Faithful (12 page)

“Listen, people, one wrong bead, and the necklace is fucked,” Lauren stresses, flicking both hands open. “Imogene, don’t laugh. You, more than anyone, know what a bitch it is to fix a mistake.”

Sometimes, I forget how regimented Lauren can be about procedures. When she has it in her head how something needs to be done, she doesn’t like any deviation. We’ve been living and working together for so long I automatically follow her rules, for the most part. However, with a culmination of stress and sleep deprivation, watching her lecture the others has me laughing so hard I start crying when Dylan does a perfect imitation of her high-pitched voice and hand waving. Cooper hands me a tissue to dry my eyes as Leo puts his arm around Lauren to ease her off the ledge of beading insanity.

“Babe, take a seat. We can do this. Have a little faith in your nimrod friends,” Leo says softly to her.

“Oh, I apologize, everyone,” she begins crying. “It’s the pregnancy. I’m so excited and scared.”

“You’re pregnant?” Jess and Emma shout together.

Carson and Dylan look worriedly at each other, as if it’s something catching. They watch their wives run over to hug Lauren.

“I thought we were supposed to keep this a secret until after the wedding,” Cooper says.

“That was never going to happen with Lauren,” Leo shakes his head.

“I had a handle on it for almost an hour,” Lauren manages to say between her tears and laughter.

“She did break her own record,” I add. “You can’t expect the town gossip to keep a secret of this magnitude to herself. No way.”

“Wow, a kid.” Dylan looks a little stunned at the prospect.

“Congratulations,” Carson adds, giving Dylan a big brother glare.

“Congratulations.” Dylan nods. “This is great. Should we help you set up a nursery, Leo?”

“Hey, that’s something to consider,” Cooper says to Carson. “A baby line of furniture.”

“I don’t know.” Carson shakes his head. “Cribs have to comply with certain codes, and at our price point, we’re talking high-end stuff, and most people buy their baby crap at the big mass retailers. It might not be profitable enough to take on.”

“Baby crap?” Lauren snaps.

“Sorry, I meant cribs. Not crap.” Carson gives me the
what-the-hell
face.

“Her hormones are whack,” Leo says apologetically, receiving a really good whack on his arm from Lauren for that remark.

“You guys, show a little sensitivity,” Jess scolds them. “This is beautiful news, and you’re ruining it for Lauren.

“I’m okay,” Lauren wipes her eyes. “Leo is right. One minute, I’m fine, and the next, I’m …”

“The prison matron of Cell Block H,” I finish for her, making Lauren laugh. “Why don’t you go take a nap, sweetie? We can handle this. You drilled the instructions into them.”

“No, I don’t want to miss anything. I’m working today, and you people better have brought your A game.”

“And by A game, she means gossip,” I clarify.

As Cooper puts his hand on the nape of my neck, nudging me to look at him, his mouth curves ever so slightly. I’m well aware that he merely wants to remind me he’s paying attention to everything I do and say. It’s a pleasant sensation, having his warm gaze devoted to me. Lauren may be riding the roller coaster of baby fever, but she catches the look between Cooper and me and tips her chin up approvingly.

“Damn!” Dylan shouts as he drops a bead and it rolls under the table. Then the big oaf crawls under the table, knocking his back against it and causing everyone to grab their trays in a panic.

“Jesus, Dylan, you almost took out the whole table.” Carson looks beside himself.

“Kcuffing-A, Dyl, be careful,” I snap.

“What?” Dylan looks at me, confused.

Why am I following the advice of teenage twats? I sound like one of them.

“Imogene is trying not to swear,” Lauren says in a motherly tone that even my own mother wouldn’t use.

“Well, these little fuckers are hard to hold onto,” Dylan says, returning to his stool. While Emma pats his back, I realize these couples are all perfectly matched for each another. They have the yin and yang going on. Neurotic Jess and Nurturing Carson, Energetic Dylan and Soothing Emma, and Bossy Lauren and Loving Leo. This is how I always think of these married couples, and it’s so odd considering that, two years ago, everyone was single and very much unattached.

Cooper could be attached if he wanted—there are plenty of women vying for his attention—so that really leaves me as the odd person out. I was never this woman. I always had some type of boyfriend; either the serious kind I loved being with every day or the make-do guy I kept around until something better came along. The joke is on me. Apparently, I became a make-do girlfriend, and I didn’t even know it until Jeremy left me.

