Anything You Can Do - By Sally Berneathy Page 0,45

both sides rapidly filled.

She didn't want this responsibility. If Stafford knew her decision could be influenced by personal factors...

Or maybe the crafty old fox did know. That would be just like him, to stack the deck.

The pencil lead snapped, and Bailey realized she had been pushing a hole into the paper. She tossed the paper and pencil into the midst of the mess on her desk.

This was all that blasted Austin's fault. He made the offer. Because of him, she was in this unenviable position.

Then it hit. She straightened as energy surged through her. Austin was asking for a merger, and the decision was in her hands. She was back in familiar territory, not the unexplored terrain of the night before. She could talk to him now. Grabbing the phone, she punched in a number she hadn't realized she'd memorized.

"Austin," she greeted when he came on the line.

"Bailey! Hello." His voice sounded excited on the first word then dropped to an intimate tone on the second.

"So we may be in this thing together before long," she said, then explained that the offer had been presented that morning.

"Oh." She'd obviously taken him by surprise, but he rallied immediately. "How's it look? Have they made any decisions yet?"

"We won't vote until Monday. Stafford just presented it to us in a special partners' meeting this morning."

He took the bait. "Partners' meeting? Are you—I didn't think—"

"I know I can trust you to keep quiet for now. My partnership isn't official yet, but of course, I was invited to vote on something so important, especially since there were six partners. That could have resulted in a tie vote." She leaned back in her chair, propped her feet on her desk, waited.

"You're being made a partner? Bailey, that's great. When is the official announcement? We'll have to get together and celebrate." Give the devil his due, he sounded sincere. But then the full impact must have hit him. "Six partners? A possible tie?" He was silent for a moment. "Well, so, what do you think?"

"You know I couldn't possibly divulge that information, Austin, not even to a good friend like you. Firm loyalty and all that, but I'm sure you'll be the first to know when the decision is made. Oh, my client just walked in. I've got to run."

Bailey whirled around in her chair and laughed at the ceiling. "One point for me," she said softly. But even as she said it, she had to admit to herself that her exhilaration didn't derive solely from scoring one on Austin. Oddly, she felt more connected to him now than last night and certainly more comfortable talking to him. Some of her elation slipped away, however, at the thought that she was limited to relating to him on a business level, that she just couldn’t quite get there when they took it personal.

With a sigh she forced her attention back to the matter at hand. The rest of her happiness left as she acknowledged that the problem of making a decision was still unresolved, and Austin's involvement made it more complicated. Maybe she'd best let it ferment, let her subconscious work on it for a while. Get back to her work.

She flipped open the first file on her desk. A lease for Larry Haynes. She ought to dive into it and booby trap the document with all sorts of loopholes he'd never notice until it was too late.

Better shelve Larry Haynes until her mood changed.

The next folder opened to pictures of Candy Miller's wreck with—what was the little guy's name? Alvin Wilson. From the looks of their cars, this wasn't the first wreck for either of them. The background scenery was nice, though. Springcreek Park, as she recalled from the file. A great park to run, though she hadn't been there in a while. Lots of trees, path marked in half miles. A good place to blow out the cobwebs, push the body till it hurt, set the mind free to work out difficult decisions.

Not to mention the park was across town from Austin's apartment. No chance of running into him and having him complicate matters even further.

*~*~*

Bailey chugged along the path, cursing the late afternoon heat and humidity. Though most of the track was shaded from the sun by the thick forest of trees on both sides, those same trees kept out any stray breezes. Even her sweatband was unable to keep the perspiration out of her eyes, and there was no such thing as an