Jilted: Promise Harbor, Book 1 (23 page)

“Looking for a new job is hard,” Susan said. And that simple statement made Devon feel…okay.

Susan set a plate in front of her, then set another one for herself and sat, and Dad joined them.

“Sometimes it’s good to have a break,” Susan said.

“I suppose.” Devon relaxed a little at Susan’s easy acceptance of her being there without much of an explanation. “This pie is really good. Thanks for bringing it over.”

“My pleasure.”

When they’d finished their pie, Dad said, “I’m going for a walk.” He looked at Susan. Not at her. Devon bent her head.

“Would you like to join us, Devon?” Susan asked.

Devon’s head snapped up and she met Susan’s eyes. The soft smile and understanding made her insides quiver. She hesitated, but shook her head. “No thanks. You go on.”

Josh arrived at the firehouse well before the start of the eight o’clock shift to check in with the off-going shift before they left, and at eight sharp he had his own shift lined up in the apparatus room for roll call and to give everyone their assignments for the day—which engine they were on, who was driving, all that stuff—and to go over the day’s schedule. A schedule which of course could change in a heartbeat depending on what calls came in.

He then headed to his office to log personnel and equipment, verify training and inspection schedules and take care of all the other endless administrative duties, while the rest of the team began to check out each fire engine and piece of equipment to make sure they were fully operational, and also do some cleaning. Around ten o’clock he pushed away from the computer. Time for a workout.

Fitness was important and necessary in his job, and he worked hard to maintain the strength he needed to be able to haul someone out of a burning building, to carry the weight of oxygen tanks on his back, to chop through the roof of a burning house to create a hole large enough to allow heat, smoke and gases to escape so the ground crew could do their work. As he pumped some iron, he joked around with the other guys, who at first were cautious and unsure of what to say to him after what had happened at the wedding. But they loosened up a little and things edged back to normal, with easy insults flying back and forth.

Some of the guys, his buddies, had been at the wedding. Some hadn’t. But damn, they were a good bunch of guys to work with. He wiped some sweat off his forehead, smiling.

“So what did you do on your honeymoon, Captain?” Matt asked. “I mean, your holiday.”

Josh grinned. “I did go on the honeymoon. I’d booked a suite at the Oceanside Inn on Greenbush Island, so I went anyway.”

“No shit. All by yourself?”

Was that innocent, or was he fishing? Josh eyed him. “Ah…not exactly.” Okay, what the hell was he supposed to say about that? “A friend came with me.”

“Huh. Jackson?”

“No. An old friend who’d been at the wedding.”

Antonio smiled slyly at him. “I heard a rumor you were buying an expensive bottle of wine for a lady last night. Didn’t take you long to get over being jilted.”

“Christ, it doesn’t take long for rumors to start in this town.” Josh shook his head.

But Antonio had noticed he hadn’t really responded. “Nice deflection,” he said, dropping the weights he held.

Josh grinned but said nothing. Out of respect for both Devon and Allie, it didn’t seem right to be telling the guys what had happened. He wasn’t sure yet where things were going with Devon, but the longer she stayed around, the more chance there was that people were going to find out. Jackson knew who he’d been with, but he trusted Jackson to keep his mouth shut.

Then he was saved by the bell, literally, as a call came in.

The rest of the day was divided between responding to calls involving a cardiac arrest, a kitchen fire and a vehicle fire, and the rest of the maintenance and training that had to be done. And thinking about Devon.

Thinking about how tough she tried to be. He’d known about what had happened with her mother, of course, but he hadn’t realized just how affected she’d been by that. And though he’d known she and her dad weren’t close, he’d had no idea that she thought her father hated her. Why had she never told him that stuff before?

He knew the answer. He knew how much she hated being pitied. Christ. He shook his head. She’d always been spunky and determined, never letting things get her down, and he’d always loved that about her. She’d always had a sense of humor, even when things weren’t going well. Looking back, he could see how many times she’d just picked up and carried on when things went wrong, and he’d admired that, but now he had to wonder how many times she’d kept her real feelings all locked up inside her. All those times she’d told him she was fine—maybe she hadn’t been.

Like the conversation she’d had with Allie. She’d said she’d been fine with him and Allie dating. But deep inside, had she been hurt? By both of them? Christ, it was a double betrayal, and he ached with regret for that. And what about when she’d told him he should go back to Promise Harbor to be with his family and look after them and she’d be fine?

Josh slammed a hand down on his desk, startling one of the paramedics in the office.

“Uh…everything okay, Captain?” Antonio asked.

Josh grimaced and rubbed his face. Adrenaline surged through him, and his body tingled with the need to jump up and do something. Dammit, he needed to go fight a fire or something. “Yeah,” he said. “Sorry.”

Chapter Sixteen

Josh picked Devon up at her dad’s place, and they drove out to Brewster Landscaping on Monday afternoon. She’d always enjoyed going to the greenhouses there in the spring to buy bedding plants. When Josh had worked summers planting trees and shrubs and mowing grass, she’d been selling fishing tackle, and even though she loved the ocean, she’d often thought how nice it would be to work where you were surrounded by the beauty and color and fragrance of plants and flowers instead of…fish.

Things were busy in the greenhouse, lots of people using the beautiful June day to buy flowers and pots and gardening tools. She inhaled the fresh green and floral scents as they walked past rows of hanging baskets overflowing with petunias, verbena, lobelia and ivy, past shelves stocked with ridiculous garden gnomes, and into the offices at the back of the building.

Everyone greeted Josh with smiles, but she could see the carefulness in their eyes. “Hey, welcome back,” a woman said.

Devon watched two other women exchange glances.

“Thanks,” Josh said, looking around. Then he sighed. “Okay, let’s get it over with. Yes, Allie walked out on the wedding.”

