Was he going to give her some kind of shocking news? Or was the “news” coming from another source?
Bracing herself, she checked out the front window before leaving her apartment. The Lindy look-alike wasn’t standing across the street. This time of morning, downtown Bozeman was fairly quiet. She breathed a sigh of relief and walked the few blocks to her job.
As she opened the door to the building, she hoped that she could slip in unnoticed. She was early for a change. Amanda would be expecting her to be late as usual. At least that was her hope.
Unfortunately as she started past the woman’s office, she heard Amanda call, “Charlie, may I have a word?”
Charlie plastered a tight smile on her face and stepped in.
“Please close the door.”
She did and waited.
“You worked awfully late last night.”
“I lost track of time. I have this design presentation coming up before Christmas. It’s much more quiet working at night and there aren’t any interruptions or distractions. It’s really my creative time. I always get more work done when no one is around.” She realized she was babbling and clamped her lips shut.
“I saw you leaving,” Amanda said. “I was surprised. I thought you’d at least say goodbye on your way out.”
“You were on the phone and I didn’t want to disturb you. I had a lot on my mind so I wasn’t...” she was going to say listening, but caught herself “...paying any attention. I didn’t realize you were working late, too.”
Amanda’s gaze narrowed and locked with hers. “So you weren’t eavesdropping on my conversation with Greg?”
Conversation with Greg, ha! Charlie tried to maintain eye contact, but couldn’t. Looking away, she said, “Like I said, I wasn’t paying any attention.”
When Amanda didn’t speak, Charlie sneaked a look at her. The woman’s expression was carved alabaster.
“Let’s cut the shit. You heard my side of the conversation.”
Charlie opened her mouth, but then closed it. Since there wasn’t much she could say, she said nothing and waited.
“You’re probably thinking about running to Greg with some wild story.” Before she could deny it—Charlie would never want to hurt her boss that way—Amanda continued, “Well, put that idea out of your simple little head. I will deny it all, tell him that you’re a liar. I’ll be shocked and tell him that you’re jealous of us. It’s the reason I’ve never liked you. Because I’ve also heard that you’ve said some awful things about me and him, but this... Well this is just too much. I don’t see how he’ll be able to keep you on with you having those kinds of feelings about us, especially since we’re about to become husband and wife.”
She stopped, narrowed her eyes and smiled. “You’re a smart girl. You get how this is going to go, right? I’m his fiancée. Who do you think he will believe?”
“I have no intention of telling Greg anything.”
Amanda seemed to wait as if expecting more. Maybe blackmail? The thought did have its appeal since Amanda had been riding her since she’d started work here.
“Is that all?” Charlie asked. “I have a lot of work to do.”
For a moment, the woman just stared at her as if it couldn’t be this easy, then she let out a hoarse chuckle. “Yes, I certainly wouldn’t want you to be late for work.” She waved a dismissive hand in the direction of the door, but her distrusting gaze was still boring into Charlie.
Before Charlie reached the door, Amanda added, “You don’t want to cross me. You’ll regret it. I promise you that.”
Charlie exited the office as fast as she could and almost collided with Greg in the process.
“Everything all right?” he asked, looking from her to Amanda and back again.
“Fine.” She realized she couldn’t look him in the eye. The poor guy. He had no idea what he was getting himself into. Someone should warn him about the woman he was about to marry, but Charlie wasn’t going to be the one. She told herself that Amanda would screw up sooner or later and Greg would wise up—hopefully before the wedding. “I’m fine.”
“Okay,” Greg said, sounding as if he didn’t believe her before he stepped into Amanda’s office, closing the door behind him.
Charlie glanced through the wall of glass and saw Amanda’s worried look before she turned her gaze on Greg and gave him a glowing smile before kissing him.
Not sticking around, Charlie hurried to her desk.
“That package was on your desk when I got here,” Tara said, eyes bright with excitement. “Is it from Daniel?”
Charlie took off her coat and scarf, put her purse in a drawer and sat down before she considered the package. It was small, not much more than the size of a summer beach read. As she picked it up, she realized how light it was. So not a book. She wanted to shake it, but restrained herself.
Was it from Daniel? There was no return address. No stamp or postmark. She supposed he could have had it delivered first thing this morning to surprise her. Her pulse leaped at the thought. He’d gotten her flowers after their first meeting and had them sent to work, along with a note asking her out. But nothing like that since—until maybe now.
She tried to tamp down her growing excitement. She didn’t want to be disappointed. It was probably a gift from one of her clients. They often bought her chocolates or wine or gave her a gift certificate to some restaurant that she’d said she enjoyed. This package didn’t seem to be any of those things though.
With the plain paper almost off, she was cutting into the tape on the box’s flap with a pair of scissors when she looked up to see Amanda standing nearby watching her. Charlie’s heart dropped. Was it something from the woman so she’d keep her mouth shut? A bribe?
As she unstuck the flap, Charlie was almost afraid to look inside. She glanced at Tara.
“Come on, you’re killing me over here,” her friend said. “Is it sexy underwear?”
She raised a brow and laughed. “You sound so wistful.”
“Because I barely remember sexy underwear. Open it!”
Charlie lifted the flap, but it was Tara who screamed.
CHAPTER THREE
“WHO WOULD SEND you something like that?” Greg demanded as she stood in his office, the package open on his desk. “I think we should call the police.”
“No,” Charlie said quickly. She would never have shown the contents to him, but Tara’s scream brought everyone running.
“She’s right,” Amanda said quickly from where she stood. “It’s probably just a prank.”