A Good Time

by Shannyn Schroeder

  “There was nothing I could do about it,” he said, preempting her yell.

  As she had done for months, she slapped the newspaper on his desk. He’d already seen the online version.

  Hands on her hips, Kendra started. “You were well behaved for a while there. Who is this one? She’s not part of your usual crowd.”

  “You told me to find a regular woman. I listened.”

  “I also told you to stay out of the spotlight.”

  “I have. This was yesterday at lunch. She’s my real estate agent.”

  “Oh, God. You couldn’t have taken her to Chili’s or Applebee’s? It had to be RL, where someone is always snapping a picture?” Kendra began to pace.

  “I brought Indy to keep lunch casual with a prospective employee and his wife. Because of Indy, he’s getting ready to sign a contract with us.” Griffin leaned back in his chair. He’d have to get a thank-you gift for Indy. “Chili’s isn’t exactly where you go to woo a hotshot programmer.”

  Kendra’s nostrils flared. “When I said a regular woman, I meant a nobody. Dating your real estate agent is not a good idea. She can easily leak information about your plans to every newspaper and magazine. You didn’t even make her sign a confidentiality agreement, did you?”

  Griffin chuckled. “I don’t need one. Indy’s not calling anyone.” “No pillow talk?”

  He stood. “Indy and I are friends. I told her about the foundation before we slept together. I’m not sure she totally gets it. I think she chalks it up to me being rich.”

  Kendra shook her head. “A woman scorned can do a lot of damage, Griffin. More damage than I’d be able to repair. Tread lightly.”

  “We’re having a good time. It’s casual. We enjoy each other’s company.”

  She shook her head and walked briskly out of the office, leaving the paper behind. Two shots of him and Indy appeared in the article. One with her shaking Rob’s hand, and then below the fold, Griffin kissing her good-bye. He wondered if Indy had seen it.

  He dialed Indy’s number while holding the paper in his hands. God, she was a beautiful woman. Natural and unassuming.

  “Hi.”

  “Hi. Have you by chance seen today’s paper?”

  “No. Why?”

  “Pictures were taken of us at lunch yesterday.”

  “Really? I’m in the paper?”

  She sounded more excited than he thought she would be. Maybe Kendra was right. “Your picture is in the paper, but they didn’t identify you.”

  “Oh. That’s not really the same, but I’ll take it.”

  “I have to ask you a question.”

  “Shoot.”

  “Have you told anyone you’re my real estate agent?”

  “Besides Quinn and Kate? No, I don’t think so. Wait, the secretary at the office knows too, so technically my boss does. Why?”

  “My PR person is worried about information being leaked to the press about where I buy a house.”

  She laughed lightly, and the sound tickled his ear. “Why would anyone care where you live?”

  “Hell if I know.”

  “I have to go get ready for work. I’ll talk to you later.”

  Griffin hung up. Kendra had been wrong. Indy had no connections to the newspaper. She enjoyed being in the spotlight because it was a novelty. She didn’t seek it out like the socialites. He had nothing to worry about.

  Indy walked into End Zone for her third shift that week. The bartender, Jane, greeted her and said, “There’s a suit here looking for you. Must be nice to be so popular. He looks like money.”

  Indy smiled. “That’s me—Miss Congeniality.” She tied her apron on and turned to seek out the only suit who’d look for her: Griffin. She searched the crowd but couldn’t find him. Her blood warmed at the prospect of seeing him tonight, but she didn’t know how she’d make it all the way to closing.

  She stopped at her first table and took the drink order, still scanning the area for Griffin. Customers crowded the room for some game on TV, and bodies blocked the view of all her tables. Squeezing between the sports fans, she moved to her next table to take the order. Everyone else looked settled, so she turned to head back to the bar to pick up the drinks.

  Suddenly a warm hand wrapped around her wrist. Excitement welled in her chest. Griffin? She turned to the booth to see Richard, and she deflated like a forgotten birthday balloon. His fingers stroked the skin on the inside of her wrist. She yanked her arm away.

