Sand Castle Bay (Ocean Breeze) - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,90
smile from him. “I’ve never seen you so worked up about a project before. You usually just roll with the punches and use a little smooth talk to pacify the clients.”
“This job really matters, that’s why,” she explained. “Think about it, Andy. This could be the first time in who knows how long that some of these families have had a Thanksgiving meal without worrying about being slapped around or worse.”
He blinked at her words, clearly shaken. An angry glint appeared in his eyes. “It’s been that bad for them? I guess I didn’t realize that. I mean I knew this is supposed to be a safe house, but for some reason it hadn’t sunk in what that meant.”
“Well, it has been that bad and that’s why we’re going to make this deadline, no matter what,” she told him.
He nodded, clearly on board a hundred percent now. “With maybe a few days to spare,” he promised. “Leave it to me.”
She grinned. “I knew I could count on you.”
He blushed furiously. “Well, just don’t get any ideas about taking advantage of my good nature with any sob stories for your usual clients, you hear?”
Impulsively, she gave him a hug. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”
“Stop that,” he grumbled. “You’re messing with my tough image.”
Emily chuckled as he walked off barking orders at his men, as if to contradict the scene some of them might have witnessed.
“This is going to work,” she said to herself as he went. This place was going to be finished, and it was going to be beautiful and, far more important, a place where at least a few more battered women would be safe from harm.
* * *
Boone walked into his house after work and found a pile of luggage in the foyer and Jodie and Frank waiting for him in the living room. They were side by side on the sofa, clearly anxious to make some sort of announcement.
“You’re leaving?” he asked, working hard to hide his elation.
“Not exactly,” Frank said, casting a resigned look at his wife.
“We’ve leased a house for the winter,” Jodie said. “We want to be here for B.J.’s school play and for the holidays. In the spring we’ll decide if we want to come back permanently.”
“I see,” Boone said, his spirits sinking. “Where’s the house?”
“Just a few blocks away. B.J. will be able to come to our house after school now,” Jodie said, a triumphant note in her voice. “You won’t have to worry about where he is or what he’s doing.”
“I haven’t been worried about it,” Boone said tightly. “He comes to the restaurant with me some afternoons, goes home with his friends some of the time, and is involved in after-school activities a couple of times a week. I don’t see that pattern changing.”
Jodie frowned at his response. “You intend to keep him from spending time with us?”
“Of course not. It just won’t always be right after school,” he responded, determined to keep control of his son’s activities and whereabouts.
“How can you be so inconsiderate and ungrateful?” she demanded. “After we did this to help you out?”
“If you were really doing it to help me out, you’d have discussed it with me first,” Boone replied mildly. “Don’t get me wrong, Jodie. B.J. will love having you here through the holidays. It’s great that you’re going to stick around. We’ll just have to work out the details about when he’s going to spend time with you. Even at his age, he has things he’s committed to doing, things he enjoys.”
Of course, they all knew that the real goal was to ensure that none of those things involved time with Emily. And with this plan in place, there was little chance they wouldn’t cross paths with Emily and find an opportunity to make things more difficult for her and Boone.
Still, in an attempt to pacify them, he said, “As soon as you get settled in the rental, we’ll sit down and work out a schedule of times you can have with B.J. Since things come up, we’ll probably have to do it on a week-by-week basis.”
Jodie opened her mouth to argue, but Frank put a hand on her arm. “That’ll be great, Boone. Come on, Jodie. We’d better take our things over to the new place and get settled. Since we didn’t come prepared for a long stay, we’re going to need to spend a little time shopping for warmer clothes than we brought, too.”