Small-Town Dreams and The Girl Next Door: Small-Town Dreams / The Girl Next Door. Kate Welsh
to die. He guessed that counted. “Yep, sure have. I’m told it’s part of my charm. Now about those tennis shoes…”
She made a face that spoke of exasperation. “Oh, all right. But I insist on paying you what they cost.”
“Not necessary,” he told her, shaking his head.
She arched a delicate eyebrow, then looked around the shop. “Where did you say those skirts are?”
Joshua rolled his eyes and laughed. “And you call me stubborn. I’ll tell you what—you can pay, but only half. I’ll put the money in the till here at the shop. Like I said, the only reason she hasn’t put them in the shop already is that she’s worried about hurting my feelings.”
The bell over the door tinkled again, and Joshua turned to see Irma entering the shop, overburdened with a bundle. “Ma, what on earth possesses you?” he scolded as he rushed to her side. “Why didn’t you call me? I’d have run down to pick this up.” He took the bundle from her and dropped it on the wide counter.
Irma smacked him playfully on the arm. “Will you stop coddling me? It was more cumbersome than heavy, which you know by now since you snatched it from me! Miss Maria sent them down. There’s only a fluffy bedspread and a few dresses she’s worn to her shows in there. She promised there wasn’t a speck of paint on any of them. Maybe Miss—” Irma turned toward her latest stray “—I’m sorry, I never got a name.”
“Cassidy Jamison,” she said, and put out her hand to shake Irma’s. “I appreciate all your help, Irma.”
Irma reached out hesitantly and shook Cassidy Jamison’s hand, looking as if she’d just encountered an alien. Joshua grinned. Irma would have been more comfortable dispensing a bear hug. Most of the ladies of Mountain View hadn’t really caught up with the times. He knew that businesswomen always shook hands these days, but he doubted many of the residents around there were used to the gesture.
He frowned. This was the one thing he hated about outsiders coming to town. They always brought their way of doing things with them, and he understood those little social nuances without knowing how.
“Josh, are you okay?”
He snapped out of his troubling thoughts and realized that at some point he’d sunk onto the high stool behind the counter. Irma had come around to the back and stood in front of him cupping his cheek. Obviously worried, she stared into his eyes. Anxiety and hope warred in her lined face. He shook his head. “Thinking. That’s all, Ma.” He shrugged. “Just knew something I shouldn’t.”
And Irma nodded. Her lips still pursed with apprehension, she turned to Cassidy Jamison, who was staring at them with a puzzled look on her pretty face.
Embarrassed, Joshua pretended sudden interest in the large bag Irma had carried in. Then he remembered the tennis shoes.
“Ma,” he called to Irma, who had directed Cassidy’s attention to a second pair of jeans, “remember those tennis shoes I bought you for Mother’s Day?”
“Oh…ah…I’ll wear them next summer, dear. I promise.”
Joshua chuckled. “Now what would Henry say if he heard his wife tell a huge whopper like that? Ms. Jamison needs more practical footwear while she’s here if she’s going to survive for the next few days. And she’s your size. I figure this is your big chance to get rid of them gracefully.”
Irma grinned. “Oh, in that case, I’m sure I could part with them for such a worthy cause.”
“No, really. It’s fine,” Cassidy said quickly. “I’m sure I can manage.”
Irma patted her on the shoulder. “Don’t you pay a bit of attention to our teasing. Much as I hate to admit it, the tennis shoes just aren’t me.”
“Then I insist you let me pay you for them. That way you can buy yourself something to replace them.”
“Dear, there’s nothing on this earth I want that I don’t already have. I think that’s why Josh was so desperate when he bought them. Why don’t you look around some more? Take whatever you think you might want and try them on in your room. We can settle up when you pay for your stay. I know you were hoping to lie down. I’m going ahead to get dinner heated up. Joshua, will you show Ms. Jamison to her room when she’s done here?”
Joshua watched for the next several minutes as Cassidy Jamison added to her growing pile with surprising enthusiasm. “Goodness,” she exclaimed when the stack started to slip, “I can’t believe I found so many things I like.”
“Here, let me take those for you,” he said, coming out from behind the counter again.
“If all this fits me, I’ll need a suitcase when I leave.” She laughed, turning over her burden to him. “Where do all these things come from?”
Joshua blinked. Why had her laughter made his stomach knot? And was that an electric shock that he felt when she touched his arm? He frowned. He’d been feeling funny on and off since he’d first laid eyes on her. Supremely confused, he forced his thoughts off his reaction to her and on to her question.
“I got hold of some barrels and put them in the resort hotels and ski lodges within an hour’s drive of here. You wouldn’t believe the stuff people leave behind and never bother to claim. In fact, we have one or two suitcases in back if you want one. I think Henry put five-or ten-dollar price tags on them.”
Cassidy nodded. “Sounds like a plan. If I need one, we can add it to the tally for the clothes. And the amount those tennis shoes cost you.”
Joshua grinned. “Didn’t we agree that you’d only pay half what I did?” he put in with a raised eyebrow.
She folded her arms across her chest. “Half, if you give me the real price. I’ll know if you try to undersell.”
“They were a hundred and twenty dollars. Now, aren’t you sorry you asked?”
Cassidy smiled, though she looked pained. “The shoes I’m wearing cost three times that much and they have to be the most uncomfortable footwear I’ve ever had. I hate them. Believe me, the tennis shoes will be a bargain at twice the price.”
Joshua tossed her selections into a big trash bag, then slung it over his shoulder to haul it to the Ivory Room. He flipped on the floodlights and headed out the door. She followed him, and he noted she did so with careful steps. But the uneven gravel was apparently too much for her high heels. Joshua saw her teeter, and without thinking, he dropped the big bag and reached out to help her.
He didn’t know how Cassidy wound up in his arms, but somehow she did. She took a sharp breath and stiffened. Josh just held on, his mind in a whirl until he focused on her eyes. He noticed that close up she had golden flecks in widened blue eyes that he thought should sparkle instead of reflecting pain and sadness. She seemed more fragile suddenly, and he quickly helped her regain a steady footing.
Cassidy sat on the bed and watched the door close behind Joshua Daniel Tallinger. He was gorgeous. With dark-dark brown hair, saved from being black by just the hint of red highlights, huge deep-set eyes that were just as deep brown in color as his hair, a skin tone that looked permanently tanned, and shoulders that looked as if they could hold up the world. No wonder she’d been surprised when she met Henry Tallinger. She’d thought to find a man much like his son, only older. But like his wife, Henry was fair, with graying hair that had obviously once been blond. And he was nearly as short as Irma, too. In fact, the only similarity between Joshua and Henry was their dry sense of humor.
She looked around the room and tried to smile. It was a room fit for a Victorian princess. Unfortunately, she didn’t feel like a princess. She felt like that last five miles of bad road she’d been on as she approached the booming metropolis of Mountain View.
The whole fiasco that had been her day seemed unreal. She’d started out thinking she was about to be named Jamison Steel’s next vice president. And had wound up without