Let's Move On (The New Pioneers Book 4)

by Deborah Nam-Krane

  "See, that doesn’t make me feel better, because I know how miserable I was."

  "Then let’s just be happy now, okay?"

  He nodded, and once again took her hand. "Come on. There’s one more thing I want to do before I take you home."

  He stood up and she followed. He put one arm around her waist and held her hand in the other. She wrapped her arms around his neck. "Is this why you wanted to come here?"

  "Might be."

  He moved her around the empty back of the restaurant as Nina Simone played in the background. For once, he couldn’t think of anything to say as they moved together in time.

  The song ended. "So, have I finally proven to you that I can dance?"

  "Now I don’t know," she said as he twirled her. "It’s a little easier to dance to this than the stuff the kids listen to these days."

  "Ah, but the advantage here is that we get to be much, much closer."

  "True, but then we can’t see each other move."

  "Maybe, but I don’t need to see it, just feel it."

  "Then yes, I suppose this does have its advantages."

  He sighed and put the tip of his forehead right next to hers. "So I’m taking you home?" he said after a minute.

  "I’m afraid so."

  "Then we’d better leave now, while I still can."

  He tossed some cash on to the table, then helped her with her coat. She insisted on helping him with his. They took as long to get back to the car as they had to get from it, kissing for about five minutes before they finally drove off.

  They parked at the corner near Emily’s house. She kissed him again. "If you don’t get out of this car right now, I’m taking you back to my place," he said after ten minutes.

  "Okay," she said reluctantly as she opened the door. Then she kissed him again. "But keep your phone nearby, okay?" Before he could say anything, she slammed the door and ran to Emily’s house.

  ~~~

  Emily was sitting at her dining room table at her laptop, exactly where Miranda had left her almost twelve hours ago. Emily looked up expectantly. "Well?"

  "Success." Miranda grinned. "You have such good ideas."

  Emily suppressed a smile. "That was a really long sales pitch, huh?"

  Miranda shrugged. "I was just being thorough."

  Emily smiled as she turned to her computer screen. She didn’t want to let Miranda know that she’d spoken to Richard this morning as well. "I’m glad you think so highly of my ideas," she said as soon as she could be sure she wouldn’t break. "Because I think I’ve got another one."

  Miranda slapped her hands. "Let’s hear it."

  "How’s your Hebrew?"

  ~~~

  Michael’s phone rang at twelve thirty. "Well you know how to keep a guy waiting."

  Miranda lay on her bed and closed her eyes. "Sorry, but Emily did have a very, very good idea, and we needed to work on a few things."

  "Wow, you put in a full day of work on a Saturday. I’ll talk to Richard about giving you a raise."

  "Uh huh. Well, make sure you put in a mention for Emily as well, because she was working even harder."

  "If you say so. So what’s the fabulous idea?"

  "It’s a surprise. I don’t want to say anything until we’re closer to making it work."

  "I guess I can let you have some temporary secrets."

  "Gee thanks." She rolled over onto her stomach. "What are you doing now?"

  He leaned back in his chair. "I was doing a little research myself, believe it or not."

  "Really? On what?"

  "That’s a surprise too."

  "Oh, is that how we’re going to play it?"

  "How many times do I have to tell you that I am not playing?"

  "What are you wearing?"

  "What do you want me to wear?"

  "A smile."

  "You first."

  CHAPTER 11

  Miranda and Emily woke up early to work out the final details of their plan. They were getting ready to head out to brunch before Mitch returned Hellie when Zainab strolled in.

  Miranda looked at her watch. "Isn’t that funny, Em? Because I could have sworn that Zainab said something about someone picking her up at five last night. I must have been mistaken, because here it is, almost eleven the next day."

  Zainab shrugged. "I wouldn’t have come home so early, but he had to go in early today."

  "Oh," Emily said dramatically. "So, he has irregular hours?"

  "But at least he has a job," Miranda chimed in. "Does he like it?"

  Zainab looked away. "Maybe a little too much."

  Emily frowned. "Well, just don’t marry him, and you’ll be fine."

