Chapter 14
On Monday morning,Theo pulled into the parking lot of his office and swore softly. The sight of Amber’s empty parking spot, missing her little untrustworthy car, shot a ripple of unease through him, unsettling him even more than he cared to admit.
As he walked up the steps and into the office, lack of sleep and a near constant hard-on from Friday night contributed to his frustration. It wasn’t just Amber’s absence that unsettled him; it was the reason behind it. Theo had crossed a line by touching her, and the complete deviation from the man he knew himself to be had left him shaken.
Theo had always prided himself on his control. He was a professional, and he certainly didn’t allow his feelings to cross over into his professional life. Yet all those barriers had crumbled when he’d seen Amber standing on his stairs in his T-shirt, smiling at him with those teasing eyes.
He had reached out to her almost before he knew what he was doing. It was beyond reckless, something he had never been before, but then again, he’d never known another woman that affected him like Amber.
“Where is she?” he said to Diane, setting down the bag with her chocolate croissant on her desk.
Diane looked him in the eye. ”I”m sure she has a good reason. Just give her a little while to show up.”
Theo did a double take. In all the years that Diane had worked for him, he had never seen his stickler of a secretary defend an employee who was late.
”You know her car is acting up,” Todd said as he walked by the office.
“Remember, Theo, she might stop at the bakery. She loves to bring in donuts for us,” Charlotte said when he paused in her doorway.
When he got to Neal”s office, Neal looked up with a smirk. ”I hate to say I told you so, but I knew she couldn”t handle this kind of job. It”s been almost a month. When are you going to realize she needs to go?”
”Things come up,” Theo barked. It wasn’t like Amber not to show up. Late, yes. She had a habit of that, but she always showed up. Worry ate at him.
”It”s something new with her every day. Did you know she broke the coffee pot yesterday and she mixed up the meeting times for you? She”s a pretty girl, Theo, but she”s not the right fit for this job, and she”s going to cost you if you keep her around.”
Anger, fierce and protective, sparked in Theo, surprising him with the intensity. “Mistakes can be corrected, Neal,” Theo said with an edge of steel in his voice. “I think we can all agree Amber’s brought creativity and energy to this office, which has been missing.”
Neal’s face pinched. “I understand that you think she’s...different, Theo, but these distractions add up and we can’t afford that this close to the election.”
The unspoken challenge made Theo’s jaw clench and he locked eyes with the man he had thought of as another father figure. “I appreciate the concern but let me be clear: Amber’s potential outweighs her mistakes, and I intend to give her a chance to prove that.”
Neal opened his mouth, then seemed to think better of it. “Understood,” he said stiffly.
Theo headed to his office to call her. No answer. Anger and worry gnawed at him until he gave up pretending that he could do any work today without finding out where Amber was. He threw on his suit jacket, grabbed his keys, and headed out.
”Don”t yell at her, Theo,” Charlotte said as he walked by.
”Maybe bring her a milkshake,” Todd suggested.
When he reached Diane, she silently handed him a Twinkie package. ”Give her this.”
Unbelievable.
For once, Theo drove to the Phoenix above the speed limit, and took the stairs to Amber”s apartment two at a time. He knocked on the door and waited, his heart pounding with a mix of anxiety and something else. He knocked again. ”Amber?” he called, his mind creating images of things that could have happened to her.
The door across the hall swung open, revealing a woman in a white button-down shirt and black slacks, a half apron tied around her waist. She looked to be only in her mid-forties, but there was a weariness etched into her features that made her seem older.
”Can I help you?” she asked. ”Oh, hi, Mayor Clairmont. You don”t want to go in there,” she said once she noticed where he was standing.
”What? Why?” Dread filled him.
“Amber’s sick. I checked on her this morning, but I have to go to work now. My new manager is a real prick about calling out before a shift.” She turned back to her door and locked it.
”She”s sick? What”s wrong?” he asked.
”They all are. My girls are sick. Everybody”s sick. They had a Sunday dinner at her sister and brother-in-law’s house, and somebody shared a flu bug,” she said tiredly.
Theo winced. ”Stomach flu?” He could handle a lot of things in life, but the stomach flu made him blanch. “Does she need anything?”
”She’ll be okay,” she said. “I’ll try to come home on my break if it’s slow and check on her again. Doesn’t she work for you?”
“Yes, she’s my assistant. I can handle it,” he said decisively. “Can you let me in, please?” Theo knew his position as mayor made him more trustworthy than most people, but he held his breath while he waited for her answer. He didn’t want to have to make a scene by calling the building’s super, but he would in an instant to make sure Amber was okay.
The woman sighed. “All right. I have a key. I”ll let you in. I don’t really get a lunch anyhow, and I can’t take any more time off or they’ll cut my hours.”
She unlocked the door, and Theo stepped inside. His first impression was of a chaos of color. There were fabrics and ribbons, even a feather boa on a mannequin in the corner, but Theo’s attention quickly shifted down a hallway.
”Sandy, don”t come in here. I don”t want you to get sick,” Amber said from somewhere in the back. She sounded weak and thready.
He quickly walked to the door of a bedroom and paused. Amber was lying in between the bed and the door, curled up on her side in the fetal position. His heart stopped. He bent down and put a hand against her forehead. It was hot and dry to the touch.
“Amber, what”s wrong?”
