Fifteen minutes later, she carried her tea into the main part of the store. John was working on the ledgers she’d made a mess of that morning. He glanced up when she appeared.
“I hope I didn’t do too much damage.”
He almost grinned. A smile came to his eyes first before reaching his mouth, but for no reason she could name he wouldn’t allow himself the luxury of revealing his amusement.
A couple strolling down the sidewalk stopped and stared at the window. Dani felt like she should step outside and explain that she wasn’t finished with the window display, yet. When it came to her work she was something of a perfectionist, and there were a number of things to add, small touches that would complete the picture.
“It looks like they’re coming inside,” John said, rising from the table. “Good. Business has been slow all morning.”
“Good afternoon,” he greeted as the two moved inside the store.
“Hello,” the tall, distinguished-looking woman returned. “We’re not really in the market for antiques, but I couldn’t help admiring the window display with the cradle. It’s lovely.”
“Thank you,” John said, accepting full credit.
“Years ago, my grandmother sewed patchwork quilts,” the woman continued in a wistful tone. “Every stitch was done by hand. Most folks prefer to use a machine these days, not that I blame them, mind you.”
“The quilt is the genuine thing,” John said. “It’s been well preserved over the years, and from what I understand was hand stitched more than sixty years ago.”
“About the same time as my grandmother.”
“Perhaps you’d like to see it,” Dani offered eagerly, noting the customer’s wistful look. She set the teacup onto the desk, leapt back into the window and removed the blanket from the rocking chair. She’d draped it in a way that best displayed the starburst design, and at the same time left the impression that whoever had gone from the rocking chair would return momentarily.
“Oh, Thomas, look,” she said softly when Dani showed her the quilt. Dani noticed the tears gather in the corners of the other woman’s eyes.
“We’ll take it,” Thomas said emphatically. “Now, Mary, I don’t want you arguing with me. I can see how much this would mean to you. I’ve been looking for something special for our anniversary gift and this quilt is perfect.”
Mary blinked back the tears. “It’s just that I remember my grandmother so clearly. I have grandchildren of my own, and yet it only seems like yesterday when I sat with my own grammy and she read to me by the fireplace.”
“How much?” Thomas asked, reaching into his hip pocket for his checkbook.
John named a price that seemed reasonable to Dani. While he wrote up the slip, she returned the teacup to the back room and searched the store for something to replace the blanket in the display.
She heard the door close and risked a look in John’s direction.
“I suppose you’re looking for me to thank you,” he said gruffly.
“Thank me for what?”
“That sale. If you hadn’t placed the quilt in the window, it would never have sold.”
“That’s true, but then, that’s the reason shop owners do displays,” Dani returned without emotion. One would think he’d be pleased. It was all too clear that he was looking for a reason to fire her. Every time a customer made a purchase due to her efforts, he had less of an excuse.
Dani gathered together the items she needed and returned to the window. She wanted this job, and given half a chance would prove herself, but it would be difficult with John’s current attitude.
* * *
John wasn’t fond of eating crow, but if matters progressed as they had the first two weeks since his mother hired his assistant, then he’d be forced to admit Dani Beckman was worth her weight in gold.
She wouldn’t last.
John would be a fool if he let himself think she’d stay longer than the summer tourist season. He’d seen her type before. True, he couldn’t fault her work. Yet, he almost wished she’d give him a reason to lay her off, and not for any of the arguments he’d given his mother.
Against his better judgment, John was beginning to like her. Dani was warm and gracious and attracted people the way ants head for honey.
When it came to sales, she was a natural. It didn’t take him long to discover she could sell just about anything to just about anyone. And really, that was all that should concern him. The less personal contact between them the better. John found himself doing less and less of the selling and more and more of the bookkeeping, which worked out well.
But John didn’t dare trust Dani to stay with him past the adventure-filled summer months. And why should she? She was pretty and bright and fun. He couldn’t think of a single reason why she would want to settle down in an out-of-the-way tourist town. Not when the bright lights of the city beckoned her back to everything she’d left behind.
When the rainy season hit and the days grew long and dreary, he fully expected Dani to hustle back to Seattle. His problem, as he saw it, was lowering his guard and coming to rely on her. Coming to enjoy her company. Coming to think of her as someone more than an employee.
If he did, he’d be setting himself up for a major disappointment. The best thing he could do, John decided, was to keep his distance. That, however, was proving to be more difficult than he had assumed it would be.
Keeping his guard raised was something John had been doing with the opposite sex for a good long while. It wasn’t difficult to remain standoffish with women. It had become second nature to him over the years. Since Patricia.
He realized that he could think of Patricia now and not experience a crushing sense of loss. In actuality, he was better off without her. That was what he’d been told by those he respected and loved. But it wasn’t what his heart had said, and their words of comfort had offered damn little solace.
What had frightened him in all this was that he probably would have taken Patricia back, had she come. In the beginning. His complete lack of pride brought a bitter taste to his mouth. He’d made a mistake and he wasn’t about to make another.
