Sherryl Woods - Welcome to Serenity

“You,” Teresa said, following him into his office. “She wants you. Didn’t I warn you about that the other day? Trust me. I’ve seen that glint in her eyes before. Last time, she was after Ronnie Sullivan, but Dana Sue put a quick end to that.”

He looked up. “Teresa, I’m not interested in gossip.”

But he had been aware of Mary Vaughn’s interest. She’d asked him to lunch. Her offer to show him real estate had seemed like an afterthought.

He had no interest, however, in sharing this with Teresa. “The only thing she’s interested in,” he said, “is selling me a house.”

Teresa rolled her eyes. “Men!” she muttered with a huff. “Your sandwich is on your desk. Ham and cheese on rye. I had ’em add some lettuce and tomato, so you can pretend it’s healthy.”

“Thank you. Give me fifteen minutes before you put any calls through, okay?”

“It’s my lunch hour, too. I’m sending the calls to the answering service,” she informed him.

Better yet, Tom thought. He took a bite of his sandwich and the lukewarm soda Teresa had left with it, then picked up the phone, dialed the number for The Corner Spa and asked for Jeanette. He had legitimate business to discuss and a new strategy for rattling her. He was looking forward to giving it a try.

When she picked up, she sounded frazzled.

“You busy?” he asked. “This is Tom.”

“I’m in the middle of a treatment. Can I call you back?”

“Will you?”

“Of course,” she said, sounding miffed. “Unless, of course, you’re calling to ask me out, in which case, I’ll say no now and save us both the time.”

He laughed. “While I would love to ask you on a date, I’m not sure my ego could withstand another rejection. I wanted to get together to discuss this vendor business for the festival.”

“Really?” She sounded skeptical.

“Cross my heart,” he said. “Howard’s going to be on my case about this any day now and I want to be prepared.”

“You want to meet about business,” she repeated. “In your office?”

She sounded suspicious, but also perhaps a little disappointed. That was exactly what he’d hoped for.

“Or wherever suits you,” he said blithely. “I can come there or we can meet for coffee. I don’t think that could be construed as a date. Your choice.”

She was silent for so long he thought maybe he’d lost the connection. “Jeanette?”

“I’m thinking,” she said. “Come here at six o’clock. We can have some iced tea on the patio. The place is pretty quiet at that hour.”

“You’re going to let me come into The Corner Spa?” he asked with feigned amazement.

“Actually, I’m not. You’re going to come around the outside and meet me on the patio. There will be no males sneaking into this place on my watch.”

“Darn. So close,” he said with not-entirely-feigned disappointment. “I’ll see you at six.”

“Right,” she said, already sounding distracted again.

“Jeanette,” he said, “I’m looking forward to it.”

He was already hanging up the phone, when he heard her shouting, “This is business!”

“Whatever you say, darlin’,” he murmured as he hung up. “Whatever you say.”

“Business!” Jeanette muttered to herself at least fifty times as the afternoon sped by. If Tom was coming over here on business, she’d eat a jar of their most expensive moisturizer. He’d used the festival to get past her no-date rule, the sneak! Well, she was on to him. If he didn’t start talking business five seconds after his arrival, she was kicking him out. She might have to call on Elliot to provide the muscle, but he’d be so out of here.

“You look ticked off,” Maddie said, popping her head into Jeanette’s office just before six. “Anything I need to know?”

She was not about to explain that Tom was coming to the spa for business. Maddie would laugh her head off.

“Nope. Everything’s under control.”

“Okay, then, I’m heading home on time for once. See you tomorrow.”

“Have a good evening.”

“You, too. Any special plans?”

“Just a business meeting,” Jeanette replied, and then could have kicked herself. While she had a certain amount of autonomy in running the spa services, she usually kept Maddie apprised of any decisions or meetings on the horizon. She should have avoided mentioning the stupid meeting at all.

To her dismay, Maddie halted in her tracks. “What kind of business meeting?”

“Not spa business,” Jeanette told her. She sighed. Might as well spit it out. “Christmas festival business.”

Maddie’s eyes immediately got a wicked gleam, which was exactly why Jeanette hadn’t wanted to tell her. She didn’t need the amusement or the speculation.

“You’re meeting with Tom, aren’t you?” Maddie said gleefully. “Good. Maybe you can make amends for the other night.”

“Don’t you dare make anything out of me seeing him tonight,” Jeanette ordered.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Maggie said, grinning. “You can tell me all about it tomorrow.”

Jeanette glared at her retreating form.

On her way to the patio, she stopped to pick up a couple of teas and the last two scones in the case. If Tom wasn’t on time, she intended to eat both of them.

Fortunately for her dress size, he slipped around the side of the building right on the dot of six. He cast a dramatically wary glance around. “Is it safe? Any wild and naked women out here?”

“You are so not funny,” Jeanette said.

“Well, you have to admit that closing a place to men just invites all sorts of speculation about what goes on here,” he said as he pulled out a chair across from her and sat down. “Is one of those scones for me? Preferably the one that has more than three crumbs left?”

She shoved it ungraciously in his direction. “Traditional scone with real currants, not raisins.”

“Excellent.”

He gave her a slow, lingering appraisal that made her blood heat.

“How was your day?”

“Busy,” she said tersely. Then mindful of Maddie’s admonishments, she asked politely, “And yours?”

“Busy,” he echoed. “Mary Vaughn came to call.”

Despite herself, Jeanette bristled. “Oh? What did she want?”

“Teresa says she’s after my body. What do you think?”

“I wasn’t there. I couldn’t comment,” she said more irritably than she intended. It shouldn’t matter to her one darn bit what Mary Vaughn and Tom did. And hadn’t she thought they’d be a perfect match?

“I thought she was there to try to sell me a house,” he admitted.

“Men!” Jeanette murmured.

He chuckled. “That’s pretty much what Teresa said.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“You asked about my day.”

“So, no nefarious reason, like trying to make me jealous?”

“If you’re absolutely certain you don’t want to go out with me, how could I possibly make you jealous?” He actually managed to utter the question with a totally innocent expression.

“You can’t,” she assured him. “That doesn’t mean you won’t keep trying to change my mind.”

“My ego’s far too fragile to keep risking rejection,” he said.

“Ha!”

“Well, it is,” he insisted.

“You swore you were coming here to talk business,” she reminded him. “Talk.”

“I’m not sure I can talk on an empty stomach. Isn’t it time for dinner?”

“I just gave you a scone. That should tide you over for the fifteen minutes you’re going to be here.”

“We’re on a timetable?”

“I am.”

“You are one tough cookie, you know that?”

“I pride myself on it,” she said.

“In that case, let’s get to it.” He snapped open an expensive leather briefcase and shoved a list across the table.