She opened her eyes, and it took her a moment to focus on him. ”You”re not Sandy,” she said.
“Is he a friend of yours?” Sandy asked from the doorway. Sandy stood in the doorway with her arms crossed, ready to toss him out if Amber said the word.
“He’s my boss,” Amber said, then squeezed her eyes shut and groaned. “Are the girls okay?”
“They’re better than you are. Their grandma is coming over to take care of them. I have to go to work, but I’ll check in with you later,” Sandy said. “Just rest and I’ll bring you some soup when I get off.”
Amber’s already pale face blanched at the word soup, and she lifted a hand weakly to wave goodbye. Theo gently pushed her hair back from her eyes. “Go away. Let me die in peace.”
Theo ignored that. “Why are you on the floor? Are you hurt?” He quickly inspected her for blood or obvious injuries and sighed in relief when he found none.
“So hot,” she said. Her eyes squeezed tightly shut, her lashes forming dark fans against her too pale face.
“Okay. Up you go.” Theo brought a hand under her back and one hand under her knees, lifted her into his arms, and set her gently on the bed. It was a twin from the looks of it, and he sat down gingerly on the side to avoid breaking it with his weight. Amber curled her knees up and started shaking.
”Have you had any medicine?” he asked.
“Just wanna sleep,” she said.
Absently, he noticed that her green sleep shorts and tank top had tiny frogs on them, and her hair was a wild mass piled on top of her head. She looked younger, softer, in her frog jammies without her usual short skirts and tight tops and for a second, his chest felt strangely tight at seeing this side of her.
Amber was so rarely anything other than brash and full of life. She opened her eyes, and lucidity was there for a second. ”Don”t look at me,” she mumbled.
”Don”t be ridiculous.” He tucked her fuchsia and orange quilt up around her bare shoulders. “Stay right there. I”ll be back.” Amber nodded and closed her eyes again.
In the kitchen, Theo opened the fridge for water. Aside from a few sad-looking, half-empty condiments and takeout boxes, there was nothing there. Her cupboards had an assortment of Pop-Tarts, Twinkies, and chocolate that had him shaking his head.
He poured a glass of water from the sink, scrounged around the cabinets to look for a fever reducer and, finding none, went back to the bedroom. She was shivering now, back in the fetal position. Her chattering teeth echoed in the small room.
He pulled the blanket up where she had come untucked. ”Here, drink some of this. How long have you been sick?”
“I’m cold,” she said, closing her eyes.
Theo took his jacket off, rolled up his sleeves, and piled another blanket on her. Then he went looking for a washcloth in the bathroom. He found a truly scary number of lotions, soaps, and unidentifiable makeup stuff on the counters, along with a stack of washcloths in a basket.
Once, when Ford’s son Landon was in kindergarten, he caught the stomach flu. It was right after Ford’s wife left them, and Ford was in the middle of an important trial, so there was no one to take care of the kid. Georgie was going through chemo treatment and couldn”t be around anyone that was sick, so it was Theo who took care of Landon. It was trial by fire, but they had made it though, and he felt reasonably sure he could handle this.
Theo grabbed a washcloth, wet it and wrung it out, and brought it back into Amber”s room. When he laid the washcloth on Amber’s forehead, her eyes opened. ”Go away, you’ll get sick,” she said, but it was almost unintelligible with her teeth chattering.
“Hush. I’m taking care of you.” Theo checked her forehead again. It was burning hot to the touch.
“You always do,” he thought he heard her murmur, and he paused, remembering another night many years ago. But then her face scrunched up, and she looked ready to cry. “What’s wrong?” he asked, smoothing her hair back from her pale face.
“Am I wearing my frog pajamas?” she asked. She looked so pitiful he tried hard not to laugh.
“Yes, I believe so,” he said solemnly.
“I don’t want you to see me like this,” she whispered and promptly closed her eyes.
”Don”t be ridiculous. You’re beautiful,” he said as he dialed Ford’s number. “Ford, I’m at Amber’s. She’s sick. Can you bring me some things?” He listed off the things that had helped make Landon more comfortable, added a grocery order and a change of clothes, and got off the phone.
Amber was sleeping now, but her body still shook uncontrollably. The bed shook with her. Despite her chills, the room was almost unbearably hot. He checked the window AC unit—broken—and swore softly.
He sat back down and glanced around the room curiously. Her bedroom was tiny compared to his, with mismatched furniture and a lamp draped in a red scarf in the corner that gave the room an amber glow. Her entire apartment would fit into his living room.
There was a bookcase stacked with well-loved romance novels. It shouldn’t have surprised him, but it did. So his prickly assistant was a romantic at heart.
Her nightstand held various pots and jars of what he assumed were lotion, and a photo of Amber and her sisters and her mom in dresses. They were all beautiful, all grinning at the camera, bold and confident, with their arms wrapped around each other. One sister, Allie, he thought, held a bouquet. On Amber’s nightstand was a paperback book lying face down with a half-naked brooding man holding a woman on the cover. Theo smiled.
Amber shivered again, and Theo did a quick search in her closet, but there were no more blankets. He hesitated only a second, knowing this would blur the lines even further between them, before taking off his tie and dress shoes and getting into bed with her.
He gathered her shaking body into his, wrapped his arms around her securely, and settled in for a long night.