This Magic Moment (Just a Little Magic Series)

by Cross, Daryn

  “Don’t open the door,” she said, still in a whisper. “He can’t break in.”

  He grunted, feeling the caveman in him emerge. He wasn’t about to let this night go without a struggle. “No man’s going to make me cower down, ever. I can’t believe you’re letting him do this to you. If the guy has an insane and incorrect impression, he’s leaving. Now, stay under the covers.” Zack grabbed a robe and tossed it over his shoulders. Damn, all of a sudden this thing is tight. Hardly fits around me.

  He walked to the door and threw it open. Flashbulbs went off, blinding him. Startled, he stared down into the eyes of one scruffy black-haired man standing in front of at least a dozen paparazzi.

  Chapter Eight

  Tom Kreger trudged another hundred feet up the steep mountain path before cresting the top of the hill. He couldn’t miss Magic, dressed in hiking boots and khaki cargo shorts, rocking in a porch swing at the front of a small log cabin, a glass of iced tea in his hand. “‘Bout time you got here, son. Expected you along for the hike, would have done your body good. What took you so long?”

  Holding his sides, Tom struggled to catch his breath. “My lungs. My lungs kept me.” He took another deep breath, coughing. “Legs aren’t doing too well either.”

  Magic shook his head. “Exercise, Thomas. Use it or lose it.”

  “Yeah.” Tom chuckled and then took another deep breath. “I’ve already lost some things. Don’t want my lungs to be one of those to go.”

  “You’re too young to lose any of it.” Magic cackled. “Gotta get every body part active, son. I swear, boy, you’re the one in need of a woman. Even more so than Zack. I may have to move you up my list.”

  “Look, Magic, I really appreciate your interest, but let’s just keep it to my doing the interventions, okay? One woman was enough.”

  The old man’s eyes twinkled and his dimple deepened. “Whatever you say, won’t bother you about it now.”

  “One thing I do want to mention, though. When I saw we ended up back on your island, which is kind of like Fantasy Island if you don’t mind my saying so, including all the little people, I assumed Zack and Crandall were staying there for a while before going to the different event sites, not going home in the interim.”

  Magic laughed. “I like the Fantasy Island comparison, so will my employees. As for your assumption, you are to carry out the assignments. Magic, that’s me, is the one who knows why and how things will transpire. Otherwise, things could go awry.”

  Tom rolled his eyes. “In others words, don’t think for myself.”

  Magic leaned back and looked heavenward, twiddling his thumbs. “Yes, I believe that sums it up. Now, as for Zack and Crandall, seems you did a bang up job for me first time out with this new couple.”

  Tom sat down on the top step of the porch, still breathing heavily. “Wish you’d tell that to Gretta. She wasn’t very happy when Crandall boomeranged back into her life after two days. Mike wasn’t overjoyed having to face Zack again either.”

  Magic took a sip from his glass. “The end result will be worth it. It had to be that way, as more forces are at work than meets the eye. But all will become clear. Gotta give you one thing, son, the way you’ve been pushing them together, there should be no doubt of the ending here.” He snickered. “Not that there ever was.” He unfolded a tabloid and threw it down on the porch next to Tom. “I’m assuming you saw this? Couldn’t have been better if I’d planned it, which, by the way, I did.”

  Laughing, Tom picked it up and glanced at the huge photo of Zack in a woman’s lace-trimmed robe as he stood at the door of the motel room. The caption read, Who’s Been Sleeping in Her Bed? The sub caption stated, Scrumbles Exec entices Prezelicious CEO with his own brand of treats. “I heard it mentioned on the radio this morning but I hadn’t actually seen it. The fact his jewels are bulging upwards front and center adds a lot, don’t you think?”

  “However horrified our two lovers are currently, the truth is they’ve made amazing strides toward falling in love even if they don’t know it yet.” Magic rubbed his hands together. “In one more week, they’ll be in Oklahoma and boy will that ramp up the action. Nothing like big sky country, no electricity and the night air to stir up the hormones. You know what you’re supposed to do, right?”

  Tom nodded.

