by Lisa Dyson
“Hey, Jack!” Chuck was seated at a small table for two. An older man occupied the other chair.
Jack went over to greet Chuck.
“This is my uncle, Maurice Weber,” Chuck said by way of introduction.
Jack shook hands with both men.
“Would you like to join us?” Chuck offered.
Before Jack could answer, they’d borrowed an empty chair from another table and placed it at theirs.
Jack sat while Chuck caught their waitress’s attention. He gave Jack a questioning look as he said to their waitress, “Coffee?” to which Jack nodded gratefully. “The menu’s on the chalkboard up there,” Chuck told him.
“Jack is part of that advertising firm I was telling you about that we contacted about tourism,” Chuck explained to his uncle.
“Great to meet you, Jack. You’ve got a big job to do if you’re gonna get this town hopping again.” Maurice took a sip of his coffee before the waitress brought Jack a fresh cup and refilled the other men’s cups.
“I’ll have the egg sandwich with bacon,” Jack told their waitress.
“Good choice,” Chuck said.
Jack took advantage of having Chuck’s uncle available, questioning him as he had other locals.
“I think if we can get something going with the artists’ workhouse, that will bring in tourists,” Maurice said. “People want that dose of culture along with the relaxation Fairleigh provides.”
“Maybe something like a wine-and-cheese open house with featured artists?” Jack suggested.
Both men straightened, their eyes wide with excitement. “That would be a great idea,” Chuck said. “Especially if we had artists who are known to people.” He turned to his uncle. “Charlotte Harrington is in town with her twin sister, Allie Miller. They’re competing for the advertising account against Jack here.” He sipped his coffee and reminded his uncle that Charlotte had done the beach scene hanging outside his office in the town hall.
Meanwhile, Jack couldn’t get past the twin sister remark. Was that what Allie had told him, knowing Chuck was a fan of Charlotte’s? Had she used Charlotte?
How underhanded and devious was that?
* * *
ALLIE HEADED STRAIGHT to the water after showering and dressing in casual wear. Charlotte had already left their room, and Allie wanted to be long gone before Jack woke up.
She needed to talk to someone about what had happened between Jack and her. And making the assumption that Charlotte had headed to the ocean, she walked in that direction, too.
Allie needed reassurance that she wasn’t being stupid by sleeping with Jack. She could no longer deny that there was something between them. She felt it even when they weren’t together. Something kept her coming back to him, and not only for sex.
Regardless, should she have pushed him away last night? Told him she wasn’t interested? Talk about being of two minds. Her body kept saying yes, and even though her head should have told her mouth to say no, her head seemed to know better than to ruin an explosive night of pleasure.
She spotted Charlotte on a far-off dock, her back to the water as she sat cross-legged on the structure, obviously concentrating on the buildings close to the water.
Allie walked slowly toward Charlotte, not wanting to interrupt her concentration. Finally she stopped at the dock not too far from Charlotte and walked to the end of it. Several boats were tied to what appeared to be newly built structures. Judging by the pictures she’d seen, Hurricane Lorraine had taken a toll on this town, from wiping out docks and sinking boats to flooding businesses and homes with up to several feet of water.
It was surprising that this town was even operational after all that destruction.
“Hey, Allie!” Charlotte called out to her and waved.
Allie made her way to where Charlotte was working and sat down beside her.
“You were gone when I got out of the shower this morning,” Allie said.
“I wanted to catch the sunrise over the water.” She pulled up the pictures she’d taken on her camera.
“Those are gorgeous!”
Charlotte smiled. “Thanks.” She put the camera into its case. “Sleep okay?” She had her head turned away from Allie.
“Sure,” Allie said. “You?”
Then she saw Charlotte’s smile. “So you know I slept in Jack’s bed.”
“Uh-huh.” Charlotte’s grin grew bigger. “You’re welcome.”
Allie was confused.
“I never kick and thrash in my sleep,” Charlotte explained. “Didn’t you notice that I only flailed around when you’d finally get comfortable?”
Allie’s eyes widened. “You were faking? Why would you do that?”
“Because you two belong together. You should see your face when you’re near him. It’s obvious to everyone around that there’s something special going on between you.”
“And you thought you needed to push us together?” Allie wasn’t sure if she was happy or angry about Charlotte’s deception.
“Neither of you was doing anything to fix things on your own. I figured if you at least had sex, then you could figure out the rest after.”
“Except I left his room before he woke up this morning,” Allie admitted.
Charlotte appeared crestfallen. “You two haven’t worked things out?”
“Beyond physical, no.”
“Then you need to go find him.”
“I can’t,” Allie said. “I don’t know how we can be together. He has no respect for me.”
“I think you took the wrong meaning from his words. I think he has great respect for your talent. Maybe you should concentrate on that and not worry about trying to bad-mouth him to the client.”
“Bad-mouth? When did I do that?”
“When you told Chuck that Jack’s company just got a big new contract and wouldn’t have enough time for Fairleigh.”
“It’s true.”
“But you didn’t have to mention it.”
Allie thought about it. “I guess I could tone it down a little.”
