Her mood lifted slightly, and she signed off with Brody and gave herself a last once-over in the mirror. Not one to dress up very often, especially for work where, more often than not, she’d end up with some kind of flavoring on her pants, she’d done her best—dark jeans, a cute pair of strappy sandals, and an ivory tank top under a black blazer with the sleeves rolled up. She also didn’t wear a lot of jewelry but put on some large, thin silver hoop earrings and a long necklace with a heart on it to top off the outfit. She turned one way in the mirror, then the other, studying her reflection.
“Not bad,” she whispered to the empty room, “if I say so myself.” Neat and casual with a touch of professional, just the look she was going for. She was ready for this. Tonight’s meeting took place in the private back room of a local restaurant and would feature a presentation on marketing followed by time to mingle and chat with the otherattendees. Grabbing her purse, she headed out to her car and pointed it in the right direction, feeling a bit more hopeful than she had in a while.
* * *
“Sprinkles!” Sabrina shouted the puppy’s name louder than she’d intended. His ears went back, he tucked his tail, and he cowered in the corner, which made her feel instantly terrible. With a sigh, she picked him up and cuddled him close, smelling his puppy breath—seriously, why didn’t somebody capture, bottle, and sell that smell as a relaxing elixir of some sort?—and kissed his furry head. “Buddy,” she said, her voice much calmer, “do you have any idea how much these shoes cost me?” She picked up one of her black leather heels and examined the tiny tooth marks where part of the seam was missing. “I can’t wear these now, and my outfit hinged on them,” she explained. “I can wear these other ones, but they’re not as comfortable.” She slipped her feet into her extra pair, knowing in three seconds that she’d end up with a blister by the end of the night. “You, sir, are going to owe me a foot massage later.” She took one of his adorable tiny paws in her hand. “Though I’m not sure this thing is gonna cut it.”
With a quiet sigh, she kissed his head one more time, then put him in his crate and shut the door. She hoped not to have to crate him forever, but she’d been lucky so far that all he’d chewed up had belonged to her. The last thing she wanted was to come home and find he’d unstuffed all the throw pillows or eaten the couch. Pretty sure her Airbnb host wouldn’t be thrilled about that.
“All right, I’m off.” She tucked a treat through the crate and Sprinkles took it from her, then curled himself into a ball in his blankets to munch. “Be a good boy, okay? No parties, no strippers.”
She was running late, which she hated. Northwood had not been the location of her best business performance, that was for sure, and she thought about that as she drove. She wasn’t herself here. Of course, she knew the exact reason, and it started with anA. For the past couple of weeks, she’d struggled to get herself back on track. Both her mind and her heart felt…justoff. She didn’t know how else to explain it—that was the only word she could find that even remotely fit. Sometimes, she felt like the Universe was trying to tell her something. Other times, she thought it was punishing her.
She gave her head a little shake and tried to focus as she pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant. Running a good fifteen minutes behind, she headed in, was directed to a back room, and quietly slipped in and took a seat in the back, not wanting to disrupt the flow of the woman speaking. She had a PowerPoint presentation, so some of the lights were off, casting the room in a soft yellow glow.
Sabrina wasn’t really here to learn about marketing, though any and all tips were welcome. Yes, she’d been doing this job long enough not to need a marketing education. Plus, marketing wasn’t her job. Sweet Heaven had an entire marketing department for that. She was more the local face for the moment, and she wanted to meet some of the women business owners who surrounded her shop. After all, Sweet Heaven was woman-owned, and she liked to make sure whatever new city they were opening in knew that.
Her gaze slid around the room, taking in the different women sitting enraptured by the presentation. Probably close to a hundred people, a diverse palette of ages and races represented, which Sabrina was happy to see, and then her gaze halted. Just stopped dead on the back of a head of dark hair. Thick, beautiful waves of it. Hair that Sabrina knew well, that she’d run her fingers through and buried her nose in.Of courseAdley was here.Of courseshe was. Why wouldn’t she be? Why had Sabrina not even thought of that?
Goddamn it.
