by Lyn Cote
She tapped a key and opened the file. She scanned her beginning and then placed her hands over the keys, ready to finish the letter. She paused and glanced at the newspaper beside her computer.
She’d set the classified job section of the Chicago Tribune there. Earlier, she’d scanned the offerings for executive assistants. Not one had piqued her interest. The exercise had only depressed her.
Just because Annie had moved out and Jack had taken a job for his father’s corporation didn’t change anything about her needing to resign. She closed her eyes and wished she could convince herself of that. Deep down, however, her spirit rebelled against adding one more ounce of stress to this disastrous mix.
“Hey!” Tom sang out. He threw open the office door with a very Tom flourish. A few steps and he parked himself on the front corner of her desk. “Gracie, my sweetheart, how’ve you been?” Then he bent over, caught her face in his hands and kissed her.
“Tom!” she protested, flushing warmly.
“Cut it out,” Jack growled from the doorway behind Tom. “We can’t afford to lose Gracie over a charge of sexual harassment.”
Tom chuckled. “If you had any sense, Jack, you’d propose to this amazing woman. If you don’t, you’re going to lose her someday—and what would you do without her?”
Gracie froze inside. Had Tom guessed how she felt about Jack? Had she betrayed her love without realizing it?
“I like Gracie too much to spoil our working relationship with marriage,” Jack said in a grumpy voice. He entered the room, his hands shoved into his pockets. “So what’s up, Tom?”
Jack’s careless comment stung, but Gracie made no reply. She prickled with the charged currents eddying around her. Gazing up at Tom, she tracked Jack’s movement and dour expression from the corner of her eye. Jack had dressed all in black. Funereal.
Tom glanced at Jack and then to her. He smiled broadly. “I hope you both will be happy for me.”
“Why?” Jack lowered himself onto one of their new leather couches. “Did you propose to someone?”
Uncertainty fluttered in Gracie’s midsection.
Tom chuckled. “In a way. I’ve finally figured out what makes me happy and how to make sure I stay that way.”
Jack lifted one eyebrow.
“Speak English,” Gracie said, aggravation now humming along her nerve endings.
Tom laughed. “Okay, I finally realized why I’ve been so restless over the past year.”
“Restless?” Jack stared at Tom. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I’ve noticed it,” she murmured.
Jack looked tense, ready to spring.
Gracie fidgeted with the papers on her desk.
Tom grinned.
Jack looked to her and then back at Tom. “So?”
“So, I finally realized what I enjoy—” Tom motioned broadly, extravagantly “—is the challenge of launching a new business. That’s what got me excited at the end of our college days together. You had a vision of your own information tech company. I had a vision of performing a modern miracle in helping ‘Mr. Computer Whiz But Don’t Bother Me with Customers’ get it launched and profitable. That was what made my blood pump!”
“What’s your point?” Jack leveled both his eyes and this question at Tom, his tone unimpressed.
“You succeeded. I succeeded. LIT has an enviable reputation.” Tom shrugged. “And you don’t need me anymore.”
Cold dread rolled through Gracie like a snowball tumbling downhill, gathering size with each turn. No, Tom, don’t leave!
“The heck I don’t,” Jack snapped. “You know how I feel about meeting with customers. I can’t be bothered. It burns up my working time. I had to take Gracie with me twice this week to do your job. Besides, you’re my partner. LIT is yours, too. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”
Gracie inhaled deeply. Yes, Jack would take Tom leaving as personal.
“Don’t get hot under the collar,” Tom taunted, but with a smile. “Of course LIT means something to me. It was my first success! But I can’t stay here any longer, just doing the same old schmoozing. It doesn’t satisfy me. You just said that Gracie already took over part of my job—running interference between you and our customers. Gracie can do that.”
“No!” Tom’s suggestion forced the word out of her. She couldn’t do what Tom did. “I’m just the executive assistant.” And I’m leaving as soon as things get back to normal.
