“Wall Street stuff?”

“That too. But we’re based in Chicago.”

“So our little operation here is—”

“Scary. It involves real people.”

“And yours doesn’t?”

“No, not really. It’s…well, it’s only numbers.”

The outer door to the store opened and Annie turned in her seat, seeing Jessica sneaking in. Before she could say anything, Jordan got up and walked out to her.

“You’re fifteen minutes late,” Jordan said. “Do you not like working here or what?”

Jessica’s eyes widened. “Yes. Yes, I do.”

“So you want to change your hours then? Instead of eight, you want to make it eight thirty?”

Annie very nearly felt sorry for Jessica. The girl apparently didn’t have a clue as to what Jordan was trying to say to her. Jessica looked past Jordan to her, but Annie simply stared at her.

“I guess…I guess I could come in at eight thirty,” she finally said.

“Good,” Jordan said. “I’ll change the schedule then. And if you’re late again…you’re fired.”

“But…Matt—”

“Matt is not here. I am.”

Jordan turned and headed back to the office, and Annie noticed that she had to hide a smile. It was a cushy job and they all knew it. Besides, Matt was paying them all a dollar more an hour than any of the other shops in town paid. She suspected Jessica would be early from now on.

“So…where were we?”

Annie smiled at her. “You were saying you were scared of people.”

“Oh, yeah. So does that mean you’ll work on Sunday?”

Annie nodded. “I can work on Sunday. But remember, I won’t be here all next week. I need to show you how to close and reconcile.”

“Right. And you’ll start full time the following week?”

“Yes. I’m actually looking forward to it.”

“Great. Then we’ll learn how to do inventory and order stuff together. Because I don’t have a clue.”

“Maybe your father—”

“No. I promised them I would handle this. They’ve got their hands full with the restaurant. Besides, my mother…well, she’s not really back to normal yet.”

“I know she and Matt were close,” Annie said. “I’m sure it’ll take time for her to get over it.” She stood. “I should go help Jessica get ready. Saturdays are busy.”

Jordan nodded. “Brandon comes in at ten?”

“Yes. Staci works the afternoon.”

“Okay.”

Annie turned to go, but Jordan called her back.

“Annie?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you. I’d be lost if you weren’t here.”

Annie smiled. “I know.” She paused before leaving. “And Jordan…we do have a dress code here. No slacks are allowed in the summer.”



Chapter Six

“What do you mean you don’t have her number?”

Jessica shrugged. “I’m friends with her on Facebook though.”

Jordan let out a heavy sigh. It was Thursday, and she hadn’t heard from Annie all week. She had forgotten to get a phone number from her when they’d worked together on Sunday. But yesterday, Brandon had informed her that they were running low on several of the most popular T-shirts and their popcorn supply would not last through the weekend. And no, he didn’t know where Matt got the popcorn from.

At first, she’d thought it was a terrible idea to have hot, buttery popcorn available where T-shirts were sold. But she was surprised at how careful most of the customers were, either wiping their fingers on the napkins provided or wiping their hands on their own clothes before picking up a T-shirt. And she had to admit, the smell of freshly popped corn was alluring. She’d found herself with a bag several times each day.

She went back into the office, trying to decide what to do. She’d been over Matt’s books. It looked like there were only five vendors that he bought T-shirts from. She supposed she could call them up and find out which one produced the ones that Brandon said they were getting low on.

First things first. Popcorn. She went through the list of payables, one by one, finally seeing the one name that was not T-shirt or souvenir-related. Concession Stand Professionals. She clicked on it, surprised that Matt had taken the time to update the profile as thoroughly as he had. She followed the link to their website, putting in Matt’s login and password. She was able to find his most recent order and simply clicked on that to reorder. Overnight shipping would get it to Rockport before the weekend.

“That was easy,” she murmured. She hoped ordering the T-shirts would be as well.

Her cell phone chimed, and she glanced at it, feeling a surge of guilt as her mother’s name popped up. She hadn’t seen her parents all week.

“Hey, Mom,” she answered. “It’s nearly lunch. Aren’t you busy?”

“Yes. But you haven’t come by,” her mother said in a slightly accusatory voice. “I wanted to check on you.”

Jordan sighed. “I’ve been here until closing,” she said. “Annie is out all this week, so I’ve been here all day, every day.”