She needed some time alone to get her head straight before meeting Chuck at ten. “I’ve gotta go,” she told Charlotte. “I’ll meet you at the artists’ workhouse at ten? Checkout’s at eleven, so we should pack the car before we go to the workhouse. If I miss you, leave your stuff with the innkeeper.”
Charlotte nodded. “I’m sorry if I made things more complicated for you.”
“It’s not your fault.” Allie took full responsibility for her actions. “Though I wouldn’t have expected you to be so devious. You were pretty believable with your thrashing.”
Charlotte gave her a guilty grin. “It really was completely out of character for me.”
Allie said goodbye and went on her way, pondering Charlotte’s advice. A few minutes later she saw Jack in the distance coming in her direction. Was she up to having a conversation right now? She had a lot of other things on her mind.
When they were within a few feet of each other, they both stopped. Neither spoke right away. Finally Jack, with a distinctly annoyed look, said, “Are you really going around telling lies about my company to get this account?”
That was the last thing she’d expected him to say. “Well, good morning to you, too!” She started to walk past him, but he caught her arm.
“I mean it, Allie. Is that what you’re doing?”
She met his glare and realized how angry he was. “What are you talking about?”
He stared at her, and she switched her weight from one foot to the other as if he were a teacher about to dole out detention. “Chuck just told me that you said my company didn’t have the time to handle his account.”
“It’s the truth.”
“No, it’s not. We have plenty of employees who will work hard for him, and you know it. I thought we had a deal about being honest with each other.”
“Look, it just came out. And, besides, I told Chuck that before we made our deal. You want me to go talk to him?�
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Without hesitation, Jack said, “Yes. That’s exactly what I want. I won’t have you ruining my reputation.”
She knew what it was like to have her reputation ruined. “I’ll speak to him.” Maybe Charlotte had been right about Allie relying more on her talent instead of trying to mislead people. Maybe she needed to make some changes.
* * *
CHARLOTTE SAW ALLIE and Jack in the distance. Already guilty over setting them up last night, she felt even worse when she could see from their body language that their conversation wasn’t going well.
She gathered her things—she wanted to have a shower before meeting everyone at the artists’ workhouse. Taking sides would be a bad decision on Charlotte’s part. Jack and Allie were adults, able to work out their own problems.
About an hour later, Charlotte reached the artists’ workhouse a few minutes early. Since the main door was unlocked, she went inside to take a look around.
She was very impressed by the use of the building, which didn’t look like much on the outside. Peeking through the windows of the locked doors as she went down the hallway, she found there were separate rooms where artists could set up a studio to work on anything from pottery to oil painting to textiles. Several of the studios looked vacant.
How wonderful would it be if there was a facility like this closer to Newport? Not that she needed a space herself, but she’d love to be able to interact with other artists. Sometimes her work was too solitary. She’d needed that solitude since her mother passed away, but lately she felt herself coming out of it and craving more human interaction.
Between having Jack as her neighbor, as well as her friend, and meeting Allie, with whom she’d bonded nearly immediately, Charlotte found herself awakening for the first time in many months.
“There you are,” Chuck said when Charlotte came back outside. Both Allie and Jack were with him, each appearing dour, their body language even worse.
“I’m sorry. I was looking around. The door was unlocked, so I checked out the studios. I’m very impressed with the setup.”
Chuck beamed and went on to explain that the artists were carefully chosen and they paid a rental fee for their space.
After several more questions as they toured the building, mostly from Charlotte, Chuck said, “If we’re done here, I’d like to have you all come back to town hall. I need to discuss the direction we’d like to go advertising-wise with Mayor Silvia as well as the city planner.”
“But we haven’t presented anything to you,” Allie said.
“I believe I’ve gotten a good sense from both companies about the direction you’d like to go with the campaign,” Chuck said. “We need to get this up and running as soon as possible. Can we meet at noon, if that works for the three of you?”
“Are you sure you need me there?” Charlotte didn’t want to be in the way.
“Of course, Ms. Harrington...Charlotte. You play a very important role here.”
Charlotte couldn’t help but notice the satisfied look on Allie’s face at Chuck’s remark. It would be wonderful if Allie got the job, but she knew Jack also needed the account to keep his grandfather’s company stable.
Chuck walked to his car, backed out of his space and pulled into the street, leaving Charlotte standing in the middle of Jack and Allie. A very uncomfortable position to say the least.
Allie’s phone went off. “It’s Peter Stone,” she told Charlotte and answered the call. She walked a distance from Charlotte and Jack.
“He’s the son of the lawyer who handled her adoption,” Charlotte explained to Jack. “We’re meeting him tonight to go through his father’s files.”
“Where are you meeting?” Jack asked.
“At a storage company in Cranston,” Charlotte answered.
“I don’t like it,” Jack said. “What if this guy isn’t who he says he is? Could be dangerous.”
Charlotte had considered it, but Allie had been so sure about Peter being aboveboard.
“There are two of us and one of him,” Charlotte reminded him. “We’ll be fine.”