“Ha!” Tom said in a sardonic tone. “Don’t underestimate yourself, Gracie. You’re much more than that. You’re the person who keeps LIT afloat and organized.”
“Darn right she is,” Jack agreed while still glaring at Tom.
The praise, especially Jack’s, caught her off guard. She felt her face blaze with embarrassment.
“Any intelligent person could do what I’ve been doing for LIT over the last couple of years,” Tom continued. “Don’t you see? I need a new project, a new business to promote. That’s what excites me.”
Silence.
Gracie and Jack stared at Tom and then Gracie glanced to Jack and found him looking back at her. She read the plea in his troubled blue eyes.
“Tom,” she implored, “tell us what you are planning to do.”
“I’ve signed on to promote a new techno genius in the game sector of the market—” Tom started.
“Games!” Jack spat out.
“Yes, I know you think that’s beneath me. But the company and the games they’re coming up with—”
“But you’re my partner!” Jack interrupted Tom, nearly jumping up from his seat. “If you leave, I’ll have to buy you out. It could end up destroying LIT—”
“Hold it!” Tom held up both his hands. “I’ve already figured that problem out. Hear what I have to say.”
Jack looked to Gracie again. A vein in his neck pulsed.
She nodded at him, pursing her lips.
“Okay, spit it out.” Jack folded his arms over his chest and glowered at Tom.
“I’ve already convinced my new company that they should move their base of operations to Chicago. The overhead here is so much lower. So I was thinking that instead of buying me out with cash, you could let me have this office, the lease and everything that goes with it. And, of course, you would add some shares to my LIT stock. That way you wouldn’t have to buy me with cash.”
Jack frowned. “Where would we work, then?”
Tom lifted both hands. “That’s up to you and Gracie.” He nodded toward her. “LIT’s established. You don’t need an imposing address. My new fledgling company does.”
Tom rose from her desk. “So that’s my big news. I’ve got a lot to do today, so I’ll leave and let you two mull it over. Get back to me soon.” Tom waved to them and was out the door.
Gracie realized her mouth was open and closed it. Another blow. Annie leaving, now Tom. I should be leaving, too.
She glanced at her screen and tapped a few keys, deleting her “Sassafras” file. Then she leaned her head into her hand. Jack was a genius with computers, but not with people! He needed her now.
Later that afternoon, back in his own office again, Jack stared at the ever-changing red, blue and gold patterns flickering on his monitor. After Tom’s visit, Jack had spent the day at Hope’s central financial office, going over computer files, piecing together whatever evidence he could. What he’d found hadn’t been reassuring.
Some Board members had stopped by during the day and submitted a few names of possible suspects. One name had popped up in every discussion so far—all with requests for discretion. Dr. Collins, whom he’d met at the pool party, had been ousted as Board chair in the spring. Everyone reminded Jack that Collins’s hobby was computers. But, of course, it couldn’t be Harry.
Jack hadn’t thought this much of a lead until he checked out Collins’s own PC security. Impressive. And slightly suspicious. What was Dr. Collins afraid someone might find on his system?
Dark thoughts and sus
picion swirled in Jack’s mind before giving way to his main concern. “What am I going to do about Tom?” he muttered. He stood up, stretched his tight muscles. He walked over and looked out his office window. Down below, old Louis was selling a businessman a newspaper. Today’s Thursday.
Just last Friday night, he’d stopped to chat with the old guy about the Cubs—not a worry in the world. How could he have known the earth was going to shift on its axis? What hadn’t happened since that night?
His mother had fallen and injured herself. Gracie was having personal problems. His dad had forced his way back into Jack’s life with the Hope contract. Jack paused, turning back toward his monitor. Too late to back out. Mom needs the money the Hope job will bring in.
Gracie stepped into his office. “Jack, I’m leaving now—unless you need me for anything.”
He gazed at her. She wore one of her sober gray suits. A white collar buttoned tight at her neck. He envisioned her as she’d looked last night. Her pale shoulders and slender form as she dived into the pool… He hauled his thoughts back to the present.