“I heard she was carried out,” a man said. The others made small sounds of disapproval at his forthrightness.

Josh just laughed. “Yeah. Actually, that’s true. She was carried. But before you start talking about her being kidnapped, I can assure you she left of her own free will. And yes, before you ask, I’m fine.” He held up his hands. “Seriously.” He turned to Devon. “Everyone, this is Devon Grant. She’s an investment banker and knows some things about money. She’s got some ideas about how to improve our cash flow.” He introduced the staff to her, a blur of names and faces she wouldn’t remember right away. “Come on in here.” He led the way into a small office. “Devon, this is Bill, our manager. Bill, Devon Grant.” He repeated the explanation of why she was there. Bill nodded, seeming a little taken aback. Maybe he thought she was after his job.

“So how do we get started on this financing thing?” Josh asked. “I feel totally lost when it comes to things like that.”

“That’s okay. That’s what I’m here for. After I have a look at your accounts receivable, I’ll contact a factoring company. I know a few good ones. Then they’ll have a look at your credit and your clients’ credit history. They’ll notify your customers to pay them, and they’ll take responsibility for collection of payments. This puts the risk of nonpayment fully on them.”

Josh frowned. “They’re going to contact our customers?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t know if I like that. Will they think we’re having financial problems?”

“No, I don’t think so. Lots of businesses have cash flow that varies, like yours. When you have a busy summer season, the money is coming in, but you need to cover short-term cash needs in slower periods, like the winter. It’s not that unusual.”

“That’s true,” Bill said. “We’ve been focusing on trying to collect faster, trying to offer early payment incentives.”

“Two percent discount?” Devon said.

“Yeah. But we’re pretty much at the mercy of our customers when it comes to cash flow.”

Devon gave a wry smile and nodded. “I hear you.”

“I’ll let you two talk money,” Josh said. “I’m going to go see what else needs to be done.”

She was happy to focus on business matters, things that she was familiar with and knowledgeable about, things she loved, and she and Bill got to work. Time flew by until Josh came back into the office. She glanced at her watch and saw it was after five o’clock.

“How’s it going?” he asked, leaning on the desk. He’d been out in the sun, his hair tousled by the wind, his face tanned, his clothes dusty and his hands dirty. He looked hot. And not just temperature.

“Good.”

“Where’s Bill? Gone home?”

“No. He just went to the photocopier, I think.”

“Ready to call it a day?”

“I guess I am.” She stretched her arms over her head, and when she noticed Josh’s eyes drop to her breasts, heat washed over her.

“You need to fill out some forms so we can pay you.”

She paused. “You don’t have to pay me for this.”

He frowned. “Of course I do.”

“I’m just helping you out.”

“Devon, for Chrissake. I’m paying you for your time. You’re like a…consultant. They charge big bucks.”

“The reason I’m here is your cash flow problem,” she said pointedly, raising an eyebrow.

He grinned. “Oh yeah.”

She couldn’t resist the smile that tugged at her lips.

“I’m still paying you,” he said. “It’s not that we’re not making money, Dev. It’s cash flow.”

“Okay,” she conceded. “But you don’t need to feel sorry for me. I know I said I’m broke, but I…okay, I’m broke, but still…”

He laughed. “Give it up. Take the money.”

She huffed. “Fine.”

“Etta does the payroll stuff. We’ll talk to her tomorrow. Now, come to my place for dinner.”

Josh had two days off, so he didn’t have to get up early, and they lingered in bed in the morning. Then he got up and went downstairs to make coffee before disappearing into the bathroom for a shower. Devon smiled and stretched in his big bed, burying her face in Josh’s pillow and inhaling his scent, then climbed out of bed. They planned to go back to Brewster Landscaping today to do more work on getting the financing set up.

She ventured downstairs, following the delicious scent of the coffee, and poured herself a cup. Carrying the mug, she wandered around the house, morning sun filling the big rooms with light. It was such a great house. She could picture wooden blinds on the windows, rugs on the hardwood floors and the kind of furniture she’d like to fill the empty rooms with. She stopped and frowned at some boxes and a big plastic garbage bag sitting on the floor in what would be the dining room, if he had a dining table. Garbage? That wasn’t good. She opened the loosely tied bag and peered in. No. Not garbage. She tugged out a small hooded sweatshirt, obviously a woman’s. A bottle of conditioner. A little pink shaver.

Her heart plummeted to her toes as she realized what she was looking at. Allie’s things.

Oh fishsticks.

Of course Allie had probably spent a lot of time at Josh’s place. They’d been getting married. She sucked on a suddenly trembling bottom lip as she pushed the things back into the bag and retied it. Then she sank to the floor and sat there for a moment, staring blindly across the room.

Why did this bother her so much? It certainly was no surprise. Maybe she’d managed to forget, even just a little, that Josh had been about to marry another woman not that long ago, but this was a very real and tangible reminder. Allie. And that hurt returned and spread outward from the sharp ache in her stomach.

She bowed her head and glumly regarded the floor. What was going on with her and Josh now? She’d been feeling all…good. Helping him. Feeling needed and…and…cared for. But how could that be?

God, she’d been crazy to agree to come back to the harbor and spend more time with him. She was only going to get hurt again.

The crazy thing was, at that moment she so wished she had someone to talk to about this. Someone she trusted with all her being, someone she trusted so much she could tell that person anything. Someone like a best friend. Someone like Allie.

But she and Allie weren’t best friends anymore.

She pushed to her feet and gulped some of the hot coffee, the heat easing the ache in her throat. This tangible reminder of how close Josh and Allie had been to getting married and making their relationship permanent wasn’t something she’d wanted to come across, but maybe it was a good thing. She needed reminders of why she should not be getting involved with Josh again. She shouldn’t have spent the night with him.