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“And?” I could hear her drooling over the phone line.
“After we landed, Josh brought me home in his charter.”
“Charter jet? So the guy must be loaded.”
“Don’t know,” I lied. “And don’t care.” That part wasn’t a lie. I wouldn’t be as crass as Sandy in judging a guy that way.
“Sure,” she said sarcastically.
I flashed back to cuddling in his arms, and how concerned he’d been for my safety. “He’s a really nice guy.”
“And has he asked you out again?”
I answered that with silence.
Sandy chuckled. “A piece of advice, girl. Don’t refuse. If you don’t take the first step, you can never round the bases.”
“I’m at work, and I really have to go in. I just wanted to let you know I was okay.”
“More than okay is what it sounds like. Catch ya later.”
“Love you.” I hung up and sat back for a second. More than okay was certainly right. Tomorrow night couldn’t come soon enough.
As I pulled into the company parking lot, a text arrived.
SANDY: There may be a lot of fish in the sea, but be careful throwing a good one back, because you’ll never hook him again.
Once inside the familiar offices of our company, I found Uncle Ernst in his office talking with Rosa, who handled HR.
“We can pick this up later,” he said.
Rosa shook her head, stood, and slid by without meeting my gaze or welcoming me back—very un-Rosa. They’d probably been discussing my errant cousin.
I closed the door behind me. Something was off about his office. It was different than I remembered, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.
Uncle Ernst rounded the desk to give me a one-armed hug. “Welcome back. How was your time off? We missed you around here.”
I took a chair for what was likely to be an unpleasant discussion. “Good to be back,” I answered half-heartedly. I didn’t know how to start the conversation about Lara, so I settled for, “It was warm and relaxing.”
“Good, because things have gotten pretty hectic around here, and you’re going to need all the energy you can muster.”
Hecticwasn’t the word I would have chosen for having his own stepdaughter arrested.
I sat back and waited for him to explain, rather than start off by accusing him.
“You know the bank was in last week to renegotiate the credit line?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“When Stephanie told us we had money missing, that threw a wrench into everything.”
I wanted to get the facts straight. “I thought—”
“Hold on and let me explain how we got to where we are.”
I closed my mouth and folded my arms.
He had a way of stretching out explanations that didn’t suit me. “The bank demanded that we investigate what happened and propose a solution before they’d talk further.”
