A Place to Rest Part 13

"See you tomorrow, then."

Jori stowed the box in the cooler and went into the employee locker room, stripping off her chef's jacket as she crossed to her locker and retrieved her keys. As she stepped back into the hallway, she noticed a light glowing at the far end.

* 110 *

She hesitated, clinging to hurt feelings over her confrontation with Sawyer. But she'd seen the apology in Sawyer's eyes when they'd nearly collided earlier. So, deciding to extend an olive branch, she returned to the kitchen and pulled down two ceramic mugs.

Ten minutes later, she headed down the hallway again. She braced her shoulder against the offi ce doorjamb and, unnoticed, watched Sawyer as she leafed through a pile of papers. Every few moments she sighed and shoved a hand through her hair. The quiet concentration with which she worked was incongruent with the energy that usually emanated from her.

"Staying late?" Reluctant to disturb her, Jori kept her voice just above a whisper.

Sawyer glanced up. "For a bit. I'm trying to streamline Erica's system."

"How about a cocoa break?"

"That sounds great. Come in. Sit." Sawyer waved toward one of the chairs opposite her desk. She took off her gla.s.ses and dropped them on the desk, then rubbed her eyes.

Jori handed her one of the mugs of cocoa topped with miniature chocolate chips clinging to a cap of whipped cream.

"It's hot."

"Thanks." Sawyer sipped carefully and Jori couldn't tear her eyes from Sawyer's lips as she ran her tongue along them to catch an errant bit of cream. "Mmm, that's good."

"Is something wrong with Erica's bookkeeping?"

Sawyer pushed aside a stack of invoices and bit the end of her pen. "She put a brand-new computer in here last year, yet she uses the same accounting system my dad used for years. It's all on paper when it would be much more effi cient to go electronic."

"It must work for her. She keeps up with everything so well."

"She'd have a lot more hours in her day if she did things my way."

* 111 *

"Can you fi x it?"

"Sure. I could have everything computerized within a week."

"So, why don't you do it? When Erica comes back you can show her what to do. There's no reason not to make both of your lives easier. Is there?"

"I guess not." Sawyer set her mug on a coaster and pulled the paperwork back in front of her. "Listen, the other day, I was frustrated with Erica. But that's no excuse for taking it out on you. So-I'm sorry."

Jori guessed from Sawyer's expression that she expected to be forgiven quickly. And perhaps that would have been easier, but she had opened herself up to Sawyer, which she didn't usually do, so to have Sawyer twist her words and stab her with them had hurt, and she wanted Sawyer to fully realize what she'd done. "I don't share my past with just anyone."

"I fi gured."

"So when you used what I told you to hurt me-"

"I didn't mean to." Sawyer reached across the desk and covered her hand. "It won't happen again."

Jori nodded. "It's late. You should start fresh tomorrow."

For three nights in a row, Sawyer had still been at work in the offi ce when Jori left and was there before anyone else the next day. It had never bothered Jori to know that Erica kept nearly the same hours.

Sawyer glanced down at their hands. The jolt she'd felt when she fi rst touched Jori had settled into a pleasant hum as she stroked her thumb over the back of Jori's hand. Jori turned it over and laced her fi ngers with Sawyer's.

Then Jori rose, not releasing her hand. "Come on. Walk me out."

Sawyer allowed Jori to draw her around the desk. They stood close, hands still clasped, and she stared at the hair curling over Jori's right ear, because she was afraid if she looked in her * 112 *

eyes she wouldn't be able to keep from kissing her. In Sawyer's kitchen when she had asked Jori to give in to the attraction between them, she'd said she couldn't get involved, and so soon after their renewed truce, Sawyer knew she should try to respect that. But while her apology was sincere, part of her wanted to push Jori's boundaries, if for nothing else than the pleasure she knew they could give each other.

"I need to grab my things from the kitchen." Jori's voice was low and a little rough.

"Okay." Sawyer didn't move and for a moment she wondered if Jori was going to.

Finally, Jori turned away, breaking the spell, and headed down the hallway. She went to the cooler and came out carrying a white box.

"Are you going to see Erica?"

"In the morning."

"Take these." Jori gave her the box. "Key lime tarts," she explained when Sawyer gave her a questioning look.

Jori gathered her jacket and keys from the counter, her fi ngers still tingling from holding Sawyer's. When Sawyer had touched her hand, Jori's mind had told her to pull away, but her body had been in charge when she'd laced their fi ngers together.

She forgave herself the moment of weakness while steadying her resolve to avoid involvement.

"Trust me. She craves them. And if she's feeling generous, there are enough for Brady, Paige, and the boys."

"What's the deal, everyone gets a treat but me?"

Jori immediately conjured up a treat for Sawyer but stopped short of verbalizing it. d.a.m.n, can I possibly be around her and not want to fl irt with her? "Be nice to your sister and maybe she'll share."

"Oh, that's too cruel," Sawyer said with a chuckle as she followed Jori to the back door. Jori glanced up as she got in her car and saw Sawyer closing the door. She hoped Sawyer would * 113 *

lock up and go upstairs to Erica's apartment instead of going back to work in the offi ce. And she hoped she could fi gure out a way to stop thinking about how Sawyer was spending her time.

