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“Marcel was eating while you were in here?”
Jolie frowned back at him. “Obviously.”
“Huh.”
“Huh what?”
“Marcel doesn’t like people.”
“He does if you feed him. A few days after Finn left, he came to tell me that his bowl hadn’t been filled for a day or two. After I fed him, he decided I was okay.” The phone rang, sounding over a loudspeaker. Dylan picked up the warehouse extension.
“Culver Ranch and Feed. Marti...of course I remember. What can I do for you?”
He listened for a moment then held the phone out to Jolie, watching her curiously as she said, “Hi, Marti.”
“I can bring in eight pieces, but after giving the matter a bit of thought, I think I’d like an 80-20 split instead of 70-30.”
Jolie shifted her gaze to the far side of the warehouse. She very much wanted to say, “No, that’s not fair to the other artists.” Except there was only one other artist, so instead she said, “How about 75-25?”
A long silence followed and Jolie wondered if she was going to have to do without watercolors. Then Marti said, “For the first month. After that, we can renegotiate.”
“Sounds fair. I’ll have the agreement ready when you stop by.”
“A week from this Friday.”
“That’s right,” Jolie said brightly.
“See you then.”
Dylan hadn’t moved during the conversation and when Jolie hung up the phone, she found herself standing a little closer to him than she’d expected. She didn’t step back. Stepping back simply wasn’t her way.
“Marti Kendall is one of your artists?”
“She does beautiful watercolors of horses.” Jolie got the distinct feeling that Dylan was also very aware they were standing too close and he wasn’t going to be the one to back off.
“Do you have anyone else interested besides Marti?”
“One potter.”
“Only one other artist?”
“I’ve been kind of busy doing my job,” Jolie said dryly.
“How many people did you ask?”
“Look,” she said, forcing herself to focus on coming up with an answer rather than the man standing too close to her because they were both too stubborn to back off. He smelled...good. “I just started this process and there was nothing in our agreement about reporting my progress to you.”
“Let’s make an addendum.”
“I called nine people.”
“And got one.”
“It’s a feed store, Dylan.”
“That is exactly why this probably isn’t going to work.”
“Do you always give up this easily?” she blurted.
Dylan looked surprised. “I never give up easily.”
“Then why do you expect me to?”
He opened his mouth and abruptly closed it again. The cat peeked out from behind a row of shovels and Dylan jerked his head toward the door. “Maybe we should get out of here so Marcel can finish eating.”
“Sure.” It was the perfect excuse to put some physical distance between them and she was glad that he’d been the one to suggest it. She also had the strong feeling that she would not have liked whatever he’d been about to say.
They’d just stepped outside when the phone rang. Jolie forced a smile. “Ah. Probably an artisan calling back.” She gave him a smug nod then headed back into the warehouse to the extension phone.
* * *
DYLAN WATCHED JOLIE GO, fairly certain it was not an artist on the phone. Why would an artist display their stuff in a feed store? It made no sense. He had to admit, though, that Jolie wasn’t rolling over in the face of adversity—not yet anyway—but he had a feeling it was because she knew he expected her to fail. He did, but he didn’t need to harp on the matter.
So, in the interest of maintaining a peaceful work environment—and also because he seemed to be noticing a few too many things about his bookkeeper, like the way she wore her jeans—Dylan would keep their relationship briskly businesslike.
For the remaining days of the week, he did not mention the gift boutique and Jolie kept quiet on the matter, too, which made him believe that the project was indeed falling by the wayside.
At least she had given it a shot. And he had to admit that he kind of felt bad when he walked through the store and heard her talking earnestly on the phone to someone who was probably in the process of telling her no dice. He didn’t say anything. Why rub salt into the wound?
That night after dinner, Dylan went for a slow jog around the neighborhood. His bone had mended—it was the injured muscles and ligaments that still had a way to go. But he was healing. He was running farther, faster, and he no longer limped when his leg got tired.
He’d thought about calling Pat Michaels, his ex-partner, to see how things were going at the precinct, but hadn’t been able to bring himself to make the call. After the accident, he and Pat had naturally seen less of one another but he also had the strangest feeling that his partner was distancing himself from him and he didn’t know why. He hadn’t been culpable in the accident and he was unaware of being on the wrong side of any precinct politics, so he’d finally decided that something outside of the job was eating at Pat. It happened. It also made him hesitant to call.
Hell, his life in Montana was so far removed from his life in Lanesburg, maybe it was better to focus on the here and now instead of worrying about things he was no longer part of—at least for the time being. He’d bring himself up to speed once he got his medical clearance and sat for the detective exam. When he was back where he belonged.
* * *
DYLAN HAD KEPT HIMSELF busy in his office and the warehouse for several days after Marti’s call. Not once did he mention Jolie’s project, nor did she, even after booking two more artisans—a leatherworker and a woman who made picture frames. She was making progress, but she wanted to fill the front of the store with interesting items, make a statement, catch the eye as people came in and then keep them coming back when gift-giving occasions arose. No one was going to drive a few extra miles for a tiny selection of handcrafted goods. She needed more artisans.
When she walked into the bar that night, Jim raised a lazy hand to greet her and she could see that it had been a slow afternoon, which wasn’t unusual for a Thursday. He poured them both seltzer water, as he usually did when they had downtime, and after putting her purse away, she perched on her stool near the edge of the bar.
