AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No car?” He scratched his head. “How did you get here from Denver today?”
“I didn’t.” When he continued to look confused, she helped him out. “I moved here last week. To Blue Haven. There’s an old apartment building within walking distance from here that had a one-bedroom available and I took it.”
“You realize that this job is probationary. It seems a little rash to lease a place when you might only be here for a few more days.”
“I’m not the least worried.” She gave him her most dazzling smile. “I intend on being indispensable to you so there’s no way you’ll send me on my way come Friday.”
“Indispensable, huh?” He appeared skeptical. “And if for some crazy reason I decide this isn’t going to work out, what then?”
He really was trying to be a stick in the mud. “Then I’ll just have to find someplace else to work around here. I’ve come to find that I quite like this town. It’s quaint. Warm. Friendly.” Present company excluded.
“A bit of a culture shock from what you’re used to.”
She was about to ask him how he would know what she was used to when she remembered. He’d spied on her life for days, if not longer. Of course he knew what her life had been like…before.
But it was exactly that before that she wanted to get away from. The expectations, the judgment, the never being good enough.
That was behind her.
Here in Blue Haven, she could have a clean slate. A new beginning, just like she wanted.
“I’m sure I’ll adjust.”
“Sure you will.” He didn’t seem to believe her. And once upon a time, she’d have been as doubtful. But she’d reached rock bottom a few months before, and now anything else would be looking up, no matter how uncomfortable and dirty it might be. Like her apartment.
“So where are you staying?”
“Um…over on Pine and Colgate Avenue.”
He looked like he was trying to figure out where she meant when suddenly his expression turned to disbelief. “You don’t mean the old Morris complex, do you?”
“That’s the one,” she said brightly as she sat down in the chair and booted up the computer.
“That place is a dive. Should have been torn down years ago. You’re saying you live there?”
“I do.” She typed in the office password, the new one that she’d set up last Friday, then pulled up email and the office calendar. “It might not be ideal, but it will work for now.”
He shook his head. “I don’t get it. Your father is one of the richest men in the state. You’re saying he couldn’t help you find someplace better to live? Or a spare car you could borrow?”
Now she laughed. “Hardly. After I shared the news I found a job and was moving out, my father decided to teach me a life lesson by cutting me off. The joke is on him, though. I don’t need or want his money. Not for my needs and certainly not when he can’t bother to help a poor woman with obvious mental disabilities stay in her own home.”
“O-kay,” he said, seeming to actually be thunderstruck by her revelations as he stared at her for a long minute. A strange look crossed his face before he shook his head. “For future reference, I don’t usually open the office until nine on Mondays, and I like to keep Monday cleared for client meetings if I can help it, keep the rest of the week open for on-site investigations, surveillance, or whatever might come up. I’ll get you a spare office key by the end of the day. I’d give you Poppy’s old one, but I had to change the locks a few months ago and replace them all.”
“Poppy? What an adorable name. This was your previous receptionist?”
“Yes. Don’t be surprised if she pops in at some point this week.”
His former employee still stopped in? Seemed odd. “How nice of her to check in on you,” she said. “You two must have been really…close.”
Why would she feel a weird sense of jealousy? Was it because she was worried that Reynolds would always compare her work to his former employee or something more?
“You could say that. She’s my sister.”
“Oh,” she said and nodded, feeling oddly relieved. “Well, I look forward to meeting her.”
“You might not be of that opinion after you meet her. She tends to get a little too helpful sometimes.” He looked at his watch. “I have a new client coming in about twenty minutes, so I’ve got to go review the client brief that was sent over.”
“You already have a client brief? I thought this was a first appointment. How would you already have a brief?”
