Chapter 45
Pandora pulled her clothes on quickly and then turned to the door. “I’m dressed,” she called out, moving back to her mirror to touch up her makeup and hair.
“You look nice,” Benjamin said as he bent down to look in the mirror. He pushed his hand through his hair, trying to fix it.
“Comb?” she offered, handing one to him.
“Thanks,” he smiled, taking it without reserve.
Her eyes flickered to his as she watched him comb his hair. Putting her own in a messy bun, she moved to put on her jewelry for the day.
“What?”
Some of her jewelry had been moved. She looked at each of the boxes and right away, she knew there were pieces missing.
“What’s wrong?” Benjamin asked softly as his hand touched her back.
“This looks like it has been touched,” she said, pointing at her boxes of jewelry. “And there should be more? She turned and looked at him, to find that he was frowning, looking down at it.
“Could your husband have moved it? Maybe you put some of it someplace else?”
Pandora shook her head at him. “My grandma’s set is not here and I wore it not that long ago,” she gasped out and started to move more of the things around. “I don’t give a shit about the other stuff, but that has to be here.*
She opened each of her boxes in hopes she may have changed the boxes it was kept in, but it was nowhere to be found.
“Pandora, Benjamin whispered, taking hold of her hand with his. “Calm down.”
She shook her head vehemently. “I can’t, it’s gone. She helped raise me when my mom left she… she and Nina were my mother figures. It’s all I have left of her.
“It’s okay. It has to be here,” he reassured her and then looked down at her other stuff. “But call your husband first, maybe he took it to get cleaned or fixed. Are you sure you didn’t put it someplace else?”
Pandora let out a shaky breath. Benjamin was wrong. Derrik had never done anything like that for her. And she remembered putting it elsewhere. “What if it was stolen?” she said mostly to herself.
“Has anyone had access to it? Been up here?”
She shook her head before a thought struck her. Then she nodded. “There was one person but he is a cop and I know it was here after he came by!” she explained.
“And what about me?”
Pandora’s lips pulled down into a grimace and then she glared. “I know you didn’t take it.”
A small smile played on Benjamin’s lips. “Has anyone broken in?” She said no. “Then it should be here somewhere, right?”
“You’re right,” she exhaled all the stress built up in her body. Still, she felt like there was something wrong with her jewelry not being there.
“Be calm and check all the possibilities before stressing. If the missing pieces don’t turn up, then report it.”
“I have a security alarm, and it would have gone off if someone had broken in or tripped it!” Benjamin hummed but it didn’t seem like he agreed with her.
“Time to go. I have no tie for this,” she said, pulling back from him. She looked at her watch and almost screamed when the clock read eleven. “I have to get to work quickly.”
“Breakfast first,” Benjamin insisted, keeping one of her hands and leading her down the stairs.
TI don’t have-”
Benjamin covered her mouth, stopping her from finishing what she was saying. “Make time,” he ordered. “You are already late, what are ten more minutes going to do?”
She stared at him flabbergasted as he sat her down at the kitchen table. He moved around her kitchen as if he had been cooking in it forever.
“A hastily put–together breakfast,” he commented with a tinge of dissatisfaction as he placed a plate down in front of her. It had a fruit bowl and toast. With it a glass of milk. She smiled at the plate and then at him, noticing that he had prepared some toast and coffee for himself.
They ate in silence, both seeming to glance at one another from time to time. The questions for him were on the tip of her tongue. She wanted to know what had happened the night before, but she didn’t want things to become awkward between the two of them.
Benjamin cleared his throat when she finished. “I need to get going,” he announced, sounding disappointed. “But I will be at your office around three.”
She walked out of the house with him. She got in her car and watched as he slipped into his. She waited until he drove off, and then took off herself.
“FUCK!” she yelled. “I don’t have insurance. God damn it!” She exhaled deeply, knowing she needed to calm down and get to work before she could deal with insurance.
She sighed with relief when she parked at work. She hated driving without insurance. And this was the first time she had ever done it. Walking into the office, she grunted at the pile of work sitting on her desk, waiting for her to finish them. “Car insurance first!”
She called the agency and demanded to speak to the manager. She sounded like a Karen, but she had no other option. It took over an hour before her insurance was covered and they even gave her two months of free services because of the mishap with the cancellation.
The supervisor seemed horrified by the fact that her car had broken down on a rainy night and the customer service agent had hung up on her. The fact that she was pregnant seemed to make things even more worrisome for the supervisor. Once Pandora ended the call, she pulled out the first file on the desk and began working.
“Pandora.”
“Yeah?” she answered without looking up.
“I take it I was right and you haven’t gotten away for lunch yet.”
Pandora frowned. She looked up and found Benjamin standing at her office door. “Go and pee in this,” he said firmly, holding out a cup to her.
