All Through the Night: A Troubleshooter Christmas (16 page)

“Steer me toward the ones that are least problematic for you,” he finished for her. “Sure, why not? But I already know one thing I'm going to be writing about. It's occurred to me that with the President attending the wedding, the entire guest list is going to have to be screened by…who? The Secret Service or the FBI?”

Great. If Dolphina had made a list of topics that she, Jules and Robin most
didn't
want Will to start nosing around about, that one would've been right at the top.

“I'm afraid I can't discuss that,” Dolphina said, as her cell phone rang.

Oh, double great. The number two topic of discussion that Dolphina most
didn't
want to have with a reporter was calling her again. Again, she silenced her phone.

“So what do you have to do in this situation, call everyone up and get their social security numbers?” Will asked. “That's kind of invasive and awkward, isn't it? Anyone refuse?”

“Yes, it is,” Dolphina agreed, “and no they haven't. Which reminds me, I'll be needing yours and Maggie's. Unless you want to see what happens when
you
refuse…?”

“Good idea, but no. My editor told me to play nice.”

Showing up two hours early was his idea of playing nice?

“Has anyone on the guest list been red-flagged yet?” Will asked. “And if so, how do you handle that? Uninvite them?”

“No comment,” she said. “Seriously, Will, I'm asking you to go in a different direction, please.”

“You're kidding, right? This is one of the few interesting stories here,” he countered. “What
is
the protocol when the President attends your wedding and crazy Uncle Frank gets red-flagged?”

It was a very good question, and one they were currently dealing with, since one of Jules's very good friends, a man named Davis Jones, had come up on the President's private “no fly” list. So to speak.

Dolphina didn't yet know how this problem was going to be solved, but knowing Jules, he was far more likely to uninvite the President than uninvite his very good friends Dave and Molly Jones.

“I'd like to talk to Jules about this,” Will said. “As an FBI agent, he's surely got some insights. And I want to set up a time to talk to Robin about the new series he's working on with Art Urban. Plus, I'm going to need some fairly regular blocks of time to sit down with both of them, together. Please let them know I'll be taking pictures at those times.”

“You'll be taking them? Doesn't the
Globe
usually send over a real photographer?” Dolphina glanced up from the notes she was taking, and the look he gave her was cryptic.

“I am a real photographer,” he finally said. “At least I am now. I guess Maggie didn't give you
all
the gory details about my divorce. My ex was my photographer. And after…I just…now prefer working alone.”

“It's hard to trust anyone after getting hurt like that,” Dolphina agreed.

“Spoken like someone who's been there, done that,” Will mused. “So who exactly was this Simon guy?”

Dolphina laughed her surprise. “Maggie does have a very big mouth, doesn't she?”

“Yup, so who was he?”

“It's not like he's dead,” Dolphina protested.

“
Is
implies you're still hung up on him,” Will pointed out.

“I'm not.” She was
not
talking about this with him. She tapped her pen on her pad. “Next topic?”

“That's why you were so pissed when you thought I was what's-his-name,” Will realized. “Kuhlman. Robin's real estate agent. You thought you were getting hit on by another married dickhead—No, that must happen to you a lot…” He laughed as he figured it out. “You were pissed because you thought you were
attracted
to another married dickhead.”

Dolphina couldn't believe him. “You have an incredible amount of nerve—”

“Oh, come on,” he scoffed. “What, you want to just pretend it doesn't exist—this crazy chemistry between us? I'm very attracted to you, too. Very.”

The heat in his eyes made her take a step back, and he laughed.

“Don't worry,” he continued. “I'm not going to kiss you. But, for the record, it's not because I don't want to. I want to make that absolutely clear.”

Dolphina found her voice. “This is…inappropriate.”

“No, it's not. Inappropriate would be me kissing you again, the way I did in my apartment. God, that was sweet. I could've kissed you like that for hours…” His voice trailed off. “Next topic?”

He was mocking her, she knew that, but she desperately wanted to change to a safer subject, so she looked down at her pad, which didn't help because she was suddenly unable to read her own handwriting.
God, that was sweet…
Dear God, indeed.

“Oh, you know what else I was thinking?” Will said, snapping his fingers, as if their conversation hadn't just swerved, hard, into the danger zone. “For one of my columns? I thought it would be interesting to talk to what's-his-name.” He took a little leather-bound notepad from his back pocket, flipping through it. “The actor. Wyndham.” He found the page he was looking for. “Adam. I did some research last night, and I read an interview he did where he said that he's Jules's ex—that's how he got the audition for the part in that movie he was in with Robin.
American Hero.
”

Dolphina tried to hide her horror, which was hard, because she was still so distracted by…“I'm not sure Adam is a good candidate—”

“Are you kidding?” Will said. “He's perfect. He knows them both, probably quite well…”

A little too well. Jules and Robin would've hooked up several years ago, if Adam hadn't purposely come between them.
More things not to say to a reporter. Although, Dolphina suspected if Will dug deeper, he'd find out the whole story. It hadn't solely been Adam's fault. Robin and Jules had both made their share of stupid mistakes as they were finding their way to their happy ending.

But the last thing either of them would want now would be to give Adam an engraved invitation to once again screw things up.

As if on cue, her phone rang again. And yes, again, it was Adam. She was going to have to go into the bathroom to call him back. This was one conversation she didn't want Will to overhear.

“You need to get that?” he asked her now.

“No.” Dolphina finally just turned her ringer off. “You know, there are other people to talk to,” she said, trying to convince him. “Robin's sister, for example. Jane. She knows Jules really well—he handled the FBI investigation when she received those death threats a few years ago. She's the reason why Robin and Jules met—that's a great story.”