Besides, Gracie faced her own crisis with her sister deserting her family. He thought of Austin and Andy, one with a mole and one without. “Who’s been taking care of the twins today?” He couldn’t keep the sharpness out of his tone.
“Troy enrolled them in a day care near our neighborhood. Our pastor knew of an opening.” Gracie didn’t sound or look happy. “While I was gone this week, things piled up. I’ve spent all day getting my projects back in order. How did it go at Hope?”
He shook his head. “Not good. It’s not a glitch in the software or incompetent staff. Someone’s been fiddling with their data.”
Her shoulders slumped and she sighed. “A hacker?”
Her sympathy was welcome. He nodded glumly. “If they’d called me right in, I might have found enough evidence to get some idea of who penetrated the system and how. But their people had gone through opening files—and you know that overwrites whatever footprints the hacker left behind.”
“Did you tell them to freeze the systems if anything else occurs?” Gracie leaned against the doorjamb.
It was an unusual pose for her. An unprecedented physical reaction to her rippled through him. He tried to ignore it. “I personally told everyone in the office ‘hands off,’ and sent out a red-alert memo to everyone who accesses the files. We’ll see if they have enough sense to do what I say.” Jack doubted it.
She put out a hand as though beckoning him. “Wouldn’t someone have to know their encryption in order to—”
Jack snorted with disdain. “Their computer security system was done five years ago—a century in computer time.” He stepped around his desk. “It was laughable, except no one’s laughing now. Least of all me.”
Gracie nodded and lowered her head. “Have you done any thinking about Tom’s proposal?”
He shoved his hands through his hair. “I haven’t had a minute. What do you think we should do?”
She folded her arms. “Do we have a choice? Tom’s not just your business partner. He’s a friend. If he wants to leave, how could we—you—try to stop him?”
Jack had no answer. He leaned his hip against the corner of his cluttered desk. The truth of what she said was too obvious.
“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow.” Gracie pushed off from the doorjamb. “Before you get started at Hope on Friday, will you check in with me here either by phone or in person? And I’ve left a few items on my desk that need your signature.” She turned halfway, ready to depart.
He nodded and let her go. Reversing direction, he bypassed his desk and computer. Back at the window, he stared down, waiting for…
Below, Gracie sauntered outside. She shrugged out of her jacket and tossed it over her shoulder. She hooked it there with her upraised hand. It was a jaunty, free gesture. The sight released a strange tension he’d been scarcely aware of. He couldn’t tear himself away from the window as she headed toward the bus stop. He watched until Gracie vanished from view.
His mind conjured up how she’d looked in her father’s kitchen, at the Polska Café, in his mother’s backyard and at the pool party in that bathing suit.
He’d never seen Gracie wearing casual clothes before this week. In the office, she always wore dark suits with white blouses, very much the sober businesswoman. How could he have guessed how…intriguing she’d be in different clothing and in atypical settings.
A thought popped into his head. He pondered it. Would this idea work with Gracie?
As Gracie walked through the front gate of home, she heard cheerful voices in the backyard. The moist heat of the day weighed on her. Her pantyhose suffocated her—torture! All she wanted to do was get into shorts.
She hurried up the steps and inside. Someone waited for her in the doorway in the foyer.
“Patience!” Gracie shrieked and ran forward to embrace her cousin. “We didn’t expect you until Saturday.”
Patience hugged her back. “I managed to get things wrapped up early at my apartment, and here I am home, ready to hunt for a job.”
Within minutes they were in her bedroom, Gracie peeling off her business uniform while Patience perched on Gracie’s bed, answering questions about job prospects. Then they strolled out to the backyard, drawn by the aroma of a charcoal fire in the grill.
Mike greeted them as he opened the grill lid. “So you made it home on time for a change.”
Before Gracie could reply, she noticed someone else she hadn’t expected to see. “Sandy! I didn’t— How are you?”
