8. Operation Hide and Chic
CHAPTER 8
OPERATION: HIDE AND CHIC
DAISY
T he guy standing in the third-floor lobby in front of the elevators, looking subtly judgy and superior, is wearing an employee badge on a lanyard, so I can see right away that it’s Tad Riggins . Maybe he’s sketchy and he’s knowingly aiding sketchy people, and maybe he’s not. But he is knowingly being judgmental of Ollie , and I get the impression that his being a pain to Ollie isn’t new. And that alone makes me not like the guy.
I reach out my hand and shake Tad’s . “ Hi , I’m Sadie Belle Ashford . I’m a potential client of your firm. I didn’t know I was fixin’ to be grilled when I came here to meet with Mr . Baldwin . And who might y’all be?” I did not mean for that to come out with a Southern accent!
“ Oh ,” Tad says, seeming a teeny bit chagrined that he was accusatory when I am a potential client. “ I apologize. I assumed that if you were here checking out our company, you’d be meeting with Ms . Monroe . My name is Tad , and I’m also an accountant here. A well-regarded one.”
“ Ollie came mighty highly recommended,” I say, “and I can tell ya right now, just like I told Ms . Monroe , that I’m not willin’ to sign on the dotted as a client to be handed over to any ol’ accountant. I had to meet with Ollie first to see if what I’ve been hearin’ about him is true. I am happy to report that he’s all that and then some, so I’ll be turnin’ myself from a potential client to a full-on client right quick.”
“ You requested Ollie ?” Tad asks me before shooting Ollie a glance.
I don’t know what, exactly, has gone on between Ollie and Tad , but there is history there, and by the look on Tad’s face, I know that I said the right thing.
“ I sure did,” I say. “ I’m glad that I got wind of all the glowing things about him because it makes me feel like I found a diamond in the rough by coming to your firm. Now , if you’ll excuse me, I have a company to run. Ollie was just showin’ me out.”
As soon as we make it into the elevator and the doors close, I say, “ I don’t even know where that accent came from! Well , okay, I do know—it came from West Virginia . Apparently , Sadie Belle is a creekside-and-crickets-at-sundown kind of girl. ”
“ Maybe whenever you are playing a role for a cover, an accent naturally comes out.”
“ Oh , maybe,” I say. “ It’s too bad that we’re done with the part of the mission where a cover might be needed so we can’t test that theory. What if it’s a different accent every time?”
As we walk out to Ollie’s car, I think about how I was playing a role when I pretended to be Ollie’s girlfriend, yet my normal voice came out. Aww , that makes me kind of happy that my subconscious thinks that he and I could be a couple.
But wait. Does that mean my subconscious doesn’t think that I could be a business owner in need of Ollie’s accounting services? That does not make me happy. Luckily , Ollie saves me from having to think on that for very long when he asks, “ So , are you free to go with me to hand this off to Jace ?”
“ Affirmative . I’m not about to leave my co-spy in the field during a clandestine operation without backup right before the critical handoff.”
A smile spreads across Ollie’s face as he opens the passenger side door of his car. I don’t know if the smile is because I said yes to joining him or if it’s because of my clever use of spy terms. I’m going to go ahead and believe it’s both.
When he gets in the car and pulls out of the parking stall, I tell him, “ My elderly neighbor, Ruthie , hangs out with Prince Charming while I’m at work. I already called her to ask if she could keep him longer so I could do this with you. She was more than happy to and even said she’d take him for a walk. Will Roi be okay with you coming home late?”
He nods as he pulls onto Main Street . “ I have a friend in my building with a key to my place. I asked him to go feed Roi and give her some attention.”
Keyhaven Park is only about three blocks down Main Street from Ollie’s firm, right in the heart of town. We could’ve easily walked, but Ollie is a bit nervous carrying something so important, so we park in one of the only available spots and get out.
The park is filled with so many people, booths, activities, food trucks, a pumpkin patch, a Ferris wheel, what I’m guessing is a maze made of hay bales, a live band, carnival-type games, and I think I even see a petting zoo. And , according to Jace , a carousel, although we can’t see it from where we enter the park.
There are a lot of food and artisan booths in this part of the park, though. I go up to a mom waiting at a booth to get a balloon animal for the pre-schooler who’s holding her hand, and I ask her if she’s seen the carousel. She points to the opposite side of the park. It’s going to take some evasive maneuvers to get there.
We go around a group of booths only to see another group of them, and I spot my friend, Ryleigh . She’s talking to some people standing in her boutique-in-a-booth, looking at the clothes she’s selling, so she doesn’t see me. I’d love to go and say hi to her, but we’ve got a mission here to complete.
Ollie nudges my shoulder with the hand not carrying the brightly-colored case with the contracts and nods to the right. There’s a woman in a suit standing next to a man in a suit, looking down an aisle made by some farmer’s market booths. He whispers, “ Is that the woman that Tad was talking to when we saw him by the elevator?”