  “What are you doing here?” He hated bars.

  “I came to see you.”

  “Well, this isn’t my station. I’ll find your waitress for you,” she lied. She’d ask Lisa to cover the table. She scooted quickly away.

  She filled her tray with drinks to deliver and waited to find Lisa. Moments later, Lisa called out her drink order and Indy asked her to take Richard’s table.

  “Why? Are you trying to pass a perv on to me?”

  “No. He’s my ex. I don’t want to deal with him.”

  “Sure. No problem. Want me to slip some Visine into his drink?”

  Indy giggled at the image of Richard cramping with the runs. “No. Just take his order. He’ll leave soon. This isn’t his kind of place.”

  She turned back to her station and emptied her tray to each of her customers. A few asked her to sing, but she didn’t want to compete with the game and shouts of the other patrons.

  Unfortunately, Richard had chosen the one table she’d have to pass repeatedly. She ignored his calls the first two times, but she was afraid he’d cause a scene. She couldn’t afford to lose this job. On her next pass, he stood in her path.

  “Give me a minute.” He stroked her arm. “Please.”

  She sighed and inched out of his reach. “What do you want? I’m working.”

  “I miss you. You won’t return any of my calls. My divorce is done. All the papers are signed. We’re free to be together.”

  She took another step back. “I don’t want to be together. I’ve moved on. You need to too.”

  “What do you mean, you’ve moved on? You’re fucking someone else already?”

  Her muscles tensed. “What I do with my life is none of your concern.”

  He grabbed her arm and squeezed. “Who? Who could you have possibly found who could give you more than I could?”

  She jerked her arm free, knowing it would leave a mark. “Someone richer, sexier, and younger. A better man than you by a stretch. Don’t call me and don’t come here again. We’re done.”

  “Don’t do this, Indy. We’re good together. You’re mine. I changed my whole life for you.”

  “No, you didn’t. You always live your life your way and expect the rest of the world to conform to it. I don’t fit into your world. Find someone who does.”

  She walked away feeling unsteady on her feet. Richard wasn’t a bad guy. She wanted to believe that. He didn’t know what to do when he couldn’t control things. Hopefully now he’d get it. She could never be what he wanted. Why couldn’t he see that?

  The rest of her night remained quiet. Richard had left after their conversation. When her phone bleeped, she cringed, afraid it might be him, but it was Griffin.

  “When are you off?”

  “Soon. Shouldn’t you be asleep? Moguls like you get up early to stomp out the competition, right?”

  “Some things are worth waiting up for. I have a surprise for you.”

  Her heart thumped and her nerves sang at the promise in his voice. “What is it?”

  “It wouldn’t be much of a surprise if I told you.”

  “Hmm,” she purred. “How about a little hint?”

  He answered in a whisper, “It’s not so little.”

  Closing couldn’t come fast enough.

  He didn’t need this crap. Griffin threw the newspaper across the room and barely suppressed a growl. Another parent group was crying foul over his video games. Parental rating existed for a reason. It wasn’t his fault kids didn’t follow the rules. They wer
e well into production of Night Beasts and couldn’t afford the bad publicity now. This kind of press wouldn’t help with the foundation either. His phone rang and he hoped it was Indy. He’d gladly welcome her distraction.

  Unfortunately, it wasn’t his day.

  “Griffin, you better come to the school right away.” Mike sounded worried. He’d hired Mike for the sole purpose of working with the kids during the pilot program. Although Griffin tried to be there most days, sometimes his schedule wouldn’t permit it.

  Mike would offer them consistency. He didn’t seem like the kind of guy to ruffle easily, so something extreme must’ve happened.

  “What’s going on?”

  “I don’t have the whole story. Kids are upset. Marisol is crying. Something about Duane being suspended. I can’t leave them in the lab unattended, so I can’t find out.”

  “Damn. I’ll be there in twenty.” What could Duane possibly have done? They’d made progress, and Griffin had been sure Duane had accepted the rules of the program. Get in trouble in school and you get dropped from the program.

