ARTHUR Doris, Nathan, Emma, the head pharmacist, and the new manager we hired, Ethan, and I got into the limo. We were going to the biggest pharmaceutical conference of the year, the American Association of Clinical Chemistry and Pharmaceuticals. It was in Philadelphia this year, so we had plenty of time to discuss strategy on the way to the conference. We were almost all the way there when Emma looked at her tablet, and she saw that the bottles we were using to test the development of the drug were interacting with the drug itself. "Oh no!" Emma said. "This is going to make the entire first batch usable." This was a huge setback. "We'll fix it. We'll work around the clock to get a fresh batch and make sure we get the drug to clinical trials on time." "Emma, that was a good catch. It's a good thing you checked," Doris said. Doris was right to praise Emma. Still, I
ARTHURA few seconds after I heard Doris turn on the shower, my phone rang. It was Cathy. I kept forgetting that I was supposed to call her back. This was a good time as any. I picked up the phone."Hi, Cathy. I'm sorry we haven't connected earlier. How are you?"She hesitated. "I'm OK. I've been traveling around Asia. I know it can be hard to get me with the time difference.""I really should've called you earlier, but I bought a hockey team, started a pharmaceutical company, and I've been busy with Doris. I wasn't ignoring your texts. I just keep forgetting to call. I'm sorry. What can I do for you?"She paused again in a way that wasn't good. It gave me chills. Dread went up and down my spine.It wasn't just that she paused. It was the way that she paused. It wasn't just silence. It was an eerie, cold silence.Whatever Cathy was going to ask of me, it was big, and
ARTHURTrue to my word, I started the morning with passionate sex, and then I made Doris breakfast.But I couldn't wait too long until I told Doris the specifics about the conversation that Cathy and I had. I didn't want to do it in the penthouse, and I certainly didn't want to do it in Doris's apartment. Noah might be there.I thought it would be best to do it somewhere in neutral territory. I decided on Central Park. There was a little grove in the northern area. It had a tiny bridge over a small lake, bushes, and moss.Mid-morning, under a tree, it was shaded.Because of the time of day, nobody was around. It was perfect.I held Doris's hand. I told her about what Cathy had said.Doris was quiet until I finished, her expression a combination of horror and shock."Oh, my God," she said when I finished."I know.""Wh
DORISAfter the excitement of Mia's birthday party and a picnic afterward when Mia was so enthusiastic about adopting a new baby, I spent the entire next week at my apartment, basically avoiding both Arthur and Mia. Yes, it was a chicken scaredy-cat move. But I wanted some time to myself. I needed some time to adjust and to think. I hadn't spent much time with Noah, and it gave me time to catch up more.Of course, I updated him on everything with Cathy, Arthur, and Mia and the new situation. Noah was ecstatic; the idea that he was already a grandfather, and now would be a grandfather twice tickled him pink.I understood that. It must be amazing to wake up out of a coma and then many things are different with your daughter.Noah decided he wanted to go back to school to be an emergency response worker and ambulance driver. Even though he never worked in that
DORISI rang the doorbell to Nina's apartment just after lunch. She was practically high because she was buzzing with so much excitement. She was really looking forward to the rest of her day.Her face was freshly scrubbed, and she had a towel wrapped around her head. I gave her a big hug."I haven't seen you this excited since…well, since you told me you made a gazillion dollar sale on the same day you saw Nathan's muscles," I teased."I plan to make him drool.""Again," I interrupted."So I'm glad you're here to help. You keep my nerves in check.""What are you going to wear?"We went into her room and she showed me three different dresses. Each one was completely different from the others."This one," I said. "It brings out the blue in your eyes." I helped her button up her dress. She looked stunning, and a pang of jealousy tugged at my heart.
