Mimi made a grumpy hungry sound. “Can we stop quibbling? If I don’t get some food inside me soon I’m going to faint.” The three of them ordered their lunches, then began searching for a place to sit. Unfortunately, the café was full.
Her aunt Viola waved them over to her table, which… Lord almighty, was right next to Ben’s. “Girls! Over here!”
Just shoot me now.
Jenna had no choice but to follow Pilar and Mimi toward the table. Sweet mother of pearl. Was she really standing just a few feet away from Ben Harrison? What was she wearing? Was her hair sticking out of her ponytail?
Jenna greeted her favorite aunt with a hug. Viola had been widowed for almost a decade. A retired school teacher, she now taught seniors yoga and had been dating Gus Pappas for almost two years.
“Do you know who this is?” Gus nodded toward Ben, who sat back looking serenely amused by all the attention.
“We do indeed.” Pilar put out her hand. Ben stood to shake it. “Pilar Diaz-Rothman, attorney for Whispering Bay. We’ve spoken over the phone.”
“Ben Harrison,” he said, but his gaze kept sliding over to Jenna. She tried her hardest not to seem flustered, but it was hard, because…what was he doing here in the middle of the day calmly eating a sandwich?
Pilar made a round of introductions. “This is our mayor, Mimi Grant, and Jenna Pantini, our new city manager. Maybe you remember her from college?”
Aunt Viola’s blue eyes sharpened in curiosity as she glanced between Jenna and Ben. “You went to college with my niece?’
Ben shook hands with Mimi, but Jenna was able to avoid a similar exchange by hanging back. “Of course I remember Jenna. We were at the University of Miami together.” Ben smiled at her like they were long lost best friends. “We were study partners one semester. Biology, wasn’t it?”
“Calculus,” she automatically corrected him.
His smile deepened, and in that moment, she realized that he’d known it was calculus all along. What? Was this some kind of sick little test of his?
“It looks like the place is full,” Mimi said, glancing around the dining area.
Ben motioned to the three empty chairs at his table. “There’s plenty of room right here. Plus, we can call this a friendly business lunch. How about it, ladies?”
Mimi was the first to sit down. “Sounds good to me.”
Great. There was no choice now that Mimi had agreed. The table was basically a small square, so Jenna could either sit next to Ben or across from him.
She chose across, which she immediately realized was a mistake. There was no way she could avoid his gaze from here. It was like she was in a bad dream. But she’d rather walk down the street naked than sit across from Ben Harrison acting as if they were just a couple of old college buddies.
Pilar and Ben began making lawyer small talk, and Sarah brought their orders.
“As I was saying,” Pilar said, spearing a tomato off her salad plate, “I get that Nora and Vince aren’t happy with Earl’s will, but honestly, this whole thing is pretty clear-cut. Earl had that will made out long before he began showing signs of dementia.”
“I’ve had a chance to look over all the notes, and I agree,” Ben said in what sounded like a perfectly pleasant tone of voice, but all Jenna could hear was the condescension behind it.
It was exactly what she needed to wake her out of her I-can’t-believe-I’ve-just-seen-Ben Harrison coma.
“You agree? Then what are you doing here? Don’t think you can just swoop in and use your fancy south Florida lawyering tactics with us. We might be a small town with just one attorney on the payroll, but the city council isn’t going to let your clients rob us out of Earl’s legacy. We can hire more than enough lawyers to keep this thing going as long as we have to.” She turned to Mimi for support. “Right, Madame Mayor?”
“Huh?” Mimi looked startled. “Uh, yeah, sure, no problem!”
Ben grinned. “Well, I do love a good fight.”
Oh, how she wanted to whack that smug look off his face!
Pilar leaned forward in her seat. “Mr. Harrison, if you’re not questioning Earl’s state of mind, then what grounds do you plan to use to contest the will?”
“Please, call me Ben. And I’m afraid that I really can’t divulge any more information on that until I confer with my clients.”
“So that’s what you’re doing here in Whispering Bay?” Pilar asked. “Meeting with Nora and Vince?”
“Naturally.”