“Well, shit,” Brick said from next to me. “I did not see that coming.” Suddenly, he scowled. “Now I’m offended he’s never hit on me.”
I’m not sure why his joke caused me to boil, but all of a sudden, I was mad at him. I punched him in the arm. “I’m so going to kill you for this.”
He’d talked me into attending tonight on a promise that had fallen through before I’d even had a chance to try it. Admittedly, I’d forgotten all about the goal of approaching Christopher until we’d arrived, but now that I couldn’t even put out feelers, I had to wonder if the job Brick had promised me would fall through too.
Was I heaping too much hope onto my careless, playboy stepbrother?
Brick laughed even as he fake flinched away from me, lifting his hands as a shield. “Hey, no death threats to your new boss. Besides, how was I supposed to know he wasn’t single… Or straight?”
Rolling my eyes, I mumbled, “A little background research might’ve given you a clue.” Returning my attention to Christopher and his date, I let out a sigh.
Well, there went five months of mediocre pining.
“Not only is he already taken, but he doesn’t even like my type,” I lamented. All hope was gone.
Christopher was currently leading the priest onto the dance floor and spinning him into a circle that made his date laugh. An ache of longing rumbled through my stomach, not so much because I was jealous of the priest, though, okay, there was some of that too, but more because I wanted what they had together. That kind of connection and happiness with another human being seemed as elusive to me as getting my parents back.
Which only made me want it more. I sniffed sadly.
“Oh, no. Don’t cry,” Brick ordered, starting to sound panicked.
I hadn’t been thinking about crying, but I looked up at him solemnly, not that he could see my expression from outside my mask, but he still must’ve sensed it because he sent me puppy dog eyes, silently begging for forgiveness.
Not really in the mood to reassure him, I didn’t respond. Though this wasn’t the end of the world, it was still disappointing.
Brick held up a hand. “Just… Wait right here. I’ll get you a drink from the bar. After a couple Long Island Iced Teas, you’ll forget all about Elton. Okay?”
I opened my mouth to tell him not to bother, I wasn’t going to let this get to me, but he’d already whirled away and taken off.
I sighed. Again. Feeling suddenly alone without him there to talk to, I glanced toward the buffet and idly wandered that way. Finger foods were my favorites, so normally, I would’ve grabbed a plate and started loading it up. But with the mood I was in, I bypassed the plates, and even the savory stuff to head straight for the desserts.
Didn’t take me long to make my decision of what I wanted from the sweets. I reached for a cookie, the last chocolate chip on the table, only to realize I wasn’t the only person aiming for it. Just as my fingers latched around it, another hand came into view, a mere second after mine. We both pulled back at the same time—with me still holding the cookie—not realizing we’d had the same target in mind until then.
I lifted my face, only to gasp in surprise. “Oh!”
Hayden cleared his throat and retreated his hand, mumbling, “Sorry, I didn’t see you there.”
He had no idea who I was inside my mask. It made me want to make a good impression and coax him into liking me while he didn’t have a clue who I was. So I thrust the cookie at him as a peace offering.
Blinking at my unexpected show of kindness, he shook his head and waved a hand. “Oh. No, that’s okay. You had it first.”
But I knew chocolate chip cookies were his favorite, so I nudged it toward him again.
Temptation filled his eyes before he reluctantly reached out. “You’re sure?”
I gave an enthusiastic nod. He took the cookie and bit into it slowly before closing his eyes and letting out a small moan. Thrilled that I’d managed to make him happy, I bounced on my toes and clapped my hands together near my chest.
My response caused him to chuckle before he ran his curious gaze over my costume. “You seem nice,” he mused aloud, before furrowing his brow and adding, “So what’re you doing here with my brother?”
I laughed and shrugged before twirling my finger in a circle by my ear in a sign that I must be crazy.
He smiled and nodded. After tipping the cookie toward me, motioning his thanks, he turned and strolled off. I stared after him, enjoying the little pocket of warm in my chest that our encounter had wrought. I’d made my oldest stepbrother smile. And laugh. That was a first.
I was tempted to trail after him and find another chocolate chip cookie, maybe even steal one off someone’s plate, to make him smile at me again. But some woman dressed as a slutty Minnie Mouse paused him to ask some kind of question.