“Not if he doesn’t show up alone.”
Allie returned, speaking directly to Charlotte as if Jack weren’t there. “Peter was just confirming for tonight.”
“I don’t like that you two are going alone,” Jack told her. “You don’t know who this guy is.”
Allie stared at him a second. “What do you care? You’ve made it clear how you feel about me and my actions. We’ll be fine.”
“Don’t you watch movies?” Jack asked, lowering his voice. “The Silence of the Lambs?”
“That’s ridiculous,” Allie said. “Now you’re trying to scare us.”
“Darn right I am,” Jack told her. “I can be there as a backup—”
“No way.” Allie practically yelled the words. “I’m not having you scare the guy off. If you come anywhere near that storage area tonight, I’ll have no problem calling the police and telling them you’re stalking me.” She paused. “You know how deceitful I can be.” She turned on her heel and got into her car, obviously expecting Charlotte to follow.
“I guess we’ll see you at town hall in a little while,” Charlotte said quietly to Jack, who nodded and walked to his own car.
* * *
ALLIE AND CHARLOTTE arrived at town hall right before Jack. They were shown into a small conference room, where Chuck and the others were already seated. The group rose as the women entered, and Chuck made the introductions when Jack appeared close behind them.
“This is Mayor Silvia and our city planner, Bob Connelly, who’s also a local architect,” Chuck explained. “Our town is so small that most of our administrative positions, excluding police chief, mayor, deputy mayor, and our support staff, are volunteer positions. That’s why meeting over lunch works best for Bob.” He gestured to the platter of sandwiches. “Please help yourself.”
Allie was too nervous to eat, but she helped herself to a bottle of water.
“Let’s get started,” Mayor Silvia suggested. “Since Chuck here said you both have some great ideas to get tourism going again, here’s what we propose—both companies work together on the campaign.”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Mayor,” Allie said quickly. “I’m afraid that’s impossible.” What the heck were these guys thinking? She couldn’t work with Jack. And he didn’t trust her enough to work with her.
The mayor looked at her a moment, his deep-set dark eyes penetrating. “Then I’m the one who’s sorry, Ms. Miller. If we have to choose, then the job will have to go to Empire.”
“But why?” Allie hoped it hadn’t come out like a whine.
“They’re a larger company with more employees and expertise who can get the job done more efficiently. We need a quick turnaround, as this needs to be done before the Fourth of July. Though we’d prefer if you work together, as you have Ms. Harrington, the artist, as your expert.”
Allie needed this job. She needed the money. She looked at Jack, who was having a side conversation with the city planner. Jack must be pleased. Could she work with him for the next two weeks? Once it was over, they could go their own ways.
Both Jack and Charlotte had told her to depend on her talent, but she hadn’t been able to convince these clients. She only had Charlotte keeping her in the mix.
Against her better judgment, she had no other choice, especially after losing the animal-food account. “On second thought, I would very much appreciate the opportunity to work on this project with Empire.” She half stood to lean over the table to shake hands with the mayor as well as the other two gentlemen. She never even glanced at Jack.
After almost an hour of discussion on particulars, the meeting adjourned, and Allie and Charlotte were on their way out of town.
Allie’s phone rang a little while into their drive. Since she was at the wheel, she didn’t answer. “It’s Jack,” she told Charlotte. “I’ll call him back later.” Much later. If she felt like it.
Charlotte’s phone
rang. “Hello? Oh, hi, Jack.”
Did she have to sound so perky and pleased to speak to the guy?
“Okay, I’ll talk to Allie and get back to you.”
They disconnected, and Charlotte said, “He told me we left so quickly that we didn’t get a chance to set up a meeting to start working on the campaign.”
“I’ll check my schedule.” Allie’s response came out more sarcastic than she’d intended. “Sorry, I don’t mean to take it out on you. I’m ticked off that I’ll have to work with Jack.”
“It’ll only be two weeks, since they want the plan rolled out before the Fourth of July. It’ll go quickly.”
“I know.” She also knew Charlotte was probably hoping Allie and Jack would work things out during their time together.
That was a lost cause.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
SINCE JACK FOUND fewer than half a dozen storage places with the actual address of Cranston when he did an internet search, it wasn’t difficult to locate the one where Allie and Charlotte were meeting this guy Peter. He wasn’t about to let them go off alone, but he also wouldn’t let them know he was there.
At the third one, he saw Allie’s car parked next to Charlotte’s, so he parked nearby and went into the small office to speak to someone. He was hoping they had cameras set up so he could watch the scene from afar. He had his doubts that they’d be that sophisticated.
“Hi,” he said to the young man with stringy hair behind the counter. The clerk didn’t bother glancing up from his phone. “I was wondering if you have cameras set up in your facility.”
“Yeah, we do,” he said, looking up briefly before going back to concentrating on his phone. “The entire facility’s under constant surveillance.”
That sounded more like an advertising pitch than the truth.
“Would it be possible to watch? I’m concerned about two women who are meeting a stranger here.”
“Sorry, man, we can’t do that. We can look at the footage only after the fact.”