  He sped to the school while making calls to cancel or postpone meetings. His day had been jammed, which was why he had Mike teaching solo today. Griffin rarely missed a session with the kids. He made them a priority. They needed to know they could count on him.

  He hoped the problem could be resolved quickly. Principal Harris disliked a few of Griffin’s kids, Duane in particular. Once in the school, Griffin went to the computer lab. He preferred to hear the kids’ version first. Before he reached the door, Marisol accosted him in the hall. She was still crying, which made her Spanglish impossible to understand. The only two words he understood were “Duane” and “hacking.”

  “Marisol, you have to calm down. I can’t understand what you’re saying.” As she took deep breaths, Griffin considered the situation. The girl’s emotions ran wild for Duane being just a fellow classmate. He wouldn’t have pegged Marisol as Duane’s type. She tended to be shy and quiet. He imagined Duane with someone a little more brash, like him.

  “Mr. Griffin, he didn’t do it.”

  “Didn’t do what, Marisol? What did Duane get into trouble for?”

  “They say he hacked into the school’s system.”

  Griffin ground his teeth until his jaw muscles ached. Principal Harris had been waiting for something like this. He could close the pilot program within the school. He didn’t have to allow Griffin’s foundation to use school property.

  “He didn’t do it.”

  “How do you know?”

  She sniffed and lifted her chin. “Because it was me.”

  Damn it. “What? Why did you do that?”

  “I didn’t mean to, not at first. I was practicing the commands you gave us and I kind of—what’s the word—tripped on it.”

  “You mean stumbled on it.”

  “Yeah. I didn’t think it would work. I guessed the password. It was too easy. I didn’t do anything. I just checked around.”

  “I need to go see Mr. Harris.”

  She twisted a ratty tissue. “Please, Mr. Griffin. I tried to tell him it wasn’t Duane, but he wouldn’t listen.”

  “I’ll see what I can do. Go back into the lab.” He peeked into the lab to see that Mike had gotten the rest of the kids to calm down and begin work. He’d love to trade places. Walking down the hall made him feel fifteen again, palms clammy, waiting to see if he’d get suspended. How he’d dreaded every visit. The phone call to his mother alone made him miserable. She couldn’t afford the time off work to hear him get yelled at. He didn’t envy Duane.

  Griffin knocked on Harris’s door. “Come in.”

  “Mr. Harris.” Griffin nodded as he entered the office.

  “Mr. Walker, I’ve been expecting you. I suppose you’ve heard about Duane Wilson hacking into the system. Have a seat.” Harris gestured to a chair half the size of his own leather monstrosity. Griffin refused to fall for the intimidation.

  “No, thanks. I’ll stand. I have part of the story.” Like the truth. “I’d like to hear what you know.”

  “Our tech supervisor found a problem when I was supposedly logged on here while I attended a conference. He traced it back to a computer in the lab during the time you work with your group.” His distaste of the program hung in the air like the smell of greasy onions.

  “How exactly did that lead you to Duane?”

  Harris offered a cocky look that said an idiot could’ve figured it out. “He was the last one logged on.”

  “I can see how that would look to you, but the kids don’t have assigned seats during lab work, and they often move around.”

  Harris pursed his lips. “Either way, someone from your group did this. I knew this would happen. It took longer than I imagined, but I knew.”

  Griffin moved two steps closer to the desk. He knew what to expect, and his muscles flexed.

  “It’s not your fault, not totally, Mr. Walker. I tried to convince you when you selected those students that they were not the right caliber.”

  “What more could I ask for in students? They show up for every class. They work on projects whenever they can get their hands on a computer, which for some of them is difficult. They’re interested and motivated and put in more effort than you imagined.” He was damn proud of what they’d learned in such a short time.

  “I know you’ve worked hard for this, but I’m afraid I have to shut it down.”

