through those notes without him was more than she could bear.
Before she closed the door behind her, she took one more look at the office. Before today, she would have thought it impossible for her to walk back into this space and not fall apart. But she had. She’d not only gone into the office, she’d also gone through the files she and Steven had set up. With a sense of strength she hadn’t felt in a long time, she closed the door and headed back to her makeshift office in the house.
As she shut herself in the front office, she could still hear Jared and Cody. They were either still in the kitchen or had moved over to the family room. Either way, they were busy for the time being, and that left Jenny to work on her new plan.
She sat down at the small desk and turned on her computer. As it hummed to life, she opened the top file she’d gotten from the office. This file contained a list of all the businesses in the area that used Blue Sky’s competition. Nothing had ever come of the list, though not for lack of trying on Steven’s part or hers. What made her think she could succeed now was beyond her, but as she stared down at her calendar and saw how few bookings Blue Sky had, she knew she needed to do something. She started by picking up the phone.
Two hours later, she hung up for the last time. Burying her face in her hands, she could only be thankful no one else was around to witness her stupidity. Humiliation burned her cheeks, made her body shake. It was Sunday. No businesses were open. With her face still buried in her hands, she shook her head, unable to believe how foolish she’d been. Any other businessperson would have known not to try to call today.
Still filled with mortification, she put her file away and shut down her computer. Total and complete embarrassment had her wanting to hide out for the rest of the day. But knew she couldn’t. That was what she had been doing for the last nine months, and look where it had gotten her. She was down, definitely, but not defeated. Tomorrow was another day. Besides, she had an appointment with her nephew.
Leaving the office, she found Cody sprawled out on the couch in the family room watching TV. “Hi,” she said, doing a quick glance around, relieved not to see Jared.
Cody seemed startled. He swung his feet off the end of the sofa and sat up. “Hey.”
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.”
“No. It’s not that. It’s . . . it’s just that . . .”
She sat down on the edge of the coffee table. “It’s just what?”
“Nothin’. Never mind.” He looked a little sheepish.
“If you can’t confide in your aunt, who can you confide in?”
“My best friend Parker.”
“True. But then he doesn’t have the goods on your mom like I do.”
That got a smile from him. “Mom doesn’t like me to have my shoes on the furniture.”
“Yeah, well she always hated it when I borrowed her clothes. Especially her cashmere sweaters. Who knew they had to be dry-cleaned?”
“Aunt Jenny?”
“Yeah, Cody?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Jenny laughed. “No. I guess you wouldn’t. But what I’m trying to say is, be comfortable when you’re here. This house is meant to be lived in. So plop your shoes up on the couch anytime you feel like it. Okay?”
Cody looked puzzled. After a few moments, he said, “Okay.”
As casually as she could, Jenny asked, “Where’s Jared?”
“He said he had to go out for a bit.”
Perfect. “Now about our date.”
“I’m not allowed to date until I’m sixteen.”
“Funny. Funny.”
He just grinned.
“So, have you ever been fishing?”
“No.” He drew the one word out, made the two letters sound more like ten.
“It’ll be fun, you’ll see. We’ll take the rowboat out and—”
“I can’t go on the water, remember?”
This time it was Jenny’s turn to smile. “I’ve got the goods on your mom, remember? If she catches us, I’ll just remind her of a few of the stunts she pulled as a kid.”
“You gonna tell me any of them?”
Jenny gave the toe of Cody’s shoe a playful kick and held out her hand. “Not today.”
By the time Jenny had gotten the small rowboat from behind the hangar and to the shoreline, she was hot, grimy, and rethinking the whole fishing idea. And that was before she’d slipped in the wet