“Who wouldn’t sleep better with a beautiful female in his bed every night?” He grinned and patted Queen’s hindquarters. “Who’s my best girl?” The dog turned to face him, and Dwayne would have sworn she grinned at her master.
Cluny scratched her chin. “She’s a beauty queen. Her pop was Cairo. Royalty in my book.”
“Cairo. How do I know that name?” Dwayne tilted his head, and his eyebrows drew together.
“Her pop, Cairo, accompanied SEAL Team Six on the bin Laden operation. That old dog could do anything, including parachuting out of an aircraft.”
Dwayne nodded. “Of course.” He couldn’t help comparing Queen, who looked like a smaller version of a German Shepherd, with Marla’s mouse, Skipper. Pound for pound, that tiny mutt was as brave as they came.
As if he’d read his thoughts, Cluny asked, “So, what have you heard from our former boss lady?”
Almost everyone who knew either him or Marla knew about the incident in Wyoming. “I just sent flowers to her office. I didn’t know what else to do at this point.”
“Her office? Mistake. You should have had them delivered to her house.”
“Why? I thought women liked to receive flowers publicly.” He wondered if it was too late to call the florist back.
“Don’t believe everything you see on TV. By delivering them to her office, you put her on the spot. Now she’s going to be bombarded with questions from her co-workers. Questions she might not want to answer.”
Dwayne grabbed the phone. “Shit!” He hit redial and fidgeted the few brief seconds it took them to answer. “This is Dwayne Dempsey, yeah, the American Beauty roses. No, no, I was just hoping you could deliver them to her house instead.” He smacked his forehead and raked a hand through his hair. “No, don’t worry about it. Thanks.”
“Already delivered?”
“Yep.”
Cluny chuckled. “Sorry, it’s not funny, but I have a vision of her showing up here and hurling them through your window.” He rose, picked up Queen’s leash and prepared to leave. “Good luck, Gunny. Hope I don’t see your obit in the paper tomorrow.”
“Go to hell, McPherson. Have I ever mentioned how great it is to have friends who take so much pleasure in my misery?”
“Anytime, pal.”
The florist delivery man set the huge bouquet of roses on the receptionist’s counter and held up an invoice. The girl turned and pointed at Marla. He lifted the dark green vase and headed right for her.
Oh no. Please no.
“I believe these are for you, miss.” He grinned as if he knew a salacious secret and set them in front of her. “Have a great night.”
The little twerp winked. He actually winked.
She wanted to scream and demand he take them back. She didn’t want them. She didn’t want to look at them, and she was furious they smelled so good. Florist flowers weren’t supposed to have such a strong, romantic scent.
Two grinning realtors descended on her, squealing with excitement. “Who are they from?” “They smell heavenly.” “Look how beautiful they are.” “Have you ever seen such a sexy shade of red?” “Somebody has the hots for you, Marla Danaher.” “Is it your birthday?”
One of them snatched the card and handed it to her. “Who sent them?”
Glaring, Marla took the envelope. The handwriting didn’t look like Dwayne’s bold slash. Maybe they weren’t from him after all. “I don’t know who they’re from, but probably a happy customer.”
“Open it!”
“I, um, I have to make an important follow-up call right now. I’ll look at it later.” She waved a dismissal and picked up her phone.
The two women wore identical expressions of astonishment at her incuriosity and returned to their desks, but not before exchanging a look.
She didn’t care what they thought. Her fingers touched the edge of the envelope, and she slid it to her lap then proceeded with her non-call call.
After a few minutes, most of the others in the office were either on the phone or counseling clients. She quickly lifted the point of the envelope and slid the card out.
Please forgive me. I love you Marla.
She got up, crossed the room, and tapped on Ted’s office door. He’d asked to speak with her when she had time.
“Come in.” He pointed to the door. “Close it and have a seat.” He stood and reached into the top drawer of the filing cabinet behind his desk, removed a thick file, and placed it on his desk blotter.
“You had news about the Cartwright deal?” She hoped it hadn’t gone sour. Ted knew she wasn’t prepared to risk such a large investment, so he couldn’t be planning to ask her about that again.
Ted grinned and slapped the file. “The old man has agreed to sell to us.”
“That’s great news, Ted! That means your group of investors raised enough money for the deal. Congratulations.” She smiled at the look of satisfaction on his face. “I’m really happy for you.”
“Thanks. That’s the good news, now for the better news. Our consortium has decided to add a few smaller investors to help expedite the first phase of the development. Spread the wealth.”
Marla cocked her head. “Spread the wealth or spread the risk?”
He chuckled. “A little of both, but it’s not much of a risk.”
“How much? Investment and percentage?”
“Now you’re talking like a wise business partner.” He opened the folder and turned it to face her. “This is the core group. We’ve decided to add two more levels. One for the residential part of the plan and the other the hotel and golf course part of the plan. The percentage of profit is proportional to the investments shown here.”
Marla studied the detail and the graph. “So, I’m assuming new investors can select either or both.”
“Right. Personally, I think the residential part is lower risk, even though home prices are
