I stopped by Carolina’s first to shower and change, then wound my way up to a mountain subdivision until I came to a gate that opened when I pulled up to it.
“Of course they live in a mansion,” I thought, enjoying the view of the town from where I parked the car on the side of the circular driveway.
The home was large but not really a mansion. It was the view and the large pond to the side of the house that made it impressive. I wondered if that was where Burris went fishing. There was a small dock with a boat.
Greg opened the door as I approached and pulled me into a hug and a kiss.
Thoughts of telling them they were coming on too strong evaporated.
“Can you stay for dinner? Bryan is coming to give a report but we’d love it if you’d join us.”
“Sure.” My plans went off the side of the mountain with my resolve.
Chapter six
Burris
“This is a wonderful surprise,” I said, noticing the rings under Anelya’s lovely brown eyes.
I hugged her and kissed her lips softly. “Long shift?”
“Yes, but I really like the team.”
“We want to hear all about it. I was grilling salmon and burgers out back if you want to hang out with us. Or do you want Greg to give you a tour?”
I glanced at Greg.
“Why don’t I grab you something to drink, and you get comfortable on one of our chaise lounges out there by the pool? We can do the tour later.” Greg motioned towards the back.
We could see she was exhausted, and she seemed like she wanted to tell us something serious. I hoped she didn’t come to tell us she didn’t want to date us. Maybe the idea of dating two guys seemed too much.
“This is lovely,” she said, stopping at the back door. She gazed at the view of the pool and down to the pond, and over to theoutdoor kitchen, where my food was sizzling. I hurried over to tend to it.
“Get comfortable,” I motioned to one of the soft loungers in the shade of the porch.
She hesitated, then sat, pulling off her sandals first before stretching out her legs. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes.
By the time Greg came out with strawberry lemonade, she was asleep.
***
“My cousin said she did a great job,” Rhonda said from the outdoor dining table an hour later as she, Bryan, Greg, and I ate. “She did say they had a lot more calls than usual.”
Anelya was still asleep.
“I don’t want to disturb her. If she stays asleep, we’ll bring her inside,” Greg said.
I nodded. “Bryan and Rhonda, why don’t you catch us up on the investigation in the meantime?”
Bryan took us through all the employees on the sales team that he’d met with. “No one said or did anything unusual. I wasn’t really expecting anything right away, but I thought maybe someone would do a hard sell. There was nothing like that.”
“No one works on commission,” I said. “I changed that from my stepfather’s time. Speaking of, he was one of the few who couldn’t attend the meeting. He did email from the cruise he is on with my mom and said he’d be happy to talk to you when he is on land again in a few days, Rhonda.”
She nodded. “That would be great. I know you’ve been keeping him informed.”
“He was always secretive about parts of the business,” Greg said. “It would not surprise me if he had ideas about who might be behind this, or if he remembered something similar that happened in the past.”
***
