Page 5 of Do Not Disturb
“No, I…” I squeeze the steering wheel until my knuckles turn white. “I have to work late tonight.”
“Again?” She lets out a huff. “They work you way too hard at the bank.”
“Yeah,” I mumble.
Claudia clucks her tongue. “Tell you what. How about if I come over tonight with a bottle of wine? We can watch something on Netflix.”
“No!” The light turns red, and I have to jam my foot on the brake to keep from crashing into the car in front of me. That’s all I need right now. “I mean… I’ve got a headache and I… it’s not a good night. I don’t feel like socializing.”
There’s a long silence on the other line. “Quinn, are you okay?”
“Fine!” My voice cracks on the word, and I have to clear my throat. “I’m totally fine, Claudia. Really.”
“Are you sure?”
I grip the steering wheel tighter, picturing my sister’s round face, Cupid’s bow lips, and dark hair cut into a bob. I wish I could tell her the truth. I want more than anything to tell Claudia what happened and what I’ve done. If there’s any person in the world who would understand, it’s her.
But if I tell her the truth, she’s going to try to convince me to come back. She doesn’t want to lose me, so she’ll tell me to come home. And that’s the wrong thing to do. She doesn’t know the extent of the connections Derek’s family has. And even though she doesn’t like Derek, she doesn’t really understand quite how bad he is. I’ve been afraid to tell her all the details, because I thought she would beat him to death with a rolling pin—she’s very protective of me. And truthfully, I didn’t understandquitehow bad he was until today.
“I’m fine,” I say. “I promise.”
“Do you triple dipper promise with a cherry on top?”
That’s something we always used to say when we were kids. Because the ice cream store down the block had a triple dipper cone with a cherry on top, and it was our favorite. “Yes. I triple dipper promise with a cherry on top.”
“Fine.” I hear the pout in her voice. “But you owe me dinner out. Tomorrow night, Rob and I are going out… how about Sunday?”
I swallow. I can’t agree to Sunday. Because when I don’t show up, she’ll go to my house. I don’t want her to be the one to discover Derek’s body—I can’t do that to her. “How about Monday?”
“Deal. Let’s meet at Donatello’s at seven. Don’t be late!”
“I won’t.” I hesitate, desperately wanting to say the words,I love you. Claudia is my only family, and I may never see her again. I want to tell her I love her, but if I do, she will for sure know something is wrong. It’s not the typical way we end conversations. So instead, I say, “Bye, Claudia.”
“Bye! Remember—don’t keep me waiting!”
We end the call, and I sit there for a moment, staring at the freezing rain hitting my windshield.
“I love you, Claudia,” I say to the windshield.
And then I start to cry.
Ironically,the first time I met Derek, I wasn’t attracted to him at all.
It’s strange because of… well, how handsome he is.Was, I should say. He walked into our little New Hampshire bank, lighting up the entire room with his gleaming chestnut hair, deep brown eyes, and perfectly chiseled features. He filled out his Armani suit like he was poured into it. Every item I owned in the world combined, including my freakingcar, was worth less than that suit.
Melody, who sat at the desk next to mine, nudged me hard and licked her lips. I was secretly hoping Derek would sit in front of Melody’s desk. But no. He chose mine.
Derek explained his situation to me. His family owned a rather large Boston-based business and was looking to expand to the rest of New England. When he said the name of the company, my mouth fell open. My first instinct was that our bank was too small and he was too big a fish. But he was hoping for the personalized service that our small bank would provide.
That is to say, he hoped we would fall all over ourselves to help him.
The vice president of the bank came out to meet with him personally. When he found out that I was the one dealing with Derek, he gave me a meaningful look.Be really nice to this one, Quinn.
So when I had finished setting up an account for Derek and he asked me out for drinks after work, I said yes. After all, I had to benice.
I was single at the time. And Derek was so kind and charming when we went out for drinks. I didn’t quite trust him, because how could you trust somebody with so much money who looked likethat? You would have to be stupid not to have a healthy dose of skepticism. But over the evening, he wore me down. When he asked if I would have dinner with him on Saturday night, I agreed.
Only six months later, he asked me to marry him. Six months after that, we tied the knot. The entire year, it was like floating on a cloud. Derek was the most wonderful man I had ever met.
