Page 40 of Come As You Are
“And if she had waited for a man’s clock to strike, she’d be waiting still.” Maria gave Toby a playful shove as Vee helped me down from the bar.
“We knew something was afoot,” Toby said as he raised the bar pass and slipped in beside Sebastian.
“Afoot, abed, amiss,” Maria quipped with a nod toward me. “And we’re happy we were correct.”
Toby nodded and bumped his shoulder against Sebastian’s.
I should have been embarrassed to be teased about my personal affairs by employees, but I wasn’t. Instead, I felt elated, accepted, embraced by the family I had not been born to, but which Antonio had built and given to me.
Vee moved closer to me, and I put my arm around him, feeling a thrill when he settled against my side. “I wish I’d done this sooner,” I whispered to him.
In response, he shrugged. “Everything happens in its own time. You weren’t ready until today.”
I was about to say something back, but Andrew arrived at that moment, and Vee said he needed to ask him something about the new routine. The others carried on talking, but I watched Vee approach my lead dancer. At first, it was for the pleasure of watching Vee move, but as he came even with Andrew, I noticed something odd. Andrew seemed agitated as Vee talked to him, and when Vee showed him the move he was having difficulty with, Andrew shook his head, the expression on his face almost panicked.
Turning toward Sebastian, I nodded toward the two of them as surreptitiously as I could and raised an eyebrow to draw his attention to them. Whatever was going on, Andrew didn’t seem to be interested in talking to Vee.
“Andrew, I just want some help with this move.” Vee’s voice rose in volume, and I heard the note of frustration in it.
“If you can’t be bothered to pay attention when I’m showing you something, then why should I take time now?”
“You made it sound like it was important on Friday.”
“And today I’m telling you different. Obviously, it’s too difficult for you, so just forget about it. Now, I’ve got things to do, and you’re only slowing me down.”
“What do you have to do today, Andrew?” Maria called across to him. Both she and Toby had noticed what had drawn my and Sebastian’s attention.
Andrew’s head whipped around, and his face flushed as he saw us all at the bar. “Just…something…” He waved in the direction of the dressing rooms. “Not a big deal, but…” And without any further attempt to explain, he fled.
I looked at Sebastian, and he nodded, then left the bar and headed for the hallway down which Andrew had just disappeared. Vee rejoined us at the bar.
“What was that about?” I asked.
“I have no idea, but he’s been like that a lot recently. Forgetting things, getting upset about us not remembering dance routines…well, maybe that’s not so unusual since he’s been like that since I started—” Maria snorted, and Vee smiled. “But, it’s different.”
“I know what you mean,” Maria said. “I asked him about new costumes a couple of days ago, and he looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language.”
“Any other odd behavior?” I asked, thinking about Sebastian spotting Andrew at the Grotto.
“Andrew’s always been odd,” Toby said. “He blusters and fusses, but he’s mostly harmless.”
Sebastian reappeared at the entrance to the hallway and motioned that he wanted to speak with me upstairs. I nodded and excused myself, climbing the stairs to the second floor. As soon as I entered my office, Sebastian closed the door.
Without preamble, Sebastian said, “Andrew was trying to get into the storeroom.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. I’m just grateful that Mal changed the code, and that only he, you, Toby, and I know it.”
“Do you think he’s the one who’s been stealing the liquor?” I wandered over to the window and watched Toby continue the bar setup. Maria had taken Vee aside and was helping him work on the move with which he was struggling. Andrew was nowhere to be seen.
“I’m not sure,” Sebastian said. “It makes no sense, but then I wouldn’t have expected him to be in league with Orsino.”
“Where is he now?” I asked.
“He said something about an errand he needed to run and headed out the back.”
“That’s certainly not suspicious,” I said, and Sebastian snorted. “I think we need to keep an eye on Andrew.”