  Magic leaned back with a grin. “Then git along little doggies.”

  ****

  “Way to go, Zack,” Mike slapped him on the back. “That photo op had sex appeal written all over it.”

  “It didn’t do much for my sex life,” Zack said, raking his hand nervously through his hair. “All those people made me more nervous than a whore in church. Come to think of it, I kind of looked more like someone in drag. Guess it serves me right. Stupid me. All for…”

  “A good lay,” Mike said with a wink.

  He nodded. “I know she would have been good. What bothers me is she touched me deeper than just my aimlessly getting off with a good piece of ass. I’ve never felt that way, even when I was married.”

  He took a deep breath. “Thinking about what could go wrong kind of kills the sex thing. But with Crandall, it seemed like those thoughts never crossed my mind. I just kept concentrating on wanting to call her Carly and how innocent she must have been as a young girl. What it would be like if she had a daughter who looked exactly like she did?” He glanced up at Mike. “Man, I’ve never progressed down that rosy red path of dreams before, but then those snarling camera monsters showed up at three in the morning and ruined whatever would have happened. It’s probably a good thing.”

  Mike’s eyes widened. “Maybe, maybe not.”

  “Moot point really.” Zack shook his head. “I still don’t know the real story on that greasy little guy who started the whole thing. Crandall had him and all those reporters hauled into the police station. As for me, I just hauled ass, right back to the airport on an early morning flight home.”

  Mike whistled through his teeth. “Nothing like being a knight in shining armor. You let the damsel in distress fight the dragons while you ran away. Minus the lace robe, that is.”

  “You know how I am about crowds, especially when all eyes are on me. And being in her robe with an erection, no less, that’s such a preposterous image, I’d have never believed I’d get caught in such a spot. Besides, the grease ball was her old boyfriend, not mine, and, I don’t want my name plastered all over the press. I can’t stand too many people recognizing me. That’s the reason I don’t appear in our ads or any of our literature. And lately I have yet another reason for staying incognito.”

  “Yeah, I know.” Mike sat down next to him in a folding chair. “I don’t guess you told Crandall about Meredyth.”

  Zack shook his head. “Of course not. Hardly anyone knows about that, and it better stay that way. I just met Crandall and I’m competing against her. Why on earth would I divulge anything about myself, especially that, and especially to her?”

  “I don’t suppose I should point out that you’d bared your body in bed for her. I’d say that was getting pretty up close and personal. Sure wasn’t like any business meeting I’ve ever had.”

  Zack stood. “Enough. Sexual attraction and psychological exposure are two different things. You know what to do. Damage control. If any press starts snooping anywhere near little Meredyth, I’ll strangle you.”

  “Right boss, I’m on it.” Mike stood and clamped a hand on Zack’s shoulder. “I’m always there for you, you know. If the pressure gets too bad you can always…”

  “Okay.” Zack turned his head, afraid to speak and even more frightened of letting Mike see his tearing eyes. “Right now I just want to make sure my daughter’s okay.”

  ****

  “I’ve got to hand it to you, Crandall. You have a way of stripping away all the layers from your competition.” Gretta burst out laughing again for the third time.

  Crandall took two more extra-strength Acetaminophen and chugged them with her coffee. “This whole situation
isn’t funny. That worm, Xavier Washington, staged the whole thing so he had a platform to scream foul. Big company lending a hand to smaller struggling pretzel company and suddenly finds out the company is making forays into another partnership.”

  “He did make it sound sleazy.”

  “You bet your booty. Actually that’s what he portrayed me to do. Not only did I, his supposed former love of his life betray him many years ago, but I turned into a hussy who hoped to strike two deals at one time. Get laid and a multi-million dollar deal.”

  Gretta crossed her arms and stared at the television blaring in the background. “Is it okay if I turn that off?”

  “Huh. Oh sure. I didn’t even hear it. Sorry.”

  Gretta pushed the remote and sank onto the side arm of a chair. “It runs twenty-four/seven here. I’m surprised you don’t have one in your office.”

  “People, lots of people,” she murmured. “If I’m there late I play the radio.”