  "Want to get some food with us?" Miranda asked.

  Zainab cocked her head. "Yeah, I didn’t get a lot of eating done last night."

  Over brunch, Emily and Miranda laid out their plan to Zainab. Zainab was impressed. "Let me know what I can do to help."

  Mitch came by at three with Hellie. "Mommy, grandma and grampa took me to the petting zoo, and I got to go on a pony ride! And then we had some ice cream."

  Emily glared at Mitch. "You did?" She gave Hellie a hug. "Well I am so glad you had a good time, sweetie! Mommy missed you so much. Why don’t you give Daddy a hug and then go tell your aunties that you’re home?"

  Hellie kissed Mitch goodbye. As soon as Emily was sure that she was out of earshot, she gestured for the two of them to go outside.

  "Do you want to explain to me why she was with your parents this weekend and not you?"

  Mitch sighed. "I had a big crunch last minute assignment on Saturday afternoon, and my parents wanted to see her anyway—"

  "So did she spend any time with you?"

  "We had breakfast on Saturday, and we just had lunch."

  "Mitch, I don’t care if she sees your parents, but the whole point of this was so she could see you. And forgive me, but I seem to remember you getting all teary-eyed about how much you missed her."

  "Emily, I didn’t have a choice—"

  "Fine. So just bring her back here next time if you can’t spend time with her, and if your parents want to see her I can arrange the play dates." She slammed the door and went upstairs before he could say anything.

  ~~~

  Emily and Miranda arrived at Richard’s house at eight on Monday. They had just started setting up in Jessie’s old room when they heard a knock on the door. Miranda ran downstairs to get it and smiled when she saw Michael. He smiled back, and she was about to say something when she realized that he was wearing a shirt and tie.

  "You’re wearing a tie."

  "And a smile."

  "Why’s that?"

  "Because I’m happy to see you," he said as he kissed her and then walked in. She closed the door, then he looked around. "Okay, where’s everyone else?"

  Emily came down the stairs. She noticed Michael’s attire with raised her eyebrows. Miranda shrugged. "I’m just going to get Richard now, okay?" she mumbled, looking at the floor.

  "Do you want to tell me what’s going on?" Miranda said once Emily was out of sight.

  "Then where would the surprise be?"

  Richard and the engineers came up with Emily trailing behind. Emily’s heart sank when she saw Richard slap Michael on the back. She stood next to Miranda, who seemed equally put out.

  "Okay," Richard said at last. "Well, it has been pointed out to me by a few people in this room that I paid more attention in my engineering classes than my business ones. While I don’t apologize for my most recent financial decision, it has forced the issue.

  "As some of you know by now, Michael has generously agreed to make a substantial investment. Congratulations, you will now be paid." Jordan let out a whoop, and Miranda laughed. "Seriously, however, if we want to make sure that we keep getting paid, then I need someone else to worry about running the day-to-day operations while I worry about getting this second prototype completed. So I am pleased to announce that Michael has also agreed to co
me on and help me do just that."

  Emily and Miranda looked at each other as the guys welcomed Michael. "I had no idea," Miranda said quietly.

  "Okay," Emily whispered.

  "I’ll be heads down with Michael for the next day or so as I transition everything over to him. Carlos, you’re in charge of making sure you guys actually get work done, okay?"

  "Why does he get to be God?" Vijay asked peevishly.

  "Because I’m doing it alphabetically."

  "Fair enough," Jordan said.

  "So otherwise—everyone get back to work!" Richard laughed, and Emily decided then and there that she wasn’t going to say anything, because it had been a long time since she’d seen Richard this happy.

  Miranda stood where she was, shocked. "I had no idea," she said again, mostly to herself.

  "No worries," Emily said as generously as she could.

  "Thanks." Miranda looked up and Michael was grinning at her from ear to ear. She could have sworn he mouthed the word "Gotcha." She nodded, and turned to Emily. "Hon, we’re working off-site today. To work on that thing. At that place."

  "That place?"

  Miranda nodded her head vigorously. "Yeah, that place."

  "Okay," Emily said at last. "Then I’ll just go get our bags from upstairs. So we can go to that place." Emily ran upstairs, and Miranda grabbed their coats. Emily returned two minutes later, and Miranda dragged her out before they could get their coats on.

  They arrived at the Princess Cappuccino near the University twenty minutes later. "Why Princess Cappuccino?" Emily asked as they set up their computers.

  She didn't look up. "Because it's a Michael-free zone," Miranda answered.

  "Good enough for me," Emily said under her breath.