Later, he’d have rather died than admit he’d ever loved Patricia. Died, rather than let anyone know how dreadfully he missed her.
In time, John had steeled himself not only against Patricia, but all women. They weren’t to be trusted. Only a fool would allow another one to muddle up his life.
John was no fool, and the last thing he wanted, needed, would allow, was Dani messing with his life. Dani messing with his heart. Dani messing with all the empty spaces he faced each and every day.
And so, he ignored her as much as possible. Ignored the fact that an exotic flower bloomed in the shadows of his antiques store.
John tallied the receipts for the end of Dani’s first two weeks. Once he’d finished, he added them up a second time. She’d been with him only a short while and already this had been his most profitable month of the year.
The phone rang and John reached across the desk for the receiver. He groaned inwardly when he recognized his mother’s voice.
“How’s Dani working out?” Mamie wanted to know first thing. She sounded as if she’d been looking over his shoulder the whole time he’d been figuring out his profit margin. Almost as if she’d known Dani was the best thing to happen to the business since he opened his front door.
John’s hand tightened around the telephone receiver. “Fine.”
“Fine? I bet she’s terrific.”
John couldn’t very well argue. Reluctantly his gaze followed Dani as she moved about the store. She’d worked wonders with the decor in the cramped and crowded space. Each morning, it seemed, she arrived with another idea, another brilliant scheme. When he saw how well her ideas sold his inventory, John had given her free rein.
He swore she sold whatever she assembled as fast as she put it together. It started off with a formal dining room display her third day. She’d set the mahogany table with fine bone c
hina and pink linen napkins. Next, she used an antique cut-crystal bowl and arranged a breathtaking centerpiece with silk flowers. With crystal goblets gleaming and silverware shining, it looked as if dinner guests were about to be escorted into the stately room and seated.
The entire room sold within two days, centerpiece and all.
“Admit it, John,” Mamie coaxed. “She’s terrific.”
“She is,” he said with some hesitation.
Mamie all but cooed. “I knew it. Her window displays are the talk of the bridge club. By the way, wherever did you find that lovely cradle?”
“It’s been in the back room for several months.” Now that his mother mentioned it, Dani had sold everything from that first display but that cradle. He wondered why. His price was fair, and it had certainly attracted enough attention.
“From what I understand, the newspaper’s sending someone over to take a picture of the 1950s bedroom she made up,” Mamie continued. “I understand it’s very clever.”
“It is.” Who would have believed those old album covers and a lava lamp would cause such a commotion?
“You don’t sound very enthused.”
“On the contrary,” John muttered. “I couldn’t be more pleased with the increase in sales.” Actually, he could use the additional space the extra sales had left him. The antiques he’d purchased in San Francisco would arrive within the next week and he’d need the room.
“I’ll see you Saturday evening?”
John didn’t know why his mother bothered to ask. He had dinner with her every Saturday night. “I’ll be there.”
“Great. I’ll see you then.” She ended the conversation on such a cheerful note that John half suspected his mother had something up her sleeve. John trusted that Mamie knew better.
He wouldn’t allow his mother to meddle in his love life.
John replaced the receiver and watched as Dani handed a sales receipt to Mrs. Albertson. The seventy-year-old widow walked out of the shop and Dani turned to John, and it looked as if she was having trouble keeping a straight face.
“Something’s amusing you?” John asked in the same practiced, cool tones he’d used with her from the beginning.
“Didn’t you see?” Dani asked, gesturing toward the 1950s bedroom display. “Mrs. Albertson bought the lava lamp.”
John had a difficult time disguising his surprise. “Mrs. Albertson?”
“Personally I find it a hoot.”
John didn’t say anything. He returned to the figures he was compiling before being interrupted by the phone. The silence seemed heavy, but he didn’t look up. It was best not to encourage conversation with Dani. The less he knew about her the better, and he certainly didn’t intend on anything more than a casual relationship between the two of them.
“You don’t like me very much, do you?” she asked in a soft voice.
The question sounded as if it had hurt her to ask it. “I don’t dislike you,” John said evenly.
“That wasn’t the question I asked. I said, you don’t like me very much, and there’s a significant difference between that and your response.”
John sighed. It was just like a woman to involve him in a game of semantics. “Frankly, I don’t see the problem.”
“Why not?” she asked.
John wasn’t accustomed to dealing with a woman who was so blunt. He stiffened. He might as well tell her the truth. “You’re leaving.”
“I am?” she asked, elevating her voice with surprise.
“I suspect you’ll move back to Seattle before the end of the summer, October at the latest. Not that I’d blame you. You’re very good at drumming up sales and I suspect you’ll find the shop here won’t be much of a challenge after a while.”
“I love Ocean Shores.”
“I’m sure you do,” John said. “And why shouldn’t you? The weather’s been great the last couple of weeks. The tourists flood the store on the weekends, and there’s lots to see and do. But that will all fade in time.”