  “I guess we’re all entitled to our quirks.” Gretta sighed. “Look, back to that worm. I didn’t know it was this bad. I’d always assumed it was just normal corporate politics. If I had known about the lawsuit, I could have dug up some dirt, and uncovered his secret flaw, but you hadn’t breathed a word about this little wrinkle.”

  Crandall slammed her hand down on the desk. “Damn it. I know. It’s just that I found out about the lawsuit a couple of hours before I had to board the plane. As for the former love of his life part, I haven’t seen Xavier Washington since he tried to rape me at the school dance.”

  Gretta gasped. “Rape is a pretty strong word.”

  “Okay, I over-exaggerated for emphasis regarding what a scum he really is. Might as well have been attempted rape, except it was so pathetic.” Crandall smirked. “He cornered me in the girl’s bathroom and whipped it out of his pants. He’d just grabbed me and stuck his hand under my dress when the door to the bathroom opened, and he turned, red-faced, claiming he’d come in there by accident. In the process he caught his zinger in the zipper and ended up in the ER.”

  Gretta collapsed over into the chair in hysterics. “You didn’t press charges, I’m guessing.”

  “What was the use? Besides, I doubt he’d have had the strength to overpower me in the end, anyway. Now it looks like he’s trying to get revenge and the money too.”

  “Why wait for what has to have been ten years?”

  “Eleven, but who’s counting?” Crandall sighed. “According to Quinn, the papers say the formula was found tucked back in some old letters his mother left for him and, as a result, he now believes she was denied half the rights by Dad. He says there’s no other reason why she’d have the formula unless she’d kept it, knowing she didn’t get the rights but being too valiant and still loving Dad enough she wouldn’t betray him even to the grave.”

  She jumped out of her chair, a case of the jitters making her spastic. “Shit, he’d have betrayed his own mother if she’d stood in the way of something he wanted. What worries me the most is whether it’s the authentic formula or not. I know for a fact Roberta helped dad in the bakery until Mom came into the picture. By then the coating had already been invented.” She stared at Gretta, her heart beating furiously in her chest. “What if it’s true?”

  “Look,” Gretta said standing and hugging Crandall. “I don’t think for one minute your father would have denied someone he’d cared about her actual rights. Secondly, you were the one who built this company from the moderate place where your dad left it, and that coating is only a small part of what goes into our product. The fact things haven’t done well for awhile doesn’t mean your work has gone down the drain. Whatever the case, Xavier Washington should never get a controlling interest. I’ll work on seeing what he’s up to and if there’s any validity to his claim. You stay focused on the competition and AVC.”

  Crandall took a deep breath. “That worries me too. Zack Graham is proving to be an even bigger diversion than I first expected. One I have to avoid at all costs in order to make it to the finish line.” She beat her fist in her other palm. “And I will cross it in first place.”

  ****

  “Hi, Mom. Sorry I didn’t call to let you know I was coming.”

  She looked up at Zack with a smile and a weary cock of her head. “Do you ever? Here to see Meredyth? Too late. She went on a sleepover with her friend, Lisa.”

  “Oh.” He sank onto the sofa. “I just wanted to make sure she’s okay.”

  “She’s fine, Zack. Except…” She paused and looked down into her lap.

  “Except what?”

  “Except she rarely sees her father. Tonight is just another example. You breeze

  in here like she should be waiting for your cameo appearance.”

  He rubbed his neck and looked down, wincing, as her words slapped him in the face

  with a cold hard dose of reality. To his stepmother, and daughter, he was nothing but an egocentric male with no heart. He doubted there was any way he could prove otherwise. “Mom, I’d like to be with her all the time, but she’s better off here in Briny Bay than with a workaholic father in Charlotte. I wouldn’t have anyone at the apartment to take care of her, and even if I did, I’d be worried sick all the time I could trust them.”

  He looked up and saw her eyes narrow. Her seething look of anger spit at him, leaving no doubt he’d just confirmed her beliefs. “Look, I rarely get home before ten.”

