Dev felt an unreasonable spurt of jealousy, and toward a sixty-year-old man, for crying out loud. He was amazed at how quickly he’d settled into the idea of Jamie as his current girlfriend. But she had no idea of his intentions, and he didn’t plan to be obvious about it. He’d leave himself room to back out if she vigorously hated the idea.
After Jamie sat, she rummaged in her large purse and pulled out a videotape. “Here’s your Bulls game.” She handed it to him.
“Thanks.” He felt his sister’s curiosity go up a notch. “I forgot to set my VCR before I left for Jamie’s, so she offered to tape the game for me.”
“So the interview took that long?” Faith asked.
“Oh, I’m sure Dev saw the last of the game when he got home, but this way he didn’t have to miss any of it,” Jamie said quickly. “By the way, where’s Dixie this morning?”
Faith studied them both for a moment before answering. “She’s upstairs bugging our supplier for those red teddies we wanted to put on special, the ones that were supposed to arrive last week.” Faith leaned forward. “But if you ask me, she’s hiding out. It seems she has a secret admirer, and she doesn’t know quite what to make of it.”
“A secret admirer?” Jamie’s saucy grin appeared. “That’s cool. And she has no clue who it is?”
Jamie had a secret admirer, too, Dev thought, but not for long. Soon he’d swing into action. That grin of hers reminded him of how good her lips tasted, and he could hardly wait for more.
“She has no idea who it is,” Faith said. “But she’s started getting little notes on elegant paper.”
“Are we supposed to know about this?” Dev asked.
Faith nodded. “She said I could tell you both, in case this admirer turns out to be a dirty old man and she needs backup.”
“I hope not.” Jamie’s green eyes sparkled. “I hope he’s someone wonderful.”
Dev wondered what he had to do to produce that sparkle in Jamie’s eyes. He wasn’t into notes on elegant stationery.
“I have a business decision to run past you, Faith,” Jamie said. “I’m thinking of using a patchouli blend in the diffusers at Heaven Scent for the Valentine push. It’ll ratchet up the intensity, and I think we need that extra punch.”
“Good thinking, Jamie,” Faith said. “Patchouli’s a great idea.”
Dev didn’t have much to add to the conversation, but he wanted to see if he could get Jamie to look at him. So far she hadn’t met his gaze. “Sounds like patchouli would make you sneeze.”
“If it does,” Faith said with a smile, “that’s a sure sign your love life sucks.”
“Why am I so positive you made that up?”
“She did,” Jamie said, laughing. Yet her cheeks turned pink and her gaze skittered over to his and away again. “Faith, no fair harassing our best source of interviews.”
“That’s right,” Dev said. “I’ll have you know I talked two of my buddies into e-mailing Jamie their completed questionnaires last night.”
“Absolutely true.” Jamie’s glance settled on him for a moment before veering over to Faith. “So far Dev and his friends have been a lot more helpful than my brothers, who whined about how they hate to fill out forms.”
“Besides,” Dev said, “if anybody should be sneezing when they smell patchouli it would be you, little sis.”
Faith wrinkled her nose at him. “With what’s going on around here, who has time for a love life?”
“Ain’t that the truth,” Jamie said. “In fact, I need to get upstairs and consult with Jason on retooling our program.” She stood. Efficiency in motion, she hooked her purse strap over her shoulder, her coat over her arm, and picked up her coffee.
“I’ll go with you,” Faith said. “Elevator or stairs?”
“Stairs, of course.”
“Of course,” Faith said. “I don’t know why I even asked a woman who ice skates on her lunch hour. Okay, stairs it is. I can use the exercise. Bye, Dev.”
“Bye, Dev,” Jamie echoed.
Dev stood, too. He’d hoped to subtly find out if Jamie would be home tonight without letting her know he’d be stopping by with the replacement for her cup. He didn’t want to tell her what he planned because he was afraid she’d suggest that he bring the cup to the office instead. No, a surprise visit was best.
But here she was leaving already, and he had no idea what her plans were for tonight. He didn’t want to go all the way over there and find her gone, or worse, discover Faith was there.