I shook my head as I focused on the mouse—because really, a slutty Minnie Mouse just seemed—Oh!
Mouse!
I’d forgotten all about Jacqueline.
I glanced toward the bar where Brick was grinning and chatting with a female bartender, and I decided if I was going to go on a rescue mission, now was as good a time as any.
There were exactly three stairwells in this building that led down to the basement: one toward the front of the building, one in the back, and one directly through a doorway in Lana’s outer office. The one closest to me was located in the front, near the elevators, but I didn’t want to take that route; I’d have to walk down a bunch of creepy dark passages before I reached my old workroom. So I decided to go through my usual entrance by Shyla’s desk.
No one seemed to notice when I slipped into the hall. I glanced behind me twice, then stealthily hurried toward Lana’s domain. I wasn’t sure if it was the mask making me feel brave or the fact I knew my stepmother wasn’t in the building, but this wild and abandoned fervor hit me like a rush as I reached her office and tried the doorknob. It was unlocked as usual. The lights were off, but I knew where the switch was by feel since I used to arrive nearly half an hour before either Shyla or Lana did every day. When I flipped them on, a strange ache burned through my chest.
I no longer worked here.
Even though Brick had saved me and hired me on to work for him on the third floor, I would never serve Lana tea or talk Shyla through one of her computer crises again. It hadn’t been the most glamorous job, but I missed it, anyway. Shaking my head to get over the doldrums, I hurried to the door that led down to my old workspace, flipping on lights, and ducking pipes as I went. Metal stairs creaked and swayed underfoot, but I navigated my journey without a problem.
On the bottom landing, I flipped up the switch that lightened the room within before I flung open the door, only to gasp and cover my mouth.
“No. Oh no.”
I could already see a little gray blob from where I stood stuck to the white glue trap on the floor at the base of the paper ream shelf.
“Jacqueline. Baby,” I whispered as I crept forward to mourn the loss of my little buddy who’d kept me company for months. “I’m so sorry. I—”
I yelped out a startled scream when the blob moved. “Oh, God. You’re still alive.” That was even worse.
The mouse didn’t get very far though, she was good and stuck. Stuck but alive.
I slid my hand down to my stomach, hating the fact she was suffering.
This just wouldn’t do. I had to fix it. I had to save her!
Glancing wildly around the room, I scanned for ideas until I noticed the frail ceramic teacup that had always housed Lana’s morning tea. Crinkling my brow, I stepped toward it only to find it still half full of the lint-infested tea that had essentially gotten me fired.
Blinking, I wondered why no one had tossed it and cleaned it and used it for her tea since I’d been gone. Did Shyla not serve her tea now? What did Lana drink all day long?
Then I shrugged, not caring how they got along without me, as I picked the cup up and tossed the old tea into the trash before turning determinedly toward my friend, only to shiver in disgust.
Just because I wanted to save her didn’t exactly mean I wanted to go touching a live mouse. I had no clue how to get her off the glue board and into Lana’s cup—and yeah, it did give me kind of a thrill to put a mouse in my stepmother’s teacup. Definitely.
“Okay, Jacqueline,” I murmured, drawing in a deep breath to bolster my resolve before kneeling before her. “Just bear with me here. I’m going to try to save you. Alright?”
I extended the cup her way, and she began to flail frantically on the glue board, trying to escape me. “It’s okay, it’s okay,” I chanted, my soft voice doing nothing to calm her.
I swallowed and then gagged at the mouse smell before I slammed the teacup down on top of her. The soft squeaking I heard from inside made me shiver and almost leap away, abandoning my mission. But I was determined to see this through. So I cringed as I began to scrape the rim of the cup along the board. It wanted to stick, but I gritted my teeth and kept on, coaxing it stubbornly, until, miraculously, by the time I hobbled over the part where Jacqueline had once been stuck, all I found left behind was some gray fur.
I’d successfully gotten her off the board. Whew. The tension in my shoulders eased until I wondered what the heck I should do with her now. She’d probably die if I left her down here alone without me feeding her anymore. Or maybe not. Maybe she’d thrive without me around. I wasn’t exactly an expert on mouse survival skills. But I didn’t want to risk just leaving her.
