LITMIR.BIZ

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which he was seated and came close to upending him right off the porch and onto the lawn.

      “What the…!” he muttered as he grabbed a post to keep himself from falling. He scowled at her. “Are you crazy?”

      “Not half as crazy as you are, if you think this is an acceptable on-the-job performance,” she said, facing him down and suddenly realizing why Abby spent so much time annoyed with her.

      “Did you not understand it when I told you last week that you were getting on my very last nerve?” she asked.

      “Chill,” he said. “There’s nothing going on around here.”

      “How could you possibly know that when the phone you’re supposed to be answering is inside? I’ve transferred the reservation line into the kitchen. Get in there and help Gail. If I don’t get a rave review from her when I get back, you’re fired. Is that clear enough?” This time, she simply had to stick to her guns. She wasn’t doing him any favors by letting him get away with this kind of lackadaisical behavior on the job.

      He finally looked at least moderately shaken. “Come on, Jess.”

      “That’s Ms. O’Brien to you,” she snapped.

      He grinned as if she’d said something hysterically funny. “Come on, Ms. O’Brien, you know my old man’s going to have a conniption fit if I lose another job.”

      “Then don’t lose it,” she said and walked away before she said a few more things about his work ethic that he probably wouldn’t understand anyway. If Devlin Forrest complained to Mick about Ronnie being fired, she’d deal with her father. Insolence and laziness were two traits Mick would never tolerate either. She was confident of that.

      Concluding that she needed the fresh air and a long walk to improve her mood, she hiked the mile or so into town, then headed for the bank. At the front desk, she greeted Mariah, then nodded toward the executive offices.

      “Is Laila back there? Is she free?”

      Mariah nodded. “Go on back. Maybe a friendly face will improve her mood.”

      “She’s having a bad day?”

      “Days,” Mariah confided, “but don’t you dare tell her I said so.”

      “Any idea why?”

      “None.”

      Jess walked back to the office that had once belonged to Trace before he’d convinced his father that Laila was the one who belonged in it. Trace had done nothing during his brief stint there to make it his own, but Laila had painted the walls a warmer shade of cream, then added bright splashes of modern art to the walls. The paintings had horrified her father, who thought they weren’t nearly sedate enough for a community bank, but Laila had stuck to her guns. It was the most cheerful room in an otherwise dreary old building.

      Laila, however, looked anything but cheerful, at least until she looked up and saw Jess standing hesitantly in the doorway.

      “I hear the mood is dark back here,” Jess said. “Is it safe to come in?”

      Laila smiled wearily. “Come on in. I promise not to bite your head off.”

      Jess took a seat and studied her friend. “You look worn out. What’s going on?”

      “I’m trying to figure out how to keep some of our oldest customers from losing their homes to foreclosure,” Laila said. “I thought the economy was turning around, but we’ve still got people around here who are struggling. The board doesn’t want to hear their excuses. I’m arguing for compassion and a little ingenuity. I’m afraid I’m going to lose the battle.”

      “I’m sorry. Having been on the other side of a foreclosure notice, I know how awful that is. If it hadn’t been for Abby coming down here to fight for me and straighten out the inn’s finances, who knows what would have happened?”

      “But it worked out for you,” Laila said. “The bank knew you were good for the loan, just like I know these people will make good on theirs if we can just cut them a little slack. Putting families out on the street should be a last resort.” She waved off the topic. “Let’s talk about something else. Do you have time for lunch? It’s been ages since we’ve talked.”

      Jess grinned, relieved that the tension she’d been feeling had evaporated once she was actually in a room with her friend. “I was hoping you’d suggest that. Shall we have Connie meet us?”

      “Absolutely,” Laila said, placing the call and getting Connie’s immediate agreement to meet them at a new soup and salad restaurant that had opened a few weeks earlier. When she’d hung up, she said, “I would have suggested Sally’s, but Will’s bound to be there, so I figured you’d rather go someplace else.”

      “That’s why you’re my friend,” Jess said. “You know me so well. I do want to hear about your date with him, though.”

      Laila regarded her doubtfully. “Really? I thought maybe that was why you weren’t taking my calls.”

      Jess winced. She should have known Laila would recognize exactly what she’d been thinking. “It was,” she admitted, “but I was being stupid. I want to know everything.”

      “And I want to hear about Connie’s date in Annapolis the other day,” Laila said, as she grabbed her purse and they left for the restaurant. “She mentioned he was an accountant. I could have warned her about that. We’re not that interesting, but I didn’t want to scare her off.”

      Jess laughed. “I can’t speak for all accountants, but you are the least boring person I know,” she told her. “Maybe she got lucky.”

      A few minutes later, though, when they were all seated at an outdoor table facing the bay, Connie squirmed when Laila brought up her date.

      Laila regarded her knowingly. “It was a bust, right?”

      “Totally,” Connie said, though her cheeks were bright pink. She hesitated, then said, “I wound up having lunch with Thomas, instead.”

      Jess stared at her. “Thomas? My uncle?”

      Connie nodded. “It just sort of happened. We got to talking about fundraising and stuff, and ended up having lunch. No big deal.”

      But Jess could see it was a big deal. Laila, however, seemed to accept Connie’s explanation at face value. There were a hundred questions on the tip of Jess’s tongue, but she bit them back.

      Connie quickly turned to Laila. “And your lunch with Will? How did that go?” She flushed guiltily, faced Jess and asked, “Are you okay with her talking about this?”

      “I wish everyone would stop acting as if Will and I shared some big romance,” Jess complained. “We didn’t. We’ve never even been on a date.”

      “Only because he thinks you don’t want to go out with him,” Laila said. “That’s what he told me.”

      Jess frowned. “The two of you were talking about me on your date? No wonder your social life sucks.”

      “We were talking about you, because you were like this huge elephant in the room. We couldn’t ignore the obvious. He has feelings for you, and contrary to all your claims, I think you have feelings for him.”

      “I think he’s annoying,” Jess said. “Is that what you mean?”

      Laila rolled her eyes and Connie chuckled.

      “The denials aren’t working for me,” Laila said, then grinned at Connie. “How about you?”

      “Nope,” Connie said.

      Jess was within a second of blowing that smug expression off Connie’s face by blabbing what she knew about Connie’s feelings for Uncle Thomas, but when push came to shove, she couldn’t do it. If there was something going on between those two, she didn’t want to be the one to ruin it by getting the whole family in

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