To tell the truth, I was paying way more attention to Tad than the woman he separated from when he came to grill us. Did I even fully look at her? Some spy I am. I rack my brain for any details I did catch. Black suit. Light brown hair. That’s all I have. This woman is also wearing a black suit and has light brown hair. “ I don’t know,” I whisper back. “ But I think maybe it is? Do you think it is? Are they following us?”
“ I don’t know,” Ollie says and glances around as his hand tightens its grip on the case he’s holding. “ But this isn’t exactly a place where people wear suits.”
I glance around, too. There are not a lot of suit-clad people here. It’s mostly families, couples, and groups of friends.
“ Maybe we should hide before they turn around and see us,” he says.
I’m nodding as I’m looking for a place. Then I grab his hand and pull him toward my friend Ryleigh’s booth. We get there as the last two people looking at her clothing are walking away. Her booth consists of an awning, a small table at the back, two freestanding clothing racks filled with clothes, and two coat racks with clothes hanging all over them. As soon as we walk into her area, she smiles big and gives me a hug.
“ Can we hide here for a minute?” I ask. “ Some people in suits are after us.”
“ Of course,” she says as she shoos us into the corner behind the two coat racks and starts arranging the clothes to completely hide us. “ So , is this ‘hiding from suits’ thing for real or pretend? Because can we pretend that they’re tax collectors coming to hunt you down?”
“ Sure ,” I say, my voice muffled from the embroidered bohemian top that’s covering my head, “we can pretend that.”
“ Ooh !” Ryleigh says. “ Or they could be Men in Black .”
“ Wouldn’t that make us aliens if they’re looking for us?” Ollie says, his voice muffled, too.
“ True . Maybe we shouldn’t go for that. And if they’re tax collectors, that would make you tax evaders. Oh ! I know! We can pretend that you two are secret spies and they are, I don’t know, some bad guys after you. That’s exciting!”
“ I like that one,” I tell her. “ Let’s pretend that.”
“ I will let you know when the coast is clear of any suit-clad bad guys.”
We try to stay still as Ryleigh welcomes a couple of shoppers into the booth. Ollie is so close to me that I can feel his warmth. I am probably putting off my own warmth, being buried under all these clothes.
Ollie shifts beside me so he’s even closer when he breathes, “ I can honestly say that when I woke up this morning, I never guessed I would be pretending to be a rack of clothes before the day was out.” His words tickle my ear and send a thrill up my back. Or maybe it’s the fringe of the kimono on my shoulder. Nope . It’s definitely Ollie’s nearness.
“ And I never thought I’d have to be on the lookout for suit-wearing people.”
One of Ryleigh’s customers starts looking at the rack I’m hiding behind and, when pulling out a maxi skirt a bit to get a better look, unknowingly tickles my stomach. I don’t know if they give out spy awards, but if they do, I should get one for not laughing or reflexively pulling my stomach back. Heck , I didn’t even flinch, which was quite a feat. I think that earns me a trophy. Her friend found a skirt that she had to have, which took her attention away from the clothes at my gut, and I stay still as a, well, rack of clothes, as the friend pays and then they both leave.
A moment later, Ryleigh leans against the table that’s to Ollie’s right and I can tell that she’s not turning toward us as she says, “ So , Daisy , when are you finally going to say yes to doing an artisan booth with me? Think of how much fun we’d have doing this together! ”
I can feel the waves of curiosity coming off Ollie as I say, “ I don’t know. I’m just not willing to commit yet.”
“ Well , I’m not going to stop trying to talk you into it,” Ryleigh says as she pulls a flowy skirt off my head and a pair of wide-leg trousers off Ollie’s .
For a small moment, alarm mixes with the glorious feeling of breathing fresh air before Ryleigh says, “ Your suit-wearing bad guys have disappeared.”
Ollie and I both extricate ourselves from the clothes, which is somehow more difficult than getting hidden by them, as we look all around ourselves for confirmation that the bad guys aren’t still lurking about. I thank my friend, tell her I’ll let her know about the booth, and Ollie and I slip out.
“ Wait ,” Ryleigh calls out, and I stop and turn my head toward her as she rushes forward and peels a sheer and very tiny bit of lingerie that I hadn’t even seen on the rack that had static clung itself to my back like it was trying to be one of those t-shirts that had a bikini printed on it.
“ Thanks ,” I say, my cheeks heating, even though the air is so much cooler now that I’m not breathing through a wardrobe.
I glance over at Ollie , hoping he somehow didn’t see, but judging by the smile he’s hiding, he saw. He clears his throat. “ So , tell me about this booth your friend wants to do with you.”
I shrug. “ I often think of crafty things to make— jewelry, crocheted items, hand-painted tote bags, things like that—and then I make them for everyone I know. Ryleigh thinks I should make a business out of it. She does booths at all the craft fairs around, and she wants me to join her. Maybe even start selling my stuff online.”
“ So what’s stopping you?”
I look at Ollie’s face as we walk. He asked the question as if he couldn’t fathom anything possibly being strong enough to stop me. And suddenly, for a moment, I feel it, too.