My Missing Puzzle Piece (Creekside Falls #1) (6 page)

As he watched her leave he stood there in disbelief over what just happened, all of it. They were talking and getting along and it felt pretty damn good, even if it was brief. He was annoyed she had to run out when they were starting to get personal, but also because he still didn’t have any answers to his problem. It was the first day but he was hoping for something. He also understood her
reaction when he mentioned Rob’s name because he probably would have reacted the same way if it were one of his friends too.

Elle drove to pick up Taylor unsure of what she was feeling. She was giddy like a little kid on Christmas because she and Trevor were getting along and talking, but apprehensive about what it all meant. She hoped for more, but his employees’ comment about Trevor’s love life kept running through her mind; “love ‘em and leave ‘em”. She couldn’t believe the timing of Taylor’s flat tire but she was her best friend and she had to help her. Maybe tomorrow would be different for her and Trevor like it was today. Now that idea gave her hope.

he next few days Elle only saw Trevor in small snippets because he was booked solid with appointments for jobs; springtime was one of his busiest times. So she worked by herself but did see that Trevor had looked over her stack and either begrudgingly or grudgingly, depending on your point of view, agreed Becky looked like a possible ‘suspect’. She was reassured that he wrote it down and that his notes matched those she took when reading Becky’s file. She looked over his stack and also matched her notes with his, she also reluctantly agreed with his suspicions about Rob. Elle was glad they had people to look into and things were moving along so they could figure out what was going on and who was behind it, but she was also disappointed that Trevor wasn’t there; it had been a productive day Monday until she had to abruptly leave to deal with Taylor’s tire and afterwards an unhappy client that showed up unannounced at her office. Oh well, I guess there’s always tomorrow she thought,
which also happened to be her weekly Thursday night girls’ dinner with Taylor. That’s when her phone chimed, with a text from Taylor; her ears must have been ringing. Taylor texted to suggest they make their Thursday night dinner quick, and not their usual “Sunday dinner”. They usually had dinner, drinks, dessert, and just talked or watched one of their favorite shows or a movie. Taylor said for a change they could go out for drinks at McDuckers after dinner. She made sure to add, “It will be different…we’re too young to get stuck in a rut, it’ll be fun!” Elle agreed and texted back, “Okay sounds good”.

Trevor was on his way from one meeting to the next, and he had a moment to take a breath and think about the last week. All this running from job to job was of course good for business but it meant two things. One that he was constantly in a rush and on the road and two that he didn’t get to see Elle. He was bummed to say the least. As he pulled in front of his next client’s house his phone buzzed, it was a text from Jake. Jake was asking him to go out again for drinks with the guys Thursday night. Trevor thought about how much fun last week had been just to hang out and drink a few beers with his friends, he wrote back, “Okay sounds good, what time?” Trevor surprised himself by agreeing to go again but he decided he would be done by 5:00 or 6:00 and that he was having such a good week, he had something to celebrate. Between business booming, he and Elle getting along, and making headway on the whole business debacle he felt pretty damn good.

Thursday morning rolled around and Trevor got a call from a longtime and loyal client that needed his help right
away on a tree, which had lost some large limbs. He wanted to try saving it, which meant he would be gone probably most of the morning if not the entire day so he wouldn’t see Elle yet again. He pulled out his phone and texted her to say that he wouldn’t make it this morning due to a last minute emergency. At least he had tonight with his friends to look forward to he thought as he walked out of his house.

Elle missed seeing Trevor at his office, they had been working together for a week already and even though he wasn’t there a lot it wasn’t going too bad she thought to herself. He did text her to say he wouldn’t be coming in so she was a little bummed; she missed his company. She was able to go through the client files, bills, and the sales orders for clients, whose projects had been affected by the schedule changes. She checked to see how long they’ve been customers, what teams worked on their projects…more stuff like that. She didn’t find anything that stood out. The one thing Elle did find was an open sales order, which showed a client being charged for something other than what the notes and invoice said the project was billed for. She would have to look further into that one and see if there were other sales orders and invoices that didn’t match. It wasn’t a smoking gun but it was something to go on. She made copies of the relevant documents to take with her so she could go through everything with a fine-toothed comb. She would need to go over this new information with Trevor and see if he had any input since he left her the files but she wasn’t sure he’d gotten a chance to go through them, he’d been so busy. She finished up what she needed at his office for the day and headed for
her car. On her way out she saw Trevor getting out of his truck and walking towards her.

“Hey, how are you? Sorry I wasn’t here much this past week.” He said. He was glad he was able to catch her; because he was annoyed he hadn’t been there all morning, even if the reason was business. It shocked the hell out him, because he never thought that way, his business was what he did and had always come first, it was like a part of him.

“I’m good, I’m done here for now and headed back to my office. How are you? It was a lot different without your help, quieter too.” She said jokingly behind a huge grin.

He laughed then said, “Thanks, I think. I’m good. Busy day ahead of you, today?”

“Pretty busy but that’s always good and then dinner with my friend later. How about your day?” She asked.

Trevor wanted to ask who the friend was…could it be Rob? The fact that he wanted to know so bad bothered him. He hated feeling jealous, especially over someone he wasn’t even in a relationship with!