“Thank you. Again,” I say quietly to Cooper while he is struggling with some tiny seed beads that fall out of his large hand. These guys have fingers and hands for rough labor and lumber, not little beads. “Let me help you.” I gather the beads and put them in their designated tray grooves.

He turns to me, frustrated. “Imogene, this isn’t a favor or a chore. I like doing this for you. But I am having trouble reading the little code numbers on these sheets.”

He reaches inside the pocket of the T-shirt he borrowed from Leo earlier, pulling out a pair of black Clark Kent eyeglasses and putting them on in order to read Lauren’s tiny handwriting. At breakfast, I assumed they were sunglasses.

“I didn’t know you wore glasses.” I’m mesmerized by the transformation. He still looks like a biker stud, but the glasses add a new dimension of sexy, hip professor. I like it.

“I only wear them when I can’t read fine print. I can’t tell the difference between the C4 bead and the C6 without the glasses, and I don’t want Lauren to hit the roof if I screw this up.”

Lauren’s head pops up at the mention of her name, and her mouth drops open at the sight of Cooper. “Oh, my God, Cooper! You look adorable in those glasses. Why haven’t I ever seen you wearing them?”

“I got them a month ago, still getting used to them.” He looks uneasy with everyone staring at him.

“You look so good in those. Wow.” Emma grins and then looks at me.

“Right?” I ask, smiling. “Who knew?”

“Aw, come on,” Dylan gripes. “They’re geek glasses. What’s the big deal?”

“Hey!” Jess leans forward and points to the black nerdy glasses she’s wearing. “I have the same glasses, and no one says I’m adorable.”

“You’re
kcuffing
gorgeous,” Carson quips forcefully and with perfect timing, causing Jess to blush and kiss his cheek.

“Honey,” Emma says, rubbing Dylan’s back, “if it will make you feel like part of the gang, I will go down to the drug store tomorrow and buy you some fake Clark Kent glasses.”

Dylan smiles at his wife. I still can’t believe they’re newlyweds. All of these damn lovebirds are too much.

“Copy cats,” Cooper mumbles to me, making me a little giddy.

He does look adorable with his striking eyes peeking out from behind the black frames, his hair tucked behind his ear. He looks incredibly studious and hunky, making me want one more kiss before I put a stop to this for real.

“Oh, seventy million,” Jess whispers to herself, but we all hear it. We’re used to her odd tic and generally ignore it; however, this time, I can’t.

“Why is it always seventy million? Why not thirty million or eighty-four million?” I ask.

“No, those aren’t good numbers. Right, Jess?” Cooper comes to her defense.

Jess regards Cooper for a moment, waiting for him to make a joke, but then realizes he’s serious. “He’s right. They’re not good numbers.”

“Why? I want to know where this comes from,” I badger.

“Leave my wife alone,” Carson says without looking up.

This bead project has proven to be very challenging for him and Dylan; however, the women are already on their second set of designs, and I’m quite optimistic that Cooper’s intervention is going to help us get ahead this time.

“I don’t think I can explain it to you,” Jess says, pushing a completed tray forward. “When I get anxious or screw up, or even sometimes when I’m happy, the numbers make me feel good.”

“I know that, but I want to know why
seventy million
in particular is so special.”

Jess frowns at me. “It just is. Why do you like to wear green so much?”

“Because I look awesome in it,” I reply.

“Jess needs certain numbers,” Cooper intervenes. “They are patterns to her, like the computer coding she does. Even her paintings are a system of visual patterns. Seventy million is ingrained. She’s probably been using that number for years as a stim.”

“Stim?” Carson asks, suddenly interested.

“Stimming behavior,” Jess explains, giving Cooper a long, hard look.

“It’s a self-soothing behavior,” Cooper continues. “Lots of people have them without knowing it. When Dylan is sitting down at a desk, he always shakes his crossed foot.” Naturally, everyone looks at Dylan for confirmation or an exhibition of his foot shaking, which we’ve already witnessed many times over. “And Lauren often snaps her fingers. Only on the right hand, though, and then she immediately always lifts up a strand of hair and twirls it on the same fingers.”

“You do,” Leo confirms.

“Carson has to work a room from right to left.” Carson gives him a questioning look. “You do. When we’re working at a house, it doesn’t matter what room we’re in, you start on the right side and you coordinate your plans to fit accordingly. That one is kind of cool, but you also do the same thing at the factory. When you do your walk around, you always go in the same direction and stop and talk to people in the same order every time.”

