Toronto Collection Volume 3 (Toronto Series #10-13)

by Heather Wardell

  When I reached the office, almost one whole minute before the meeting, I dropped my stuff at my desk then spotted the coffee cup and paper bag sitting beside my keyboard. I took a tentative sip of the hot drink and closed my eyes in delight as the delicious peppermint and vanilla flavors flooded my mouth. My perfect latte.

  I set down the cup and looked around the office. Only one person here had seen me order that particular drink, which I'd discovered by accident when I heard another customer order a half-peppermint-half-vanilla latte a few weeks ago and on a whim said, "I'll have that too."

  My eyes met Percy's and I smiled and mouthed, "Thank you."

  He smiled back and came over.

  "So, did you really want me to get you a tea or were you being sneaky?"

  His smile widened. "I was hoping I'd get to surprise you." He leaned a little closer and said softly, "Something tells me you might need a little boost today."

  I grimaced. "Is she here yet?"

  "Came in, stomped in really, five minutes ago. She's in the conference room already."

  "Of course. She likes to be in there early when she's grouchy. I think she somehow infects the whole room with her mood."

  He pointed at my cup. "Peppermint and vanilla are scientifically proven to prevent mood infection."

  "Is that right?"

  "It might be."

  I smiled up at him. "You're the best. Thank you."

  He posed his arms like a bodybuilder then said, "Come on, let's go face the beast."

  "I changed my mind," I said, reluctantly pushing to my feet and gathering the cup and my computer. I'd save the treat for after. "You're the worst for making me go."

  "Hey, I'm going too. Making the ultimate sacrifice for you."

  I laughed. "You're on staff so you have to go, buddy."

  "At least I bought you the scientifically proven potion."

  "Good point." We started heading for the room. "What do I owe you for that, by the way?"

  "Nothing. Consider it a 'thanks for getting me the job' gift."

  I smiled. "Okay, but you might not want to thank me after this."

  Sasha and the forum moderators joined us at the doorway and we all went in together. Patricia was indeed stiff and cold, making a point of saying hello to everyone else individually so I'd know she was ignoring me, but Sasha made a corresponding point of sitting next to me and smiling with more warmth than she'd ever shown me before and it distracted me from Patricia.

  So did Sasha's gorgeous gold bracelet, a heavy number that might well have belonged to some Egyptian princess. It was stunning, but it didn't really suit her "I'm a hip mommy" silver cashmere sweater and sleek black skirt, and it definitely didn't go with the pearl necklace she always wore. Much more my style than hers.

  When I told her I loved her bracelet, she looked down at it. Her "thanks" was less enthusiastic than I'd have expected but she went on to say, "My husband gave it to me last night since he's going to be away all week and it's our wedding anniversary on Wednesday."

  "How many years?" Percy said, while I wondered why some women had an enduring marriage and a golden bracelet and I had an empty house and a golden retriever.

  "Eleven," she said, then Felix shushed us to start the meeting.

  He spent nearly half an hour going over the general details of the site's performance over the last week and how it compared to last year at the same time, and I sipped my latte and tried not to yawn. He did this every week but usually far more quickly; today it just went on and on.

  Eventually he finished, and for the first time I saw my boss looking nervous. I understood why when he said, "Now, those emails last night. Are we all under control?" since you could never be sure how Patricia would react.

  This time she gave a nod sharp enough to cut glass but didn't speak.

  Felix studied her for a moment then turned to me. "It was nice of you to offer that hour, Lydia."

  His slight emphasis on 'was' bothered me, since it felt like he was pointing out that Patricia had said he'd see it that way, but I said, "The offer still stands. If Patricia needs that time, it's hers."

  Everyone turned to her. Her neck turned a dull red but she held her head high. "No. I'm fine."

  "Well." Felix seemed unsure of how to proceed. "All right then. Let's take a look at how you're all doing with the project so far."

