Only when they were leaving the neighborhood did Carly sit up. “Thanks.”
Jarius nodded. He looked every inch a police officer behind the wheel. Solid, capable, dependable. He slanted her a curious look. “You holding up okay?”
“Maybe. It would be easier if I had something to do.”
“What about Flawless?”
“There is no Flawless.”
“Aren’t you going to reopen?”
“I’ve lost my merchandise. The interior, a lot of which I did myself, painting and papering, is destroyed.”
“I get that. But you had a whole lot of women’s dreams pinned to your success. What about what you owe them?”
“I know you’re not trying to preach about responsibility to me.”
“I’m just saying. You made some promises. People believed in you. One little setback and, what? I never thought of you as a quitter.”
That stung. “You’re the second person to accuse me of that this week. I didn’t like it any better the first time.”
“So then, do something about it.”
She rubbed her forehead. “Easy for you to say. You haven’t had my week, or my life.”
“Why do you do that? You push me away anytime the talk gets personal.”
“I’m sorry. I’m just worried.”
“About Glover.” Jarius’s generous mouth crimped in the middle. “You seem to have a thing for men in trouble. First the Frenchman junkie and now a suicide risk.”
She slanted him a hostile glance. “Do you really want to compare our private lives?”
“At least my business wasn’t on every “Extra”-type tabloid program for a week. But seriously, Carly. There’s nothing you can do about Glover for a while. Maybe months. Trials take their own time.”
“He didn’t do it.”
“That’s what they all say.” He shot her a jackpot smile. “I’m a cop. That makes me a cynical bastard. Stay away from Glover.”
“Now you sound like him.”
“Glover told you that? Huh. Maybe’s he got some sense after all. He didn’t do you any favors by getting all up in your life.”
“What makes you think…?”
“Like I always say, you can’t play a playa. He’s got you tied up in knots. Bet you even think you’re in love.”
She sighed, stretching her legs out before her. “Did you ever meet someone and you think, ‘This is important. Big. Huge. Got to go with it’?”
“All the time. It’s usually the booty that speaks to me.”
Carly laughed. “You’re impossible.”
“Maybe. But I see life for what it is. The booty is a powerful thing.”
“And when that’s not enough?”
“Girl, you’re scaring me. Look your cousin Jarius in the eye and hear me good. You can’t be in love with a man you met three days ago. You might be sexed up, jammed up, and cross-eyed crazy about what’s in the man’s shorts, but you can’t be in love.”
“Okay.”
“Why do I think you’re not listening to me?”
“Can you drop me off at my apartment?”
“So you can run the gauntlet of reporters?”
“No, so I can get on with my life. All the merchandise I was able to salvage is covering nearly every surface in the space. I need to make calls to the craftswomen and see what we can save.”
When he had dropped her off, Carly quickly made her way up to her apartment, simply ignoring the eager young man slouching in the hallway. “I’m calling security about you,” she called over her shoulder as she entered her door and then slammed it in the guy’s face.
Two hours later, she had made contact with all her clients who lived within a hundred miles and made arrangements for them to come into town on Thursday for a meeting. Only Indija refused to say she’d be there.
And just maybe she’d been hasty about asking to be let out of her lease. Jarius was right. She shouldn’t give up without a fight. She picked up the phone and called Mr. Wise.
“Well, now, I was already showing the space to another client.” Wise sounded smug about his new deal. “The cupcake baker thinks she could make good use of the extra space in that corner shop. She’s willing to pay more for the space, too.”
Carly was ready. “Since you haven’t signed any agreement and I certainly haven’t, we still have an active contract, Mr. Wise. You can’t legally negotiate for another tenant. You really don’t want me down at the better business bureau complaining about shady tactics by Wise Developers by negating my lease. And me, the heroine of today’s page one. Without Flawless to keep me busy, I’ll have plenty of time to complain—every place I can think of.”
“You want to come work for me? I could use a negotiator like you.”
“We’ll just reinstate our present agreement, providing you start professionally monitoring your security cameras at my location. Think of it this way, it’ll be cheaper than what you’d have had to pay my relatives if I were dead. Did I mention my aunt’s a local judge?”