“How is that self-soothing if I’m not aware of it?” Carson asks.

“It’s not as obvious or as frequent as Jess’s behavior, but it’s consistent, and you do it because…?”

“It feels comfortable,” Carson answers.

“Oh, do me! Do me!” Emma practically jumps off her stool.

“
Do me
? Listen to yourself.” Dylan almost laughs, but he still has little bouts of jealousy when Cooper commands the attention of every female in the room.

“Oh, shush.” Emma slaps his arm.

“Well, Miss Emma, since I had the opportunity of tailing you and your ex for a while, I picked up a few things about you,” Cooper says, referring to the period when Cooper worked undercover, following Emma’s ex-boyfriend, the son of a mobster. It was all very exciting gossip last year. Said ex-boyfriend was innocent, although he obviously had to get out of the picture, even if his father is doing hard time. It’s not as interesting as this newly discovered party trick of Cooper’s.

“Did I do weird stuff?” Emma glances at Jess who has obvious quirks.

“Hey, now,” Jess says defensively.

“Well, your tic stands out. No one has ever mentioned that I have one, so I’m curious to know how pronounced my
self-soothing
behavior is.” Emma laughs. “It even sounds weird.”

“You do a few different things, but one that stands out to me is that you always cross your arms behind your back and hold your elbows. You do it when you’re nervous, talking to a new client in person or even on the phone. When the delivery trucks come in with the new lumber or you meet any delivery person you don’t know, you do it. You look people in the eye when you talk to them, but then your arms go behind your back.”

“That’s totally you,” Dylan says.

“Yours is also kind of a tell,” Cooper explains. “I bet you’re terrible at poker.”

“I am. Lois and Archie taught me how to play, and I’m always the first one out.”

“Lois is a card shark, but she’s also reading you. She knows when you’re bluffing,” Cooper explains.

“Did you learn all of this at FBI school?” I ask.

Cooper laughs. “Yeah, I learned how to profile people when I was training at Quantico. One of my instructors said I had a special knack for it, a deeper intuition about people. I suppose I was always studying people more than others would. That’s how I ended up going undercover.”

“Hmm.” I’m aware that everyone is probably observing us, but I can’t help myself from staring at Cooper’s eyes. He responds with a slight curve of his delicious lips, ones I want roaming over my body.

“Now you know something about me,” he murmurs to me.

“Tell us more.”

Cooper looks up at the others who are diligently aligning beads on their jewelry trays yet seeming to be waiting for Cooper to entertain them.

“There are obvious signs, like a person’s eyes. When I first started at Blackard, Dylan would usually squint and look away from me. He was feeling a little threatened by me because he wasn’t sure where I fit in at work and because he thought I was competition … for Emma.”

Dylan rolls his eyes.

“That’s true,” Carson adds.

“If you say so, but I’m not like that now.”

“No, now you just give me the occasional mean, low growl. Mad Dog Dylan,” Cooper responds with a chuckle, the others joining in.

“This is fascinating,” I say. “Really, keep going.”

Cooper shrugs as though he’s suddenly bashful to show himself in this way. “Carson generally likes meeting new people. He arches his eyebrows in interest,” Cooper adds.

“I didn’t have that experience when we met in Archie’s office for the first time,” Jess says, turning to Carson for confirmation.

“That wasn’t our first time,” Carson says defensively. “We met when we were kids. When I saw you in Archie’s office, it was a completely different situation.”

“Yeah, Carson was nervous as hell that day,” Dylan says, laughing.

“I think it worked out fine,” Carson says pointedly to Jess.

“I suppose I got some eyebrow arches after that,” Jess teases.

“But this shows you how important eye contact is to gain someone’s trust,” Cooper continues. “Companies like to have business meetings in person more than video conferences because it’s important to observe the nonverbal behavior of the people involved. We look for universal behaviors, but we also look for idiosyncratic, nonverbal behaviors to see who we’re dealing with.

“How someone places their hands, holds their head, or how they sit or stand tells us plenty about them. If you ever watch Carson in the factory, he stands with his legs positioned fairly far apart and his hands on his hips with his elbows out. His body language tells us he’s open or available to talk to people. He wants his employees to feel comfortable around him and think he’s approachable.”