  He fired up Sasha's site and had her walk him through what she'd done and where she planned to go. I'd been right last night: she was planning to redo her categories to have more of a focus on self-care. "I still plan to deal with all the issues mothers face, but we just tend not to do enough for ourselves and I need to incorporate that."

  The hint of desperation in her voice on 'need' surprised me. Sasha had always seemed as glossy and contained as a single perfect pearl from her necklace, and seeing even a faint crack in that veneer was unexpected.

  "Sounds good. I want to see more pictures with your posts, and you should keep working at encouraging your readers to comment. Advertisers like to see active and engaged readers." He turned to me next. "Your readers post tons of comments, and your site traffic is up nearly seven per cent from the week before, so great job there."

  At least part of that was the crowd of complainers I'd picked up late in the week, but I wouldn't turn down their assistance even though they hadn't meant to help. "Thank you. I plan to continue pretty much as I've started, focusing on a different aspect of being good to yourself each day."

  He nodded. "Nice. Really nice." His eyes held mine and he smiled. "I can't think of anything I want you to change."

  His look told me he wasn't just thinking about my site, and I felt that heady mix of attraction and repulsion that sexy guys always stirred in me. "Thank you," I murmured.

  "You're most welcome." He turned away and said in a completely different tone, "And now you, Patricia."

  When I looked at her, she was already looking at me, her eyes cold and filled with dawning realization. I wanted to say, "I'm not dating him," wanted to wipe that "you're going to win because you're going to put out" look off her face, but since she hadn't said anything I couldn't and besides Felix was beginning to speak.

  "Let's take a look at your site, Patricia."

  He opened it, and we all stared in silence at something Paddington could probably have created with one paw tied behind his back. Patricia had centered and left-justified and right-justified text in apparently random ways, she had three broken graphic links just on the part of the page we could see, and she'd even somehow managed to mess up the navigation bar that was added automatically to every page on the site.

  "Now, you do actually have good traffic," Felix said, with the tone of one searching desperately for something positive to say before delivering all the bad news. "I think we can get it much higher if we get the errors on the site repaired and also get your formatting looking right."

  "That," she said regally, "is why I wanted the extra time."

  Felix glanced at me, but I sat silent. I had offered it twice and been rebuffed both times. Third time was not going to be the charm, in my opinion.

  My boss had a different opinion. "Then you should take the time. One to two o'clock, right?"

  "That's right," Percy said when I didn't, and we all looked at Patricia again.

  Instead of my grouchy coworker with the white hair and hunched shoulders I saw a cornered animal, so I wasn't surprised when she snapped, "I don't care what time it's at, I am not willing to spend that hour with Percy. I'll take the time I've already got."

  "Plus that maintenance hour, I assume? Two to three?"

  Felix's tone was as smooth and sweet as the latte Percy had bought me, but I knew he meant to sting Patricia and she clearly knew it too. "That's my hour now. Right, Percy?"

  "That's right," he said again.

  "Then everything's fine." Patricia checked her watch. "Are we done here? I have a lot of work to do."

  She was being ruder to Felix than even I would dare to do, and
the guy wanted to date me, or at least take me to bed, but he didn't flicker at her tone. "We're done. Off you go, folks, and have a great week. Don't forget to be good to yourself!"

  Patricia left without a word or backward glance, and Felix clapped Percy on the shoulder. "Thanks for giving up that hour. I assume you'll find time for the maintenance somewhere else?"

  "That's right," Percy said for the third time, and a cold shiver ran through me. He didn't sound like himself. He sounded like the guy who had quit everything he'd ever started.

  I didn't want it to happen again. We needed him, and he needed the job.

  *****

  Percy and I settled into the small conference room to work since it was too cold to go out again, even to Starbucks, if we didn't have to. I felt awkward in the enclosed space, since it was the site of my kiss with Felix, but of course Percy didn't know about that.

  Something definitely was bothering him, though. His earlier jokiness was gone, and now that I thought about it I realized it had been overdone. He'd been putting on an act, but now the show was finished and I could see the real him. The sad him.

  Making the ultimate sacrifice, I pushed the macadamia nut cookie he'd bought me toward him. "Want some?"