Nobody in her world had ever caused such dichotomies in Sabrina’s thinking. Happy and sad. Excited and fearful. Drawn toward and pushed away. How was that possible? How could one woman confuse her on so many levels?
She should leave. She’d slipped in unnoticed—she could slip back out the same way, right? She should go. On the one hand, she knew she was only doing her job, but on the other, she worried that she was stepping on Adley’s toes. Her business toes. And that actually made her angry because shewasonly doing her job. There were no laws or rules that said Adley had to have the only ice cream shop in town. Jesus. But just as quickly as the anger had bubbled up, it simmered back down, and Sabrina hung her head and stared at her own hands for several moments, just trying to steady herself and her racing train of thought.
The presentation ended then, and the applause yanked Sabrina’s gaze back up, andbam!her eyes met Adley’s. She didn’t have to tryin order to read all the emotions that marched across Adley’s face—surprise, happiness, confusion, irritation, annoyance, anger, disgust—before she looked away.
But yeah, happiness was there. It was just a flash and it was gone quickly, but Sabrina had seen it.
The audience members were instructed to stretch their legs, use the restrooms, and grab cocktails and appetizers from the bar on the left-hand side of the room and the tables placed in various locations. Sabrina stayed in her seat for a moment, watching the room, watching Adley as she headed for the bar. She couldn’t just ignore her. She’d seen her. Ignoring her now would just be rude, and Sabrina was not going to be pushed into being rude. She remembered her mother’s voice, which seemed to be making a habit of appearing unsolicited.Business is business, Sabrina. Business isn’t personal.She hated everything about those words, no matter how true they might be. “Pretty sure Adley would think it’s personal,” she whispered.
“I’m sorry?” The woman standing next to her chair bent down as if trying to hear her better.
Sabrina shook her head and waved a dismissive hand. “Oh, nothing. Just me talking to myself again.” She forced a chuckle.
“That doesn’t happen any less as we get older,” the woman—she was probably in her early fifties—said with a smile. “Hate to break it to you.” She stuck out her hand. “Hi. Shelly Ingram. I own a payroll company called PayDay.”
“Oh, I’ve heard of them. You’ve done a nice job growing your business.” Sabrina shook her hand. “Sabrina James. VP of new markets for Sweet Heaven.”
“The new dessert shop going in over on Fox, right? It’s starting to look almost ready. I drive by there every morning on my way to work.” Shelly was taller than Sabrina—though most people were—and impeccably dressed. Where it seemed several attendees leaned a bit toward the more casual side, Shelly Ingram did the opposite. Full dark blue power suit, complete with skirt and heels. Her hair was pulled into a neat twist, and her makeup was on point. Sabrina knew instantly that this kind of gathering was no-nonsense for Shelly. She was here to network in every sense of the word. As if to put a period at the end of Sabrina’s thoughts, Shelly handed her a card. “I know your company is national, but if you ever want to explore your payroll, give me a shout.”
Sabrina nodded, glanced dutifully at the card, then slipped it into her pocket. “I’ll do that. Thank you.”
With a nod and a smile, Shelly headed toward the bar. Exactly where Sabrina’d like to go right then…except Adley was also standing there. Looking her way again. Their gazes held, a moment passed, and then Adley rolled her eyes, shook her head, and grabbed the two glasses of white wine the bartender gave her.
And then she was walking toward Sabrina.
Sabrina almost ran. Literally thought about turning on her heel and fleeing the room like her ass was on fire. But she forced herself to stand still, and then, there was Adley. Standing in front of her, beautiful dark eyes boring into her, holding out a glass of wine.
“Here,” was all she said.
Sabrina swallowed and took the glass. “Thanks.”
They stood quietly and each sipped from her glass. Then Adley said without looking at her, “Are you here to see who else you can put out of business?” The edge on her words stung, it did. “Sadly, Earl’s is owned by Earl, not a woman, so he’s not here.”
“No,” Sabrina answered quietly.
“I’m not going down without a fight, you know.” The fire in Adley’s voice was surprising. Energetic. And yes, sexy. “The Scoop has been in my family for three generations.”