Unfinished Muse (26 page)

My nerves were pinging all the way down the
elevator, expecting Freddy to step in from a different floor or be
walking away in the lobby when the doors opened. Since I’d stopped
for a little while to have coffee, it was already late enough that,
when I left the elevator, traffic in the lobby had died down.

Patrice glanced up at me as I passed her
reception area. She raised a dark green eyebrow from behind her
glasses. I lifted a hand to give her a half wave. She didn’t wave
back, but one side of her hot-pink-painted lips lifted in a tiny
smile.

I hid my own smile as I ducked out the door.
I was betting underneath all the grumpy attitude was a much gentler
soul than she wanted to show.

Who knew? Maybe in my quest to learn how to
be a good friend, I’d acquire a gorgon as well as some humans.
Stranger things had already happened to me in the last week or
so.

I headed straight to Alex’s house to see if
yesterday’s pep talk had stuck or if I’d have to build the damn
thing for him. To my relief, he was hard at work in the basement.
The detached garage had taken shape, and he was working on the
garage door. He whistled as he glued, a weird, perky song I
couldn’t identify until the third time through.

“Dude.” I blew bubbles at him and crossed my
fingers. “The theme song to
Gilligan’s Island
? Really? How
about a different song?”

The bubbles must’ve taken hold because he
switched in the middle of the song. I grinned until I realized he
was whistling the
Brady Bunch
theme now.

I groaned and rose from the box I’d been
perched on. “Well, at least you’re working.” I screwed the cap on
my bubbles and reattached them to my belt.

I endured his whistling for a few hours,
relieved that he was finally back in the zone. Around noon, he
climbed off his stool and stretched, and I did the same. I wandered
over to see how he was doing. The garage door was drying, but it
looked as if he’d made it functional, so that when he finally
attached it to the rest of the building, it would actually roll up
and down.

Without thinking, I patted him on the back.
He must have felt it, because he startled and looked around.

I took a step back embarrassed. “Sorry!
Sorry! Nobody’s here. We’re fine.” I backed into the table. Now
that I remember what I was doing, though, I walked right through it
without affecting the surface. I glanced down and found the
pamphlet for Alex’s big toothpick architect competition.

It was a glossy page covered in photos of
toothpick bridges, castles, and ships. Happy people held up
trophies with golden toothpicks on them. At the bottom of the page,
it gave information about the convention space in a
moderate-quality hotel, ticket prices, and the dates.

I turned to follow Alex up the stairs and
stopped. It felt as if all the blood had left my head and gone to
fuel the quicker pace of my heart. I returned to the table, afraid
to look, but I did anyway. What I’d seen was crazy.

I still had two-and-a-half weeks until my
deadline was up. But the competition was in a week and a half.
Somehow, I’d lost a week. Or the Fates had screwed up.

Alex had made it upstairs already and had
Oscar’s leash in his hand to take him for a walk. That was great,
since I really needed to talk to him in person, but I was seriously
freaked out about the deadline.

Did Alex know it was next week? No, I was
sure he knew. His paperwork had the right date on it. I had to get
to my car so I could check the paperwork stashed in my purse.

I wanted to vomit.

But I couldn’t. If I was going to get a
chance to talk to Alex, I had to do it now. The paperwork would be
there when I finished.

I tore off ahead of Alex and Oscar, my
invisible feet clomping on the sidewalk. I made it to the park
before they got there, plopped onto the bench, and switched off my
belt so I’d be visible. I had about a minute and a half to catch my
breath.

“Hello.” Alex took a seat on the other end
of the bench. “Lose your dog again?”

I shook my head, still breathing heavily.
“My…um…sister caught him and took him back. I’m just trying to
catch my breath.”

“Ah. Well, I’m glad I caught you. I owe you
a thank you.”

“Yeah? What for?”

“Talking to you really helped the other day.
I’m back to creating my project. You said just what I needed to
hear. I found my joy again.”

I smiled. “I’m glad to hear that.” I tilted
my head and gave him a serious look. “How did you lose it in the
first place, though? It sounded like maybe you got some bad advice
from somebody.”

