LITMIR.BIZ

      Chapter 5

      “Mother—please!”

      The fragrance of Matt’s flowers were cloyingly sweet. Jane wished she could ignore them. If only she had windows she could open.

      If only her mother hadn’t called.

      “Mother, I can’t deal with this!” Jane closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. “I’ve got a meeting with my boss in two minutes, so listen to me! Please, quit calling him!”

      “If she offers you the job, refuse it. Tell her Matt would be better.”

      “This kind of help I don’t need.”

      “A smart woman is smart enough to let her man win—at least until she’s got him hooked.”

      “Do you ever read anything that’s been written this century? Your ideas are medieval.”

      “No, your generation is impossible. There aren’t going to be any grandbabies. We’re going to be extinct.”

      “Mother!”

      “But the cards explicitly recommended—”

      “Mother!”

      “I really do see him in your future!”

      “Mother!” Each Mother was louder than the last.

      “Stop shouting. It’s not good for me, you know.”

      Her mother took a breath. Jane glanced at her watch.

      “Okay. All right. But, Jane, if you were half as smart as you think you are, you’d wear those contact lenses I bought you and play more. But go ahead and keep messing up your own life. Just don’t come crying to me when he gets himself snapped up by some floozy, and you realize you’re in love with him when it’s too late.”

      “What?”

      “You’ve been in love with him for years.”

      “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

      “I remember the way you trailed around after him on the playground, always pestering him until he pulled your ponytail or something. Remember the time you sat on his cowboy hat?”

      “What I remember is having to leave home and go to a private, big city high school because he humiliated me. I didn’t get to graduate with my friends.”

      “Lighten up. Not in this lifetime will I forget that kiss last Christmas. You could barely stand.”

      “He probably spiked the punch.”

      “Nobody else was reeling. You can lie to yourself, but you can’t lie to your mother. Do you need me to pick you up this afternoon or not?”

      “No,” she replied wearily, glad her mother had finally changed the subject. “Mindy said she’d do it.”

      “You could get off your stubborn high horse and ride home with him in that dream machine.”

      “He nearly killed me in it this morning.”

      “Helen Geary’s version is way different than yours.”

      When they hung up, Jane got up and ran, shaking, down the hall to Andrea’s office.

      Jane had left her report and fund-raiser material with Andrea earlier, but now she didn’t feel up to the meeting. She felt like yelling and tearing her hair. Talking to her mother frequently did that to her. When she finally reached Andrea’s door, she took a deep breath and counted to ten. Then she counted to ten again before knocking.

      “Come in,” Andrea called from inside.

      When Jane opened the door, Andrea, who was tall, black-haired and slim, rose to greet her. The woman looked stunning in a navy suit with gold at her throat.

      “I can’t wait to talk to you,” she said. “I have some very exciting news.”

      Jane’s heart was already thumping madly as she sank into the chair opposite Andrea’s desk and crossed her long legs.

      “You’re doing a wonderful job. Management loves your ideas.”

      Jane nodded. Then she bit her lips, hoping against hope that she’d been chosen as director of market research. At least then she could quit worrying about Matt’s motives.

      Andrea lifted a folder from her desk. When Jane recognized her own handwriting on the manila cover, she began to tremble.

      “Your ideas for the fund-raiser are fabulous.”

      “The fund-raiser?”

      “They’re both passionate and personal. I want to hear more about your plans for the bake-sale auction Wednesday at the game.”

      “I have some friends who are cooking for free, to raise money for the event. And then—”

      The door behind them opened.

      “Sorry I’m late,” Matt said as he strode inside and sat down beside Jane.

      Andrea picked up another folder with lots of messy inky-black swirls and leafed through it. “I hope you don’t mind taking on a partner in your fund-raiser project this late.”

      “I—prefer—”

      “A very talented partner,” Andrea said quickly, glancing at Harper. “Matt approached me on this…this morning.”

      “Oh, really?”

      He was smiling with boyish mischief. Only, the charming smile that could make her heart do flips caused a very different reaction under these circumstances. If he’d been wearing his favorite Stetson, she would have snatched it and sat on it.

      “I don’t need a partner.” Jane’s voice was calm, but she knotted her hands in her lap so she wouldn’t be tempted to lean forward and pound Andrea’s desk, or better, his head.

      “His ideas for the fund-raiser are almost exactly like yours.”

      “How absolutely amazing,” Jane said, smiling tightly as she remembered her folder that had gone missing.

      “You and he both live in the same town. I’ve decided to put you on the same committee to raise this money. Matt says he’s totally free the night before and the night of the fund-raiser.”

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