much trouble,” Tara was saying. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to hire more help whether I want to or not.”
“You have that much business?” The second the question left her lips, Sydney realized how it might sound.
But Tara was just smiling ruefully. “Surprising, I know. But Weaver draws more people than you would think just from driving down our little old Main Street. I’m open seven days a week now, and—”
“And it’s too damn many hours,” her husband, Axel, said flatly. He was holding a squirming little boy who was clearly anxious to get down from his daddy’s lap.
“So speaks the King.” Tara held out her hands. “Give me Aidan.” Her husband immediately handed over the tot.
“Well, darling,” Jaimie inserted, “you are pregnant again. And getting more so by the day.”
Derek had returned and dumped three more enormous pizza boxes on top of the empties. Sydney watched with some amazement as eager hands reached out and threw them open, passing the food all over again.
“Thought you already ran an advertisement for some help,” Jaimie said.
Tara shrugged. “I did a few months ago. No takers, though.”
“Hire Sydney,” Derek said, sitting down once more beside her. “She was just telling Mom she needed something to fill her time.”
Sydney’s jaw loosened a little.
He gave a little frown that she didn’t buy for a second. “But then working in a local shop might be too tame for you, with your love of racehorses and ahhht.”
Chapter Three
He was watching her with those goading, green eyes.
“Not at all. I’d love to help.” The words came out of Sydney’s mouth before she could even form the thoughts.
She loved the surprised look on his face.
But when she looked beyond him, she could also see the shocked looks on the faces around her.
She had to admit that her encounter with Derek might have given him some reason to think she was a snob, but she didn’t think she’d given anyone else reason to think it. And if they weren’t thinking she was a snob, then they were thinking she was incapable.
She didn’t think she was a snob. She knew she’d been afforded luxuries and opportunities that many weren’t. She couldn’t change the wealthy parents she’d been born to, no matter how many times she’d wished otherwise.
But incapable?
That was a thornier issue altogether.
She focused on Tara, who was watching her with a puzzled expression. “I do have oodles of time on my hands.” For now, anyway. “And though I’m sure I’m not the most qualified—” she ignored Derek’s sudden cough beside her “—I’m willing to help out until you can find a person you’d prefer more.”
“Prefer!” Tara nearly sputtered the word. “Are you kidding me? You would be perfect!”
Now it was time for Sydney to return the shocked stare.
“J.D. has told me dozens of times how impeccable your style is,” Tara was going on. “I can’t wait to pick your brain.”
Sydney wasn’t sure what was more bemusing: J.D. thinking her style was impeccable, or that Tara was actually enthusiastic about having Sydney’s help. Feeling woefully self-conscious, she laughed a little. “I’m not sure what you’ll find, but you’re welcome to pick away. You could do that even without me volunteering to help at the shop.”
Tara waved her hand. “No volunteering. I’ll hire you if you want the job. Four days a week, to start, and the money’ll—”
Sydney absolutely didn’t want to talk money in front of all these people. Derek, most of all. “We can work that out later,” she said hurriedly.
“Great. Can you start tomorrow?”
Tara’s enthusiasm was hard to resist. “Sure.” Then Sydney quickly looked toward Maggie. “Unless I’m stepping on your toes.”
“Good grief, no,” Maggie assured her. “I’ll be able to drive down and see Early and Sofia for a few hours after all. My grandchildren,” she added. “Our other daughter, Angeline, and her husband, Brody, live in Sheridan.”
“And so does Maggie half the time,” Daniel drawled beside her.
She gave him a light swat. “I don’t hear you complaining about it,” she returned, laughing. “You’re worse than I am when it comes to spending time with the grandchildren. I figured getting down there a few times a month was doing good, but you want to go at least once a week.”
“All of Squire’s sons take after him,” Jaimie told Sydney. “But I think he’s still the worst when it comes to spoiling his great-grandchildren.”
“And meddling in the rest of our lives,” Matthew added, looking wry. “Damned old coot.”
Just listening to them made Sydney feel a little breathless. It was so plain how easily they spread their affection among each other.
There’d been family dinners among the Forrests.
But never one like this.
Her gaze ran over the jumble of informal pizza boxes and paper napkins accompanied by fine china and Waterford glassware. But it wasn’t even that eclectic mix of formal and incredibly informal that was so appealing to her. It was the easy acceptance of everyone who sat around that table. From squirming toddlers to squabbling teenagers to parents and grandparents. Everyone seemed to have a say and nobody was disregarded.
“Something wrong?” Derek was holding his longneck, his thumb picking at the label. “You’ve got a strange look on your face.”
She sat up a little straighter in her chair and folded her napkin over her empty plate. Funny. She didn’t even remember eating her salad. “I can’t imagine why. I was just thinking I’d never enjoyed a meal more.”
His thick lashes narrowed around those brilliant eyes as he studied her. If he was looking for some hidden meaning in her words, he wasn’t going to find them. “Tara’s going to be counting on you now.”
She folded her hands in her lap. “Your point being?”
“She doesn’t deserve to be let down.”
Even though she’d expected them, his words still disappointed her. And she honestly couldn’t figure out why they should. Aside from his family connection to her brother, what Derek Clay thought about her or didn’t think about her shouldn’t matter one iota.
After all, she couldn’t be a bigger disappointment to anyone than she already was to herself. But she was determined to change that; moving to Weaver had been the first step.
“You’re
