AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Whoa, when did you decide to hire Sienna?” Rene stared at him for a long moment. “Did you hire Jayna’s sister to get closer to Jayna? What’s going on, Quaid? It’s not like you to make impulsive decisions.”
“Maybe I’ve been thinking about it for a while.”
“If you’d been thinking about it for a while, you would have mentioned it to me,” Rene pointed out. “You are one of the most careful human beings I know. You would have made a decision matrix and gone over all the pros and cons of hiring someone who isn’t qualified.”
“When I’m done, she will be qualified.” He’d been swayed by Jayna’s belief in her sister, by the way she’d advocated for her. He’d liked the fact that she’d trusted him with her sister’s future. It was the first time he’d felt like she didn’t think he was some privileged kid she had to put up with.
“She’s not working at the café anymore?” Landon looked like a puppy who’d gotten kicked.
“You’ll have to excuse Landon,” Armie said. “He’s a glutton for punishment. Sienna doesn’t want anything to do with him but he still goes in every day and moons over her.”
“I do not moon. What does that even mean?” Landon frowned. “Sometimes Armie talks like we’re still in the sixties or something. I expect him to say ‘groovy, man.’ I think she’s cute. That’s all.”
“Well, she’s also got two kids, so she’s serious,” Quaid pointed out.
“None of which explains why you suddenly decided to take on a whole new employee.” Rene obviously wasn’t letting this go.
“Shouldn’t you deal another card?” Quaid was starting to wish he hadn’t opened up this line of conversation.
Armie sat back. “Nah, he’s good. I think we should get to the bottom of this particular mystery.”
Remy nodded. “Oh, yeah. If this is about a woman, we should definitely talk.”
“Uh, I thought we were playing poker.” Landon looked around as though unsure of what was really going on. “Why does everyone care Quaid hired a paralegal?”
“He didn’t. He hired a waitress with nothing more than a high school diploma. One who’s never shown a lick of ambition professionally.” Rene suddenly sounded like he was Sherlock Holmes on the scent of a mystery. “A man as careful as Quaid Havery doesn’t do that unless he’s trying to impress someone. I know I’m not particularly impressed, so it’s not me. How about you, Remy?”
“I think it’s great he’s giving Sienna a chance, but I don’t think he cares what I think,” Remy admitted.
“Anyone gotten a good look at Jayna Cardet these days?” Armie zeroed in on the kill.
“We should be playing poker. What is the sudden interest in my hiring practices?” Yes, he definitely shouldn’t have mentioned this.
Armie pointed Quaid’s way. “Because it’s obviously your turn, brother.”
“His turn?” Landon asked.
“Yes, you’re new here so you don’t know how much hell Quaid can give a man when he finally decides to settle down,” Rene complained. “He put me through the ringer when I fell in love.”
“I’m not settling down.” He barely knew the woman. He wasn’t thinking about playing house with her. Except he was bunking at the office for now, which meant he’d literally invited her to work at his house.
“I would hope not, since we’re talking about Jayna.” Remy’s face settled into a concerned expression.
Quaid knew he should simply agree and let it all go, but he was curious. “Why would you say that? Do you know her? I didn’t think she still had friends here.”
“Sienna was in my class. We were pretty good friends. We even dated briefly, but I liked the hell out of her. My group of friends spent a lot of time hanging out at her place,” Remy explained. “And the one thing we all knew was that her sister hated everything about this town and utterly disapproved of Sienna.”
“I wouldn’t say that. Jayna seems close to her sister. It’s been a long time since high school.” Nothing about the way Jayna had treated her sister today had been condescending. She’d been her sister’s champion. “Jayna was the one who pointed out that Sienna deserved a chance.”
“Hah.” Rene pointed his way. “I knew this was about Jayna. I’ve known since you first asked about her.”
Remy held a hand up. “Look, I just know how she was back then. She always had her nose in a book, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but it was obvious she thought she was better than her sister, and she definitely thought she didn’t belong in this town.”
“Well, she’s not the only one who left for years and years,” Rene pointed out. “I seem to remember a young man who enrolled in the Navy just so he could get out of Papillon.”
“I was getting out of a very bad marriage,” Remy countered. “And then I stayed away because of problems between me and my cousin. When I had a chance, I came home. I don’t think that’s why Jayna is back. I heard she got divorced and got in trouble with her firm.”
“She got in trouble with her firm for turning in a criminal.” He’d studied up on the case that led to all of hertroubles. It hadn’t been hard to find. The New Orleans papers had covered the story extensively. “It would have been easy for her to hide behind attorney-client privilege and call the whole thing a gray area, but she did the right thing. She did the ethical thing and she lost her career and marriage because of it, and now she’s facing a bar hearing on the status of her license. Don’t make it sound like she’s running home because she screwed up.”
