Lost and Found by Bernadette Marie Read Free Book Online Page A

decided the last thing he needed was
to worry about Darcy. Starting now, he needed to put up a wall that
divided his feelings. There was no place in business for
feelings.
    His cell phone chimed, and he looked
at his text message. It was from Valerie.
    I’ll meet you at Steve’s
in 20. TY for the invite.
    At least he hadn’t lied—not
completely.
     
    Darcy pulled her
prepackaged meal out of the microwave and set it on the counter.
She could hear the opening credits to You’ve Got Mail on the television,
and she hurried to pour herself a drink.
    She’d been looking forward to having
dinner with Ed, but now that he was “working late,” she’d lose
herself in her favorite movie and a manufactured meal. After all,
Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan could fix anyone’s bland mood.
    Darcy had seen the movie so many times
that she could quote every line. The movie had been one of her
mother’s favorites. When she was undergoing chemotherapy, they’d
watched it all the time.
    The purpose of the movie was to get
her mind off her boss. She’d had that nasty ping of jealousy creep
into her when he’d mentioned Valerie. There was no reason to worry
about him with another woman. This man was her boss. He was much
older than she was. Again, this man was her boss.
    But the moment Greg Kinnear mentioned
sushi in the movie, Darcy set her food down and kicked her feet up
onto the coffee table. Why did she care that he’d thrown out his
sushi and was hungry today? She’d wanted to get him a meal—and then
he’d asked her to join him for one.
    She was much too comfortable with him
already. That was supposed to be good for a working relationship,
but at the same time, he crossed her mind a bit too
much.
    Midway through her movie, just as Meg
Ryan’s character was dissing Tom Hanks’s character in a news
interview, there was a knock on the door.
    Darcy’s mind went straight to Ed.
Maybe he’d come by to discuss something. Well, that would be
silly—but maybe.
    When she opened the door, she smiled
wide. The face was close, but this one belonged to
Christian.
    “ I need a
favor.”
    She laughed, looking him over. He was
covered from head to toe in mud, and he carried a grocery bag full
of clothes. “I can’t wait to hear it.”
    “ I need to borrow your
shower.”
    “ I thought you were going
to start wearing clothes around me.”
    “ Yeah.” He looked down at
himself. “Charity game for a school. Sprinklers. It was a
mess.”
    “ And why are you wanting to
shower down here?”
    “ My shower head broke. John
will fix it tomorrow, but I need a shower now.”
    Darcy stepped back and swept her arm
through the air as if to say “you know the way.”
    A few moments later, she heard the
shower start. She picked up her half-eaten dinner and threw it in
the trash. She opened two beers, which John had put in her
refrigerator when he’d delivered the furniture. She set one beer on
the table and took a sip from the other just as there was another
knock on the door.
    Again, she wondered how she had so
many visitors when she didn’t know anyone in this town.
    She’d thought Christian standing at
the door covered in mud was shocking enough, but seeing Ed standing
on her doorstep, a bag from Steve’s BBQ Pit and Beer in his hands,
definitely took her by surprise.
    “ I thought you might be
hungry. I promised you dinner.” He held the bag up.
    “ You really didn’t have to
do that. But I am hungry. The microwave dinner I made didn’t cut
it.” She stepped back. “Come in.”
    Ed walked through the door, and the
smoky smell from the restaurant lingered on him.
    “ I assume you ate then?”
she said, taking the bag and walking to the kitchen.
    “ Yeah, well, sort of.
Valerie was a bit preoccupied for conversation. So she scarfed her
dinner and ditched me. But we got the delay figured
out.”
    “ Well, that’s good. Can I
offer you a beer?”
    “ I’d like that.”
    Darcy walked to the kitchen, pulled a
beer out of the