Careful What You Wish For

by Leighann Dobbs

  “Well, she and TJ sure seem to be in love, I think they are good together. You know, I mean good for each other,” Harper said, stumbling a bit through her words.

  Sarah remained silent and continued to walk down the hallway in the same direction as her.

  “By the way, if you’re looking for TJ he’s with her in her office,” Harper said.

  “Thanks, but I’m not here to see TJ. I’m here to apply for a chef’s job. It turns out working with your boyfriend isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”

  Harper knew Sarah was referring to her boyfriend Raffe, who had a well-known restaurant in the city. The last she’d heard, Sarah and Raffe were doing well, and she had the impression they might end up getting married soon. At the wedding reception they’d seemed friendly. Then again, she knew from personal experience how fast that could change.

  Something told her Sarah needed to talk. Even though they were only acquaintances Harper knew breakups sucked, she’d been there herself once upon a time and having a shoulder to lean on was always welcome. “Hey, do you feel like some coffee or something? I was going to make an iced coffee in the break room.”

  They both entered the break room, and Harper walked over to the fridge and pulled out a pitcher of iced coffee while Sarah took a seat at one of the café-style tables. The large break room was as immaculate as always, the stainless steel refrigerator gleaming, and the granite counter tops shining. Harper was grateful it was always stocked with coffee and treats, many times this was where she ate her main meals of the day.

  She grabbed two tall glasses out of the cherry wood cabinet along with some sugar packets off the countertop and walked over to the table Sarah had sat at.

  “So, how long have you worked with Raffe?” Harper asked her as she filled both of their glasses.

  “Long enough to know it was a really stupid idea.” Sarah took two of the sugar packets and poured them into her coffee. She grabbed a straw from the holder in the middle of the table and stirred her drink, then took a long sip.

  “Raffe is a good guy. It’s just … I guess … I don’t know. It’s hard taking orders from someone who is your boyfriend, you know? And it’s impossible to leave work at work. Going out on date night, we talk about work. At work, we talk about work. Work, work, work. I feel like our relationship is just dying a slow death.”

  Harper nodded slowly as she listened to Sarah, her mind wandering back to her last relationship. It had blown up badly and so fast that, at the time, she remembered wishing she could fast forward her life to avoid going over all the drama in the weeks following a breakup. She couldn’t imagine being in Sarah’s position and having to work with the person you were having relationship issues with, that would be torture. No wonder she wanted to find a new job!

  “I’m sure Gertie will hire you. I know we need another chef, and it probably doesn’t hurt that TJ works here as well. Maybe working here will help your relationship, you know, because you won’t be around each other so much?” Harper was trying to put a positive spin on the crappy situation.

  “Yeah, maybe. I don’t know. It’s all confusing at the moment. But I guess it will work itself out.” Sarah stood and put her empty glass in the sink. “Thanks for the chat, I appreciate it. I should be getting down to the kitchen. Wish me luck!”

  Harper wished her luck and watched her leave, stirring the rest of her iced coffee with the straw. She was confident Gertie would hire Sarah, not because she was related to TJ, but because Gertie had a huge heart and would basically hire anyone who seemed like they needed a job if they were capable and hard workers. It was a bonus if they were in an emotional turmoil Gertie could help soothe. Gertie was a people-fixer and Sarah fit that bill perfectly.

  “Oops! Sorry!”

  Big T turned and watched the blonde chef lady he’d bumped into hurry away down the hallway towards the elevator. He knew she was applying for the open chef position but hadn’t known she knew Harper. How did she know her and what were the two of them yapping about together in the break room? Eh, it was probably just girl crap, talking about how stupid men are and purses.

  He reminded himself not everyone was up to no good, and besides, he had no issues with that lady. Harper was the problem one and the one who was up to no good. Big T had seen her snooping around in the basement and sneaking into the room with the lighting for the show. There was no reason for her to be in there, aside from being a snoop. He would have to be extra careful around her to make sure he didn’t blow his cover.

