Crazy Thing (The Brighton Family #5)

Chapter 10

10

DARIUS

“ A re you kidding me? No, no, no. No! I told you this was going to happen if that contract fell through. Why didn’t you just listen to me? Now I have an even bigger mess to clean up and zero time to do it!”

I’m on the phone, shut away in my office, yelling at someone as usual. But it’s not my fault that everyone is so goddamn incompetent.

Growling, I pull the receiver away from my ear as one of my New York employees blabbers some excuse that I’m not interested in hearing.

I’m close to banging my forehead against my own desk when something outside catches my eye. I hang up the phone, not bothering to say goodbye to the guy I’ll definitely be firing soon, and I swivel my chair around so that I can look out the large industrial windows overlooking the parking lot.

That’s Ziggy’s big, ugly bus. Sitting there. Mocking me.

It’s in my parking lot, squeezed into a stall right next to my car again .

I shake my head in annoyance, but even as I do, my heart is beating double time at the thought that Ziggy Beaumont must be here somewhere nearby.

Why’s she in town again already?

And why does the idea get me all damn sweaty?

I’m distracted from the thought when I hear something from out in my waiting room. It sounds like someone’s speaking just outside my door. Now I’m equally annoyed and confused.

I pull myself out of my seat and open the door to my office.Through a thick haze of smoke— is that incense?! —I amble into the waiting room. And I’m almost certain that I see Ziggy sitting at the reception desk.

I blink. Still Ziggy .

I rub both my eyes and blink again. Still Ziggy .

Then I hear her melodic voice, speaking on the receptionist’s phone.

What the hell? Did she break into my office to borrow my phone or something? You never know with this one.

But then I hear her drop the name of one of my business associates, and I’ve never been more confused.

“Oh, I completely understand, Mr. Laurier. And Darius will be happy to accommodate your scheduling changes…Yes, he’d love that…I’ll just need to look at his calendar to find a better date and time that suits you both…”

Still oblivious to my presence, she talks on the phone, simultaneously dusting off the front desk and tidying up documents that were left strewn around the surface by my former assistant.

“Uh huh...Of course, I’ll get back with you later today. Have a lovely afternoon. Bye, now.”

The moment Ziggy hangs up the phone, she turns around. Her stare meets mine. Her smile drops.

But, fuck. The glare she’s giving me right now? It’s so hot.

I’m so entranced by those fiery blue eyes that I almost jump out of my skin at the sound of the smoke detector suddenly going off above us.

I blink back into reality, and we both instantly jump into action.

“Woah. What the hell?” I grunt.

“Oh no!” She yelps.

Ziggy hops up, jumping around and fanning the smoke detector. She swings her knitted sweater around, waving it as high as she can toward the ceiling.

While she handles that, I dart around the office, grabbing the burning incense sticks and dunking them into the vase of wildflowers on the desk. Wait—a flower vase? Where did that come from?

Ziggy lets out a relieved laugh when the alarm finally stops blaring.“Okay, well that was not on the to-do list, but I guess the smoke detector is now squared away.” She keeps talking as she grabs a yellow pad and scribbles off some notes. “Anyway, I’m glad you’re here. So, I placed an order for ink toner. Both printers were low, and delivery is scheduled for tomorrow at noon. I’m going to need you to give me full access to your calendar, so I can reschedule your meeting with Mr. Laurier. He has a golf trip this week that he can’t miss. Also, some doctor called for you. He said he wants to try a new prescription for that itching thing you’ve got going on your—”

“What the hell is going on here?!” I bark, afraid that I was hypnotized by the town witches and dropped into some alternate universe. Nothing about this makes sense.

Ziggy looks at me, pulling off her big, floppy hat. Her messy hair cascades around her face in silky, pink waves. “I accept. ”

I shake my head. “You…you accept what?”

“I will work with you. I will work with you to save the waterfall.”