Hayley.
“She’s…she’s fine,” she said. It’s just me, she wanted to add, but didn’t. She wasn’t going to wallow in self-pity. She hadn’t been fired. Hayley was okay. Things would work out.
“Customer,” Leo said, nodding toward the door.
For some reason she expected the stranger to be coming back, hoping it was, so that she could apologize. But when she turned there was no lean man in a leather jacket with a smile that seemed to see humor where none existed. Instead, she saw a lady whom she’d met the first day at work, Mary Garner, who helped run the day-care center in the LynTech building next door. Mary came in every day at this time to have a cup of tea and nibble on shortbread biscuits. The slender, gray-haired lady smiled when she spotted Sara.
“Hello, there,” Mary said brightly.
The lady was in her sixties, with a gentle, soft voice. She wore simple dresses in grays or navies, and always sensible shoes. “Good morning,” Sara said, and led her to her usual table, one off to the side by the windows. “The usual?” she asked as Mary settled into the high-backed leather chair.
“Yes, thanks,” Mary said, then touched Sara’s hand before she could leave to get the tea and biscuits. “Is everything all right? Your little one’s okay, isn’t she?”
Mary was the only customer Sara ever talked to for any length of time, and for some reason, she was the only person she’d told about her situation. “Hayley is just fine, thank you.”
“Well, you look totally stressed,” Mary murmured softly, then her eyes widened. “That husband of yours, he didn’t show up here, did he?”
“Oh, no, it’s nothing to do with Paul, and he’s not my husband. We’ve been divorced for three months now, and as far as I know, he’s off somewhere on the East Coast making musical history.” She shook her head. “He’s doing his own thing, and he won’t think about us…not unless he needs money.”
Mary sighed. “Then what’s going on?”
“Just a bad morning,” she said.
Mary tapped the table. “Can you sit for a minute?”
Sara was tired and the idea of sitting down for a bit was very appealing, but she couldn’t take a chance of making Hughes angry again. “I’d better not.”
Mary looked past her, then lifted her hand. “Sir?”
Sara turned and realized that Mary was motioning to Mr. Hughes. She literally held her breath as he approached them. “Mrs. Garner? What a pleasure to see you here again,” he said pleasantly in his clipped British accent. “I was just saying to our chef that you can set your watch by Mrs. Garner. Eleven o’clock, right on the mark.” He glanced at Sara, then back at Mary with concern. “Is there a problem?”
“Oh, my goodness, no, sir. I just wanted to ask you if Sara could keep me company for a few minutes? I thought a few minutes of adult conversation before heading back to the children would be a treat for me.”
She could tell by the way his jaw worked that he wanted to say no, to push Sara back into the kitchen to help with the prep work. But he nodded obsequiously. “For you, dear lady, anything.” He looked at Sara. “Ten minutes?”
“Yes, sir.”
He looked back at Mary. “Have a lovely day, Mrs. Garner.”
“Thanks so much, Mr. Hughes,” Mary said with a smile. “You are a prince among men.”
He smiled at that. “And you are a true lady.”
As he walked away, Mary patted the table across from her and said, “Sit down, dear.”
“I’ll get your tea first,” Sara said, then hurried off and was back in a few minutes with a tray with two cups of tea and the plate of biscuits. She put them down in front of Mary, then slipped into the opposite seat.
She couldn’t help glancing at Hughes over by the bar, and was shocked to hear Mary mutter, “Don’t worry about that officious twit.”
Sara looked at Mary. “He’s my boss.”
“A twit,” Mary said, then took her time sipping tea, before she sat back in her seat. “Now, what’s been happening?”
Sara fingered her teacup. “Well, to begin with, I dumped a whole tray of food on one of the most important people in this building, according to Mr. Hughes.”
Mary stared at her, then started to chuckle. “Oh, my.”
“Exactly,” Sara murmured, starting to smile in spite of herself. “He’s a lawyer or something in this building, a Mr. Wise. You know the kind, a three-piece suit with polished fingernails.”
Mary nodded. “Oh, yes, I do know that type.”
“Then Hughes went ballistic,” she said, picking up her cup. “He was livid, worried about me driving off customers. Then one of the customers stepped in, but I wish he hadn’t.” She had a sudden memory of those hazel eyes, and she clasped her hands around the teacup to steady them. “I was afraid Hughes was going to fire me on the spot.”
“Well, he didn’t, obviously.”
“For now.” She exhaled. “And my baby-sitter…” She shook her head. “Never mind. I hate people who have a laundry list of complaints if someone just says, ‘How are you?’”
“I asked. But speaking of baby-sitters, I have an idea that I wanted to run past you if I could?”
Sara looked at her watch. “I’ve got a few more minutes.”
“Okay, you know all about Just for Kids?”
“Sure, of course. It’s a great idea for a day-care center, and I’m a bit surprised that a huge corporation like LynTech would let them set up over there.”
“It started with LynTech,” Mary said. “It was the brainchild of the CEO’s wife, Lindsey Holden. But that’s beside the point. Right now they’re expanding, opening up to the public, bit by bit. That’s where you come in.”
“Oh, sure,” Sara said with a wry smile. “I’m a whiz at business. I could give them financial advice.”
Mary grinned. “You probably could, the way you manage to be a single parent to Hayley and work here and survive.”
Sara laughed a bit ruefully. “That’s about all I do. Survive.” She looked at the teacup and put it down. “By the way, I think we’ll take you up on that movie offer this weekend.”
“Wonderful! There’s a little girl at the center, Victoria, she’s four. I think I’ll try to bring her with us.” Mary had been widowed a couple of years ago and she’d never had children, according to the conversations they’d had. She’d said that was one of very few real regrets she had in life.
“I think a movie is a good idea,” Sara murmured. It would be the first fun thing she’d done for Hayley since coming to Houston. Hayley needed some fun. And so did she.
“We’ll