  "No, I'm okay."

  "Are you?"

  The way he turned sharply to look at me told me I was reading him right even though he said, "Of course. Why?"

  "You seem... down."

  He shrugged. "It's cold and crappy outside, I have to spend three hours with Patricia today, and the site maintenance needs to get done so I guess I'm doing unpaid overtime. That enough reasons?"

  "Go do the maintenance now then. You don't need to stay here with me, I'm doing okay."

  "Sure, take away the only part of the day I like."

  His tone was that joking one again but I didn't laugh with him. "Do you like this job at all? Not Patricia, obviously, but the rest? I don't want you to hate your days here."

  He leaned back in his chair, the amusement gone like he'd never felt it. "Oh, Lydia. God, I don't know."

  I leaned forward, resting my elbows on the table. "Talk to me. We've been friends forever, maybe I can help."

  His eyes closed and he rubbed his forehead. "I doubt it. It's Mom and... everything."

  I reached out and touched his hand, my heart breaking for him. "I can't imagine. I'm so sorry, Percy."

  He caught my hand in his warm one and gave it a squeeze. "I know. Thank you. It's..." He gave a deep sigh. "It's everything. You know? Everything."

  I didn't know, but I did know it was bothering him and I hated that. "Tell me the everything. Maybe it'll--"

  My phone rang. Catherine's ring. "Shit. Percy, sorry, can I get that? My sister knows not to call me at work unless it's an emergency."

  He released my hand and said, "Of course."

  Cursing my sister and her impeccable sense of awful timing, I said, "Catherine, what's wrong?"

  "It's Washington."

  A wave of panic started in my chest and splashed out through my body, making the fingers tingle on both my normal-temperature hand and the one Percy's grip had warmed right through. "Is he okay? What happened to him?"

  "Nothing," she said, puzzled. "Why would you think something happened?"

  The panic disappeared, leaving a dull cold fury. "Because you called me at work, which you're only supposed to do if there's an emergency."

  "There is one. He's got hockey practice tonight and your jerk boss won't let him skip, but Mom and Dad are going to see more condos tonight and want me and Marshall to be there. They'd probably be okay if you went instead. You should call them and find out."

  I shook my head, frustration filling me. "You're calling me at work about real estate? You know they've seen at least fifty condos and nothing's been right."

  "Look, you need to go with them. Washington can't miss hockey."

  Follow my parents around as they critiqued condos they had no intent of buying, or watch my cute nephew play hockey while also scoping out my sexy boss as he skated around in sleek workout pants. Hmm.

  "I'll take him to hockey." There was a pause, which I filled so she wouldn't. "Seriously, I will. I haven't seen him play in forever and it'll be fun. You and Marshall will be way more help for Mom and Dad than I could be." I went in for the kill, making sure not to use the nickname she hated. "What time should I pick Washington up?"

  "Um... okay, fine. Even though I know you're just avoiding the condo thing, I'll let you get away with it because I'm so sick of hockey. Seven? His practice is at seven-thirty and it's not too far away."

  "Sounds good. See you then."

  "No, you won't. We'll be off at the condos. Make sure Washington locks the door."

  "Can I take him to McDonald's after?"

  "Just for a sundae. He'll have already had his dinner."

  "Deal. Okay, I have to get back to work now. Talk to you later."

  We hung up and I said, "Sorry, Percy. My sister thinks everything's a crisis."

  He nodded. "It's all right, though?"

  "Oh, yeah. No worries." I leaned forward again. "What about you? Are you okay?"

  "For sure. Why wouldn't I be?"

  I frowned, confused by his lightheartedness. "You sounded..." I didn't want to say 'upset' but I didn't know what else to say instead.

  He shrugged. "Just new job jitters. Ignore me. Okay, about this page of your site. I think the font's not the best choice."

  I felt sure there was more going on, although of course his mother's recent death was more than enough on its own to make him sad. He seemed to want to lose himself in work, though, and I'd done that enough myself after Damien got married that I knew it could work, so I didn't push him any further. We spent the rest of the hour making little improvements to my site while I wondered whether my relationship with Felix would improve while I watched him coach.

