by Cross, Daryn
He nodded. “Sounds like a plan to me. Time for Operation Smush the Worm.”
Crandall threw back her head and laughed. “Grind him to bits is more like it.”
****
Crandall opened the door to her suite and smiled at Jenny. “Can you come in my office for a minute? I need to go over some stuff.”
Nodding, Jenny got up and followed her in. Once the door was shut and they were seated in chairs on the front side of Crandall’s desk, Crandall folded her hands together and looked Jenny in the eye. “I want to have a candid conversation.”
Jenny’s eyes widened. “I figured something was up when you sat over here instead of behind the desk.”
Crandall frowned. “Perhaps I should do that more anyway. Jenny I just have to come out with it. I know you’ve been seeing Xavier Washington and I’m fairly certain you have provided him with company information even if you didn’t intend to injure us in any way.”
Jenny’s eyes darted, no longer staring directly at her. “I…never meant to do anything that would in any way injure your financial status.”
Crandall nodded. “I know, dear. Love can be a cruel thing, especially when you’re with a person who doesn’t know what love is. All he knows how to do is hurt and injure and take advantage of people.”
Tears welled in Jenny’s eyes. “All I wanted to have was companionship. Then he enticed me with the thought of wealth and social stature and people looking at me as more than an assistant, as a prominent woman, someone people would listen to.” She leaned forward and grabbed a tissue from the box on the side of Crandall’s desk, blotting at her eyes. “But it was all a lie. I knew when he stopped calling and Smith kept disappearing on ‘projects,’ as he called them.”
She paused and blew her nose. “Then Smith turned in some receipts for a trip to Charlotte to be paid, signing them himself and saying they were for a review of Graham’s Scrumbles company.” She finally glanced back at Crandall. “I knew you’d already vetted the company. He didn’t have approval to do it. In fact, I doubted he’d been there for that purpose. Then I happened to overhear him on the phone. He said he’d left the photos at Mr. Graham’s house. Even laughed when he mentioned you had seen them.”
She wound the tissue in a ball in her hand. “I knew you came back very upset and decided that was why. I knew he was working with Washington, all right, but thought he just sold off your stocks. It didn’t really occur to me what happened to them afterwards. But, to break up your relationship with Zack Graham…”
“I don’t have a relationship…” Crandall stopped in mid-sentence as she saw Jenny shaking her head. “I guess I do, but don’t spread it around, okay? Not yet anyway.”
Jenny shrugged. “I knew there was nothing I could do but leave here because I’d let you down. I didn’t know how to tell you.”
“I know.” Crandall took a deep breath, then exhaled. “It’s time to make Xavier squirm for a change. Just pay him a visit and turn on the charm. I’m not saying you have to actually have to do anything sexual, but I need you to find some evidence. Information he’s infiltrated my company and proof he used insider information to manipulate stocks. Do you think you can find the information?”
She chuckled. “I think so. He just fired his last assistant. I’m sure a candid conversation with her will get me the information I need. Then, I’ll make some copies. But first, I’ll dictate this information in case he catches me. I want to leave a trail.”
Crandall got up and gave Jenny a kiss on the cheek. “You might just prove you need a promotion after all. Prove to me I can trust you this time. Everyone deserves a second chance.”
****
“Well, Thomas, the stage is set. It’s Magic!”
Tom sat down next to his boss back in the bar on South Padre Island. “This assignment has been a bit outrageous.”
“But you did a superb job.” Magic slapped him on the back. “You have a knack once dressed in that black suit and dark glasses.”
Tom shrugged and grinned. “Who’d have thought people could be so trusting of somebody dressed like that? A few years ago, it would have struck horror in most folks.”
Magic nodded. “A sorry editorial on the state of American culture. People now take for granted that government will intervene in most any situation to keep them safe from terrorists. I will have to do something about that eventually. For now, it worked like a charm with our couple. It’s almost over. How does it feel?”
Tom shook his head as he took a sip of cola. “I’m not sure. Is Washington going to just give in?”