  ~~~

  Zainab giggled. "And what is so funny?" Robert smiled.

  "It’s the middle of the day," she sighed happily. "Doesn’t this feel a little bit like hooky? Oh wait, let me guess, you didn’t play hooky when you were a kid?"

  He smiled. "I majored in hooky. I think you’re the one who never cut class."

  "You think or you know?"

  He rolled his eyes. "Okay, you know what? My investigation was not so thorough that I got to talk to teachers and principals at all your schools."

  "Are you sure now?" she said mockingly.

  "Positive," he said before he kissed her. She pulled back and smiled, then adjusted her pillow.

  "So tell me about Robert Teague in high school."

  He grimaced. "Those years weren’t nearly as interesting for me as they were for you."

  Zainab shrugged. "I moved around a lot, I met different people, but I wouldn’t go so far as to call it interesting. I mean, there really aren’t any stories, you know, like Emily or even Miranda have." She traced her foot on his leg. "You, on the other hand, probably have tons of stories."

  "I did some things I’m not proud of," he said.

  "Other than playing hooky?"

  "You could say that."

  "Like what?"

  "Like..." He took a deep breath. "I got into my share of fights."

  She shrugged. "I think I may have even gotten into one fight while I was in high school."

  "It was more than one," he said, looking away.

  "And...?"

  He looked at her square on. Other women were afraid of his intense gaze, but she didn’t move. "I was a bully, Zainab. I got into fights with people I either knew weren’t going to be able to really fight back, or who didn’t have nearly as much backup as I did. I had a reputation, and I was proud of it."

  "People do things when they’re kids—"

  He shook his head. "One time, I hurt someone. Badly. I had an audience, and I wanted to put on a show. But this wasn’t a good kid to do that with. I hit his head into a wall. I didn’t mean to. He couldn’t get up. I was trying to play it cool, telling him to get up and keep fighting, but he couldn’t move. He looked up at me with these big glassy eyes. I wanted to be sick, but I didn’t stop. Then one of my friends panicked and ran to get the principal. The kid...he needed to go to the hospital. They weren’t sure if maybe—" He closed his eyes—"If maybe he’d hurt his head really badly.

  "I was going to be in a lot of trouble. I was glad. I wanted to be in trouble, and do it for real. But my dad—" He sneered—"He was off the force after the Bartolome thing, but he still had friends and they still owed him favors. I thought he was going to get them to talk to the judge if it went before one, but that isn’t what he did." He looked away, and for the first time, Zainab saw he was ashamed. "The kid and his mother moved away, out of Boston. Maybe even out of the state. I found out later that one of the cops had suggested to the mom that it might be best for everyone if she did." He shrugged. "I didn’t get into any fights after that. I didn’t have to."

  "And what was that like?"

  "It didn’t help things with my dad. Part of me always thought that I maybe should have been...grateful. He was trying to protect his kid, right? And his kid was me. I could have gotten into serious trouble, and because of him I didn’t."

  "Were you grateful then?"

  "Not one blessed bit," he said bitterly. "Because I knew the emphasis in the phrase ‘his kid’ was on ‘his.’ He wasn’t going to let his boy go down because that would prove that he really had lost everything. I don’t think I had one conversation with him after that before he died."

  "If that’s how you felt, then why did you go to so much trouble—?"

  "My dad wasn’t a nice guy. At all. He wasn’t a good husband, and he was only passable as a father. But he was better before...Lucy Hendrickson." The intense gaze again. "And I’m not a nice guy either. I do my job, I get my man."

