Falling for the Billionaire's Daughter - Lori Ryan Page 0,14

whispered since Evelyn’s eyes didn’t open when she walked in the room. She didn’t know if the older woman was sleeping or just resting her eyes.

“I’m perfectly fine! I keep telling Carl I’m perfectly fine and I’ll tell you the same thing. I’ve got a sprained knee not a broken hip.”

Evelyn said all this without opening her eyes so Joy didn’t bother to suppress her smile. Carl rolled his eyes.

“I see that. Both of you!” Evelyn still hadn’t opened her eyes but somehow, the effect of claiming to see something they were doing without using her eyes was utterly believable.

Joy wiped the smile off her face. “I was heading back to my cabin for the evening if you don’t need anything. I’ll be here in the morning with the pastries.”

They were a small lodge so they didn’t keep the front desk staffed at all times. Joy or Carl would cover it when they had people checking in and they usually spent some time there during the day, but the phone was forwarded to Carl and Evelyn’s quarters so people could reach someone when they were needed.

“No you won’t.” Now Evelyn opened her eyes and looked at Carl and Joy. “I’m making breakfast in the morning. The doctor said I can start putting weight on this leg for short stints and I can sit on one of the barstools when I’m rolling pastry out or cooking. I’m perfectly capable of getting breakfast out for our guests.”

Carl and Joy both opened their mouths, but Evelyn held up her hand. She wasn’t the kind of woman you argued with when she put that mothering look on her face.

“Enough. I’ll rest after breakfast and we would appreciate it if you could come up in the morning to help with the serving and clean up but I don’t need you to get pastries in town anymore. As of tomorrow, my kitchen is open again.”

Joy couldn’t help but feel a surge of warmth for Evelyn and she smiled at the woman. She was glad she was on her way to being fully recovered because Joy couldn’t put off moving on much longer. She had been putting off counting the days, but she knew without looking at the calendar that she had another five days in town.

Her throat was a little thick when she spoke. “All right, then. I’ll see you both in the morning.” And if she ran out of there a little faster than she really needed to, no one seemed to notice.

She let herself out of the apartment Carl and Evelyn had at the back of the first floor of the lodge and then out the front door of the building. She started down the walkway that would lead to the small cabin she lived in at the back of the property but then turned, heading for her car instead.

The old Nissan sedan wasn’t pretty to look at and, in fact, she couldn’t even say it ran all that well, but it got the job done for her. She would be ditching it soon anyway. She would leave it at the bus depot when she got on a bus. She would take a few busses and trains before stopping someplace to buy another cheap old beater to get her through the next six months or so.

Maybe this time she’d try for something that didn’t have a patchwork paint job and spots where there was nothing more than primer. Maybe.

The door creaked when she opened it and again as she shut it but the engine started right away and she made the half hour drive to Dillon. The library there didn’t require a card to use the computers and if any detectives came to Breckenridge looking for her, they’d never check the surrounding town’s libraries to see if someone fitting her description had come in to log-on.

She was careful not to set any pattern to when she checked the email account, but it still made her nervous that the librarian gave her a smile and wave, clearly recognizing her as Joy signed in at the front desk. Still, she gave a small wave back and went to the row of computers set between the stacks of books.

Whenever she got around a computer, she always itched to see what was happening with her friends at her old job. The computer had once been such a part of her world before all this had happened.

Her life had changed so dramatically, it was almost head spinning at times.