Magic chuckled as he swirled his ice in his iced tea. “He has to if he’s taken into custody. As for Mrs. Tolbert, well, one never knows what will happen to her. Except for me, of course. I think Zack and Crandall will take care of it.”
Tom looked up, wanting to know the facts, and realizing his chances of finding out were slim to none. “Do you think they will? If so, can’t you just give me a hint?”
Magic grinned and touched his finger to his temple.
Letting out an exasperated sigh, Tom propped up on his elbow. “It was bad enough when I had to wait until Christmas morning for presents, but to be working with the guy…”
Magic let out a huge ho-ho-ho. “So you believe I’m Santa?”
Tom put down his glass. “Aren’t you?”
Winking, Magic’s eyes narrowed. “Let’s just say I think you’re prepared for your next assignment, but not until we finish back on the island.” He held up his glass for a toast. “Here’s to people who don’t think they can, couples fighting all odds even though they doubt they can win and lovers who accept their true fate when they discover what they thought was impossible isn’t.”
Tom stared at him, a sudden jolt of alarm shocking him. “Why do I think you’re not talking about Zack and Crandall?”
“Just toast, my boy. Too many questions.”
****
“A toast to the downfall of Pretzelicious!” Xavier grinned as he touched his flute to Laura’s glass and then toasted Smith York. “We did it folks. Tomorrow at this time, we’ll be sitting pretty. All the palms are greased, Grant Tolbert is in place, and the plans for a take-over are ready to pass out. Plus, we have bought their stocks low. Now to sell and make a huge profit.”
They all laughed and simultaneously took a sip.
“Sir.”
Xavier felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to one of the men sitting behind him. The gentleman stood and pulled an ID from his pocket. “I’m with the Defense Department. Thank you all for confessing right here and now and making the rest of our work so easy.”
“I beg your pardon,” Laura said as she put down her glass. “I did not have anything to do with anything.”
“I didn’t hear an objection to what he said,” the man told her.
“It doesn’t matter,” his partner said, also standing. “We have the paperwork already. I suggest you three come with us. You don’t have to, of course, but more than likely your attorneys would highly suggest you cooperate.”
Xavier stood. “I’ll be glad to show you where you’re wrong.” He adjusted his lapels. “Obviously you’ve been supplied with fraudulent information.”
The first man nodded. “I suppose now we just have to discover who perpetrated the fraud.”
As the three of them walked out with the two suits, Xavier saw Jenny sitting at a side table, a glass of wine held high in her hand.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“Welcome to my home, you two!” Brooks slapped Zack on the back and bent over to give Crandall a kiss on the cheek. “I hope you don’t mind if my date joins us.”
As they walked into his formal parlor, Miriam Graham stood there in a silver gray cocktail dress.
“Mother?” Zack blinked.
She giggled like a small girl. “Gerry insisted I come up. Meredyth didn’t mind staying with her girlfriend. It will only be for a few days.”
“I assume you think this is going to be a co
rdial affair?” Crandall smiled at Miriam.
Zack’s mother nodded. “I know it is. I saw how the two of you entered the house. I’ve never seen my son hold anyone like that. I’d say y’all must have had a very pleasant time earlier.”
Crandall’s cheeks burned. It was like both these people knew everything they’d done, even the hide and seek strawberry part. “We, um, did spend a little time together.”
Brooks chuckled. “Don’t we all? Why don’t we sit and talk a few minutes?”
Once everyone was seated, Crandall stared at Brooks and Miriam, sitting together on a small settee. “Before we begin, I have an announcement for you two young’un’s. Miriam and I, well, we don’t expect a lot of fru-fru and pomp and circumstance at our age. So, we chose to do it quietly.”
“Do what?” Zack blinked again.
Crandall chuckled. “I think they got married.”
Miriam’s cheeks got pink. “This afternoon at the Justice of the Peace.”
“You’re kidding?” Zack laughed nervously.
“Congratulations.” Crandall smiled, sincerely happy for them both.
