Page 60 of Always You (A Lilac Bay Novel)

Andrew scratched his chin. “We could take them on a hike on the bluffs,” he suggested. “Or fishing.”

“Yeah.” I stared out the window, deep in thought. “I really want to show them how unique we are, though. I mean, fishing and hiking is great, but you can do that in lots of places.”

“You’ll figure it out—” he started to say, but Carl walked by.

“Did you finish those requisitions yet, Powell?”

Andrew made a face at me. “I’m on it, Carl.”

“Doesn’t look like you’re on it to me.”

With a final roll of his eyes, Andrew turned from my desk to head back to accounting, leaving me to brainstorm by myself.

I still hadn’t gotten very far by five. Andrew had a point—people came from all over the state for our hiking and fishing. We should definitely show the country that. But Lilac Bay was about so much more than that. How could I possibly break it down into a few wordless minutes of film?

“You coming?” Andrew asked, stopping at my desk on his way out.

“I’m gonna stay and finish this up,” I said, my eyes on my computer screen.

“I thought you had the Libbies tonight?”

I looked up at him, my eyes feeling blurry from staring at the screen for so long. “Will you stick your head in at Libby’s on your way home and tell her I won’t be there?”

His expression turned panicked. “You want me to go in there?”

I rolled my eyes at him. “No one will be there yet, Andrew. They won’t maul you.”

He didn’t look entirely at ease but he agreed to pass on the message. In all honesty, he kind of had a reason to fear my little book club slash drinking group. Andrew was a favorite amongst the ladies of the Libbies. And that meant he wasn’t really safe within fifty feet of them.

He’d only been gone for a few minutes when my phone rang.

“What’s this about you skipping the meeting?” Libby asked, by way of a greeting.

“What did he do, run to your store?” I asked.

“Now that you mention it, he did seem a little out of breath. Probably wanted to get here before the rest of the girls. Smart of him, really.”

“You’re not kidding. You should have heard Jill talking about what she would do to him if she ever got the chance after that shot of him lifting the fryer oil last week.”

“You’re distracting me with Andrew talk,” Libby said crossly. “Why won’t you be here?”

“I have all this work to do,” I told her. “For the show.”

“No way, Riley James,” she said. “You do not get to use that as an excuse for the next two months.”

“If I don’t come up with something we’re not going to make it two months.”

“I thought you invited Jenny along tonight.” Libby said. “Are you really going to ditch her at her first meeting with the crazies?”

“Shit,” I muttered. I had totally forgotten that I had invited Jenny to come to her very first Libbies meeting. And Libby herself was right—this wasn’t the kind of thing you wanted to experience without some moral support.

“What do you have to do, anyhow?”

I explained to her about Gina’s request.

“Well, that’s no problem. Get over here and we’ll help you figure it out.”

I wasn’t sure a Libbies meeting was the best place to get solid ideas—at least not the kind that could be taped for television. But I also knew that it was pretty damn shitty to ditch Jenny when she had such a hard time getting out in the first place.