Chapter 16 Darcy
DARCY
Iduck into my room, realizing as I shut the door that maybe it’s rude to cut Derek out of this conversation.
The thing is, Mandy already knows too much. And I can’t have him overhearing her if she starts yelling at me.
“What’s going on?” she asks me.
Her voice is gentler now than it was earlier today. I guess she’s had a chance to think about all of this.
She’ll be mad all over again as soon as I explain.
“It’s not real,” I tell her right away. “I was in front of his grandfather earlier, so I couldn’t say anything.”
“It’s not… it’s—what?” she asks.
“You know all those Hallmark movies where people bring pretend boyfriends and girlfriends home to meet their families for the holidays?” I ask her.
“Yeah,” she says. “I love those movies.”
“Well,” I tell her. “This is that.”
There’s a pause.
“Darcy,” she says. “You don’t do that in real life.”
“His grandfather is his whole world,” I tell her softly. “And he’s not well. Derek just wants him to stop worrying about him being alone.”
“Derek?” she echoes.
“You know who I mean,” I say.
“You’ve worked for the man for three years and I haven’t heard you use his first name once,” she says.
“Well, we can’t make anyone think we’re really engaged if I’m going around calling him Mr. Lockwood,” I tell her.
“You’re not trying to fool me right now,” she points out.
She’s not wrong.
But even though I struggled with it at first, calling Derek by his name gets easier every time.
“I know you have feelings for him,” she says after a moment. “Aren’t you worried about getting hurt here?”
I sigh and lower myself into the chair by the vanity, trying not to meet my own eyes in the mirror.
“It’s… complicated,” I tell her.
I could have said that I don’t have feelings for him, and until these last few days it would have been skating the border between a lie and the truth. I could have passed it off as a silly crush.
But now, seeing him here, seeing the man he is with his family in Angel Mountain?
Yes, I definitely have feelings.
“It’s not complicated at all, Darcy,” Mandy tells me. “He’s your boss—the guy who hired you even though you didn’t go back to school, the guy who pays you fairly and treats you like a human being. If anything goes wrong here…”
She trails off, but I know what she means. If this goes sideways, there’s no putting our working relationship back together.
“I don’t think it will,” I hear myself tell her.
“Why?” she asks.
“Because… I think he might have feelings too,” I whisper.
“Really?” she asks. Her voice has dropped to the same soft, fascinated tone she uses whenever the most delicious juicy gossip is about to be shared. “That’s a whole different story then. Spill the tea.”
“It’s nothing specific,” I have to admit. “Just a feeling.”
I expect her to scold me and tell me to look out for my heart, but she stays quiet for a minute.
“Darcy,” she says at last. “I trust your instincts. If you think something might be there, then I think you should go for it.”
“Really?” I ask her, amazed.
“Yeah,” she says, and I hear the smile in her voice. “Why not? Live a little, baby sis.”
Mandy has always been my biggest supporter. I wish I could hug her close for that.
“How are the boys?” I ask her instead, knowing that question is better than any hug as far as Mandy is concerned.
“Amazing,” she sings out. “They love preschool. We have to get there early every day so Johnny can ride a tricycle around the playground and George can get in the sandbox.”
“I miss them so much,” I tell her.
“Well, come visit us whenever you can,” she tells me. “And bring that fake fiancé of yours. We could use a little Hallmark movie magic.”
“I love you, big sis,” I tell her.
“Love you more,” she says softly.
I hold the phone to my heart for a moment after hanging up. If I were as rich as Derek I’d jet off to visit my sister every other weekend. We’ve been through so much together and she’s the person who always gets me more than anyone else.
But could she actually be right about this?
I take a deep breath and head out of the room again.
“Everything okay?” Derek asks.
“Yes,” I tell him. “I explained everything. She gets it now. She’s just always been a little protective.”
“You two are close, right?” he asks me. “I can see why she would be surprised you didn’t tell her.”
“We’re really close,” I tell him.
“You lived with her for a while, didn’t you?” he asks me. “Before you came to the city?”
He’s unpacking the ball ornaments now, so I sit at the dining room table and lay out the hooks so I can thread them through.
“She was expecting twins,” I tell him as I work. “And her husband was away for work when they came early—too early. Mandy almost didn’t survive it.”
“Oh,” he says. “Wow. I’m sorry to hear that.”
“I went out there to help,” I tell him. “But I ended up staying almost a year.”
“That was good of you, Darcy,” he says, meeting my eyes. “It must have been hard.”
“It’s what family does,” I say, shrugging. “She would have done the same for me.”
“Lots of people say stuff like that,” he says quietly. “Very few people actually sacrifice anything real for their family.”
I think of his globetrotting parents and nod slowly. When his wife passed and he needed them he was on his own. Knowing Derek the way I do now I’m sure he never asked, but I can see where he’s coming from.
“For me the sacrifice has already paid off,” I tell him. “Johnny and George are doing really well. It was worth getting creative about how to start my career.”
“Wait, is that why you never finished college?” he asks.
I bite my lip and nod. I didn’t mean to bring that up, but I guess if we’re getting to know each other it makes sense that he’d want to know about it.
“Wow,” he says. “I had no idea. That’s actually very noble.”
“Did you think I flunked out or something?” I ask him.
I shared my transcripts when I applied for jobs. My grades were great right up until I left. I just didn’t make any excuses. I figured potential employers might think I was lying even if I did say why I’d left, or even worse, looking for sympathy.
“No,” he tells me. “I just knew the reason was personal. You should have told me.”
“It doesn’t really matter why,” I tell him.
“It matters to me,” he says.
I feel a warm wave of acceptance wash over me and I glance up from the hook I’m holding, gratitude squeezing my heart as I look into his dark eyes.
How did I spend every day with this wonderful man and never really know him until now?