LITMIR.BIZ

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start bidding on state jobs and that idea didn’t appeal at all—not because he hated the unions, which wasn’t entirely true, but because of all the red tape that came with those jobs.

      By the time he arrived at the office, his heartburn had reached four-alarm status. As he burst through the door, intent on one thing—to find his antacids—he pulled up short and choked on what he saw.

      His younger brother Sammy looked up and grinned broadly, daring Dean to yell, and then introduced the woman sitting behind the desk.

      Beth’s desk.

      “Dean, meet our new office manager, Annabelle Nichols.”

      She stood and extended her hand, but Dean wasn’t in the mood to play nice anymore. Too bad for her. And he was going to have one less brother in about two minutes.

      “I don’t remember hiring an office manager,” Dean said stonily, and she withdrew her hand with a nervous glance at Sammy.

      “Aw, c’mon now. Don’t be a jerk in front of Annabelle. There’s plenty of time to show her just how difficult and surly you can be. Why start with the first day?”

      Sammy—ever the comedian. But Dean wasn’t laughing. Sammy had broached the subject of hiring someone new last week, and Dean thought he’d communicated quite clearly his thoughts on the subject. They didn’t need anyone new.

      As he eyed the woman in front of him, Dean realized he must not have been clear enough.

      Ignoring Sammy, he said to her, “Ma’am, I’m afraid there’s been a miscommunication between me and my idiot brother. We’re not hiring right now. I’ll pay you a full day’s wage for your trouble.”

      “Excuse us, Annabelle. This will just take a minute.” Sammy lost his good-time grin and strode to Dean. “I own a stake in this company, and I say we do need someone. Beth’s been gone two years and the business is slowly falling to crap because you’ve refused to hire a full-time office manager. The temp agencies were fine for the short haul, but the constant flow of people that have come and gone through here is killing us. We’re losing too many jobs because of stupid mistakes that wouldn’t have been an issue if we’d had someone like Beth in the office.”

      “There’s no one like Beth,” Dean all but growled, appalled that Sammy would even suggest such a thing. He avoided looking in the woman’s direction but he could smell something fruity in the air—melon, perhaps—probably coming from that long curly hair, he noted with a frown. It was making his nose itch. “Everything’s fine. You’re overreacting.”

      “Bullshit,” Sammy said, his temper flaring. He gestured to the desk that was littered with Post-its, paperwork, bits and scraps of note pages and job sheets. “You couldn’t find a brick on that desk much less anything important, like contracts and subcontractor bids!”

      “All you need is a good file system,” the woman interjected quickly, drawing Dean’s attention away from the need to place his fist squarely into his brother’s face. She swallowed and gestured, her hands moving like little birds as she gathered piles. “And I was just telling Sammy when you came in that I may have an idea that might work to organize your system.”

      “The system’s fine the way it is,” he answered, giving her a hard look, which she—surprisingly—returned.

      “Not from what I can see,” she said. “Your system is cataloged by job number, which makes it hard to find later for reference. If the files were alphabetical, it would be much more efficient and you wouldn’t have a Post-it forest growing on your desk, the surface of which, I might add, has completely disappeared. It’s no wonder you’re losing jobs.”

      Dean sent a quick look to his brother. Sammy had told her about Gilly’s? That was low. Embarrassment at that incident made his heartburn feel like a mild tickle.

      “Yes, I told her about Gilly’s,” Sammy said without a hint of apology, his gaze clear but concerned. “Beth’s gone. We all loved her but we can’t let the family business go down the tubes because you don’t want anyone else to sit at that desk.”

      Dean caught the quick widening of Annabelle’s eyes and he felt terribly exposed. Beth used to keep the office running smoothly. They had been a team: a well-oiled machine that had helped take his father’s company to another level of business. She was not only his wife, but his best friend and business partner.

      No one could replace her. Especially not a woman barely out of her teens. Dean assessed Annabelle with a quick, dismissive sweep. She wasn’t a day over twenty-five, he’d wager, though there was something about her—the way her dark eyes caught everything without missing a beat—that made her seem older.

      “Sorry,” he said to her, as he pulled his wallet from his back pocket. “I said we don’t need anyone else.” Throwing a wad of cash to the desk, he turned on his heel, saying over his shoulder to his brother, “She’s gone by the time I get back.”

      ANNABELLE felt the slam of the office door reverberate, and she exhaled heavily, pursing her lips against the awkward moment sitting between her and Sammy.

      Sammy was married to Annabelle’s best friend, Dana, but Annabelle didn’t know him or his family very well, having only just moved to Emmett’s Mill. Obviously, he’d offered her the job without consulting his brother.

      And now she was in a strange town without a job. If that wasn’t a continuation of the stream of bad luck she’d been cursed with, she didn’t know what else was.

      “Let me talk to him,” Sammy said, his mouth grim. “He’ll come around.”

      “It’s fine. Don’t push it. He seems pretty set in his mind. Besides, I’ve never been the type to stay when I’m wanted to go. Thanks for trying, though. I appreciate it.”

      Sammy shook his head resolutely. “No. I’ll talk to my dad. He’ll get him to see reason.”

      Annabelle shuddered at the thought of Sammy doing such a thing on her account. “God no. I don’t even know your brother, but I wouldn’t much like it if someone tattled on me like that. I’ll be fine. There’s gotta be something else available. Restaurants are always hiring, right?”

      Sammy grimaced. “Maybe. But Emmett’s Mill is a tourist town. It practically shuts down in the winter. Hell, I’m sorry, Annabelle. Dana and I pretty much talked you into moving here on the promise that you’d have a job. I never figured on Dean being such an ass about the whole thing. I mean, I knew he’d be resistant but not this bad…”

      She patted Sammy on the shoulder and scooped up the cash on the desk. “My rent’s paid for the month. I’ll find something else. Besides, I like it here. It’s a perfect town for a fresh start.”

      Sammy smiled but there was worry in his expression. Pocketing the cash, she grinned without showing a hint of the true panic starting to blossom, and did what she could to allay his concern. Dana had married a good man. It wasn’t his fault things hadn’t worked out as they’d hoped.

      If anyone was well acquainted with disappointment, it was Annabelle. But she never dwelled on the past. And as she closed the office door to Halvorsen Construction she considered the unfortunate incident with Dean Halvorsen well on its way to history.

      She paused briefly at her car. For some reason, she’d thought this was going to be the place where she could put down roots. Talk about being way off.

      Family, roots, stability. She snorted. An illusion. All of it. God, when was she ever going to learn?

      CHAPTER TWO

      DEAN HEARD her voice before he saw her. Returning to his double cheeseburger, he tried to ignore the flash of guilt but it had already ruined his lunch.

      Annabelle was talking earnestly to Steve Gerke, the manager of The Grill, and by the look on Steve’s face, whatever they were talking about didn’t bode well for her. Dean pushed his plate away, ready to leave. He signaled for the

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