lived in a single-wide trailer on the Miller Farm; it was part of his pay for being head foreman of the ranch. It wasn’t much, but it was his home.
“No, that won’t do,” Jennifer said distractedly, pulling at her dark brown hair. “I mean, it’s fine and all. It’s just not first-date material. I’ve got it!” She snapped her fingers, excitement lighting up her face. The happier she looked, the more worried Christian got. He was just the foreman of a small family farm. He didn’t fly helicopters or rent limos or wear tuxedos or whatever insane idea Jennifer had just come up with.
But she was also the boss’ wife, and a body didn’t tell the boss’ wife no if he wanted to keep his job for any amount of time.
With a strangled inward groan, Christian waited to hear the plan.
Chapter 8
Carla
Hold it, hold it. What is this? Are you trying to trick me? Is this a kissing book?
~Grandson in The Princess Bride
Friday dragged on like no day she’d ever lived through before. Every time she checked the clock, only mere minutes – sometimes only seconds – had passed since the last time she’d looked.
As insane as it sounded, she was almost getting to the point that she was wishing it was Valentine’s Day.
Almost.
At least on V-Day, she would be insanely busy which would make time fly, but of course, today had to be a slow day for business instead.
She’d actually sent Valrea home early, which she never did – she could always find something for her high school assistant to do – but Val had kept asking her what was wrong and Carla wasn’t sure she could utter, “Nothing, of course!” in a chipper voice one more time.
It was better for her to be antsy without company, she decided, not to mention that paying someone to keep a barstool from floating away wasn’t good business.
Finally! She looked at the clock and saw that it was 6:00 straight up. Okay, maybe 5:58, but who was counting? She put the till into the safe, threw the deadbolt on the front door into place, flipped off the open sign, and headed for the stairs in record time, her feet hardly touching the boards as she flew up them. She ducked automatically as she went through the open doorway at the top, avoiding the steep pitch of the roof. She’d only had to whack her head on that beam one time before becoming a lot more careful about paying attention to where her head was in relation to the roofline.
For the millionth time, she inwardly sighed at the size of her apartment. Yes, it made sense for her to live above her shop in a converted attic to save money, but oh, how lovely it’d be to walk from the bed to the toilet at night without worrying about braining herself on an exposed rafter as she went. A kind-hearted person might call this a studio apartment, but in Carla’s opinion, that was too generous by half. It was probably only slightly larger than the shoe boxes used to deliver the custom-made boots to André the Giant, aka Fezzik from Princess.
As she tripped over Bella who was busy wrapping herself around Carla’s feet, she decided “slightly larger” was her putting on her rose-colored glasses again. Her converted attic was the size of a shoe box for a pair of André’s boots. After all, the giant wore a size 24. In men’s.
“Hi, hi, hi,” she said distractedly, picking up Bella and giving her a quick version of the loving that her kitten always got upon her arrival. Bella didn’t know what a rush she was in, and wasn’t about to take no for an answer. Her rusty purrs filled the cramp space and then she began enthusiastically grooming Carla’s face with her sandpaper tongue.
“Thank you,” Carla said with a laugh. “Now, go behave yourself. I’ve got work to do!” She laid Bella down on the bed, hoping she’d take the hint and settle in there but of course, the playful kitten instantly bounded off the bed and wove herself between Carla’s feet, not content to sit on the sidelines when her momma was home.
“I’m sorry, baby,” she murmured as she washed her face thoroughly and then began meticulously making herself up again. “I promise we’ll play tonight when I get home. I sure wish Leo would come up here and you two could be friends, but considering that Leo is four times your size