Brokenhearted Beauty(Divine Creek Ranch 19)(7)

She fingered her drab brown locks but her eyes were continually drawn to his. “I know. I need to get it cut. Just been so busy. Good to see you, too, Vincent. Tell James I said hi.”

“You think maybe you could—”

“I really need to go,” she said, her voice sounding husky in her ears and her eyes stung. “I’ll…I’ll…” She wanted to say that she’d call him sometime but she chickened out. “I’ll see you around.”

He nodded and she rolled up her window and put the car in reverse. The set of his mouth, the way his dark eyelashes ringed those same green eyes. The dark slash of his eyebrows and the slight cleft in his chin. She was glad the window was up so he couldn’t hear the sob that rose in her throat. His face was so much like the beloved one that visited her dreams every night.

They’d wanted to be with her. She’d never thought she could handle the three of them. Now on top of her own fears, the guilt was a burden that nearly flattened her.

Trying to calm herself a little, she took several long drinks from her water bottle after pulling into her parking spot on the side of the store and then went inside.

Her dad, the owner of Woodworth Enterprises, which was comprised of ten department stores in ten cities, was waiting for her in her office.

“Hey, Dad,” she said as she plunked down in her chair, and pulled open the desk drawer she kept her first aid supplies in.

“Hello, honey. What happened to you?”

“I stopped in to visit Grace Warner at the hospital. She had her baby last night. My feet got tangled up with each other in the parking lot and I fell. Just clumsy, I guess.” She hissed as she swabbed the affected areas with alcohol and blew on them. “Evelyn said you wanted to talk to me.”

“Yeah, I do. I’ve been thinking lately, about the store.”

“What about the store? Everything is fine around here.”

He grinned as he squeezed antibiotic ointment onto a swab and held it out to her. “There’s no doubt in my mind about that. You know, there was a time when you needed me to help with your boo-boos but you’re grown now. You take care of things the way they need to be taken care of.”

“Thanks, Dad.” His compliment spread warmth in her heart, easing the ache that had been there before. Work was like that. It provided a buffer to the pain. She didn’t say anything else. Just gave him time to organize his thoughts and get to the point.

“I’ve bought another store. It’s in Abilene. It’s bigger than this one, by nearly double the square footage. It’s a little run down but all it needs is a good renovation and a steady hand to guide the employees and hire whatever other workforce is needed to get it running smoothly. I know things have been hard for you the last few months but I want you to consider taking the job of general manager.”

“You do?” she asked in surprise.

His smile had a bittersweet quality to it when he looked up at her. “The last thing I want is to send you that far away. You’d have to move. But I’ve come to realize that part of letting you girls spread your wings means allowing you to leave the nest and go where you need to go.”

She scoffed inwardly at the comparison with Presley Ann but didn’t say a word. It wouldn’t do any good. Presley Ann would always be his princess and Leah would always be his little worker bee.

“I’ve already hired a construction contractor. If you’re interested, I’d like you to go and meet with him. He’s overseeing the renovation, which is already underway and you’d be overseeing his work as well as the general operations of the store. You’d have a store manager and a couple of assistants under you.”

“Wow.”

“It’s too big of an operation for a single store manager and an assistant. It’s in a good location and a great opportunity for you. It would get you out of Divine for a while, which might help you…get past what happened in April. A change of scenery might be just the thing. I’d miss not seeing your sweet face every day but I think you’d be a good fit for the location. And…that contractor seemed like a nice guy. He was in the military but he retired, and he’s single. He might be able to help you get acclimated to Abilene if you decided to make the move.”

Awesome. He’s matchmaking at a time like this.

“Sure. I’ll go look.” There wouldn’t be any harm in just looking. “But I won’t make a decision right now.”

“I don’t expect you to. Just take a couple of days and spend some time there. I have a temporary management crew already in place while they liquidate the inventory and complete the renovation so there’s no big hurry.” He put a business card on the desk and added, “This is the contractor’s number. He said to let him know when you’ll be in the area…maybe early next week? Say Monday and Tuesday?”