“You stay year after year.”
“I’m different than you.”
“How’s that?”
John had a sneaking suspicion he was only making matters worse. He hoped to bridge any differences with honesty, but from the way her eyes flashed at him, one would think he’d purposely insulted her. All he’d done was answer her questions.
“You’ve been great, Dani. I appreciate everything you’ve done around the store, but you’re young and attractive and you’ll soon grow tired of living so far away from the city.”
She frowned and he noted a weary sadness in her that had escaped him previously. “I don’t think so.”
“Time will tell, won’t it?” Frankly, he was growing tired of these silly games.
“Yes, it will.” She turned away, her shoulders stiff. Dani hadn’t gone more than a couple of steps when she whirled back around. “Do you care to place a small wager on the fact?” she asked.
“About what?”
“My leaving?”
John shrugged. He had no intention of doing any such thing. “No,” he said bluntly.
“Oh, sure,” she said, tossing her arms into the air. “You can say what you will, insult me…”
He expelled his breath slowly. “I didn’t mean to insult you.”
“I was with Murphy’s Department Store for seven years. What makes you think I’d leap from one job to the next?”
“You belong in the city.”
“Who told you that?” she demanded.
John was at a loss as to how to answer her.
“I’ll have you know,” she returned, and braced her hands against her hips, “I was born and raised in a small town and I loved every minute of it.”
“I thought you said—”
“It’s true, we moved to Seattle when I was in high school, but I’ve always been a small-town girl at heart and don’t you forget it.”
She certainly felt strongly about the subject. “All right,” John agreed, sorry now that he’d said anything at all. That had been his first mistake and he seemed intent on adding to the list.
“Great.” She beamed him a smile that would dazzle the sun, and held out her right hand.
John stared at it. “What’s that for?”
“Our bet.”
“What bet?” He hated to be obtuse, but he hadn’t a clue what she was talking about.
“That I’ll stay on past the summer months.”
John continued to stare at her hand. “Dani, listen…”
“That’s an improvement,” she said, smiling once more. She dropped her hand and relaxed. She sat on the edge of his desk, facing him. John couldn’t have avoided her, had he tried.
“What’s an improvement?”
“Calling me by my first name. You’ve avoided it for two weeks. Really, Ms. Beckman is much too formal, don’t you think? Come on, John, it’s time to loosen up a bit. It’s only the two of us.”
That was the problem. Just the two of them together, day after day. John bit down hard on his back teeth, unwilling to answer her. She was right, he had avoided using her first name, although he certainly thought of her as Dani.
“About the wager,” she pressed.
“I don’t think that’s necessary.”
“I do,” she said with conviction. “You seem to think I’m the type of woman who goes after whatever is brightest and prettiest without a thought or a care. Frankly, I don’t like the implication.”
“I see.”
“I want a chance to prove myself.”
“All right,” John said, surprising himself with his willingness to involve himself in this ridiculous wager. “I say you won’t last much past October.”
“I say I’ll stay.”
“If I’m right, then…” He couldn’t think of anything he’d want from her.
“Then I’ll agree to come back and do your window displays once a month for the next year, free.”
It was difficult to disguise his delight. “G
reat.”
“What are you offering me if I stay?” she continued, looking very much like a cat about to dip its tongue into a bowl of heavy cream.
“A raise?” he suggested.
“I’ll be entitled to one by then. I want you to put something that matters to you on the line. You’re so sure of yourself about this, John Osborn, make it worth my while to stay.”
“Okay…” But even at that he couldn’t think of anything that would induce her to remain in Ocean Shores, and quite honestly, on a personal note he wasn’t sure it was a good idea.
“Would you like a few suggestions?” she asked.
“All right.”
“How about offering to take me to dinner for a month of Sundays.”
“Dinner? Thirty times?”
“Sounds good to me,” she said, smiling as if she’d stumbled across a brilliant idea.
“No,” he said automatically, shuffling the papers around the desk, straightening stacks that were already straight. He avoided eye contact.
“Why not?”
“First of all, it’s not going to happen….”
“Then you don’t have anything to worry about.”
“And secondly, I don’t think it’s a good idea for us…” he paused and cleared his throat “…to see each other socially. It’s simply not a good business practice.”
Her eyes widened as if the thought of the two of them as a couple had never occurred to her. “Of course…” A faint pink tint invaded her cheeks.
“Would you settle for thirty dinners, then,” he offered, “with the companion of your choice?”
“All right,” she agreed. “I didn’t mean to suggest…”
“I realize that, Dani.”
“I didn’t want you getting the wrong idea.”
“I didn’t,” he assured her quickly, uncomfortable with the subject.
“Then you agree to the terms of our wager?” she asked after a moment.
“You realize this is like taking candy from a baby.”
“Do you or don’t you agree?” she pressed.
“I agree,” he muttered.
“Great.” The smile was back in place and John had to force himself to look away. He found her far too attractive for his own sense of well-being.