“I’m sorry you have to do that by yourself, Jordan. Matt…well, I guess that’s why Matt slept there sometimes.”

“I haven’t resorted to that yet. I enjoy the quiet of the bay.”

“Speaking of that, we can’t wait to see what you’ve done at Pelican’s Landing. Maria said you had some guys out there this week.”

“Yes, trying to get the yard in shape,” she said. She heard her father’s voice in the background and smiled. “Sounds like you’re in trouble.”

“Yes. I’m getting behind on orders.”

“Okay. Maybe Sunday evening you could come out,” she suggested. “I could get some steaks. We’ll grill out.”

“That sounds good, honey. Let’s plan on it.”

Jordan twirled around in her chair, wishing there was a window in the office. Her office in Chicago was on the twenty-second floor. A large corner office with a great view. Unfortunately, she rarely took advantage of the view. She was surprised at how little she missed it, considering she spent far more hours there than at her condo, so much so that it was more of a home to her. She found she missed neither of them.

Her job was fast-paced and stressful. There was no downtime. She’d convinced herself she would be bored out of her mind here at Fat Larry’s. That wasn’t the case at all. She found she enjoyed the slower pace. She would give it a few weeks and learn the particulars of running the store. Then, if there were some changes she wanted to make, she’d pass it by her father. When she left at the end of summer, she wanted the store to be running on its own. That meant she’d have to hire a manager.

She thought it was a shame that Annie wouldn’t be available for the job. She would be perfect. She already had the knowledge, she already knew the staff. She was older, she was mature. At least she’d be there full time during the summer. Maybe it would allow Jordan time to hire someone and let Annie train them. She wondered if there was anyone in Rockport who would fit the bill.

“Hey.”

Jordan looked up, an involuntary smile lighting her face. “Hey. I was just thinking about you,” she said as she took her reading glasses off and tossed them on the desk.

Annie walked into the office. “Good or bad?”

“Good. I miss you being here.”

“Oh, yeah? You lost?”

Jordan laughed. “Well, I did manage to order some popcorn supplies on my own. Brandon said we were getting low.”

“See? You don’t need me.”

“I do. We need T-shirts. How do we know which vendor supplies which ones?”

“Matt had a cheatsheet,” Annie said.

“Not in that mass of papers I threw out, I hope?”

“I’m sure it was.” Annie motioned for her to get up. “Lucky for you, I think he also kept a spreadsheet.”

Jordan got out of the way and let Annie have the laptop. “What are you doing here? I thought I wouldn’t see you until the weekend.”

“My final was this morning. I had planned to stay at the library and study for the one tomorrow, but…well, I’m sick of studying,” she said. “Here it is.” She clicked on it, bringing up a rather crude spreadsheet. “Looks like it hasn’t been updated since last summer, though.”

She turned the laptop toward Jordan, and she picked up her glasses and slipped them on. There was a very short description of each T-shirt and the vendor who produced them. She frowned. “Does this mean anything to you?”

“Probably more than it means to you,” Annie said.

“Great. Then I’ll let Brandon tell you which ones we’re low on and let you try to decipher Matt’s description code.” She paused. “That is, if you have time.”

“I have time.”

“Thanks. By the way, have you had lunch?”

“No. I came straight here from Corpus.”

“Subway again? I can run out.”

Annie nodded. “That would be good. Thank you.” Annie reached for her purse, but Jordan stopped her.

“No. My treat. I’ll be right back.”

* * *

When Annie heard the outer door open, she assumed Jordan had returned with their lunch. Instead, she was shocked to see Derrick Dockery standing in the doorway, a solemn look on his face.

“I just heard,” he said.

She raised her eyebrows.

“About Matt.”

“Oh. Okay,” she said.

“Why didn’t you let me know? Me and Matt were friends,” he said.

She recognized the tone of his voice and knew if she didn’t stop things now they’d be headed for one of their classic arguments.

“First of all, it’s no longer my responsibility to let you know these things. We’ve been divorced nearly four years. And secondly, you can’t just show up here at my work,” she said. “Especially back here in the office.”

“Matt used to let me come back here.”

“Matt is no longer here,” she said.

He stared at her. “You’ve changed, Annie.”

Good God. This again? “So you’ve been saying for the past ten years. What is it that you want?”