DORISWe went to Central Park in the day time but didn’t find any clues.We had to put the Wayne and the strange note on hold because tonight Arthur was throwing a huge gala to celebrate Nathan's big promotion.Everyone who was anyone in business was invited. It was a smart move because it gave Nathan clout. Arthur had gone all out planning the event.It was a glamorous evening. It got lots of press. It was touted as the spectacular event commemorating Nathan's rise to CEO of AmeriCapital.When Arthur, Nina, and I arrived at the ceremony, we were joyful about our friend's outstanding accomplishment."Look at him, Doris," Nina whispered, her voice filled with admiration."Yeah," Arthur said. "Nathan's come a long way. He deserves this."I nodded, a smile tugging at the corners of my lips. "He truly does. I couldn't be happier for him."The air was fille
DORISI looked out the window of Arthur's private plane.I was sad to leave Norway, but happy that we were about to land in Madrid!The landing was smooth, and we were rested and excited."I can't believe we're really in Spain," Mia said. "I've been dreaming about this my whole life.""You didn't even know where Spain was until last week," Arthur said."That doesn't mean I didn't dream about it," she answered back."Well, I've been dreaming about it too, pumpkin. And I knew where it was."Clearly, Arthur and Mia were just as excited as I was. Arthur didn't tell us exactly what he had planned, but I was sure he had arranged something great.We debarked from the plane, and we all piled into an extra-long white limo with Spanish bulls painted on it.I couldn't help but smile as
DORIS"Is that France?" Mia asked, leaning over her father and pointing out the plane's small round window."That’s Paris, yes," Arthur said."Can we sing French songs and eat French fries?"Arthur and I laughed."Of course, pumpkin."We went to the central park right away, and Arthur asked someone for directions to the carousel in what sounded to me like perfect French."I’m impressed," I said."Don’t be," he responded. “I speak French, Spanish, Hindi, and Mandarin, and I butcher them all.""It sounded pretty good to me," I said."It sounded like blah blah blah blah blah blah to me," Mia said.We found the carousel. It didn’t look exactly like an American one. The animals were more fantastical, like something out of an old-fashioned children’s book.The carousel was also larger than I had expected, much larger.It wasn’t moving, so it was easy to walk past pink lions and purple and blue striped zebras to the octagon-shaped center column.We had to walk around three sides before we fo
Annabel introduced us and then said to her husband, "Let me tell you quickly what is going on."And then, in the fastest French I have ever heard, which sounded like a-shoo-blah bahn-swah-blah, voo-lez-blah, cush-evec-blah to me, except everything sounded like she was speaking through her nose, Annabel caught Anton up on the story and brought him up to speed.Anton and Annabel turned to us and smiled.We all walked into the kitchen."Look at the tiles," Anton said. And I did. They were all very light blue except for six large tiles that were paintings of different famous Paris landmarks, the Eiffel Tower, the carousel, the Louvre Museum, etc."I will go get my tool kit," Anton said.“What are we going to do?" Mia asked.Arthur looked at her. "We’re going to carefully remove the tiles.""How?"
DORISI sang, and every song felt effortless.I went to the ladies' room at the break right before the last set, and when I came back out, there were 400 red roses all throughout the performance area. I knew this was Arthur’s doing. How did he get so many vases of roses into the Salton room in such a short time?The entire room smelled like a florist shop and looked like Valentine’s Day had come to the performance.I smiled at Arthur from up on stage and sang every romantic song I could think of.When we finished the last song, it seemed like the applause from the audience was louder than ever. Maybe all the roses put everybody in a good mood.Just as I was about to walk off the stage, Arthur came up and stopped me.“He stood in front of me at the bottom of the stage “This woman is the most amazing woman I have ever seen.”Then he walked up on stage and stood by my side. “Doris, from the first moment I met you, I knew you were special. You captured my heart and became part of my famil
DORISArthur and I exited the elevator of the penthouse and walked across the lobby, arm and arm. We had decided to work from home that morning, and I was happy that we had gotten so much work done.We were almost to the doors of the lobby when Andrea walked in. She was wearing a big cloak that covered her whole body.She opens her cloak to reveal a little baby in a sling strapped to her chest. The boy was swaddled in a light blue blanket. He was adorable.With all that had been going on in our life, I had forgotten that Andrea had probably had her baby by now.“Congratulations," Arthur said stiffly.Andrea beamed.“What are you doing here?“ Arthur asked.“The baby looks so much like you when you were a baby," Andrea said. "It made me nostalgic for when you were a child. All those times before…“ She let the sentence trail off, and I remembered how Arthur’s father died.Arthur must’ve been thinking of the same thing because he grimaced."It was a magical time,“ Andrea said. "And I want