  Zainab looked at him, and he looked at her looking at him. It was the most vulnerable he had been since he was a child. She stroked his hair. "I guess you still like having a reputation, hmm?"

  He drew her to him. "Not with everyone."

  CHAPTER 12

  Michael called that afternoon, but Miranda didn’t pick up. He could tell by the way it went to voicemail that she was on the phone with someone else. Which was fine, except that it happened five times. He finally got a hold of her at six.

  "Where did you disappear to?"

  "If I told you, then I couldn’t disappear there again, now could I?"

  "Why are you angry with me?"

  "Why do you keep playing with me?"

  "I wasn’t trying to."

  "What was that you said about being honest?"

  He sighed. "I thought it would make you happy."

  "I guess it does," she said quietly. "But it also...scared me."

  "What do you think I’m going to do?"

  "What you always do. Leave me unable to think of anything except you."

  "I know you’re trying to tell me why this is bad, but I’m not seeing it."

  "I can’t be like that around everyone else. I have to be able to think. At work."

  "I promise that I won’t demand any sexual favors until after you’ve clocked out."

  "Such restraint, Michael. You’ll have to give me some tips."

  "I’ll give them to you tonight."

  "Okay, I need to get back to work now—"

  "This is work. I found a space that I want you to look at. You know, so we don’t have to work in Richard’s house anymore."

  "I think Richard is the one with the final say."

  "Would you believe that I care about your opinion?"

  She smiled. Emily came back to her seat. "Fine," Miranda said. "What time should we meet you, and where?"

  "We?"

  "Emily’s opinion is important to me."

  "Oh Jesus—fine. Seven-thirty, and here’s the address."

  "Um, what?" Emily said as soon as Miranda hung up a minute later.

  "Looks like Michael found a space in Roxbury that we can use."

  "Wow—he’s actually doing more than just throwing his money around. Who knew?"

  "Ok, do you no
t understand your role tonight? Because if I have to referee the two of you, it’s not going to work out."

  "Yeah, yeah, yeah," Emily said reluctantly, making a mental note to compare Miranda and Michael versions One and Two with Zainab.

  Miranda and Emily met up with Michael, Richard, and the realtor at seven-thirty sharp. Emily painfully and obviously inserted herself into Michael’s conversation with the realtor until Miranda was safely into her own discussion with Richard about their burgeoning plan. Michael glared at Miranda, who smiled back. Finally, they walked up to see the space, with Emily bringing up the rear.

  "Oooh!" Emily gasped appreciatively when they saw the space. It was almost twice as large as their old office space, and if Michael was telling the truth, only about two-thirds of the rent. And it was also available on the first of the month.

  Emily turned around, grinning at Miranda. "I’m having thoughts."

  Miranda bit her lip and nodded excitedly. Michael looked at Richard, who was just as puzzled. Emily and Miranda approached the realtor. "So would you pro-rate the rent for us if you let us move in a day early?" The realtor said that would absolutely not be a problem, and Miranda shook his hand.

  "Why do we need to move in a day early?" Michael asked, confused and annoyed.

  Miranda took Emily’s hand and they walked over to one of the big open windows. "Costumes," Miranda said.

  "Music," Emily nodded.

  "Lots of liquid refreshment."

  "Whatever."

  Richard looked at Michael, half-horrified. "Party? Don’t you think you should at least ask me?"

  Emily and Miranda giggled. "Nah!" Emily said, wrinkling her nose. "I think between the four of us, we can pay for it."

  "You’ll excuse me if I might need a little extra convincing right now to spend even more of my money," Michael said pointedly to Miranda.

  Miranda smiled. "That’s okay, because we actually didn’t mean you two. I think between the two of us, Jessie and Zainab we should be able to come up with one night’s rent, right?"

  "Well, that and the food."

  "And the music."

  "And the costumes, don’t forget that."

  "Girls night... in?" Miranda put up her fist.

  "In like Flynn!" Emily said as she lightly tapped Miranda’s fist with hers.