Kiss Me in the Summer - Barbara Dunlop Page 0,14

to do nothing at all.

“You can use my office,” Madeline said.

“I don’t want to put you out.”

“I don’t work Fridays,” Madeline said as she rose and gathered her purse.

“Or Mondays,” Becky said, sounding quite good-humored about the arrangement. “Half days, maybe, Tuesday to Thursday.”

“My eyes get tired,” Madeline said.

“I keep telling you to retire,” Becky said.

“I’m too young to retire.”

Becky shot me an eye roll.

“I saw that,” Madeline said, even though her back was turned.

I smiled at their banter.

“You still need the benefit of my experience and expertise,” Madeline said.

“I can act as a referee for two cat lovers.”

“Better you than me,” I said to Becky.

“What’s your focus in New York?” she asked. “What firm are you with?”

“Corporate law,” I said. “Laatz Wallingsford.”

“Really? They had that . . .” She peered more closely at me. “Oh . . . that was you?”

“What?” Madeline asked.

I knew I was outed. I gave a sigh of surrender. “Yes. That was me.”

“What was her?” Madeline asked turning to look back and forth between us.

“Annalisa LeFroy,” Becky said. “Her dog.”

“What dog?” Madeline asked.

“You didn’t see it?” Becky asked.

“Didn’t see what?”

“It was a disaster,” I said, embarrassed. “One colossal disaster.”

“Did they fire you?” Becky asked.

“Not yet. I got out of town to let everything cool down.”

“Good move,” Becky said. She braced herself on the arms of the chair and rose slowly and carefully to her feet.

I stood too, looking to Madeline who was clearly still curious. “Annalisa LeFroy’s dog, Bangle, jumped out of my arms in the middle of a business meeting and caused a whole lot of chaos. I should have held him tighter.”

Becky jumped in. “There was champagne, broken glasses—it looked like cupcakes and Napoleon squares flying everywhere. There’s a video. It went viral, especially in the legal community.”

“I was hoping it would stay confined to the state,” I said.

Becky cracked a wide smile. “You do know how the internet works, right?”

I’d admit it had been a faint hope. Unless something wackier happened around Annalisa’s life, my disastrous moment would keep making the rounds.

“I take it Annalisa was angry,” Madeline said.

“Oh, yes,” I said. “She was angry. The senior partners were angry. The firm lost a multi-million-dollar account, so everybody was angry.”

“It didn’t look like it was your fault,” Becky said.

“Thanks for saying that. I’ve thought over and over about what I could have done differently.” I should have gathered my courage and held on tighter.

“I saw him try to nip you,” Becky said. “That Bangle has always struck me as a bit of a brat.”

“You mean her spoiled little dog?” Madeline asked. “The one that lives in her purse, with the twenty-thousand-dollar collar and the stuck-up attitude?”

“He also has his own blog,” Becky told Madeline.

“Well, that’s enough to make any dog stuck-up, I’d say.”

I couldn’t tell for sure if Madeline was joking, but I had to agree that Bangle did seem spoiled and stuck-up.

“My office is through here,” Madeline pointed to one of two doors behind the reception counter.

“Sarah, our receptionist, comes in the afternoon,” Becky said. “She prefers part-time, and there’s not so many clients that I can’t manage on my own when she’s not here.”

Madeline opened her office door and stood aside for me.

“The account password is ‘oceanside,’” Becky said.

“Just log in as me,” Madeline said.

“This is really nice,” I said, walking into an unexpectedly spacious office.

Madeline’s cherrywood desk was large. The morning sunshine bounced off its polished top. Her leather chair looked inviting, and she had a matching round meeting table with four chairs. It was about four times the size of my associate’s office back in New York.

“There are controls and thingies on the side of the chair to get it right for you,” she said.

“I’m sure I’ll be fine.” I wasn’t about to go messing with Madeline’s space. I’d likely be gone before the weekend was over, but I’d be sure to give her a full day’s work today. I could only hope I’d be useful for the summer festival tomorrow. Law office work I understood. Summer festival preparation was a black hole for me.

“I’m happy to get started right away,” I said.

“Then I’ll grab the files for you,” Becky said.

“I’ll leave you to it,” Madeline said.

“Thanks for everything,” I told her.

“What thanks? You’re more than covering your room and board.”

“Well, I’m more than happy to do it.”

“Then we’re both getting a good bargain.”

*

The workday passed by quickly. Before heading back to Madeline’s, I decided to stop by Seaspray Park, where the festival was taking place in two