DORISThe good news continued to roll in the next day. Mr. Owens' assistant called and said one of the hottest new songwriting teams had two songs available for me and the band to record. We set up a time to listen to them and decided we liked the first one better.Mr. Owens had an amazing recording studio and sound engineer professional lined up for us to use. I asked if Arthur and Mia would be allowed to come, and the record executives, the sound engineer, and the rest of the band hall said of course. Arthur cleared his schedule.It was an amazing week.We recorded the song. Even though it was hard work, it still went well. I was happy with the initial results, and I was sure it would be a hit.For a moment, it was all I could think about.Arthur and I were lying in bed that night. When I looked at his face, I could tell something was still bothering him.“Arthur, what’s on your mind?”“It’s Cathy. Not only don’t I understand why she did what she did, I can’t let her get away with i
DORISThe liquor store next to the Italian restaurant had a narrow fake hallway between the two stores. Interestingly enough, there were peek holes in the wall that allowed us to see from the liquor store into the restaurant.This worked out well for us because Nathan, Arthur, and I all got to peek out and look at Nina while she had dinner with Dr. John and Jeff.Nina looked absolutely gorgeous, and Dr. John and Jeff were entranced.We could see Dr. John and Jeff's faces completely and see Nina face in profile. We could hear them clearly thanks to the wire that Nina had stuffed down her bra.She had plied Dr. John and Jeff with liquor and flirtatious comments throughout dinner, staying clear from any serious topics.I perked up when she got to the good stuff."I can get a job with Arthur's pharmaceutical company as they rebuild," Nina said, "and I bet I could find out any secrets and new formulas they have." She let that offer hang in the air. The implications were like a tempting fru
ARTHURMonday morning, I got up while Doris was still sleeping. Despite a wonderful weekend with Doris and Mia, I hadn’t slept well.It had been a month since the fire, and I hadn’t made any progress in finding out who did it.I had my driver take me out to the pharmaceutical company. I stood in front of the charred remains of the original office building, lab, and factory.I had chosen to rebuild on another part of the property, leaving the destroyed buildings as they were as a show of what could happen when I let my defenses down.The sight of the blackened buildings filled me with grief and also a vile rage. The anger was almost too violent to control. My stomach felt like a volcano had taken up residence there and was churning, ready to explode.I had worked so hard on this pharmaceutical business. It wasn’t just the money that I lost having to rebuild that angered me. It was all the people who would have to wait longer before they could get treatment.It was the fact that formula
DORISArthur got me and an assistant for Heritage Properties, who had just gotten her real estate license. She was efficient and eager, and she took over all the real estate deals I thought would close soon.Arthur recommended an entertainment lawyer, and she went over my music contract and said it was very good, so I signed it.
DORISArthur hauled me against him. He lifted me, and I wrapped my legs around his waist and plastered myself against him."I need you in our bed," Arthur growled. "Right now."He carried me. I was too busy enjoying the feel of his body against mine— a sensation I wasn't sure I'd ever feel again— to pay attention to the elevator ride.I was too busy kissing Arthur’s neck to focus on him unlocking the penthouse, carrying me over the threshold, and kicking the door shut with his foot.Arthur kissed me like I'd been gone for months, not just a day.Arthur spun us, and my back slammed up against the drywall in the entry hall with a force that made me wonder if we left a dent.Arthur pinned me against the wall with his hips. He pulled up my shirt and stared like he couldn't believe I was here with him.His growl made my blood simmer and my breath catch. For the rest of my life, I'd never forget that animalistic sound of want and approval.My nipples hardened. Need roared through me like a
ARTHUREven though I could sense that Doris wasn’t in the apartment, I immediately began to search, going from room to room.I saw two of her suitcases in the smaller bedroom, and I immediately relaxed.I whirled around and
DORISI slept better than I thought I would. I didn’t know what my next step should be. Should I quit Heritage Properties and look for another real estate job?I was jolted out of my reverie when my phone rang. It was a number I didn’t recognize. My first thought was that perhaps it was Arthur trying to trick me, calling from a different number.