He just smiled and said, “I’m going out for a beer with some of the guys later on.”

“Well I hope you have a good time. I better get going; I’ll see you Monday since I have that meeting tomorrow and I probably won’t make it here. Have a good weekend.”

“No problem, thanks you have a good time too. I’ll see you then.” He said and headed towards the building; she got to her car and headed off to her office. The nagging curiosity in Trevor bugged him, he decided to put it out of his head, he felt ridiculous about it anyway.

After finishing dinner Taylor and Elle were heading to McDucker’s, it was close and in town. As they walked to Taylor’s car she turned to Elle and said, “I hope we meet some hot men there.”

Elle just laughed and said, “Yeah, maybe we will.”

McDucker’s was a local bar that had been around for at least forty years and was still run by the same guy, Bob McDucker who was probably in his mid-60’s by now. It was a small place but inside it had a big stage for live music, it was off main-street but everyone knew about it so there was usually a crowd. There was a large covered patio out back and when the weather was nice the bands played out there. They had high-top tables around the room and in the back near the pool tables, then lower tables were scattered across the rest of the bar. This was the most popular local bar; at some point almost everyone seemed to end up there.

Trevor heard from Jake on his way home, his friends wanted to try a new bar called Bernie’s that was over in, Bidville, just past the Creekside town limits. Then as he was heading to Bernie’s he got another message, they decided just to go to McDucker’s again. Trevor just shook his head, did a U-turn and headed back into town.

He walked into McDucker’s and saw none of his friends were there yet so he went and sat up at the bar to have a beer while he waited. He flagged down the bartender and ordered a Miller Lite. Right after he got his beer Jake walked up beside him and said, “Hey man, what’s up?”

“Not too much, you? Just got here, I was almost at Bernie’s when you sent the text.”

“I know that was my fault, I decided I didn’t want to drive out there…I’m just glad the weeks almost done, I’m beat.” Then both Jake and Trevor’s phones beeped. They looked to see what it was, it was a text from Sam and Drew.

“Seriously? Again, what the hell?!” Jake said after reading the text message

Trevor looked up and said, “Well looks like it’s me and you man, they bailed.”

“Guess it is, good thing I like you bro.” Jake said as he smirked and flagged down the bartender to order.

“Wait, did you say again? Do they do this a lot?” Their friends cancelling on them surprised him.

Jake ordered his beer and sat down next to Trevor. “Sometimes they do and if you don’t come then it’s me and Susan talking all night,” he nodded toward the bartender, “good thing she’s cute.”

Trevor looked at her again and said, “You’re right she is, why haven’t you gone for it yet?”

Jake smiled and said, “I tried already but she has a fiancé. Maybe the next one.” They clinked their beers in a toast.

Taylor and Elle walked into McDuckers thinking it might be pretty busy, but it wasn’t too bad. They were able to find a table easily. The bartender looked their way and put up a one-minute gesture. They both sat down at their table, not too far from the bar; Elle looked around at the other people in the bar. “Oh my God!” she said as she whipped her head back around.

“What is it?” Taylor said sounding a little worried

“Look at the bar, he’s here!” Elle exclaimed in a whisper.

Taylor looked around at the bar not sure who she was seeing even though a couple people did look familiar. “Who’s here? What’s going on?”

“Trevor is here.”

“He’s in the dark gray shirt and he’s with his friend Jake, they’ve been friends for a long time and now they work together.”

“He is? Hot damn!” She turned towards the bar to look at the two of them, taking in the sight of the two delicious looking men. “Damn he’s hot! His friend is pretty hot himself, what’s his deal?”

Taylor glanced over at Jake again; he had just the right amount of muscles to appeal to any woman and short, chestnut brown hair. She liked what she saw so far. She found herself wanting to stare.

Elle turned slightly and looked back at the two of them, she had seen Jake once before briefly and thought he was very handsome, but in her eyes he didn’t compare to Trevor. She kept cutting her eyes his way, thankfully he hadn’t noticed her yet, but at the same time hoping he would notice. Elle just wasn’t feeling so sure of herself at the moment and they’d never seen each other outside of a work environment so this was going to be a totally new experience for them.

Elle turned back to Taylor, “Jake was in the military, Air Force actually, and now until he finds something else he works with Trevor. He says Jake is a really good guy and they’ve been friends forever. I’m not sure if he’s seeing anyone but if not go for it, you said you wanted a hot, sexy man.” Elle smiled at her best friend.

“He is hot and he sounds good, what little you know about him. Maybe I should get try to know him better. As long as he isn’t seeing anyone! I would like to point out that we’re here and they’re both here…so
now
what?” Taylor asked with a wink to Elle.

Elle sighed, she knew her friend was right. “Okay if I go over and say hi I’ll be able to introduce you then we’ll see what happens from there,” Taylor being there helped her feel more at ease to go over and do something as simple as say hi.

Taylor just laughed then saw the pissed off look Elle was giving her, “I need your help and your laughing” Taylor cleared her throat and said, “You need to go say hi, it would be rude to be twenty feet away and not speak to him…especially when you want him.”

Elle knew Taylor was right and turned straight to face her friend, “You’re right. As soon as we get our drinks I’ll go say hi.” As if on cue the bartender came over and took their drink order.