do to correct it.”
A horrified expression crossed Darcy’s face. “You’re making me keep it like this?”
“Yep,” Jenna said as Mrs. Jamison turned away to hide a smile.
Tears pooled in Darcy’s eyes and spilled down her cheeks. “I hate you,” she shouted, and ran from the kitchen.
Jenna sighed.
“You’re doing the right thing,” Mrs. Jamison reassured her. “It’s a good lesson in living with the consequences of her actions.”
“I know, but you haven’t been to Trinity Harbor,” Jenna said, voicing her one regret about the plan. “Darcy is going to stand out like a sore thumb.”
“Then she won’t be so quick to do something impulsive like this again,” the housekeeper said.
Jenna looked at the woman who’d raised her brothers and done her best to be a mother to Jenna on her rare visits home. “Why does she do things like this? She’s only nine. What on earth will she be doing when she hits her teens?”
“Maybe she’ll have it all out of her system by then,” Mrs. Jamison suggested soothingly.
“Or maybe she’ll be in a juvenile detention facility,” Jenna said wearily.
“You weren’t, were you?”
“I never did anything like this,” Jenna insisted.
“Didn’t you? Maybe you never touched your hair, but then it was your pride and joy because it was red like your mama’s. I do seem to recall that you came close to giving your daddy a heart attack when you came home from school sporting a snake tattoo one year, and that was some years before tattoos were all the rage among respectable people.”
“It was temporary,” Jenna reminded her.
“Your father didn’t know that.” The housekeeper grinned and patted Jenna’s hand. “Darcy’s hair is temporary, too. It will grow and the color will wash out eventually.”
“I was really hoping she’d have a good time in Trinity Harbor. How can she if everyone keeps their kids away from her because she looks like a pint-sized member of a grunge band?”
“Is this really about Darcy being accepted, or about you?” Mrs. Jamison asked with her usual insight.
Jenna heaved a resigned sigh. The wise woman had nailed it on the head again. “A little of both,” she admitted.
After all, what kind of an impression would Darcy make on uptight Bobby Spencer? He was likely to take one look at Jenna’s child and conclude that a woman who had no better control over her daughter couldn’t possibly be entrusted with a million-dollar development plan.
“What kind of people make judgments based on appearances?” Mrs. Jamison asked.
Jenna considered the validity of this point and nodded. Bobby hadn’t exactly held her disheveled appearance against her on the morning of their meeting, had he? Maybe he’d be generous where Darcy was concerned as well.
“You’re absolutely right, Mrs. Jamison.” Why would she even want to work for someone who held a little girl’s appearance against her? “Where’s my father, by the way?”
“Out for the evening. He said he’d catch up with you at breakfast.”
Jenna didn’t bother trying to hide her relief. “Has he gotten a glimpse of Darcy?”
“Not yet. Even she was smart enough to stay in her room when he came back to change for dinner.”
“Good. Maybe I can get both of us out of town before he wakes up in the morning.”
Mrs. Jamison didn’t even pretend to hide her dismay. “You’re leaving without talking it over with him? Do you think that’s wise, Jenna?”
“I think this might be one of those times when a note is smarter than a direct confrontation,” Jenna assured her.
Besides, if she could sneak away, there would be less of a chance that he’d pry her secret mission out of her. She wanted a signed contract in her hand the next time she saw her father. It might mute his disapproval of her underhanded tactics in leaving him out of the loop on this project. She didn’t exactly have the authority to commit Pennington and Sons’s resources to this deal.
As for abandoning him at the office with no notice, to her very deep regret, she acknowledged that he probably wouldn’t even notice.
Bobby looked across his desk into the fascinated gaze of Anna-Louise Walton and winced. “You don’t approve of me trying to buy Jenna off, do you?”
“That depends on why you decided to try it,” the pastor said, amusement dancing in her eyes. “Care to explain your thinking?”
“No good could come of having her here,” Bobby said flatly. “None.”
“Because she’s a woman?” Anna-Louise asked mildly.
“Watch it,” her husband warned Bobby. “Think about your response very, very carefully. You’re about to get a sermon on being a sexist pig unless you answer this exactly right.”
“Yeah, I can see the trap,” Bobby conceded.
Anna-Louise frowned at both of them, then addressed Bobby. “Do you doubt Jenna’s qualifications?”
Bobby shook his head. “Her firm has solid credentials, though I got the impression this is her first big presentation. She all but admitted she had something to prove.”
“Okay, then,” Anna-Louise said approvingly. “And what about the plan itself? Didn’t you like it?”
“She didn’t have preliminary sketches or anything, but in terms of concept, it was actually right on target,” Bobby admitted, knowing that he was digging a very deep hole for himself.
“So you tried to get rid of her just because she’s a woman and therefore what? Not in need of a job? Not smart enough?” Anna-Louise pressed.
“Of course not,” Bobby denied heatedly. That sort of blatant discrimination was wrong. Even he could see that, though at the moment it was darned inconvenient. Besides, Jenna had made it plain that she was ambitious and smart, both admirable traits in his book.
Anna-Louise grinned. “Then it must be because you were attracted to her and that scared the living daylights out of you. You did swear off relationships after Ann-Marie ran off with Lonnie four weeks before your wedding, right?”
The mention of Ann-Marie and Lonnie still had the capacity to stir up a cold rage in Bobby. Anna-Louise wouldn’t have touched that topic if she had a grain of sense in her head, but then she hadn’t been here at the time. She hadn’t witnessed his humiliation firsthand. She only knew that the prospect of bumping into the two traitors had kept Bobby away from church ever since, and no amount of pressure or cajoling had been able to woo him back.
“I know your heart’s in the right place, Anna-Louise, but I do