Remembering the courtyard in the center of the building, I brightened.
JFI was three stories tall and shaped like a big, squared U when looking down at it from above. The center part was cut out to make room for a garden-like courtyard, consisting of trees, bushes, flowers, a fountain, a statue and a footpath through the grass along with half a dozen concrete benches.
I could be dead wrong, but something in me thought Jacqueline would be happy living out there.
My mind made up, I found a square piece of cardboard and slid it under the cup to fully trap the mouse inside, then I lifted the entire mock-cage and shuddered once more when I heard her scurrying and squeaking inside.
I turned the lights off with my shoulder and hurried up the stairs, ready to be rid of my cargo. But once I reached the top and opened the door into Shyla’s area, I jerked to a stop when I noticed the door to Lana’s office was cracked open and a light was on inside.
That had not been on when I’d first snuck through. Scuffling movement from within told me someone was definitely in there.
Oh, hell. What was Lana doing here? I’d been so sure she wouldn’t be anywhere near Nash’s Halloween bash.
I froze, scared out of my mind, because seriously, what would my stepmother do if she caught me creeping through her outer office with her teacup… That contained a freaking mouse inside?
Holding my breath, I started to tiptoe toward the exit when I heard a very male voice mutter, “Dammit. Where the hell is it?”
Straightening, I stopped tiptoeing and frowned at the doorway. Okay, so that wasn’t Lana in there. Then who was it? Wondering who had broken into her office during the Halloween party, I changed course to see if I could peek inside and recognize the man lurking about.
The crack was probably four inches wide, but it left me with just enough room to see the side of Hayden’s face as he leaned over the drawers to this mother’s desk and rummaged, a scowl set in his determined features.
I didn’t mean to, but I gasped my shock, and he started to look up. I ducked out of sight just in time and then rushed toward the door on silent, Power Ranger-padded slippers before easing into the hall and diving toward shadows. I glanced back a second later to find Hayden ducking his head out and peering into the corridor. When he didn’t spot me in the dark, he shook his head and disappeared back into his mother’s office.
Blinking in curiosity, I waited another minute, worried he might reappear. Then I looked down at the overturned teacup on a slab of cardboard trapped between my hands, and I hurried toward the nearest entrance to the courtyard to complete my mission.
I had no idea what Hayden had been looking for in such a frenzy, or why he was doing it after hours in the dark behind his mother’s back, but I figured it was probably something between mother and son, and therefore none of my business.
Jacqueline, however, was my business: my friend, no matter how much the idea of holding her right now freaked me out. I was going to save her.
Relief swamped me when I reached the door to the courtyard without incident. I nudged the push bar with my hip to open it, and then kept myself jammed in the entrance as the light from the hall swept over grass and bushes. Kneeling in the open doorway, I set the piece of cardboard down and gently lifted the cup.
Jacqueline immediately darted out and ran off toward the darkest recesses of the garden. Sorrow filled my dry throat as she went.
Goodbye, little friend. Have a good life.
Hoping she lived out the rest of her days happy and hearty, I set the teacup down on top of the piece of cardboard, abandoning it there—one final way to stick it to Lana—and straightened to go.
Duty done, I brushed my yellow-gloved hands together, letting the door fall shut behind me as I started away, only to slow to a stop about ten feet from the exit. Uneasy because I’d left that stupid teacup in the courtyard, I gnawed on my bottom lip inside the mask and sighed. This didn’t feel right. I couldn’t leave the cup out there. I should at least return it to where I’d found it.
Curse my upbringing! Both my parents had taught me that kindness, honesty, and integrity came above all else. And leaving that cup in the courtyard? That would accomplish none of the above.
Grumbling to myself because I couldn’t leave well enough alone, I returned to the door and shoved it open.
Except I didn’t even have time to bend down for the cup when movement from deeper within the garden waylaid me, making me jump.
“Oh!” When the silhouette of a tall woman in a dress and funky horns growing up from her head appeared between a pair of bushes, I began to reverse through the doorway and back inside the building. “I-I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize anyone was out here. I’ll just… I’ll go.”
I started to turn away, prepared to leave her to her privacy, the doors already closing behind me, when I heard, “No, wait!” in a surprisingly deep, very non-female voice.
