She willed her heart to stop pounding and her breath to slow. Lord, she hoped she wasn’t sweating.
Busting open a pen during an important meeting had been bad enough, but this giddy feeling she got when Ed touched her was ridiculous.
Could she be so in need of personal attention that the slightest caring reaction from her boss could keep sending her into shock?
“Okay, I like how this is all laying out. Let’s break for lunch and meet back here at two,” Zach announced as he stood from his chair.
Darcy gathered her notes and the ruined pad, as well. Perhaps she could decipher what had been written before her mind caused her to make a fool of herself.
Ed gently touched her shoulder. “I’m going to run down to the deli and get us some lunch. I want to go over some other projects before we have to be back in here. Do you like pastrami?”
The amount of information buzzing in her head was a bit overwhelming. She’d have liked to have sat out by the river for a bit and calm down, but she only nodded at Ed’s offer.
“Great. I’ll be back up in a half hour.”
As he hurried away, the woman who had helped her clean up her mess was walking toward her. They were the only two left in the large room.
Darcy tried to compose herself, and she could only hope she looked half as professional as the woman walking toward her.
“You must be Darcy. I’ve been hearing good things about you.” The woman stuck out her hand. “I’m Mary Ellen.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“I’m Mr. Benson’s assistant. He couldn’t do anything without me,” she said on a laugh, and Darcy choked one out as well, realizing the woman was trying to keep the mood light.
“Thank you for coming to my rescue.”
“Oh, I’ve had that happen to me a million times. I blame it on the shoddy manufacturing of your basic stick pen, but really, sometimes these meetings get so bogged down with number writing that my hand just crushes the pen.”
Darcy laughed again. Whoever this woman was—aside from Zach Benson’s assistant—she was easy to like.
“Why don’t you come up with me, and we’ll type these notes up quickly. I know you probably can’t read too much of what’s left on your page.”
Darcy looked down at the paper that now looked like kindergarten art. “Thank you.”
They both gathered their things, and Darcy followed Mary Ellen out of the office. Her desk was only around the corner, and she set her notebook down and pulled an extra chair around the desk for Darcy.
“Have a seat. It won’t take me long to type these up. Besides, while Zach works out, I’ll have someone to talk to.”
“He works out during the day?”
Mary Ellen nodded as she began to type. “It keeps him focused. If you saw his office, you’d think it was a small apartment. All the luxuries of home.”
It was time to ease this woman into some conversation. “You seem very comfortable with Mr. Benson.”
“I should be. I’ve been with him since he took over that desk.”
Mary Ellen was going to be a great asset, too.
Darcy looked around the office. It had quieted down. Everyone must be at lunch. She took a deep breath and crossed her legs, trying her best to act casual.
“So how long have you been his assistant?”
Mary Ellen shot her a sideways glance and then focused back on her computer screen. “Isn’t that like asking a woman her age?”
Darcy felt the blood drain from her face. “I didn’t mean any disrespect.”
Mary Ellen laughed. “I’m just kidding.” She flipped over her notes and continued to type. “Let’s see, I started when I was fresh out of junior college. I was with him for ten years before I hired his wife.”
“You hired his wife?”
Mary Ellen nodded. “I needed to replace myself as his assistant. Seems like such a long time ago. I was pregnant and desperate to leave him in good hands.”
As Mary Ellen finished typing up the notes, Darcy rubbed her palms against her skirt. Why was it that Zach Benson had looked at Darcy the way he had? And why was he so comfortable with Mary Ellen?
Her mouth went dry.
Could it have been this simple? Had fate thrown her into Ed Keller so that she’d get the job at Benson, Benson, and Hart? She’d expected it to take years before she found the people who gave her away. But, as she sat beside the woman who had quickly come to her aid, she began to wonder—were Zach Benson and his assistant her birth parents? Had they hid their secret all these years and now here she was?
Darcy thought she just might get sick.
Chapter Seven
Ed watched as Darcy pulled meat off her bread, set it to the side, and then rebuilt her sandwich. Just a little persnickety, he thought, until she started the process over.
This time he reached for her hand and stopped her. “Is there something on your mind? I bought the sandwich hoping you’d eat it.”
Darcy looked down at the food as if she hadn’t noticed. “I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to apologize. You don’t look so well.”
“I’m very sorry. I have something on my mind, and I just can’t get it to go away.”
When Ed had set the sandwiches on the boardroom table, he’d taken the seat right next to her. It hadn’t been thought out. It had just happened. But he found himself scooting his chair over so he could be close enough to her to touch her in some comforting way.
He rested his arm around her shoulders. “Everything’s all right though? Your dad, he’s okay?”
“Yes.”
“You’re homesick?”
Darcy dropped her shoulders, and Ed pulled his arm away.
“Maybe.” She picked up a napkin and wiped her eyes. “I don’t want to talk about it. Not now.” She reassembled her sandwich. “I’ll be fine by the time we start the meeting back up.”
“You’re keeping up okay?”
“Minus the pen catastrophe, I’m doing great.”
Ed laughed. “Stupid stick pens.”
They’d cleaned up their lunch, and Darcy went back to her desk to attend to the pile Ed had started for her. She decided it was a good thing that she was single and no one would be waiting for her at home. It looked as though the more competent in her job she became, the more work Eduardo Keller had for her.