed bar by now. Chicago was a big happy hour town, but there were only a couple of people up at the bar. It seemed odd. Unless the food here was horrible.

  Cooper looked around and I could tell he was thinking the same thing.

  “Maybe they’re still too new to be super busy. There is a lot of competition around here., Personally, I think people in the restaurant industry are crazy.” I picked up my menu and started glancing through it.

  I looked at the two-page menu, then looked up at Cooper, who was trying hard not to laugh after looking up from his menu. I looked back down at the menu and back up at him. “I don’t get it. How can sushi be vegan?”

  Finally, he couldn’t hold it in, and started laughing. “I guess it’s sushi minus the fish.”

  “But isn’t that the whole point of sushi?” I was thoroughly confused.

  “Not to vegans. Why should they be excluded from eating tasty sushi?”

  “How tasty could it be without the best part? Wouldn’t that make it seaweed and rice?”

  “Hi, folks, welcome to Maki Maki. Our special is Kappa Maki. What can I get you to drink?” The waiter said, almost appearing out of nowhere.

  We gave the waiter our drink orders and he headed back to the bar area.

  “I’m so sorry, Pres. I had no idea.”

  “Don’t worry about it. At least they have my favorite Moscato. It’s kind of funny when you think about it and there are some things that look tasty on the menu. I love asparagus, so the asparagus rolls look good and I think I’ll try the special. I’ve never had it. I’ll be adventurous. This will be fun.”

  The waiter dropped off our drinks and took our order. Now it was time for me to find out the real reason Cooper brought me here.

  “I’ve been patient as long as I can. Now spill it. What’s going on?” My eyes narrowed.

  “You are so suspicious. What’s wrong with wanting to take your mind off things?” He tried in a half-hearted attempt to evade my question yet again, but he had a big grin on his face. I knew with even more certainty he had something to tell me.

  “Please,” I said, giving him my best femme fatal look.

  “OK, OK. Yes. I did bring you here for a reason.”

  I got all jittery wondering what he had to say. A million things were running through my head. Maybe he was going to finally take some time off so we could go to Europe. I’d been bugging him about that forever. Though with the murder that just happened it wasn’t the best time for me, but I’m sure I could figure out how to make it work.

  “I hired a Vice President of Operations today,” he said, grinning from ear to ear. I don’t know what I’d expected him to say but this wasn’t it. Just last night he’d told me he wasn’t sure he wanted to give up that control and less than twenty-four hours later he hired someone to be his second in command? Though it was amazing news, it seemed fast and impulsive. Two things Cooper wasn’t.

  Cooper owned a company called Sands Security. They specialized in providing top-notch security to high profile clients, both electronic and physical.

  We’d rekindled our friendship after a long break from high school when he was doing some work for a senator that I was supposed to interview for a now-defunct online magazine. His company had grown beyond his expectations and, while I hated that he traveled a lot for work, I was so proud of him and what he’d accomplished. He hadn’t had it easy growing up, so he was proud of and hated giving up control.

  “I’m confused. What changed since last night?”

  “I got a call out of the blue from someone looking for a job. Right place, right time, right person, and all that. So, I hired him.”

  “That fast? I haven’t said something to make you do this, have I?” I did complain at times, OK a lot, about his travel schedule. Because I missed him, not because I wanted him to give up anything before he was ready. I’d accepted a while ago that this was how things were.

  “Oh God no.” He reached for my hand. “I told you last night I thought it was time to relinquish some control so we can spend more time together. You were right about what you said. That I need to stop being such a control freak and I can’t keep working these hours. I’m tired of working eighty hours a week and not being home. I want to marry you. Not be married to my work.”

  My heart started pounding. “What do you mean?”

  Cooper slid his chair out and moved over to the side of the table beside me and got down on one knee. I started trembling. This could not be what it looked like. Was he about to do what I thought he was about to do? I was freaking out. We’d talked about getting married of course, but with his schedule, he said he wasn’t ready. He didn’t want to commit to a wife, then never be home. While I thought we could make it work somehow, I’d respected his decision. The table started vibrating. Damn it. We both looked over at it, the moment broken. />
  His phone was the culprit and it was the office. He never sent those calls to voicemail. In his line of work, he said it could be too important. He looked devastated, which I knew was because he wanted to get that call and felt guilty.