“What about you two?” Miriam asked. “Are you engaged?”
Crandall’s gut twisted. She’d expected him to ask her earlier, but he hadn’t. “Well…”
“Mother, just hush for now, okay?”
Miriam’s eyes narrowed. “I see.”
“Leave the children alone.” Brooks cleared his throat. “On another subject, before we go drink some champagne, you two tied on my challenges. We have to announce a winner at the island. How do you suggest we break the tie for the snack of the year?”
“I suggest you use two,” Zack said.
“But, son, it has to be one.” Brooks’ eyebrows rose.
Zack squirmed in his chair. “Not if the two companies are one. Think of it as the merging of two snacks.”
“Zack we haven’t talked about…” Crandall stared as he got up and bent down on one knee in front of her. He fumbled in his inside jacket pocket and pulled out a box. Opening it up in front of her, he grinned like a kid. “Will you marry me? I love you, not a merger.”
Crandall shook all over; her palms were even wet. She stared at the ring, a trilliant cut diamond enclosed in small round bezel-cut blue diamonds. “Oh my word, it’s like reaching the pinnacle.” She glanced up into Zack’s eyes and saw nothing but love there. “Oh, yes. I’ll marry you.” She leaned down and cupped his chin in her hands, kissing him tenderly.
“Hot damn, I feel like I closed the best deal in my life.”
Crandall grinned. “It’s the other way around, you shit.”
Brooks was clapping behind them. “Great timing, my boy. Two snacks it is. Boy, is the public going to love this ending. But for now, let’s have champagne.”
****
Crandall stood on the shore, her feet barely in the surf with her head up against Zack’s shoulder. “Today was perfect.”
“Do you regret not having a formal wedding?” He kissed the nape of her neck.
“Not at all.” She smirked. “The minute Gerald Brooks mentioned what your mother and he had done, I thought, wow that makes so much sense. I’m not one to put my private self on stage.”
“Well, we are having a honeymoon.” He grabbed her around her waist. “This is the perfect place to spend a week, basking in our success and claiming our future.”
“You’re right.” She sighed. “I’m so happy Meredyth was excited about coming to Charlotte with us.”
“She warmed up to you the first time she met you.” He nuzzled her neck. “I understand why. So did I.”
“I remember, including all the clothes strewn on the floor.”
“Just practice for tonight.”
“You!”
He laughed into her hair. “I don’t hear you complaining.”
She turned in his arms. “I’m not. I’ll never complain about our passion or our love.” She kissed him and once again, as always the electricity flowed like a live wire igniting down her limbs.
The glint on the foam of the surf drew her attention. “What’s that shiny thing over there in the sun?”
He turned and approached it. Bending down, Zack picked up a small item and brought it back to where she stood. “It’s a ceramic box.”
She stared down at it. “It has a painted bow on top.”
He nodded.
“Well open it, silly.”
“Do you think it’s safe?”
She cocked her head sideways. “I don’t think anyone’s trying to kill us right now. Xavier’s in prison.”
Slowly, he pulled the top back and retrieved a small piece of paper. “It says, ‘To Zack and Crandall. True love comes when two souls are ready to give in to it. It’s Magic!’”
“That, that’s from the guy…”
He nodded. “In the paper on New Year’s.”
“But how?”
He smiled. “Who cares. I love you, and he’s right.”
She placed her hands around the back of his neck. “Oh, I love you too. The guy’s words couldn’t be any truer if I’d written them.”
He kissed the side of her neck. “How about seeing how fast we can lose our clothes?”
She shook her head. “Let’s do it slow this time. We’ll get there. It’s magic!
THE END
Daryn Cross
A native Virginian, Daryn Cross is a multi-published author who writes romantic fantasy and sci-fi. She is a voracious reader of anything from novels to tabloids in the grocery line; a collector and depository of strange and unusual trivia and observed behavioral idiosyncrasies of strangers, and a connoisseur of rich dark chocolate, fine roasted coffee and smooth red wine.
Visit her web page at www.daryncross.com
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