  He’d done well so far acting like a regular worker, not to mention making the occasional casual comment to place suspicion on someone else if anyone ever started to question certain things. No one would ever know he was the one causing the problems for Gertie, and it would stay that way.

  He opened the door to the stairway and headed downstairs to the basement, his heavy work boots making a thud with each step he took on the cement stairs. He kept his head down as he passed a few employees in the hallway outside the stairwell. He wasn’t in the mood to talk.

  Opening the doorway that led to the loading dock he squinted, the afternoon sun beaming directly into his eyes. He reached into his pocket for the can of tuna he’d brought with him for the tabby cat that had been hanging around and peeled the metal lid off it slowly, as if the cat would hear the noise and come running.

  Placing it on the ground he called out to the tabby, as he walked around the loading dock area. No one else was outside, which put him at ease. He didn’t need anyone seeing him feed the cat.

  Meow!

  The cat ran out from the thick weeds, purring as it twined itself between his ankles briefly before running over to the can of tuna and eagerly chowing down. It devoured the food within a few minutes then sat, licking its paws.

  Big T scooped up the empty tuna can and patted his feline friend goodbye, then walked back into the building. Tossing the empty can away in a nearby trash barrel he casually looked around to make sure no one was watching him, then he inconspicuously darted into one of the small cubicles that were located down there for the employees to share.

  Each cubicle had a computer so that those who didn’t have an office could use them to check email or do whatever they might need to online. He’d acted like he was computer illiterate around everyone at work but that was far from being true. He’d spent hours teaching himself about computers on all those nights his mom had had to work extra shifts and he’d been left home alone. He knew the knowledge would come in handy someday.

  He clicked on a few buttons and the computer whirred to life. Instead of entering the ID he’d been given when he started working at O’Rourke’s, he used an alternate one, changing the system user, then laughed softly as he messed around with the database.

  Let’s see how successful the fashion show is when all the bigwigs’ invitations are sent to the wrong addresses!

  4

  Logan fidgeted with the empty coffee cup on the break room table as he peered through the blinds covering the glass window that looked out into the hallway. He debated filling it up again, but he’d already had three cups of coffee and that was more than enough to keep him on his toes. Camping out in here was boring, but he needed to keep an eye on Harper, and her office was a few feet down the hall. With the fashion show only a few days away he had the feeling the perpetrator might do something drastic, but he couldn’t pin anything on Harper until he had proof it was her. He’d been shadowing her all morning and hadn’t seen her do anything out of the ordinary. So far, anyway.

  He heard a door shut and sprung up from the chair, knowing it had to be Harper’s office door since she was the only other person on the floor at the time. He waited for her to walk past the window, then slowly crept out into the hallway, making sure to stay far enough behind so she wouldn’t see him. He heard the familiar ding of the elevator and waited until he heard the doors open and close, then bolted towards it so he could see what floor she stopped at. The lobby.

  He flung open th
e door that led to the stairway and ran down the concrete stairs to the lobby, skipping over two steps at a time and whipped open the door leading into the lobby as he entered, making a slight ruckus as he did so.

  Harper was talking to Myrtle at the reception desk. The two of them looked over at him in surprise, Myrtle’s glasses slid down her nose and her brows climbed her forehead.

  “Logan! What’s the rush? How are you? Say, have you met Harper yet?” Myrtle gestured towards Harper with a sly grin on her face.

  Shoot! Now he couldn’t follow Harper and see what she was up to. And he really didn’t want to meet her. If she was the culprit, it would make it much harder to turn her in. It was too late now though, the two of them were staring at him, probably wondering why it was taking him so long to answer Myrtle’s question.

  “Hi, Myrtle, uhh, no. I haven’t met Harper yet, but I’ve certainly heard some great things about her. Nice to meet you.” He extended his hand out towards her as she juggled a large tote bag in her hands to shake his.