  I took a deep breath letting it out slowly. The moment was already ruined anyway. “It’s OK. Go ahead.”

  The gratitude in his eyes made me feel better, but it still sucked.

  Chapter 6

  You’ve got to be kidding me,” my friend Katy squealed on the other end of the phone. I’d called her as soon as Cooper had dropped me off at home before going into the office. He hadn’t given me the full story yet, but the end of the conversation I heard when he called back wasn’t good. I had to tell her what happened. I didn’t want to broadcast to just anyone I had almost been proposed to, but I could confide in Katy, and I had to tell someone what happened. Or at least what almost happened.

  “I woke you up, didn’t I?” I said, feeling bad. I’d needed someone to talk to. Cooper had apologized profusely all the way home and I understood he couldn’t help it, but I was still upset. I had to talk to someone and get it out.

  “Oh, please. Who cares? I was just taking a nap. I would be livid if you’d waited until tomorrow. So, tell me what happened.”

  A nap at eight-thirty at night seemed odd. I filled her in, and she got a laugh out of the vegan sushi experience which made me feel a little better about how the evening turned out.

  “Look at it this way,” Katy said. “Did you really want your big proposal to be at a vegan sushi place?”

  I had to chuckle at that. “Good point. I guess I’m more bothered by the fact I’m going to be waiting for it. It won’t be this big surprise. I know I’m being selfish, but I can’t help it.”

  “There’s nothing selfish about that. And you know Cooper feels bad. Just look at it as a longer anticipation period. It might make it that much more exciting. Besides, it’s not a total shock. You knew you guys would get married eventually.”

  “And that’s why you’re my best friend. I knew you’d make me feel better. You’re right. Plus, it’s the marriage that’s important. Not the proposal.”

  “Exactly! Now, what else has been going on?”

  “Well, there’s been a little more excitement around here than just that.”

  “How can you top that?”

  “Someone dropped dead in the store yesterday and the police think it was murder.”

  “What?” she all but screamed into the phone. “How!” she followed with the same intensity. “I can’t believe you didn’t lead with that.”

  “She came into shop and collapsed. The police said she was injected with insulin, but she’s not diabetic nor has ever been prescribed insulin. They think someone injected her with it.”

  “To kill her?”

  “That’s the assumption.”

  “I’m worried it’s going to keep people away from the store. It was definitely slower today than yesterday and we were starting to make such good progress.”

  “It was just one day, it might not even be related. If it is, you know how people are. Give it some time and no one will remember. They’ll be on to bigger and better things.”

  “I know. At least Willie is assigned to the case. That makes this whole situation a little better.”

  “Do you want me to come up?”

  “No, no. I’m fine. Listen, you go back to sleep. I’m going to pour a glass of wine and do some work myself. Vacations are great, but catching up when you get home, not so much.”

  Katy and I said our goodbyes and I poured my wine and sat back down on the couch.

  I picked up my laptop and planned on checking email, but I found myself putting wedding dresses into the Google search bar. I felt my eyes getting bleary and next thing I knew I woke up with a start and looked at my phone. It was after three. My laptop had slid to the floor, so I reached down to grab it and set it on the table. I’d planned on waiting for Cooper to get home and fell asleep looking at wedding dresses.

  Where was Cooper? I looked at my texts. He’d sent me one about an hour earlier, saying he was sorry but had to stay at the office until the problem was fixed.

  I set the phone back down on the table, disappointed. Not in the mood to head to bed, I pulled the blanket on the back of the couch over me and fell back to sleep.

  Chapter 7

  Hey, Pres.” I heard my name and a gentle nudging, which caused me to open my eyes. I was still on the couch. No wonder my neck hurt. The couch pillows weren’t the best to sleep on.

  “What time is it?” I could see it was light outside, the sky was a beautiful orange, but I felt groggy, so it must still be early.

  “Five a.m. Sorry to wake you, but I wanted to talk to you,” Cooper said.

  I yawned and rubbed my eyes.

  “I brought you a latte, but if it’s too early you can heat it up later and I’ll let you go back to sleep.”

  I sat up and smiled. “No, I’ll take it. I don’t want to go back to sleep. I’d rather talk to you.”