  Griffin had anticipated the blow but still wasn’t prepared. His heart thumped in his chest and he sucked in his anger. “You can’t arbitrarily decide to shut us down. We have board approval for this program.”

  “But I decide what happens within the walls of this school. I’m not heartless. I understand what you’re trying to accomplish, but I have to put the entire student body and this school first. Today’s your last day.” Harris leaned back in his chair and propped his elbows on the armrests.

  Griffin crossed his arms on his chest. “There’s no compromising on this?”

  Harris shook his head. “I’m sorry.”

  “Fine. We’ll find somewhere else, but you need to allow Duane back in school. He’s innocent.”

  “How could you possibly know—”

  “Because the person who actually did the supposed hacking confessed to me. Nothing was tampered with, no harm done. If you don’t allow Duane back, I will personally hire a lawyer to sue you and the school.”

  “If he’s truly innocent, tell me who the real culprit is.”

  “No.”

  “Someone needs to be held accountable.”

  “How about you? This student guessed your oversimplified password and got into the system. You should thank my kids for identifying the problem before someone else did this and caused real trouble.” He left the room without another word. The last thing these kids needed was someone else telling them they weren’t good enough. He’d break the news to them, but they’d be okay.

  Indy rushed into the boutique just in time to see Quinn turn in her wedding gown. “Oh, my God. You’re glowing.”

  Quinn rested her fists on her hips. “You’re late but forgiven because of the compliment.”

  “It’s fact. That dress is perfection.” Indy stepped up on the platform to stand next to her sister. “You’re beautiful.”

  Quinn’s eyes began to tear. “I feel beautiful.” Her hand rested on her belly.

  Indy stared for a moment. Right now, all is right and perfect in the world.

  Kate came from behind a fitting room door barking orders. “Chop, chop. Get your dress on.”

  “Hi, Kate. Do you ever leave mom mode?”

  “No. Now get your dress on.” She turned to Quinn. “I spoke with Moira. She’s going to get her final fitting with Maggie when she gets in. Assuming the measurements Maggie sent were on target, we shouldn’t have any problems.”

  Indy entered the small fitting room and stripped. She took the burgundy dress off the hanger. The dress wasn’t fitted, thank G
od. She’d been feeling bloated for the last few days. When was her period due?

  She inched the zipper up her back. Kate pounded on the door. “Out. We need to see.”

  Indy opened the door. She and Kate were built similarly, or at least they had been until Kate had kids. Kate’s hips were wider now, her figure more shapely.

  But the simple dress draped over their bodies in equal beauty. Kate definitely had an eye for such things.

  Quinn bunched her dress and stepped down from the platform. “Okay, ladies. Let’s see how they fit.” Quinn eased into a chair and watched the seamstress check her handiwork.

  “How are things going with Griffin?” Kate asked.

  “They’re . . . good.” A smile spread slowly across her face.

  “Just good?” Quinn wanted to know.

  “No. Better than good.” Indy talked about their lunch at RL, Griffin’s expression of gratitude when Rob accepted the job offer, and their nights together.

  Kate narrowed her eyes at Indy and tapped her toes.

  “What? You wanted details.” Indy hiked her dress and went to change. Kate followed.

  “Yeah, the dirty details of great rebound sex. You know, exorcising Richard from your system.”

  Indy laughed and rehung the dress. “I think he’s been adequately exorcised.”

  Quinn opened the door and pushed her back toward Indy. “Undo me.”

  As Indy worked at buttons, Kate responded. “This is more than sex. You’re falling for him.”

  Indy looked up from Quinn’s back. “No, I’m not. We’re having a good time, enjoying each other. No expectations.”

  “Uh-huh,” Quinn said.

  “What do you know?” Indy asked Quinn. “You spend so much time in la-la land, you want to see the rest of us there.” She held the dress while Quinn stepped out.

  “If it was rebound sex, you’d be telling us about a couple of nights of hot, sweaty sex. Some booty calls,” Kate called from her dressing room.

  “I did.” Indy dressed quickly, becoming uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation.