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Kyle chuckled. “Don’t sweat it.”
“Thanks. I’ll, uhm, see you guys later then.” Slipping past them, she headed for the door.
“Yo!” Luke called out.
She paused to peer back at him.
He lifted his chin, eyes boring into hers. “Look both ways, Bird.”
With a little huff, she raised her hand and splayed her fingers in an awkward attempt at a shaka. Then she slipped from the room.
Several seconds passed before Luke realized he was just standing there staring at a closed door. He glanced over to see Kyle eyeballing him.
“You good, man?”
Ignoring the pit of concern in his stomach, Luke worked up a smile for his friend. “Yeah, brother, I’m good.”
Chapter sixteen
Andywassonotgood.
Apparently, her father had managed to steal away from all the sight-seeing long enough to sneak in a business call. Glancing at the messages she’d received from him at Luke’s, Andy winced.
Dad:I just had an interesting conversation with Dave Peters. I’m heading out to dinner with your mother. Should be back by eight. Then you and I will have a conversation as well.
Dad:An honest one, Andalise.
“Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!” Andy swore as she paced the length of her bedroom.
Petals — in a similar display of agitation — darted from one end of Andy’s desk to the other. The bird knew as well as she did the jig was up. Now, all there was to do was wait for Timothy Whittenbalm to finish his meal before he called to chew her ass out.
Timothy Whittenbalm — being the punctual man he was — did not make her wait long. At precisely five minutes to eight (Paris time), Andy’s phone rang.
Expelling a nervous breath, she accepted the call. “Hi, Dad! How was your meal? What did you order? Did you try the escargot?” Maybe if she side-tracked the man with idle conversation long enough, he’d forget about this “honest” one he wanted to have.
“It was fine, I had the filet, and no, I did not sample the snails.”
“Ugh, I know, right? Who wants to eat those slimy little suckers anyway? I don’t get the appeal. And all that work having to dig them out of their shells? Remember that scene inPretty Woman?”
“Pretty bird, Andy, Pretty Bird!”
Petals remembered it.
Timothy Whittenbalm didn’t seem to be in a cinematic mood. “Andalise…” he said, drawing out every syllable with a great deal of censure.
“I was going to tell you,” she responded in a small voice.
“I would have appreciated the heads-up. Imagine my surprise when I called to officially congratulate my daughter on her promotion to store manager of the Delta Boulevard location only to find out she no longer works there.”
Andy hung her head as her father carried on with the ass-chewing.
“Imagine my further surprise when I rang Dave and was informed you’d canceled your interview with him just hours prior to it. And that you’d told him you’d received another job offer.”
“That’s true,” Andy mumbled. “I did.”
“You received another offer?”
“Uhm… well, no. It’s true that I told him I did.”