Pink tinged Sandy’s cheeks. “Mike insisted I join you for this celebration of your cousin’s homecoming.”
“I’m glad he did. Are you walking better?” Gracie eased onto a lawn chair, buried her bare feet in the sun-warmed grass and tried to figure out why Sandy was blushing. Maybe she thought they might assume that she was pursuing Mike. But that wasn’t likely. Her dad hadn’t dated since Mom died. He probably felt bad that Sandy was housebound.
“I’m fine—” Sandy started.
“I dropped off some building materials in her garage.” Mike closed the grill lid with a dull clang. “And since who knows when her son will decide to come home, I thought she might as well celebrate with us.” With a grin, he lifted a tall glass of lemonade and toasted Patience.
Patience lifted her own glass in response. Her cousin was Gracie’s exact opposite—tall, blond and intellectual. And now a straight-A graduate with a degree in education.
“I’m glad you came, Sandy.” Gracie took a sip of her own lemonade. “And I’m sure you’ll be glad when you can get about easier.”
“My ankle is already less swollen and feels better. I think I’ll be off my crutches next week—”
“You be careful,” Mike cautioned. “Don’t push yourself too hard.”
“Sandy, have you talked to Jack today?” Gracie asked.
“No, but I didn’t expect to.” Sandy cocked her head to one side as though questioning Gracie.
So he didn’t call and tell you about Tom. Hmm. Gracie pondered this.
“I’m so glad you talked him into taking the job for his dad,” Sandy continued.
Gracie worried her lower lip. Should I mention Tom—?
“Hey!” Jack’s voice carried from the side of the house. “Don’t you people answer your doorbell?”
Gracie sat up straighter. Jack? Here again?
“Come on back!” her dad called.
Jack sauntered around the corner of the house. He hadn’t changed from the office. His black slacks and shirt stood out as alien amid the greens, pinks and gold of the summer backyard.
He stopped. “Mom? What are you doing here?”
Gracie heard his displeasure and watched him stiffen.
Sandy blushed a brighter pink. “I left you a note telling you where I was. Didn’t you see it on the kitchen table?”
“I haven’t been home.” Jack stared at his mother, his thumbs hooked into his pockets.
Jack stared at his mother. He didn’t flicker an eyelash.
Recognizing his signs of preoccupation, Gracie cleared her throat, giving him his cue. Come on, Jack.
With a smile, he came forward and offered Patience his hand. “Nice to meet you, Patience.”
Dear Lord, how can I leave him to manage customers alone? What is this man going to do without Tom? Without me? He can’t do it alone. I can’t leave LIT now.
“I’ve always wanted to meet you,” Patience said. “Your job must be fascinating. What are you working on now?”
“I can’t really give details.” Jack walked toward Gracie, but was still focused on his mother who was sitting beside Mike. “It’s a security problem.”
Gracie closed the distance between them, wanting to shake him. This unnecessary possessiveness toward his mother wasn’t attractive at all.
“Oh dear,” Sandy said. “Is it very difficult?”
Jack nodded, still staring from his mother to Gracie’s dad. “I’ll be putting in a lot of days and nights on it. It’s an interesting puzzle.”
Gracie touched Jack’s arm, trying to tell him to sit down, but he didn’t appear to even notice. She let her hand drop.
“Well—” her dad spoke up “—we’re pleased you joined us and I’m relieved I bought a few extra steaks. Gracie, get Jack something to drink.”
“Okay, Dad.” Gracie turned and walked up the back porch steps. She felt Jack following her and was glad. She didn’t want him upsetting his mother over nothing.
As soon as the back door shut behind them, Gracie whirled.
Jack bumped into her.
Her pulse raced, making her feel out of breath. “What brought you here tonight?” she asked with an effort to hide her physical response to him. “Did Tom call back or has something happened with Hope?”
“No.” Jack brushed her questions away with a wave of his hand. Without warning, he claimed her shoulders with both hands.
She held her breath, thoughts ricocheting through her mind.
