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#Setup

If Joy hadn’t been certain of Kian’s dedication to learning her management style before today, she was now. He’d spent the day on the floor, talking to vendors, employees, and store owners. When she needed to get off her feet, she’d left Kian in center court to chat with the food vendors. Did she trust him? No more than a mouse trusts an elephant. But Joy trusted her employees and friends, and they’d narc on him without a second thought for his feelings. Everyone knew Lorelei trusted Joy to run the mall more than her own son. She’d never kept that a secret.

Okay, that’s not entirely true. Lorelei trusted Kian; she just knew he lacked the experience or the desire to manage on the ground. And why should he? He carried the Van Adler name. He should be in a corner office with a window somewhere. “Preferably far from Snowcap Ridge,” she mumbled.

It took every ounce of willpower she had to sit at her desk and work rather than go out to look for him. She’d done her part, showing him the ropes as promised. Now he could sink or swim. Though she wasn’t all that worried about it. Unless there was a customer problem or a major utilities issue, people tended to handle their own problems. They did so because they knew management would back them up without fail.

Marci strolled into her office and plopped into her chair. “Hanging in there?”

“Yep,” Joy said. “How’s he doing out there?”

“My covert mission was completed a few minutes ago when he wrapped up a conversation with Boyd at Center Court Coffee. He looks beat.”

Checking her watch, Joy smiled. “It’s barely 5 p.m.”

“Quitting time for him on most days,” Marci said. “He probably hasn’t walked as many miles as he has today in years. We’ve built our stamina. He’s out there as an infant, taking his first steps. It has to be exhausting.”

“Especially when you’ve been set up,” his voice came from the doorway.

Both women looked over at the same time, but Marci spoke first. “I’ll hit the floor so you two can talk.”

Her best friend’s abandonment stung Joy deeply as Marci squeezed past Kian and ran for the hills. When he shut the door behind him, she swallowed nervously. Not that she’d done anything wrong. He got what he’d asked for. Simple as.

“You set me up out there,” he said again, lowering himself into a chair and crossing one long leg over the other. Did she love that he was taller than she was? Yes. That was hard to come by when she was nearly six feet tall, but that was where her love ended.

“I did no such thing. You asked for this little adventure.”

“No, I asked to see your books. You decided I needed this little adventure.”

Leaning over her blotter, she sighed. “True, but you’ve seen the books. You have access to all the financial information for this mall. My books don’t look any different. If you want to know how I run the mall successfully, you have to look beyond the books. That’s what today’s little exercise was about.”

“Did that include finding every person I’ve ever wronged in Snowcap Ridge and sending them to me?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

Shaking her head, she sighed again. “Honestly, you do think highly of yourself. Yes, I spent the last eighteen hours hunting down everyone in this mall you’ve wronged and telling them to harass you upon your arrival. My excellent time-management skills are why this mall runs so efficiently.”

Kian said nothing. He sat there, tapping his fingers on his leg as he studied her. “Was I that big of an asshole in high school?” The words barely left his mouth before he held up his hands. “Don’t answer that. I made this bed, but to say I feel beaten and bruised from that experience is an understatement. Now I understand the saying, ‘being fed to the lions.’”

“If I had thought for more than ten seconds that anyone would have eaten you alive, I wouldn’t have left. With me walking at your side, you’d only hear the positives about the place. I’m sorry the exercise made you personally uncomfortable, but the question to ask yourself is: Taking the personal equation out of it, what did I learn?”

Tipping his head back, he moaned. “Why do you always have to be right?”

“I don’t always have to be right. Sometimes I just am. Though I would really like to know what happened at homecoming in 2014.”

“You and me both,” he muttered, shaking his head. “I figured you had put her up to it, too.”

“Nope. I had no idea she even knew you, since she wasn’t in our class. You tended to stick with your own crowd.”

“Except during Homecoming in 2014, apparently.”

They were both fighting back smiles, and she finally lost the battle, laughing as she shook her head. “I’m no help because I never went to a school dance.”

“Ever?” he asked, leaning forward. “You must have gone to at least one. We didn’t have a big class.”

“School dances weren’t in the budget,” she said, leaving it at that. Let him think what he wanted. “What questions do you have for me?”

Rather than responding, he just stared at her, his face a mask of neutrality, as if trying to figure her out. Good luck, buddy. Even she hasn’t figured herself out.