Because of Audrey. Mary Sullivan

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ able to visit her gravesite, saying goodbye yet again, this time permanently... He couldn’t do it.

      Then he’d come home and all of this weird behavior had started, the panic attacks and anxiety, the suffocation.

      So then he’d thought he would hire a good manager to take over. But now, with the letter from this woman, and more and more demands on limited dollars, he had to consider that maybe it was time to just sell.

      Panic clutched at him again. If having Dad declared incompetent made him nauseous, the thought of how disappointed Dad would be if he sold the company rather than keeping it and running it himself as part of his heritage made him positively ill.

      “Hilary,” he called.

      Seconds later she stood in front of his desk. She was nothing if not efficient.

      “After the men finish the renovations for the day, have all of the employees gather in the office.”

      Hilary waited, but Gray didn’t explain. He knew he needed to make changes and he knew the staff should be told, but he had to confirm everything with Arnie before he spoke. He and the accountant could hash out details this afternoon.

      * * *

      AT LUNCHTIME, AUDREY closed her floral shop and walked down Main to the Sweet Temptations Bakery and Café, resolutely avoiding thinking about that disturbing incident with Gray. He’d been strange, almost unbalanced, but still so handsome, so smoothly...right.... With those pale gray eyes so striking against his perfectly tanned skin, it almost hurt to look at him.

      There’d been that brief moment when he’d let his guard down, when he’d been petting Jerry, his expression tender and almost wistful.

      Then he’d turned hard. She disliked that version of the man with all of her heart.

      A movement in the window of Enchanté caught her attention, Marceline waving and gesturing toward a black teddy with pink polka dots and pink bows. Oh, so cute. Oh, so sexy.

      She couldn’t possibly afford it.

      Audrey had dresser drawers that overflowed with basques and silk knickers and corsets. Oh, she loved lingerie. She’d been diligent in her search for amazing undergarments at excellent prices. With her full figure, she needed good support and quality material. So much beautiful French lingerie. So little space, time and money.

      And no one to wear it for. She did wear it, though, every day, but, oh, it would be lovely to have someone to whom she could show it off.

      She shook her head and mimed drying tears from the corners of her eyes, making Marceline smile, and walked on. Someday she would share her favorites with a special someone.

      At the café, she ordered a couple of soups and sandwiches then carried lunch along Main to the Army Surplus.

      When she stepped into the store, she breathed deeply of the mothballs and incense that made up her friend’s unique scent.

      “Noah?” she called.

      He came out of the back carrying a pile of boxes, bobbing up onto the balls of his feet in his signature walk that kept him looking young and boyish, one of the things she adored about him.

      He bussed her on the cheek. She didn’t return the favor. Noah didn’t like lipstick. She giggled and thought of doing it anyway, of leaving a big swath of red gloss across his cheek, but suppressed her inner imp.

      “What did you bring today?” he asked.

      “Tomato garlic soup and pastrami on rye.”

      “Hot mustard?”

      “You got it, cowboy.”

      Noah smiled, cleared off the counter and pulled up a couple of stools. He retrieved their bamboo reusable cutlery from a drawer and handed it to her while she set out their lunch, the routine comforting. They might as well be a married couple.

      And don’t think she hadn’t wondered many a time whether she should be marrying Noah. He suited her perfectly. She couldn’t ask for a better friend. Too bad that she wanted more in a relationship than this easy friendship.

      “Want to go to a concert in Denver?” Noah asked. He named a date in October when a band they both liked would be performing.

      “You bet.”

      It was a pair of young Swedish women with old souls, throwbacks to sixties hippies, and their music resonated with Noah. They were also insanely talented and very young.

      “How can they be successful at such an early age?” she mused.

      “Adolescence lends itself to creativity. You remember how creative you were back then.”

      Yes, she did. It had been a magical time.

      And so painful.

      She’d had no female influence to guide her into womanhood. Mom had already been dead for nearly ten years. Audrey remembered being confused, with a body that was blossoming too quickly, too early. She’d hidden her loneliness under a tough veneer and her burgeoning breasts and hips under big clothes.

      Dad hadn’t had a clue how to help her.

      “Those girls in the band were probably supported by their parents.” Noah threw his sandwich wrapper into the recycle bin. “Imagine where you’d be today if your dad had supported your interest in flowers instead of pushing you into geology.”

      “He only wanted what was best for me.”

      “I know, but only you could decide that. Not him.”

      They’d been through this argument before, so Audrey said no more. Nothing either of them said would change the fact that she’d worked in an industry she shouldn’t have for too long.

      She was where she needed to be now, though, and just in the nick of time to take care of Dad.

      Noah seemed to understand and changed the subject. “How did the standoff go at the greenhouse this morning?”

      “Fine,” she answered. “Gray didn’t even know his father had sold the land to me.”

      “Figures. Dude just wants to make money so badly.” He pointed his wooden spoon at her. “You watch out for that guy. He’s a corporate snake in the grass. I don’t doubt he can get down and dirty when he needs to.”

      “Relax, Noah. The sale was legal.”

      “I don’t trust him.”

      “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”

      Audrey smiled, but Noah didn’t return it, and that chilled her.

      “Listen, Noah, I dealt with plenty of Gray’s corporate doppelgängers in my previous job. I can be as tough as I need to be.”

      “Yeah, but—”

      “No ‘buts’ about it. Seriously. I can take care of myself.”

      “I СКАЧАТЬ