Mythe: A Fairy Tale by P J Gordon

explained, standing to go as well. “You can leave your computer here if you want, Manda. We’ll come pick it up after we eat.”
    So it happened that, far from maintaining a prudent distance from Richard, Manda found herself enjoying a pleasant and leisurely breakfast with the two brothers and their manager. During their meal Josh, with an occasional aside from Richard, entertained her with stories about touring and amusing encounters with their fans. Manda lost track of time and before she realized it she was late for work.
    “Darn it!” she exclaimed when she looked at her watch.
    “I’ve got this,” Richard told her as she reached for the check. He ignored her protests, handing the waitress a number of bills with instructions to keep the change.
    “Next time I’m buying,” she declared, standing to go. The three men stood with her. “Sorry to run off. Thanks for breakfast. It was fun.”
    “Your computer,” Josh reminded her. “You left it in our room.”
    “Darn it!” she exclaimed again.
    “Why don’t you go on to your office and we’ll bring your computer up to you?” Richard offered.
    Manda hesitated uncertainly. “Do you mind? If David gets there before me I’ll never live it down.”
    “We can’t let that happen,” Richard chuckled.
    Josh took her by the hand and pulled her toward the door. “Well, hurry up. We’re wasting time.”
    A few minutes later, Manda was stashing her purse in the bottom drawer of her desk. Josh had dragged her, half running, across the street and into her building, where he delivered her onto an elevator with the promise to bring her computer right up. Much to her relief, David still hadn’t arrived when she got to their office. Manda was always at least a little early getting to work in the morning, and David teased her regularly. “One day you’ll be late. That’s how I’ll know you’ve finally gotten a life!” He would torment her unmercifully if she were late today—especially after whatever it was he’d said to Stacey to make her stop fawning over Richard. Get him fired indeed!
    Luckily, David was running uncharacteristically late. He usually arrived right at eight o’clock, but it was twenty past when someone knocked on the door. When Manda opened it, Richard ducked in carrying her computer bag. He guided her swiftly to her office with a hand on her elbow and sat the bag down on her desk.
    “Hurry. Josh was stalling David downstairs but they’ll probably be here any minute.” His eyes sparkled and he sported an amused grin. Manda laughed in delight and quickly unpacked her computer.
    “You are a gentleman and a scholar, Richard Raines,” she chuckled, clicking her laptop into the docking station on her desk.
    “Well, I owe David after his little comment to Stacey Saturday night,” he explained with a wink. Manda fumbled with the computer bag as she reached up to put it into an overhead cabinet and Richard caught it deftly when it slipped from her hands. So Richard had heard David’s little remark. Oh, he was so going to pay! “Just for the record, you don’t have to fire him because of his girlfriend—no matter how much she ‘drools on my shoes’. I’m used to it unfortunately, and it takes a lot more than that before I’m annoyed enough to have someone fired,” he joked.
    Manda breathed a silent sigh of relief. Richard had interpreted David’s teasing as a shot at himself. She would still make him pay, but maybe not so painfully.
    “Sorry to be a nuisance, but I just wanted to go over those ideas with you first thing,” Richard said abruptly, just as the door opened and David and Josh walked in. Manda had a brief moment of confusion, but Richard winked at her and she had to suppress a smile when she caught on to his misdirection.
    “No, I’m glad you came by. I appreciate your input,” Manda countered.
    “Morning, M,” David said. He and Josh leaned against the doorframe of Manda’s office. “Sorry I’m late, but I ran