Danny could answer, Tiger gave a growl worthy of a canine and both Danny and Lukas turned to see what he was tracking with his yellow stare. A man in a suit was standing in the open French doors.
“Which one of you is Lukas McCoy?”
Tiger bolted back into the mums as Lukas wiped his fingers on a paper napkin and stood up. “I’m McCoy,” he said.
“Then this is for you.” The man handed Lukas some papers and rapidly retreated.
“Hey, wait!” Lukas called to his back, but the guy just kept going.
“What’s with the papers?” Danny asked.
Lukas looked down at them. It took him a few moments to comprehend what he was reading. “Unbelieeeeevable!” He thrust a hand into his hair and started to pace the terrace while he read it again just to be sure. “Un-damn-believable.”
“What is it?” Danny asked.
Lukas looked up. “Gillian Caine is suing me.”
Danny whistled, long and low. “I guess it’s a good thing you didn’t order those flowers yet, huh, pal?”
“I do hope,” said a familiar voice from just inside the French doors, “that this doesn’t mean that my grandson was right about the two of you.”
“Mrs. Sheridan,” Lukas said with surprise. “Did we have an appointment? How long have you—um—”
“Been standing here?” the old lady finished for him. “Long enough to know that someone is suing you. Long enough to make me wonder if I’ve made a mistake.”
Danny hopped to his feet. “You know nothing about what’s going on, so if I were you—”
Lukas stepped in front of Danny, cutting him off both literally and figuratively. “What you just heard, Mrs. Sheridan, had nothing to do with Timber Bay Building and Restoration. It’s me getting sued. Not the company.”
Danny poked his head around Lukas. “Not that it’d be any of Gavin’s business either way.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Agnes Sheridan said with a haughty thrust of her head. “Gavin is coming back to Timber Bay.”
Behind him, Danny swore and Lukas tried to cover it up with a cough. “That’s—um—swell, Mrs. Sheridan,” he said after he’d cleared the imaginary frog in his throat.
The old lady’s black eyes glittered and her thin, usually stubbornly set mouth, actually smiled. “It’s what I had hoped. That once work started on the hotel, Gavin would take an interest and reclaim his life in Timber Bay.”
“Don’t tell me he’s coming home for good?” Danny asked. “One can hope, Mr. Walker.”
“Yes,” Danny agreed. “One can.”
Lukas was pretty sure that Danny and Agnes Sheridan weren’t hoping the same thing. He’d feel safer if he separated the two of them.
“Mrs. Sheridan, why don’t you let me show you the progress I’m making in the lobby. I think you’ll be pleased with the way the staircase looks.”
“Lead on, young man,” she said. But before she went through the French doors she turned and gave Danny a poke in the leg with her cane. “I suggest you get on with your lunch, Walker. I assure you that Gavin won’t take this sitting about on the job any better than I do.”
Danny opened his mouth but before anything could come out, Lukas took the Dragon Lady by the arm and ushered her into the ballroom, closing the French doors behind them.
Danny and the Dragon Lady had been enemies for years. Things had gotten better since Hannah, who Agnes Sheridan totally approved of, had hit town. But now that Gavin was coming back, Lukas was going to have his hands full as a peacemaker. The last thing he needed right now was to have some big-city brat take him to court.
He’d been right. Nothing good was coming from Gillian Caine being back in Timber Bay.
“THE HEARING IS TOMORROW, Mom,” Gillian said into the phone receiver.
“Justice moves swiftly in the Midwest.”
“They’ve got this judge who takes care of several counties and he’s only in town once a month. How primitive is that? My lawyer—who, by the way, I had to go to the next town to get—said that if we didn’t get on the docket this time, we’d have to wait a whole month.”
“Are you sure you’re doing the right thing, Gilly?”
Gillian sighed. “What are you trying to say, Mom?”
“Well, as I remember it, the McCoys were well liked in Timber Bay. The town might not take too kindly to an outsider taking one of their own to court. Have you thought of what it might do to business?”
“Mom, I’m not planning on taking him to the cleaners. I just want enough to hire someone to help me for the next couple of weeks.”
“But, honey, I already offered to come out and—”
“Forget it, Mom. We’ve been through all this already. I need to do this on my own. I need to be totally independent.”
“You don’t have to prove anything to anyone, Gilly.”
Her mother was wrong. Gillian had to prove something to herself. She had to prove that she could be her own person and not have to count on anyone coming through for her ever again. If she failed, she’d have no one to blame but herself. And if she succeeded, no one could ever take it away from her.
“Can’t you just be supportive, Mom? I mean, Dad keeps saying that he wishes I hadn’t let Ryan off the hook. You should be jumping up and down with joy. I finally think Dad was right about something. I shouldn’t have let Ryan get away with it. I’m not making that mistake again.”
“But, Gilly, it’s not the same thing at all. In fact—”
Gillian was picking at a fingernail and mostly tuning her mother out when she heard a knock on the door downstairs.
“Mom, someone’s at the door,” she said, sending silent gratitude to whoever it was for getting her out of this conversation. She loved her mother, but she had heard it all before. “I’ll call you after court tomorrow. Kisses to everyone,” she added as brightly as possible. “Bye!”
She hurried downstairs and through the workroom to the back door. But when she opened it, no one was there. Sitting on the cement stoop was a wicker basket covered with a green-and-white gingham napkin. She recognized the napkin, but even if she hadn’t, she would have known that Molly had left the basket. Gillian could smell the cinnamon buns that were lurking beneath the gingham.
A bribe.
She snatched the basket up, shut the door and locked it behind her.
The smart thing would be to leave the basket downstairs in the workroom. Or better yet, out in the shop. Less temptation that way.
On
