Finding Mr. Write (Business of Love #5) - Ali Parker Page 0,22

either order a coffee or step aside. I have customers to serve.”

I grinned, stepped out of the way, and crammed my folder of resumes into my bag.

Chapter 10

Wes

Briar wasn’t at her motel room. I’d asked which room was hers at the front desk and knocked, but nobody answered. Presumably, she was out job hunting as she said she’d be.

I wondered if she’d had any luck so far. New York wasn’t an easy place to find employment, especially if you didn’t have a lot of experience under your belt. There were so many other people scrambling to get the same job that those without years of relevant work experience fell to the bottom of the pile and were endlessly looked over until they threw in the towel and packed up and left to start over someplace a little smaller.

Apparently, someplace a little smaller wasn’t Briar’s vibe.

I couldn’t blame her. There was something magical about New York City. I’d always thought so. Sure, it was a little wild, like a concrete jungle, and the people who lived here could be a little animalistic, but once you got used to it, all that was kind of part of its charm.

I got back in my car and started cruising around the block and side streets near the motel, looking for the red-haired girl who’d been strolling around in my brain for the last twenty or so hours. The sun played a game of peek-a-boo behind clusters of heavy dark clouds, but it didn’t rain.

I hooked a left and came to a stop at a red light. As I waited on traffic, I scanned the sidewalk, and there, walking with a grin on her face stretching from ear to ear and a distinct pep in her step, was Briar.

Her red hair was curled in a big mane that stuck out every which way. She was dressed nicely in a pair of black jeans, black ankle boots, and a blazer with a mustard-colored scarf, and her eyes looked dark and dramatic. I did a little double tap on the horn.

Briar looked up as I rolled down my window and called hello.

Her grin broadened and she did a little hop step over to my passenger window, which she peered down into as she stood on the curb. “What are you doing in these parts?” she asked.

“Would it be weird if I said I was looking for you?”

“A bit, yes.”

“Well then, I just happened to be in the neighborhood.”

She giggled softly and shook her head at me. “Smooth.”

I nodded at an open spot near the curb up ahead. “I’m going to park up there. Do you have a minute to chat?”

Briar nodded and stepped back from the window. She made her way down the sidewalk as the light turned green, and I pulled into the open spot just as she arrived. My window was still down so she leaned over and rested her forearms on it as I turned my radio down.

“Guess what?” she asked.

“What?”

“I got a job.”

“You did? Where? When?”

She beamed. “Just now. It’s a coffee shop and used bookstore around the corner called Books and Brews. I walked in and basically begged the manager to hire me and she did! I can’t believe it.”

“I’ve been in that place,” I said. “It’s a cool little store. Congratulations, Briar. That’s excellent news. And a load off your back, I’m sure.”

“You have no idea. Now I don’t have to obsess so much about pinching my pennies.”

I nodded at the passenger seat of my car. “Do you have plans for the rest of the afternoon, or would you care to join me for lunch so we can celebrate this new job of yours?”

Briar pursed her lips and looked both ways down the street. “I don’t know if I should. It might be best if I got things ready for work on Saturday and spent some time looking for a place to live. Once I start working, it’s going to be harder to have time for such things and I want to get a head start.”

“How about we look at rental apartments together over Thai food?”

Briar eyed me with the smallest hint of a smile playing on her dark lips. “You’re persistent, you know that?”

“My agent and publisher would disagree.”

“Agent and publisher? Damn, you’re a bigger deal than you led me to believe last night, aren’t you?”

“A writer never boasts about his career.”

She rolled her eyes but laughed softly. “Right. Of course he doesn’t. You know what? Thai food sounds great.