Will didn't seem convinced. “One that's been told before.”

Jules shouted from the foyer. “We're out of here. I'm dropping Robin at the studio. Dolph, you need anything before we go?”

“Just…call me later please,” she said, not daring to look at Will.

But something in her tone made Jules come into the kitchen to ask, “Everything all right?”

“She doesn't want to tell you about the latest catastrophe in front of me,” Will answered for her. He put his empty coffee mug in the sink. “Which is why I'm going. To pick up sandwiches for lunch.” He looked at Dolphina. “I'll be back in about an hour with food—does that work for you?”

Considering it would then be close to the exact time of their scheduled appointment? Still, she found his offer gracious. “Thank you.”

Jules looked at his watch as they followed Will back into the foyer. “Robin, I'm going to be a few minutes. If you need to go…”

“Actually,” Dolphina said, “I have a couple of…questions for him, too.”

Will glanced at her—he wasn't fooled.

Nor was Jules. But he waited not just until the door closed behind Will, but until the reporter was off the porch and on his way down the sidewalk.

Only then did he turn to Dolphina and ask, “What's going on?”

Robin's day went from crappy to full-out shitty, as Dolphina cleared her throat and said, “So. Adam Wyndham called me last night. He said he's been trying to reach you.”

Goddamnit.
“I'm not interested in talking to him,” Robin said from his seat on the couch, even as Jules said, “I left him a voicemail. I was quite clear about…”

Jules realized it at the same moment Robin did, and turned to look at him in surprise. “Adam's been calling you, too? Why didn't you tell me?”

Robin bristled because, crap, they'd run this pattern before. Jules was going to get jealous, and…He did
not
want to do this right now. Besides…“Why didn't
you
tell
me
he was calling
you
?”

“Um, guys,” Dolphina started.

Robin stopped her. “No,” he said. “I'm curious. Why am I the bad guy here? Why is it okay for Jules not to tell
me
when his ex has been calling for the past two weeks?”

“Two
weeks
?” Now Jules was extremely not happy. “Maybe because he's only been calling me for two
days.
”

Oops. Robin saw in Jules's eyes the accusation that he was too classy to say aloud, at least not in front of Dolphina.
And he was
my
ex a long time ago—a lot longer than it's been since he was
your
ex.
And
have you forgotten that you ended your relationship with him because you thought he might be falling in love with you…?

Jules turned to Dolphina. “Will you excuse us for a minute?”

Robin put his head in his hands.
Here we go…

She sighed, clearly frustrated with the both of them. “Yes,” she said, “but before I do that, may I just point out that Adam said he was calling because he received what he described as
kind of weird, vaguely threatening fan mail,
which also mentioned Robin. He didn't go into much detail when I pressed him, which made me a little suspicious—he just kept saying that he wanted to talk to either one of you. Now, what I know about Adam is that he appears to like nothing more than to cause trouble.” She looked from Robin to Jules and back, beseechingly. “Please don't let him do that.”

“Call the service that handles Robin's mail,” Jules ordered her. “Have them send over anything unusual, anything that fits that description.”

She hesitated. “Jules, it's probably just—”

His voice was sharp. “Just
do
it. Please.”

“Yes, sir.” She closed the office door quietly behind her.

Robin spoke first, because Dolph had been right—Adam was probably rubbing his hands in glee right now, thinking about this very fight that Robin and Jules were about to have. He took a deep breath and kept his voice evenly pitched. “I should have told you when Adam first called. I just…I thought I was handling it.”

Jules was silent, standing by the fireplace, either unable or unwilling to look at Robin. He was a picture of tension.

He gets really jealous,
Adam had once told Robin, talking about Jules, and boy, he wasn't kidding.
I know you think he's perfect, but he's not. He's extremely possessive. It used to drive me crazy…

But it didn't drive Robin crazy. He loved the way Jules touched him, the warmth of his hand on Robin's back, solid and, yes, very possessive. Despite the fact that Robin was taller, Jules was the alpha in their relationship. And Robin loved it, loved him.

“Please don't think I was trying to hide it from you,” Robin said now, “because I wasn't. I was ignoring him. I was hoping he'd just…go away.”

“For two weeks,” Jules repeated.

“If it went on,” Robin said, “I was going to change my cell number.”

Jules turned to face him. “And tell me…what?”

“The truth.” Robin let a little more affront into his tone than he'd intended, because this was
his
hot button—Jules's implication that he could have
—would have—
lied. He closed his eyes.
Can we please not fight today?
He clenched his teeth around the words because they
weren't
fighting, they were talking, and yes, one of the reasons why he
hadn't
told Jules that Adam had been calling was because he knew Jules would be jealous. And the reason he'd be jealous was because he was afraid of losing Robin, which was both ridiculous and flattering, and Jesus, now Jules was standing there, hiding his fear and hurt behind anger, trying desperately hard not to show just how vulnerable he was feeling…

“I love you,” Robin said, bringing it all down to the bottom line. “You know that. And I
would
have told you if it kept going. Look, he first called me when we got engaged—when the news went public. It was just
…hey, how are you, congratulations, I'm glad things are going well…
That kind of call. We chatted, maybe for ten minutes and…Then he called me again, a few days later. And then he called a few days after
that,
and yeah, it started to feel inappropriate. He was making me uncomfortable, so I was honest with him. I said it was nice to be in touch every now and then, but there was…too much history between the three of us to be friends.”