Live to Tell (Live to Tell #1)(82)

“And the reason I haven’t heard from you in two days is because you haven’t found it yet.”

“Right.”

He slams his elbow down onto his desk and plunks his forehead into his hand, kneading his temples. It’s late, and he’s exhausted. Coming home from a charity benefit a half hour ago, he’d been tempted to go down the hall to his bedroom and climb into bed beside Marin.

Instead, he forced himself to settle into his home office to go over some paperwork—and it’s a good thing. This is one phone call he needs to be wide-awake to handle.

“I thought you said you knew where it was,” he says succinctly into the phone.

“I thought I did. I mean, I think I do. I just need a little more time to pinpoint it. You’d be proud of me, Garvey. I’ve managed to work myself right in like a chameleon. They have no idea that I don’t belong there. Sooner or later, I’m going to get close enough to—”

“Sooner or later?” Garvey cuts in. “There is no later—there’s only too late. And sooner can’t come soon enough. Stop playing charades, do you hear me? I need that file and I need it now.”

“Now? But—”

“You have until tomorrow. That’s it. Twenty-four hours, and then…”

There’s a long moment of silence on the other end of the line.

Then Garvey hears a heavy sigh, followed by a resigned “Okay.”

With a crisp nod to himself, he hangs up.

“Damn, damn, damn,” he whispers, pounding his hand softly on the polished mahogany desktop with each utterance.

He should have known better.

He did know better.

The only way to get something done right is to do it yourself. Don’t you ever forget that, Garvey.

Why, why hadn’t he listened to his grandmother? To his own conscience?

Because you were afraid. Admit it. You were afraid that if you got involved directly, you’d get caught. You thought it was much safer to keep your distance, to rely on someone else to do the dirty work…just like before. With Jeremy.

That turned out fine.

This will, too.

It has to.



Sitting on her bed, Lauren holds the cell phone with Nick’s text message in one hand and the cordless phone to her ear with her other.

On the other end of the line, her sister says, “I think he’s up to something, texting you out of the blue after pulling a disappearing act like that—and right after you leave a message for his girlfriend.”

“What could he possibly be up to?”

“He obviously has something big to tell you. Something so serious that he blew off work—not to mention the kids—just to do some soul-searching about it.”

“Right. Something that warrants a face-to-face meeting—at his place, no less.”

“So are you going?”

“No way.”

“I think that’s a mistake, Laur.”

“Why? He’s probably going to tell me he’s getting married again. I don’t need to hear that in person. He can send me a lovely announcement in the mail. Who knows, maybe I’ll even be invited to the wedding.” She tries to come off as glib, but she’s feeling far from it.

“I doubt it’s going to be that,” Alyssa tells her. “Maybe it’s something serious about his job or his health or something.”

“Well, unless they fired him for not showing up on Monday, his job is fine. You’re not thinking he’s dying of cancer or something, are you?”

“His father did.”

“I know.” Lauren exhales through puffed cheeks. The thought of her children losing their father is sobering. Then again, they already did their share of mourning when he moved out. Nothing is the same. And for as much as they’ve seen him lately, their day-to-day lives wouldn’t be drastically different if something were to happen to Nick.

Still…

“I honestly hope he’s not sick,” she tells Alyssa.

“I really doubt it. I bet I know what it is.”

“What?”

“Bet you anything he wants to come home again.”

Lauren is silent for a minute. Then she forces a laugh. “That’s about as appealing as cancer.”

“Seriously?”

“I don’t want him back, Alyssa. And I doubt he wants me back, so…”

“I think you’re wrong.”

“Really?”

“He wants you back, Lauren. Trust me.”

It figures.

Just when she’s gotten used to being on her own…

Just when she’s met someone she might actually want to date…

Nick barges back into her life, demanding her attention.

“What if he tells her he made a mistake when he left?” Alyssa asks.

“He won’t. Are you kidding?”

“So what are you going to do?”

“Ignore him,” Lauren informs her sister.

They chat for a few more minutes. Then Alyssa tells her, “I’ve got to get going. Ben just got out of the shower and we were going to watch CSI.”

“That’s on?”

“DVD. I got him a box set for our anniversary. We’ve been working our way through it all summer. I’ll call you tomorrow.”