“Probably not a big tip night,” she said, nodding at the two patrons playing a game of pool.
“It’ll be a sleeper,” he agreed. He leaned his elbows on the bar opposite her. “So how’s your big project coming?”
“I’m halfway there. I need just four more artists to have a respectable showing.”
“I talked to Mac.”
Jolie had her glass halfway to her lips then put it back down. She’d asked Jim about his brother’s ironwork, but Jim hadn’t been hopeful about Mac agreeing to participate. “And?”
“He said I can pull some of his stuff out of the garage and let you display it. I got you two wine racks and two towel bar sets.”
“Oh, my gosh.” Jolie practically jumped off the stool. Mac’s wrought-iron work was gorgeous.
“And he’s working with a guy whose brother just got out of prison at Deer Lodge. He hitches horsehair and has some belts he’d like to commission.”
“Jim, you are a bona fide doll.”
He went a little red. “I know.”
Jolie’s run of good luck continued for the next few days. On Saturday she heard back from a leatherworker who had spur straps and wallets to display and on Monday a silversmith finally returned her message and agreed to drop off twenty pieces of jewelry. She was so tempted to walk into Dylan’s office and slap her list of artists on the desk in front of him, but she refrained. Partly because she was above that and partly because he’d been avoiding her, which made her believe he’d felt the same sense of tension building between them that she did.
During her lunch hour, Jolie walked the area near the front of the store where she wanted to build her display and debated about how best to squeeze in an attractive backdrop, attractive being the key word. The walls were painted flat white and the floor was half-century-old cracked tile. She didn’t have a lot of time and her budget was very close to zero dollars. She would have to make do with what she could scrounge around the place.
She went back behind the counter, flipped open the notebook she used to jot down special orders and, after a moment, started sketching, trying to come up with a way to cover the walls, build shelving, disguise the floor—
The bell above the door rang and she jumped a mile. Dylan gave her an odd look as he crossed the room and she slowly closed the notebook.
“Did I interrupt something?” he asked curiously.
“No. I was just drawing.”
“Drawing.”
“Ideas for my display.”
He stopped on the other side of the counter. “I take that to mean that you contracted your seven artisans?”
“I did. Now I’m going for ten.”
“Can I see your plan?”
“I don’t think so,” Jolie said with an easy smile. It was beyond rough and she wasn’t presenting any ideas to him until they were polished. She’d learned her lesson about that.
“Is it some big secret?”
“Maybe I don’t want you taking over.”
His eyebrows shot up as if he had no idea what she was talking about. “Why would I take over?”
Her lips twisted. Really, Dylan? “Because that’s our history. You take over.”
He raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. “This is your baby. I’m just curious in case Mike has questions.”
There was something in his tone that caught her attention. “Will Mike have a problem with this?” She liked the gruff old guy and wouldn’t want to upset him.
“Mike doesn’t like change.”
“At all?” Was that why Finn had also dragged his feet when she’d discussed improvements during the few weeks they’d worked together?
Dylan gave his head a slow shake. “Not a fan. It’s gotten worse over the past few years.”
“Then moving has got to be killing him.”
“If the house didn’t have so many damned stairs, he’d never leave.”
“Well...” she said slowly, “can you convince him this will be a change for the better? After you convince yourself, of course.”
He didn’t deny that he had to be convinced, but she hadn’t expected him to.
“How are you going to display this stuff when it comes in?” He leaned an elbow on the counter as he cast a sweeping glance around the store and again she had that feeling of being too close to him, even though there was a good two feet of wood and glass between them.
“I’ll have to rearrange, but all of your stock will be easily available.”
“Just run any big changes by me, okay?”
“Sure.” She caught the scent of his aftershave and it made her want to lean even closer...maybe even follow him when he retreated to his office. That had never happened in high school. Had they been so busy sniping at each other in the lab that she’d never noticed that the guy was jangling her nerves?
No. Something had changed. They were still sniping...but it felt different. And even though Dylan was technically her boss, it didn’t feel the way it did with Finn.
Maybe because of that fantasy comment he’d made?
Even though she told herself it was only a quip, meant to throw her off balance, it had stuck with her. As had the realization that Dylan had lips that could take part in a fantasy—hers—and that was...disconcerting.
She cleared her throat, bringing his attention back to her, which had not been her intent. She smiled at him, hating the feeling that she was somehow at a disadvantage because his very presence was making her feel all edgy and unsettled.
“You were going to say something?” he finally asked.
Instead of saying no, as she should have, Jolie decided to take control. “I was wondering if you have some kind of time frame in which you have to get back to your other job.”
He blinked at her as if she was not making sense. Or as if he didn’t want to answer that particular question. “Counting the days until I’m out of your hair?”
“Actually, no. I was just curious.”
“As soon as Finn gets back, I’m heading home.”
“You’re on leave?” She leaned on the counter. He was withdrawing. Fast.
“Yes.”
“Your old job waiting for you?”
“Pretty much.”
She waited a moment. “Not going to share any details, are you?”
“Don’t really see any need to,” he said, his eyelids dropping an iota. He regarded her for a few long seconds, as if challenging her to ask yet another question he wasn’t going to answer.