Finally, when she was partway up the stairs, he had no choice but to ask her straight out. “Jamie, are you going to be home tonight?”
She froze. Then she glanced at him over her shoulder. “Um, I think so. Why?”
Faith looked at him strangely. Well, he didn’t have time to worry about that. He had a big hairy lie to tell. “One guy I contacted about the questionnaire said his computer’s in the shop, so he couldn’t do the e-mail thing. But if I give him your number, you can ask him the questions over the phone.”
“That would be fine. I should be around.”
“Good. I’ll tell him.” If he didn’t know better, he’d swear that she looked disappointed. Maybe she’d wanted his question to lead to something else, something involving him. But that was crazy. She’d had several chances the night before to encourage him, and other than the kiss she’d dismissed as a fluke, she’d kept her distance.
“Then it’s off to work we go,” Faith said brightly.
Mr. Willis hurried after Faith with a lidded coffee cup in his hand. “I wonder if you would be so kind as to deliver this to Mrs. Merriweather? I know how much everyone depends on a bracing cup of coffee in the morning.”
Faith took the coffee. “I’m sure she’ll appreciate that, Mr. Willis.” Then she followed Jamie up the winding staircase.
Dev turned away, not wanting to be caught staring after Jamie as she climbed the stairs. But he wanted to watch. Each step she took made the material of her skirt cup her trim little bottom. Instead he polished off his coffee, stood and handed the mug to Mr. Willis.
“They all work too hard,” the older man said.
“Sometimes you have to, if you want to get a business off the ground.” Dev knew that was something else that attracted him to Jamie. She threw herself heart and soul into whatever she tackled.
“Yes, I suppose that’s true. But I hate to see them missing out on the small pleasures of life.”
Dev was touched by the older man’s concern. Obviously he was in a service job because he was the soul of service. “Your coffee sure qualifies as one of the pleasures of life. I don’t know how I lived without it before.” He couldn’t imagine going without his daily doses of Jamie, either, as they shared this morning ritual.
“Thank you, Mr. Sherman. That’s kind of you to say so.”
“It’s Dev.”
Mr. Willis gave him a rare smile. “Old habits are hard to break. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go see to the espresso machine. It was acting up yesterday.”
“I need to take off, myself.” He glanced at the stairway. Jamie and Faith were gone. “Thanks again for the coffee.”
“My pleasure, Mr. Sherman.”
As Dev headed for the side entrance, making the same trip he had every morning since November when The Red Doors opened, he offered up a little prayer that the business would survive. Besides temporarily lowering the rent on the space, his father would do nothing else to shore up the venture.
Outsiders might think that with Faith as a partner in The Red Doors, the business was automatically backed with Sherman money. Not so. Even the break on the rent had been a hard-won concession. D. H. Sherman believed in educating his children and letting them make their own way.
Ten years ago Dev had resented the hell out of his father’s attitude. After partying his way through college, he’d expected to slide right into a slot with the brokerage firm. He’d been convinced his father was bluffing.
Instead he’d been required to dig for every client, and he’d nearly bombed out. But he’d made it, made it very nicely. Grudgingly, he’d admitted to himself that his father had been right in forcing him to grow up.
He hadn’t said so to the old man yet, but he would, eventually. Just not right now, when Faith was struggling. His father might get all full of himself and his excellent parenting skills and decide to hike the rent.
That would be horrendous for Faith, but even worse for Jamie, who had sunk everything she had into the business. Although it didn’t make a lot of sense, he felt responsible for whether she made it or not. He’d helped her earn that original stake, and he’d been there when she’d had the brainstorm that could make her even more money. He didn’t want to see her fail. That was another good reason to stay close to her, so he could keep an eye on things.
JAMIE WALKED with Faith down a hallway between Heaven Scent and The Diamond Mine. In allotting space, they’d reasoned out that Sheer Delights required the most floor space, so the other two boutiques had been scaled down to allow for a hallway that led back to a storeroom and office area.