  He eyed the bag suspiciously. It was too big to be a purse, where was she going in the middle of the work day with it, and what could be inside that would take up so much space? Whenever he’d seen her walking around she either had a clipboard in her hand or nothing at all, never this giant bag thing. Except for the time he’d seen her come out of the room with the lights.

  She seemed way too composed for someone who was trying to ruin things for Gertie. She smiled at him and he tried to ignore the way her perfectly white teeth complemented her peaches and cream complexion. After a few beats, he realized he was still holding onto her hand and let go of it quickly, feeling unsure of himself. Awkward. He was usually smooth with the ladies, but this girl wasn’t a lady. She was a suspect. He must be nervous about the fact she could be the saboteur.

  He ripped his gaze away from Harper and focused on the receptionist. “Myrtle, your hair looks stunning as always. How’s your day so far? Everything under control?” He swiftly turned his attention to Myrtle, who seemed to love it. He always made a point to be nice to Myrtle because he knew some people treated receptionists like crap, and the reality was, being a receptionist wasn’t an easy job. Not to mention, receptionists knew almost everything going on with all the employees. He knew he needed to stay on Myrtle’s good side.

  “Oh, Logan, you are so fresh!” Myrtle chided him, pushing her lime-green glasses up on her nose, the black, white, and yellow beaded eyeglass chain dancing down from her ears.

  “Help a girl out, would you? Gertie needs these papers right away. Can you take them up to her for me? I’m swamped!” Myrtle handed Logan a stack of papers from her desk as she gave him a quick wink.

  “Of course I can, anything for you,” Logan replied, winking back at her as he took the papers. As he turned to leave, he caught Harper’s eye and was thrown off by the intense midnight-blue color of them. It reminded him of a moonlit ocean late at night. He hesitated for a minute before pulling himself away, muttering, “Nice to meet you, Harper.”

  As he headed quickly back upstairs, the unsettling feeling came over him that somehow this PI job had just gotten a lot more complicated.

  Harper’s heart skipped a beat as she watched Logan walk off. She’d caught a flicker of emotion in his eyes she couldn’t place, but he’d turned away so fast she was thinking maybe she’d imagined it.

  She always liked a tall guy and she guessed Logan was around six foot four. And his eyes! They’d been a dreamy caramel color, the kind that turned gold when the sun hit them just right.

  Crap! What was she thinking? Nope. Don’t go there, she scolded herself as she adjusted the thick straps on her tote bag. She had work to do, and besides so what if Logan was hot? After hearing Sarah’s story about how much of a nightmare working with your boyfriend was she would never even consider getting involved with someone at work.

  Her shoulder started to ache, the stupid giant tote bag was too heavy. Logan had looked at it a little suspiciously when they’d shaken hands. Did he think it was strange to have such a large bag or did he think she was hiding something inside of it?

  Stop being paranoid.

  She didn’t even know him and why would he even care about her bag? She was being paranoid because she knew she intended to stick the GoPro in it.

  “So, what do you think? He’s hot, right?” Myrtle asked her in a singsong voice as she wagged her eyebrows, her multicolored eyeglass chain beads dancing in the sunlight.

  Well, he certainly was attractive, that was for sure. And Harper did think it was nice how he’d flirted with Myrtle and made her feel special. It hadn’t been cheesy and came across as genuine. Maybe he was a nice guy with a good heart. The kind that wouldn’t dump his fiancé a week before the wedding. Then again, maybe not. It was hard to judge someone from a one-minute conversation.

  “He was okay, I guess. I’m too busy to notice to be honest.” Harper shrugged her shoulders to convince Myrtle she could care less about him. Trying to convince herself of it, too.

  “Just okay? You’re crazy. He’s a sweetheart, and I saw that look between you two! Don’t tell me there wasn’t a little spark dancing around when you shook his hand!” Myrtle exclaimed as she side-eyed Harper.

  Harper rolled her eyes sarcastically while simultaneously squelching the butterflies in her stomach. Was the chemistry between she and Logan really so strong Myrtle had noticed it? Wait. This didn’t even matter right now. She needed to focus on getting the GoPro out of that room to see what it had recorded last night.

