Valentine's Child by Nancy Bush

Author:Nancy Bush [Bush, Nancy]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Romance
Amazon: B00B1HX63E
Published: 2013-01-13T18:30:00+00:00

“I’m sorry, he’s not here,” the pert young woman behind the reception desk told Sherry, her brows lifted inquiringly. “I’m not sure when he’ll be back.”

Jake’s receptionist, Barb, as her nameplate read, eyed Sherry with open curiosity. It occurred to Sherry that Jake’s small offices didn’t invite a large crowd of customers; it wasn’t the nature of his business.

“Would you tell him that Sherry Sterling stopped by?” The words were sawdust in her throat. “I’ll call him later.”

“Sure.”

Back on the street, Sherry reviled her continuing cowardice. She was glad — overjoyed — at the reprise. A bad sign. A bad, bad sign.

With time on her hands and nothing to do but wait, she walked across the street to Crawfish Delish, instantly aware that some crisis was in full swing.

“The chef walked out,” one of the waiters moaned as Sherry took a seat.

“He’s just a cook,” another waiter sniffed. “And a drunk, too.”

“The orders are backed up,” the first one complained in a near wail. “I’m about to quit, too!”

“Need some help?” Sherry offered. “I run a deli in Seattle. I’m not bad at waitressing.”

“Are you serious?” The wailer blinked twice, then rushed to the front counter where five minutes later a woman about Sherry’s age came out to apologize to Sherry.

“I can’t believe they’d go so far as to offer a job to one of our customers!” she declared, flustered.

They stared at each other. Slowly, Sherry realized that the heavyset woman with the bleached hair was none other than her old friend, Jennifer.

“Sherry?” Jennifer asked, blinking.

“Hi,” she answered a bit shyly. “I just keep running into people I know. I guess that’s what happens when you return to your hometown.”

“What are you doing here? Jeez, you look great.” Envy and admiration were mixed together. “Everyone said you’d be a movie star, or something.”

“Or something.” She half-smiled. “Actually, I was serious about the job. I’m just in town for a while, but I feel so useless and when I walked in here, well …” She shrugged. “If you need some temporary help, I’d love to help out. I can cook a little, too.”

“Gerald’ll be back after he gets his knickers out of a knot,” Jennifer sniffed. “But we could sure use some extra hands. All the teenagers are completely useless. Say they’re gonna show up and never do. Kinda like we were, I guess.”

“Are you the owner?” Sherry inquired.

“Day manager. You’ll love this, I took over Julie’s job before she got married and left Oceantides. It really is a small world, isn’t it?”

“Yeah …” Sherry sighed.

“I’m divorced,” Jennifer added, as if Sherry had asked. “How about you?”

“Single.”

“I don’t believe it. I always thought… huh.” She lifted her shoulders dismissively. “The guys all wanted you. I remember wanting to be you, senior year.”

“I was a shitty friend,” Sherry said.

“Yeah. You were.” She broke into a grin. “But we were all pretty stupid about Jake, weren’t we?”

“Hey!” The wailing waiter cried, and Jennifer grabbed Sherry’s hand and led her through the few obligatory forms that allowed her to be hired.

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