He nodded. “It was stupid. There was this
guy I met at the craft store. We got to talking, and he found out I
live with my mother.” He paused and searched my face, as if I might
reject his friendship with that revelation.

“Nothing wrong with that.” I shrugged. “I
very nearly moved back in with my mom last month.”

His eyes brightened. “Well, this guy didn’t
think it was reasonable at all. By the time he finished talking
about prospects and accountability and ambition, I felt about two
inches high. I decided I needed to make a change in my life.”

I scowled. “He didn’t even know you. How
dare he?”

“Well, he wasn’t terribly wrong.”

I bent over and scratched Oscar’s head. “He
wasn’t right, either. What’s this guy look like? Shriveled and
bitter?”

Alex chuckled. “No. Nothing special. Young
guy. Mid-twenties, I guess. Weird haircut, kind of almost shaved on
the sides, but sticking up on top.”

I most definitely wanted to vomit now.
“Blond? Blue eyes?”

“I think so, yeah. Why? Do you know
him?”

“God, I hope not.”

~*~

The paperwork, it turned out, wasn’t in the car. I’d
left it on the kitchen counter at home. I had to decide whether to
go home or head straight to Missy’s. In the end, I did neither. I
stopped at the craft store.

By the time I did get to Missy’s, I’d calmed
down considerably. Whether it was Freddy or not, somebody was
sabotaging my clients’ projects. And there was a good chance
somebody—likely the same somebody—was sabotaging me so I couldn’t
help them in time. Whoever was screwing things up missed one
important fact.

Wynter Greene was nobody’s bitch.

I wrapped on the door of 1117b and waited.
Missy opened the door with a cloth diaper over one shoulder and a
baby on her hip.

It took her a minute to remember who I was,
but when she did, her face broke into a delighted grin. “Wynter,
right? Come in!”

I handed her the package in my hand. “I
thought this might help with your project. It sounded so gorgeous,
I wanted to help.”

She had a puzzled look on her face, but
shoved the baby into my arms and opened the bag. “These are
beautiful.” She pulled out stacks of adhesive jewels in a rainbow
of colors. “They’re perfect. Here, I’ll show you.”

We sat on the sofa, and she slid the
partially finished scrapbook from a box under the coffee table and
flipped it open. Several pages were done. She’d been working harder
than I’d realized.

Each page was a celebration of a different
significant day in the lives of her parents. She’d done a fantastic
job so far.

“Check this out.” She flipped to the wedding
page and placed a string of adhesive pearls around the edges. “See?
The one thing that was missing and you brought it.” Her face was
flushed with excitement. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She
leaned close and hugged my arm, then gathered Cassie in her arms to
kiss her cheeks. Cassie giggled.

I laughed. “You’re very welcome. These pages
are incredible. This is
art
, Missy. I don’t know how you
could have doubted yourself. You have so much talent.” I flipped
through the book. She’d added at least three pages since I’d last
seen it.

She shrugged. “Yeah. I think this guy I met
was trying to sell me a trip for my parents. He was a travel agent.
I was stupid to listen. I guess he just got under my skin, you
know?”

I nodded. “Yeah. I get it.” Knowing exactly
what she’d tell me, I asked her to describe the guy.

“Cute as hell. Nice butt. Long eyelashes and
twinkly blue eyes. Cool haircut, too. Like yours, only shorter on
the sides.”

Somebody was going to get his pretty face
punched when I found him.

I pulled myself from the couch. “I need to
get going. I just wanted to give you that stuff and see how you
were doing.”

She gave me a one-armed hug. “Thank you
again. They’re perfect.”

“Glad you like them.” I stepped out the door
and stopped. “Missy, when’s your parents’ party?”

“About a week and a half. If I work really
hard, I might be able to get it done in time.”

Chapter 22

Phyllis was livid. I hadn’t expected that part.

When I got home, I went straight to the
folder on the counter, muttering to myself about deadlines and
booby-traps.

“Are you alright, Wynter?” Phyllis sat in
the kitchen window, her leaves perky with interest.

I flipped open the folder, my lips in a
tight smile. “Nope. I’m not okay. Not at all.” I scanned the
assignment for Alex till I got to the deadline. I ran my finger
over the number twenty-eight, and the ink smeared, leaving behind a
one where the eight had been. “Nope. Not okay at all.” I repeated
it on the other two assignments with the same results.