  Just then, the glass lobby door swung open and Edward Kenney breezed in, dressed in his standard custom-tailored suit and looking as dapper as always. His immaculate dress shoes shined and click-clacked against the floor as he walked up to Myrtle’s desk.

  The door had barely closed behind him before he began barking out orders.

  “Where are we with the fashion show? Is everything all set? Designs, what’s going on with Gertie and the designs?” he demanded, looking from Myrtle to Harper then back to Myrtle again.

  Harper stood in silence, unsure of whether to answer him. There were way too many things still left to do for the show, and she knew Edward didn’t need to know everything. She also knew he should technically be dealing with Veronica, as she was the Events Manager and the person managing the show for him, but Edward didn’t stand on formality, he basically demanded answers from anyone within earshot every time he showed up. Which, unfortunately, had been almost daily.

  “Excuse me, but who do you think you are, blowing in here and talking to us like that? You might be Mr. Big Boss over at Draconia, but here at O’Rourke’s Signature Events you are no better than the rest of us, and I expect you to be polite and to treat us all with some respect!” Myrtle had stood and was chastising Edward, her hands on her hips and her spikey red hair moving back and forth like a bird’s plume on top of her head.

  “I beg your pardon? I am the founder of Draconia Fashions and I expect to be treated as such,” Edward retorted.

  “Well, that’s your problem. You think you are entitled to special treatment here? Absolutely not! You come charging in here barking out orders and asking questions every day. That will stop, right now! We are all equals here, Gertie insists on it.”

  “Gertie insists on what, dear?” Gertie appeared in the lobby, wheeling herself up to Edward and Myrtle. Her thick, long grey hair had been pulled back off her face, a style few older women could pull off, but Gertie certainly did. Her olive skin glowed, and her green eyes sparkled as she looked at the three of them.

  “I was just explaining to Edward you insist everyone here is treated the same and his daily temper tantrums won’t be tolerated by me anymore.” Myrtle looked at Edward over the top of her glasses, her hands still firmly planted on her hips.

  “Well, duh. Of course, everyone here is equal, we are all on the same team. And yes, that includes you, Edward, so lay off the Mr. Important act and come with me so I can show you what’s wrong with your
designs. Chop, chop! I don’t have all day for this baloney you know!” Gertie reached out and grabbed Edward’s hand.

  Harper took the opportunity while everyone was bantering to slip away down the back stairs to the basement. As she opened the door that led into the main storage area she clutched the tote bag close to her. She probably should have brought a clipboard or something to make it look more work related for her to be down here. Then again, her job required her to go all over the building. Besides, who the heck would be watching her so closely to even notice the stupid tote bag? She took a deep breath and told herself to stop worrying. She wasn’t doing anything wrong, anyway, she was trying to help Gertie.

  There were two large empty wooden dollies sitting in the main area. Harper knew they were used to move heavy items around, so she looked around to see who else was down there. As she walked farther into the area she realized they were doing some more staging to the runway. She hurried past to get to the room with the camera in it before whoever else was down there saw her.

  She stopped when she was outside the room, looking around again to make sure no one saw her before she quietly slipped inside and grabbed the camera, quickly shoving it into the tote bag as she exited the room.

  As she hurried back towards the stairs she saw two of the maintenance guys, Ben and Noah, pushing the dollies which were now loaded up with boxes of linens and plates.

  “Hey, guys. I’m just checking up on how the staging for the runway is going for Veronica, she wants updates like every ten minutes.” Harper rolled her eyes as she said the lie, knowing they would believe her. Veronica was a perfectionist, and everyone here knew it, so saying she was checking up because Veronica asked her to was totally believable.

  Ben and Noah exchanged glances, making Harper feel a little uneasy. Maybe she was coming off as too weird or overly friendly? She hadn’t really talked much to these two in the past.