Part 34 (1/2)
How could she, when she and Ry were spending every free moment together? Every evening they settled into her apartment, ordered dinner-which more often than not had to be reheated after they'd feasted on each other.
She didn't think of work from the time he arrived on her doorstep until she rushed into her office the next morning.
She didn't think of anything but him.
Besotted was what she was, Natalie admitted as she stared out her office window. Fascinated by the man, and by what happened every time they got within arm's reach of each other.
It was crazy, of course. She knew it. But it was so wonderful at the moment, it didn't seem to matter.
And she could justify it, since she hadn't yet missed any meetings or business deadlines. Now that Ry had given her the go-ahead, she'd authorized the cleanup and redecorating at the flags.h.i.+p store.
The stock there was nearly all in place, and the window-dressing was complete.
It was only a matter of days before the grand opening, nationwide, and there'd been no more incidents. That was how she liked to think of the fires now. As incidents.
She should, of course, be making plans to visit all the branches within the next ten days. But the thought of traveling just then seemed so annoying, so depressing. So lonely.
She could delegate Melvin or Donald to make the tour. It wouldn't even be outside of proper business procedure to do so. But it wasn't her style to delegate what should be done by her.
Maybe, if things got settled somehow, Ry could get a few days off, go with her. It would be wonderful to have company-his company-on a quick business trip. She could put it off until after the grand opening, instead of before, and then-Turning away from the window, she answered the buzzer on her desk. ”Yes, Maureen.”
”Ms. Marks to see you, Ms. Fletcher.”
”Thanks. Send her in.” With an effort, Natalie s.h.i.+fted her personal thoughts to the back of her mind and welcomed her accounting executive. ”Deirdre, have a seat.”
”I'm sorry I'm so behind.” Deirdre blew her choppy bangs out of her eyes before she dropped a thick stack of files on Natalie's desk.
”Every time we turn around, the system's down.” Natalie frowned as she picked up the first file. ”Have you called in the engineer?”
”He's practically living in my lap.” Deirdre plopped into a chair and set one practical flat-heeled shoe on her knee. ”He fixes it, we forge ahead, and it goes down again. Believe me, running figures has become a challenge.”
”We've still got some time before the end of the quarter. I'll call the computer people myself this afternoon. If their equipment's unstable, they'll have to replace it. Immediately.”
”Good luck,” Deirdre said dryly. ”The good news is, I was able to run a chart on the early catalog sales. I think you'll be pleased with the results.”
”Mmm, hmm...” Natalie was already flipping through the files.
”Fortunately, the fires didn't destroy records. You'd have a real accounting nightmare on your hands if it had gotten to the files at the flags.h.i.+p.”
”You're telling me.” Deirdre rubbed her fingers over her eyes.
”The way the system's been hiccuping, I'd sweat bullets without those hard copies.”
”Well, relax. I've got copies of the copies, as well as the backup disks, tucked away. I was hoping to run a full audit by the middle of March.” She saw the wince before Deirdre could mask it. ”But,”
she added, leaning back, ”if we keep running into these glitches, we'll have to put it off until after the tax-season rush.”
”My life for you.” Solemnly, Deirdre thumped a fist on her breast.
”Now to the nitty-gritty. Your outlay is still within the projected parameters. Barely. With the insurance payments, we'll offset some of that.”
Natalie nodded, and made herself focus on budgets and percentages.
A few hours later, in a seedy downtown motel, Clarence Jacoby sat on his sagging bed, lighting matches. His hands were pudgy, smooth as a girl's. Each time he would strike the match and watch the magic flare, waiting, waiting until the heat just kissed the tips of his fingers, before blowing it out.