“What’s wrong, honey? Talk to me.” Phyllis’s
branches were shaking.

I slammed the folder shut, though it didn’t
make a very satisfying sound. “Somebody changed the dates on my
deadlines to make me think I had more time.”

“No!” Her braches whipped around so hard I
moved her to the counter for fear of her slipping off and spilling
in the sink. “You have to report this, of course.”

I nodded. “Oh, I will. But there’s more.
Some guy has been talking to each of my clients and throwing them
off their projects. All that crazy stuff you watched Mark do?
Mystery Guy caused it.”

“Oh, Wynter. What a disaster. Who did this?
You take me with you tomorrow. I’ll find out who’s behind all this.
Don’t you worry.”

I took a deep breath. “I think…well, this is
going to sound crazy, but I think maybe the person doing it could
be Freddy.”

Phyllis laughed. “Don’t be ridiculous. Why
would—okay, I do know the why—but
how
could Freddy do
anything? You haven’t even talked to him.”

I chewed my bottom lip in thought. “I know.
But I have a feeling Freddy was working at Mt. Olympus all
along.”

“Well, that much we can find out first thing
tomorrow.”

I nodded, distracted by Mark’s light across
the courtyard. I should’ve gone over and checked on him, but I was
physically and emotionally drained. All I wanted was a good night’s
sleep.

“You’re right. First thing tomorrow, we’ll
get to the bottom of it. But you know what?”

“What, honey?”

“I’m not letting these people miss their
deadlines, no matter how hard someone’s been trying to make that
happen.”

Phyllis patted the back of my hand. “That’s
my girl.”

~*~

Despite her insistence that I take her with me, I
left Phyllis at home to keep an eye on Mark out the window. I
considered knocking on his door and asking him to keep her with him
for the day, but she wasn’t a dog or a sick kid. I couldn’t come up
with a convincing reason why my houseplant needed constant
monitoring. She was coming down with root rot? Her water
consumption was too high, and I was worried she might be diabetic?
Maybe I could tell him she’d been hanging out with a bunch of bad
seeds and I was afraid she’d run away.

That would be weird. Even for me.

“Just watch and see if anybody goes in or if
he goes anywhere, okay? I need your help, Phyllis. I can’t be
everywhere at once.”

Phyllis sounded pouty. “You need me at the
office where I can set everything straight. They’ll listen to
me.”

I placed her on the window ledge. “I know
they would. But I need to do this myself. And I really do need you
to watch in case Freddy—or whoever it is—tries to contact Mark
again.”

“Fine. Go.” She shook a few branches in my
direction. “But if you get in over your head, come back and get
me.”

I smiled. “Thanks, Phyllis. You’re the
best.”

She really was. For a plant, she was a
pretty loyal companion. I was lucky to have her. Not for the first
time I wondered what her story was—and how she’d ended up as my
guardian.

~*~

In the lobby, I checked for any men who were my past
or present love interests. Unless I had plans to date a minotaur in
a business suit, the lobby was clear. I took a calming breath and
stepped into the queue in reception.

This was the part Phyllis could have made
easier, but I felt like I needed to do it on my own.

The line wasn’t long, probably because it
wasn’t a Monday, so there were no new hires needing to be checked
in. Still, those five minutes or so gave me plenty of time to get
worked up into a solid case of sweaty nerves.

“Next.” Patrice eyed me through her tiny
glasses.

I inched forward to the edge of her counter.
“Hi.”

She grunted. “Hi. You need something
already? Didn’t you just get here a few weeks ago?” The two snakes
that hung over one of her eyes squirmed and flicked their tongues
at me.

My mouth felt dry. “I was wondering if you
could help me find someone.”

One of her eyebrows rose. “Did you try lost
and found?”

“Ha. Yeah. No. I think someone I know works
here, but I don’t know where to find him. I was wondering if you
could look it up or tell me where to go to find out.” I cleared my
throat. “Please?”

Patrice smirked. “A guy?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

“A guy you’re interested in, perhaps?”