Playing With Trouble (Desire Bay 1)

“I hear the floral shop is really taking off,” Hannah said, wiping down the bar and getting Laura a mimosa.

She wouldn’t call it “really taking off,” but she assured Hannah, “I have a few customers and some regular business now, so it’s looking promising. And I have that deal with Cal, so I can stay.”

“That’s terrific!” Hannah said. “So no California?”

Laura shook her head. “I haven’t called to decline yet, but I will. Now that I have the Cal job, the shop will have its own money and be all right.”

“Buzz around here has been all gossip about the future of Baughman Home Goods, and I’m just glad you and Jake worked it out. It must have been hard with the different deals Jake was trying to make.”

“What do you m

ean?” Laura asked. “What deals?”

“You know, how Jake basically threw himself in to sweeten the landscape deal Cal offered you.”

“Jake did what?”

“Cal was in here yesterday talking about how he got the entire Baughman team on his job. Said Jake saved the deal.”

So Cal had only hired her because Jake had made him? Said he’d be there, too? She hadn’t earned anything. Hadn’t done this herself. Hadn’t since day one. It was all Jake.

She was pretty sure a cubic yard of bark would have hurt less than that truth that just hit her. Jake had never had faith in her in the first place. He’d never wanted her to run the shop, much less the warehouse, and he’d had to bribe his friend to hire her.

Laura tried to swallow past the lump in her throat and remain casual.

“Yeah . . . it’s been an interesting couple of weeks,” she said.

Hannah nodded. “But hey, it all worked out. You both got a piece of what you wanted. You have the shop, Jake the warehouse, and everything will be great, right?”

Laura had to bite back a surge of pain racing through her chest. Apparently everyone knew more than she did about her own company, and the actions and deals of Jacob Lock.

“So, how long was Cal wanting Jake to work for him?”

Hannah shrugged. “Awhile. It was all he and Cal talked about when they came in here over a beer. Baughman Home Goods was supposed to supply the lumber for some log cabin subdivision thing Cal is building across town. And he wanted Jake on the team for a few months or something.”

Laura thought of Jake’s words from the past and realized one thing quickly. “Lumber for a subdivision sounds like a big, lucrative deal,” she said. Something Jake wouldn’t sacrifice his precious stability for.

“Yeah,” Hannah agreed and dried out a martini glass with a towel.

Hannah didn’t say anything else, but it was clear. It all made sense. Jake had made Cal hire her. Now she had a pity shop of flowers with no big revenue source she’d earned, and she knew the whole time Jake had been backing her up. She was never on her own. Never earned it. What was worse, Jake had known all of this the whole time, and he’d lied to her face.

“I’ve got to go make a phone call,” Laura said. And she pulled out her cell and looked up the number for LA Marketing.

The fifth wheel in his driveway was shaking with movement. Laura was obviously inside moving around, so he went over and knocked.

She didn’t answer.

So he knocked again.

Still nothing.

Finally he opened the door a tad and peeked in to find her turning the place upside down and throwing things into a suitcase.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Packing,” she said, not turning around to face him.

“Why?”