“I hope so,” he said softly.
“Janet, this is my fiancé, Tony Hart,” Lucy said. “He’s the first smart choice in men I’ve made since fifth grade, when I fell in love with Jason Thomas. Jason’s a billionaire now. I should have stuck with him.”
“Thanks,” Tony said.
Lucy laughed. “I said you were a smart choice. Tony isn’t a billionaire, but he’s not a drunk or an asshole, either.”
“Nice to meet you,” Janet said. Her eyes met Tony’s, and she felt a chill. The man’s eyes were cold and calculating.
“Darling, you haven’t forgotten about me, have you?” the last person at the table asked. The woman had deeply tanned, almost leathery skin. Her long blonde hair was plaited again, and she looked as if she’d been born wearing a cowboy hat and boots. Today she was wearing jeans and a pink blouse that matched both her hat and her boots.
Bobby laughed. “I could never forget about you,” he said. “Janet, this is Dixie, Dixie Davison. We’ve been friends since we were children, although she is a few years younger than I am. Our daddies did business together before either of us was even born.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Janet said to Dixie.
“Likewise,” Dixie replied. “I speak a tiny bit of French, so I understood some of what you said. I want to hear more about the husband who appears to have abandoned you.”
Janet chuckled. “I hope not. He was suddenly needed at work and we didn’t want to cancel all of our plans, so here I am, in the most romantic city in the world, all alone.”
“I can fix that,” Dixie replied. “I know a lot of wonderful men who would be more than happy to entertain you while your husband is unavailable.”
Janet felt herself blushing. She didn’t dare look at Edward. “Thank you, but I’m quite happy to wait for, um, my husband to arrive,” she said, stumbling and only just stopping herself from saying his name.
“If you change your mind, let me know,” Dixie replied with a wink.
“We should get started,” Theodore said. “We’ve a lot to go over before tomorrow.”
“Have a seat,” Bobby told Janet and Edward.
“I’m not certain why either of them needs to be here,” Theodore said as Janet pulled out a chair.
“Edward goes everywhere with me now,” Bobby replied. “He’s here to make sure that no one else tries to stab me. Janet needs to hear the basics of the deal so that she can understand what’s being said at our other meetings.”
Theodore frowned. “And you’re quite certain she doesn’t have any connection to any of our competitors?”
Bobby looked at Janet. “Do you have any connection to any of my competitors?” he asked, clearly amused.
“As I’m not at all clear on what it is that you do, I can’t really answer that question,” she replied. “I can tell you that I’m a retired teacher who owns a bed and breakfast in Derbyshire. Does that worry anyone here?”
She looked at Theodore. He made a note on the pad of paper in front of him. “Where in Derbyshire?” he asked.
“Doveby Dale,” she replied. “It’s just outside of Derby.”
“I was looking over the proposal for suppliers,” Neil said. “Are you quite certain we want to go that route?”
Bobby pulled a small notebook out of his pocket and flipped through the first few pages. “Theodore, do you want to address this?” he asked.
Janet sat back and listened as Theodore spent several minutes explaining some sort of business strategy that was nearly incomprehensible to her. She was certain she could understand it if she wanted to try, but she had no interest in doing so. After twenty minutes, as she began to find herself fighting sleep, she looked over at Edward.
He was staring straight at her, and the look in his eyes made her heart race. She felt her cheeks flushing and she quickly looked down. He had a small notebook in front of him and she smiled when she saw that he’d sketched the Eiffel Tower and a cowboy hat on the first page. When she looked back up, he was still watching her. Studying the suspects is a better use of the time, she thought.
Bobby was sitting back with his eyes closed and, for a moment, Janet wondered if he’d fallen asleep. Theodore was droning on and on about inventory management and, as he rattled off a long string of numbers and facts, Bobby didn’t move.
“…three thousand and forty-two in that location versus four thousand and twelve in Dallas,” he said.
“Three thousand and forty-seven,” Bobby interjected, his eyes still shut.
Theodore frowned and then checked his notes. “Three thousand and forty-seven,” he said grudgingly.
A small smile appeared and then disappeared on Bobby’s face but his eyes didn’t open.
Theodore scowled down at his notes and then continued. One person who seemed to be paying attention was Neil. He was taking notes, seemingly writing down just about every word that Theodore said.
Next to him, Lucy was busy writing as well. Janet, who was right across the table from Lucy, shifted her chair, trying to get a closer look at Lucy’s paper. It didn’t seem as if the woman was actually listening to Theodore, so what was she writing?
…hot bubble bath for the two of us, Janet read. She read a bit more and then stopped and looked down at the table, her cheeks red. It appeared that Lucy was writing a note for Tony, telling him about her plans for later. Those plans seemed to include a bubble bath and whipped cream, and Janet didn’t want to know any more than that.
Tony, for his part, was obviously doodling on the
