By Narcissa Lyons

Chapter One

Garrett Darrs walked quickly and resolutely to the car waiting for him on Lexington Avenue.  Although his usual gait was one of a casual confidence, his eyes fixed ahead of him, today was miserable and he just wanted to reach his car.  He didn’t believe in umbrellas, perhaps stupidly to his admission, so he bowed his head in the rain with the Wall Street Journal doing its best to shield him from at least the bad news of rain.  He was grateful that Nick was on time, because let’s face it, Nick was never on time.  Nick, his driver, was a bad judge of traffic, a bit off with general direction, and prone to too many newsstand discussions that did not involve looking at his watch.  Garrett had occasionally thought to oust him from his employment, and often wondered how Nick had made it long enough for Garrett to come to like him, but couldn’t really bring himself to do it.  He didn’t know if it was because he liked Nick (and Nick always made sure he had a cigar for Garrett whenever the moment required one), or whether he was convinced Nick would not likely be hired by anyone else.  But it didn’t matter today.  Nick was right there, his head hidden by paper news. Garrett opened the back door and stepped in (Nick did not open the car doors since he was usually late so Garrett would do it, and then Nick invariably forgot about that small but essential service). Continue reading →