  Cooper handed me the latte and I took it gratefully. I didn’t want to be up at five a.m., but I did want to talk to him.

  “So, what happened? Is everything OK at work? I was worried.”

  Cooper rubbed his temples and sighed. “No. We had a major security breach with one of our biggest clients.”

  “Oh no. I’m sorry. Do you know what happened? Or how it happened?”

  He shook his head. “Not yet. We’ve been working all night and haven’t been able to pinpoint it. The guys are still at the office and I need to go back. I just wanted to talk to you. I feel so bad about last night. First I take you to a bad restaurant and then—”

  “Don’t even worry about it,” I interrupted. “It’s fine.”

  “No, it’s not fine. I wanted last night to be special and I ruined it.”

  “Well, think of it this way. You get a do-over now. With a better restaurant. Though to be honest, the food wasn’t that bad. I ate it when I got home and didn’t want to gag.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. Yours is still in the refrigerator if you want to try it.”

  He grimaced. “Doesn’t sound all that appealing right now. But I wasn’t talking about the food. I meant you’re not mad I ruined what was obviously going to be a…”

  “Shut it!”

  He snapped his head back and looked confused.

  “I don’t want to know what you were going to do. Instead, I want you to give me a do-over.” I’d thought about this a lot last night. I wasn’t going to hold it against him that work had interrupted his moment, but I did want it to be special and not just after the fact. I thought this was a good compromise and hoped he did too.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yep. Whenever it happens, it happens. You can surprise me. But be warned, my expectations are going to be high this time.”

  He looked at me with love in his eyes and leaned over to kiss me. “You’re the best, you know that.”

  “Yeah. I am pretty awesome.” We both started laughing and I felt the tension of the spoiled evening last night was gone. Even though I was still disappointed, I knew a proposal was coming and that I could be happy about. “Do you have time for breakfast?” I asked. “We could go to that diner around the corner. They’re open twenty-four hours.”

  “I wish I did, Pres, but I need to get back and I need to run to the office for something. However, do you feel like going to dinner tonight and meeting my new VP and his wife?”

  “Sure. I’d love to meet the person who won you over so fast.”

  “OK, I’ll call you later.” He gave me a kiss goodbye and left. I sat back on the couch, enjoying my latte and congratulating myself for being so gracious and not being mad at him for what had happened. Maybe that was self-centered, but hey, sometimes you had to pat yourself on the back for doing something hard even if it was the right thing.

  It was barely six and I was wide awake thanks to
the latte. I thought maybe I’d go into work and catch up on some stuff. It might be nice to get a few uninterrupted hours in since I’d spent last night looking at wedding dresses and not emails.

  An hour later I was juggling my second latte, a bagel, and my bag trying to fish my keys out of my purse to open the door to Silk. I wasn’t paying attention to anything except trying to get the key in the lock without spilling my coffee when I felt a tug. And then a stronger one that caused me to look up in time to see the man who gave one more hard yank. He pulled the bag off my shoulder and my drink flew in the air.

  “Hey!” I yelled, but he’d already made it halfway down the block with my belongings. He was quite the speedy mugger. I finished opening the door and ran to the phone and dialed 911. When I hung up to wait for the police, I grabbed a pad of paper and a pen and tried to make a list of everything in that bag and what credit cards I needed to cancel. And my phone. Ugh. My phone was in there. This would be a nightmare. I started to reach for the phone again to call Cooper but then stopped. He had enough to deal with and he couldn’t help me right now. Part of me knew that on top of what I hadn’t told him the other night he wouldn’t be thrilled. I’d deal with that later. I couldn’t believe the cops would be coming again. At least it was early, so hopefully no one else would notice. And it was doubtful a mugging would make the news, since it wasn’t unusual in Chicago.

  I spotted lights in the distance and, within a few seconds, the police pulled up in front of my door. I began to wonder if Silk was doomed to bad luck. They always said things happened in threes. Please God, don’t let one more bad thing happen, I said to myself, looking upward.

  Two officers walked in and, as they introduced themselves I shook their hands and realized I was shaking. I’d been so preoccupied I hadn’t noticed before. After I assured them I wasn’t hurt or anything, they started questioning me.

  “Can you walk us back through what happened?” one of the officers said while the other one stood there patiently.