  She closed her eyes and shook her head before glaring up at him. “The choice is yours, Zack. A company or your own flesh and blood. Face it, you’re most afraid of being with her and making up for seven lost years of showing her she’s loved. You’ve never learned how to show it.”

  He exhaled sharply, unable to meet her eyes and their sanction. “Yeah, well, maybe I never learned that part from Dad.” He strode toward the door.

  “Where are you going?” she asked, her voice raising an octave.

  “Back to Charlotte. Might as well.”

  His stepmother stood and raced toward him. “Darling, I’m sorry I hit you with all that the minute you walked in the door. It’s just you always…”

  “Screw up.” He nodded. “Yeah, I know. That’s me, just like when I was a teenager.”

  “Let me get you a slice of pie and a cup of coffee and you can spend the night and get up early.”

  He shook his head. “No, Mom, I can get back to Charlotte in three and a half hours this time of night. It’ll give me a chance to think.”

  He turned and opened the front door, all the while zoning out her continued arguing, until he closed the door behind him.

  Chapter Nine

  Tom cursed as he looked at the tent. Who’d have thought he’d be camping out again like he had last year? Well, at least it wasn’t on top of a mountain, and he was next to a nice lake. He rolled down the sleeves on his cotton shirt as the wind picked up. Good thing he brought some repellent. Tom smiled, thinking of all the gear he’d thought to bring second time around. Digital TV with satellite coverage and eight-hour battery, camp stove and folding chairs, even a propane operated space heater. He laughed as he thought of his mission. Better than an old Three Stooges movie.

  ****

  Zack’s first impression of Happy, Oklahoma was sad. Flat and dusty. And generally unpopulated, except for varmints. He’d already spotted one armadillo, a pair of coyotes and a plethora of roadrunners on his way into town on the deserted state highway. At least, for February, it was a warm day. He didn’t even need a jacket right now. Driving the small rental car at seventy plus, he laughed as he passed the sign welcoming him to Happy. A big yellow smiley face with a waving hand. Probably could’ve put “You are now entering and leaving Happy, OK” on the same sign.

  As he drove down the main street in the town, he saw the banner stretched across the street welcoming the “Sweetheart Tour.” He winced. He knew he and Crandall would be surrounded by curious folks wondering about their “romance.” Better be two motel rooms this time. He drove up to
one of the touring buses already there and parked next to the banner.

  He got out and knocked on the door of the bus. The door folded back, and Brooks stood on the landing, smiling down at him. “There you are. I knew you’d make it. Come join the party. Crandall’s already onboard.”

  With a twinge of apprehension regarding seeing her for the first time since they’d been in each other’s arms, Zack climbed on. As he took the last stair, he saw the table was full of finger food and Crandall sat at the back with a scowl on her face. “Is something wrong?” he asked Brooks.

  “Oh, no, no, of course not.” He broke out in another over-exaggerated smile, all white teeth and lying tongue. “She’s just a bit out of sorts there’s no motel here.”

  Zack turned and gaped at his host. “No motel? But there’s a B&B, right?”

  The guy cackled. “Nope, nope, ‘fraid not. Things are a bit skimpy round these parts. But, you’ll be glad to know there’s a lake just out of town, some Indian name. Campground’s right on it.”

  “Campground?” At his rising voice and alarmed tone, Crandall’s head shot up. Zack grabbed Brooks around the shoulders and jerked him away from her view. “You mean to say,” he said, trying with great difficulty to keep his voice low and calm, “that we have to camp out?”

  Brooks nodded. “Yep, yep. That’s pretty much the situation.”

  “But they do have campers, you know, small vehicles we can rent?”

  “Nope, nope, ‘fraid not.”

  “I haven’t camped out since I was ten.”

  Brooks cleared his throat. “Yep, pretty much what Crandall said, but…”

  “I was eight,” Crandall said.

  He jumped as he heard her voice right behind him. “Sorry, I didn’t know you were there.”

  Brooks wrenched himself from Zack’s iron grip and slapped Zack on the back. “Look, you don’t have to stay in tents. You two can stay in the party house up there. We rented it for you when I found out about the motel.”