LITMIR.BIZ

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to buy it as it stands?”

      “Nobody, if it isn’t running. That’s the whole point.”

      After a long pause, Deke nodded. “You’re right.”

      Danielle was annoyed. He didn’t have to sound so amazed about it or act as if the admission had been forced from him. “If our best chance of selling the Merry Widow is as a bed-and-breakfast, then it has to be up and operating.”

      Deke shrugged. “All right. It’s true that a great deal of the value of a business is lost in the first few weeks it’s closed. Of course, that’s assuming that it had any value to begin with.”

      Exasperated, she snapped, “So do you have any better ideas?”

      Deke leaned back into the worn velvet cushions and shook his head. “You utterly amaze me, Danielle.”

      There was a note in his voice that set Danielle’s teeth on edge. If he accused her of thinking this up so she could maneuver him back into her life.. Well, the sooner that possibility was wiped out of his mind, the better. She held out a hand. “If you’ll give me the key, I’ll get started. Would you like regular reports or will learning about it on the grapevine be good enough?”

      “Oh, I’m sure anything I need to know I’ll hear about.” There was a tiny twist of irony in his voice, and Danielle noted that he didn’t waste any time digging into his pocket for the small brass key as if he couldn’t wait to wash his hands of the whole problem.

      And she wondered for just an instant, as she stood there holding a key still warm from his body, if she was an utter fool not to have done the same.

      

      The rich scent of roasting prime rib wafted toward Danielle from the Willows as she got out of her car at the farthest corner of the restaurant parking lot. She’d only taken a couple of steps toward the building when Pam’s car pulled in beside hers, and she leaned against a fender and waited for Pam to gather up her belongings

      “Sorry I didn’t call you earlier,” Pam said breathlessly. “There was a crisis at school and Josh ended up at a friend’s house, so I had to go retrieve him and get him to his clarinet lesson. Anyway, I didn’t see any sign at the Merry Widow, and—”

      “It’s there. Right on the front door.”

      Pam sighed. “I might have known you couldn’t stay away. Honestly, Danny...” Her gaze focused on the back seat of Danielle’s car. “Why is there a suitcase in your car? Your father didn’t have another attack, did he?”

      “No. In fact, I expect he’s already here, geared up for the evening.”

      “That’s good. I could just see you having to go off to the hospital with him and me being stuck trying to figure out which people go with which tables. So why the suitcase? Are you eloping after work?”

      “It doesn’t hurt to be prepared,” Danielle countered. “You never know when you might meet the man of your dreams.”

      “It’s especially hard to anticipate the moment when you’re not even looking.”

      “That is a bit of a difficulty,” Danielle admitted. She pulled open the main door and held it for Pam, who was carrying the bank bag and a box full of receipts. She was barely inside the restaurant when she spotted her father in the main dining room, moving two small tables together to accommodate a larger group, and she forgot all about Pam as she hurried to help. “Harry, what do you think you’re doing?”

      “Getting ready for a party of eight,” Harry Evans said. He leaned on one of the tables and smiled at her.

      It was a half-theatrical pose that did nothing to fool Danielle. She could hear the tiny wheeze in his chest, and she wondered if his heart condition was getting worse or if he’d simply been exerting himself more than he should this afternoon. “Dammit, Dad, you know better.” She moved the second table into position, bracing it tightly against the one Harry was leaning on, then slid the chairs back into place. “Let the busboys earn their pay.”

      “Then why are you doing their work?” Harry asked gently. He rearranged the linen napkins and place settings and strolled toward the office. “If you have a minute, Danielle, we need to talk about increasing our orders for next week, to be ready for the strawberry festival.”

      Danielle followed. “And making sure we have some extra help on call wouldn’t hurt, either.” Especially, she thought, since she herself was going to be wearing two hats right then—and both jobs would be demanding ones. She groaned. I think I need my head examined.

      She straightened her shoulders. She was doing what needed to be done after all. And it wasn’t as if she was taking on the Merry Widow as a lifetime commitment, just till the Jablonskis had sorted themselves out or another buyer came along. Which might not be long at all if the strawberry festival was a success.

      Harry Evans dropped into his office chair with a thud, and Danielle frowned. “I don’t have to go tonight, Dad,” she said. She’d intended to study the bed-and-breakfast’s reservation book tonight and try to plan at least a few days ahead. But perhaps she could just stop by the Merry Widow, pick up the book and take it home. “If you need me—”

      Harry grinned “Now that’s the most loaded question I’ve heard in a month.”

      Danielle leaned against the door frame and studied him. His color had come back, and he seemed to be breathing more easily. And she knew better than to treat him like a child. The man was well past fifty, for heaven’s sake.

      Pam stopped sorting small bills into the cash register drawer. “Where are you going? And does this mean I’ll be shanghaied into acting as hostess for the lunch rush tomorrow? Because I warn you, Danny—”

      “Of course not. I’m only going to the Merry Widow.”

      “If they’re closed, how can you check in for a rest cure? Besides, supporting the hometown economy is wonderful, but if I were you, I wouldn’t stop within fifty miles. Too many people can find you if you stay in town.”

      It wasn’t as if there was any secret involved, Danielle realized. By tomorrow, all of Elmwood would know the basics, the shopkeeper who had passed on Joe Jablonski’s message to Deke had no reason to keep her knowledge to herself “I’m going to be running it for a while. Till we can sell it again.”

      Pam dropped a roll of quarters. The paper wrapper split and bright coins spilled across the floor. Danielle stooped to help pick them up

      “Excuse me, but is this a time warp?” Pam asked mildly. “I thought the sale was final almost a year ago.”

      “We thought so, too. But Joe and Kate didn’t have quite a good enough credit record to get a mortgage, so we decided...” Danielle took a deep breath. “I decided, really, that it was worth some risk to give them a chance. So instead of making payments to a bank, they’ve been paying us, Deke and me, every month.”

      “Till now.” Pam sighed. “As your accountant, Danielle—”

      “Please don’t start. You can’t say anything Deke didn’t tell me at the time.”

      “But he went along with it anyway?”

      “I didn’t give him a lot of choice,” Danielle admitted. “The only other serious interest we had was from a group that was going to cut the Merry Widow up into apartments, and I couldn’t stand to see that happen to Miss Fischer’s house.”

      “So you planted your feet and fought.”

      Not all that hard, Danielle reflected. But he knew I would if I had to—and by that time, Deke would have agreed to almost anything to be rid of me. But she wasn’t going to admit that to Pam; there were some wounds too tender to share even with a best friend “After she’d trusted me with it, how could I do anything else?”

      “She trusted you and Deke,” Pam reminded her “You know, I’ve always wondered

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