  Chapter Thirteen

  "Aunt Lydia, check me out!"

  I did as instructed, but also let myself check out Felix too, on a completely different level. How did the guy manage to look so sexy in work clothes and in workout gear? At least he didn't have to wear the hockey pads the kids all had strapped to themselves. Harder to look sexy then, although I figured he'd have found a way.

  Felix got the kids warming up, skating around and around the rink, and after taking a few turns himself he came over to me, unzipping his jacket on the way. When he reached me, he pulled it off and said, "Could you keep an eye on this for me? I'm already too warm for it."

  "No problem." I took the jacket, which came with a tantalizing hint of his cologne, and set it down next to me on the bleacher.

  "Good kid, Washington."

  I nodded, then smiled. "Do you actually call him Washington?"

  He winked. "Only when Mommy's around. It's way too long to shout on the ice."

  "He prefers Wash anyhow, but whatever you call him would be just fine with him. He adores you, you know. Wouldn't stop talking about you the whole way here."

  "Stop, you're making me blush."

  He wasn't blushing, actually, and I wasn't convinced he ever did. "Yeah, right."

  "See, right here?" He leaned closer and pointed to his neck. "I'm all red."

  He smelled delicious and I longed to kiss him again. I couldn't, though, at least not here, so I pulled back and said. "You're probably just cold from being on the ice. Wash really does like you, though. He's been raving about you since he joined the team in the fall." A question occurred to me. "Was that when you first started coaching or have you been at it a while?"

  He shook his head. "I've been at it for over a year. Since my divorce. Volunteering is great for keeping you busy. Do you do any?"

  I shook my head. "Never really thought about it."

  He pulled his mouth to one side. "I'm surprised." His tone said 'disappointed'. "All my past serious girlfriends and my wife were into helping out their communities. I can't imagine dating someone who didn't."

  Feeling stung, I said,
"I donate money to the hospital every year. I'm not a total jerk. I just haven't volunteered directly."

  "You should. It can be hugely rewarding. Although, admittedly, some of these kids are a little insane."

  "I noticed that in the dressing room. You do like my nephew though, right? He's insane, but I think he's the good kind."

  "Definitely." He gave me a wistful smile. "If I'd had a kid, I'd want him to be like Wash."

  "Yeah, me too."

  We stayed silent for a moment then he said, "Well, there's still time for both of us, right? All we have to do is find the right person and get married and all that."

  "Don't even have to get married, these days."

  He chuckled. "That'll be a time saver. But seriously, I do want to settle down with the perfect woman and have my own little defenseman some day."

  "Or defensewoman?"

  "Of course. I'd love a boy and a girl." He shook his head. "My ex-wife didn't want kids, but I thought she'd change her mind. Ah, well. I should quit wishing I had kids and go take care of the ones who are here, eh?"

  I glanced out to see several of them playing some sort of 'how hard can we hit each other in the legs with our sticks?' game. "Probably. Before they break their shins."

  He winked again and took off, and I watched him go and wondered if he'd meant even a single word he'd said. Did sexy guys ever settle down? Find one perfect woman?

  Damien had. Sort of. He'd acted like he had but in my mind 'settling down' and 'texting an ex for a booty call' didn't exactly go together.

  Felix, though. He seemed serious about wanting kids, about finding a woman to spend his life with. He seemed to want a strong and stable and adult relationship. But everything he'd said to me had been perfectly targeted to the hopes and dreams of a late-thirties single woman, and that made me suspicious. Still, that didn't guarantee he wasn't sincere, right? He could mean every word.

  I sighed. How were you ever supposed to know who was real?

  "So, which one is yours?"

  I jumped and turned to see a guy a few inches taller than me with a baseball cap over his dark hair and a sparkle in his green eyes. Everything about him said 'sexy guy' to me. He smiled and laid his left hand on the railing in front of us.