"Here's the delivery schedule and some notes on payroll and suggestions for staffi ng," Erica instructed from Brady's sofa. She tore the top sheet from the legal pad in her lap and handed it to Sawyer.

"Who gave you paper and a pen, anyway?" Sawyer grumbled. "Aren't you supposed to be resting?" While running some errands, she had stopped by Brady and Paige's house to check on Erica.

"I'm delegating," Erica shot back.

Sawyer s.h.i.+fted in the arm chair and scanned the paper.

"Erica, some of these deliveries are at seven a.m. Do you really get up that early after staying to close the night before?"

"You only have to go upstairs after you close. It's not like you have an hour commute."

"Seven in the morning?" Sawyer couldn't remember the last time she was awake and presentable at seven a.m. She calculated and decided that if she threw on some sweats and went downstairs she could sleep until a quarter till.

Sawyer's continued refusal to take her job seriously irritated Erica. But though she knew Sawyer was defi nitely not a morning person, she didn't feel guilty. Maybe now she'd learn to appreciate how hard Erica really worked. "It's important that you check the order against the invoice. Once you accept the delivery we have to pay for the full order whether it's correct or not."

"Okay."

"I mean it. Don't sign off if it's not right."

"I got it, Erica. I'm not an idiot."

"I didn't say you were."

* 114 *

"You're talking to me like I can't handle the simplest task."

Sawyer's voice rose.

Erica matched it. When it came to Drake's, she wouldn't back down. "I'm handing my restaurant over to you. I think it's understandable that-"

"Your restaurant? Yours? I wonder what Brady would think about that." Sawyer stood and backed away from her.

"Brady doesn't have anything to do with this."

"No? Because the last time I checked, this was still a family business."

"It is. But you're so d.a.m.n selective about when you want to be a member of this family, it's hard to keep up."

"I don't have time to argue with you." Sawyer folded Erica's list and stuffed it in her pocket. "I have to go run your restaurant."

"What'll it be?" Sawyer asked from behind the mahogany bar she'd just fi nished wiping down. Their bartender had gotten a call about a family emergency, and since it was only an hour until closing time, Sawyer had told him to go and had fi nished his s.h.i.+ft. By the time Brady, Chuck, and Jori fi nished in the kitchen and found her, she'd closed out the register and cleaned up.

"Give me a beer," Brady said, sliding onto a stool at the bar while Jori took the one next to him.

"Coming up." Sawyer slipped the beer into the opener under the bar and smoothly uncapped it. She pa.s.sed it to him, then opened one for herself and held up a bottle to Jori, questioning.

"Just water, please. Let me guess, you used to be a bartender, too," Jori said sarcastically as Sawyer handed her a bottled water.

She followed the quick, competent motion of Sawyer's hands.

"Just one of my many talents," Sawyer quipped with a wink * 115 *

and a teasing grin. Jori looked away, fi ghting curiosity about the nature of Sawyer's other talents. "Chuck?"

"Nothing, thanks."

Sawyer took a long swallow, then pressed her palms to the bar and leaned forward, her forearms fl exing as they took her weight. "Countryfest starts this week. I expect business will pick up a bit with the swell of tourists in town."

"We usually don't get the crowds that the bars down on Broadway do," Brady said.

"I talked to a friend on the fund-raising committee and have arranged for us to be one of the sponsors for the main stage,"

Sawyer said. "We're having a banner made."

"And you think that's going to bring the crowds in?"

She shrugged. "Couldn't hurt to get our name out there.

After all, maybe they'll get sick of beer and bar food and want a real meal."

"Sick of beer?" Brady punctuated his question with a swig from his own bottle.

"Maybe not," Sawyer admitted. "But we need to be more active with advertising and promotion. They gave me tickets to Friday's concert. Who wants them?"

Chuck shook his head. "I'll pa.s.s. I'm not a big country fan."

"Brady?"

"Yeah, give me a pair. I bet Paige would like to go."

Sawyer slid the tickets out of the envelope and handed over two. She fanned out the remaining pair and looked at Jori. "I've got two left. Want to join me?"

"Sure." Though Jori was uncertain if she should go with Sawyer, she told herself it wasn't really a date since Brady and Paige would be sitting next to them. In fact, it was really more of a work function. She wondered if the lie became less potent if she was aware of it.

* 116 *

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

Friday morning, Jori parked in front of Brady's house and saw Paige kneeling next to the porch weeding a bed of daylilies. Her red-gold ponytail was pulled through the back of a baseball cap that shaded her eyes from the bright sun. The tops of her shoulders, left bare by a navy tank top, were turning pink. As Jori got out of the car, Paige looked up and waved.

"Good morning," Jori called as she walked over. "I just stopped by to check on Erica." She hadn't had time to visit since Erica had come home from the hospital.

Paige pulled off her gardening gloves and sat back on her heels. "She's inside. She's supposed to be resting, but I'd bet money she got off the couch the minute I came out here."

"She's not used to inactivity," Jori said diplomatically. "I need to go to work in an hour, so I'll run in and say hi."

"She's in the family room." Paige turned back to the fl ower bed. "Hey, will you tell her I'm leaving in fi fteen minutes to pick the boys up from their friend's house?"