Part 13 (1/2)

”What if I want you to stay late?” she asked.

”Just get your shower. I'll set up dinner.”

”Nothing s.e.xier than a man who brings dinner.”

”If you had a real kitchen, I'd cook you dinner, but...”

”You provided. That's everything.” She struggled off the couch but had trouble straightening. She groaned.

”Don't forget to take off the knee pads before you get in the shower,” he said.

A few minutes later when she came out of the bathroom, the table had been set, the wine uncorked, the ibuprofen bottle sitting beside one plate.

”I hope this is a casual dinner,” she said, indicating her pajamas.

He held a chair for her. ”Madam?”

She took her seat and he poured her a small amount of wine. She sipped. ”Well, your sister is amazing, Adam. Her business is impressive. Complex, well thought, practical, no detail omitted. It's brilliant what she's done. I have an employee manual I can barely lift, spent the day with a trainer...” She sipped again. ”I had a personal trainer in New York. I was not worked nearly as hard by him.”

Adam chuckled and served their food. ”I know Makenna,” he said. ”She's a little demon, isn't she?”

”Depends on what you mean by demon. She's quite the handler. Five feet of brute strength and fearsome threats. I guess Riley hired her when there were no mob bosses or biker gang enforcers available. Where'd Riley find her?”

”I can't remember,” he said. ”She's been around forever. She's a fixture in the company. Riley keeps trying to move her into a management position and Makenna wants nothing to do with it. She likes her work and she's good at it. She agreed to work as a supervisor and trainer so it would be done right.”

”I met Nick,” she said. ”He seems nice.”

”Stay on his good side,” Adam advised. ”Some of the women make the mistake of thinking they can sweet-talk him. There are two people who can sweet-talk Nick and the first is his mother.”

”And Riley?” she asked.

”You've been away from Riley too long. She doesn't sweet-talk anyone. The other, oddly enough, is Makenna. Though she rarely tries. Makenna eats nails for breakfast. And she don't need no steenking man.”

”Hmm. This morning she had me instead of the nails,” she said. She sampled the salmon. ”Ohhh, Adam. I think I'm getting turned on.”

He laughed at her.

When he was seated across from her on the green chair, she went after her dinner in earnest, trying not to gobble. ”I didn't make a single mistake,” she finally said. ”I did everything right. Well, Makenna inspected my carpet tracks, my s.h.i.+ning bathrooms, my oiled hardwood and made a few comments-nothing much. Clearly it was good enough. Better than good enough. Those women are workhorses.”

”They're good,” he agreed.

”Makenna indicated I was with an exceptionally good team this week but they weren't all this good. She also said sometimes there's a weak link, but she didn't say how she knew who that was. Do they tattle on each other?”

”Sometimes, but that's not how they do it. They measure client complaints and watch for similarities. Then Nick and Makenna get involved with the team. Often they'll split them up and move them around. Once they figure out who's not getting the job done, they try training, counseling, observing. They almost never have to fire someone for not working. It's other stuff.”

”Like what other stuff?”

”Absenteeism, tardiness, breaking policy. The most irresistible is taking used clothing from clients. Obviously most of Riley's employees aren't well-off and those high-end clothes are tempting.”

”I never found out why that's not allowed,” she said.

He chewed thoughtfully. ”The risk that they'll be accused of stealing them is too high and there's no way to get to the bottom of it. The safe course is just forbid it.”

She put down her fork. ”Did Riley come to all these conclusions by trial and error or did she take some cla.s.s or read some book about how to set up a business like this?”

”She read everything, took a few business courses and learned a lot through experience. It's really an amazing little company. The employees who work hard and honestly have excellent perks and benefits. Discounts at child care agencies was very hard to negotiate and worth a lot to a working mother. Not many companies help working mothers.”

”Takes a working mother to know about that,” she said.

She asked about Adam's day. He had a lab-that was always fun, especially if no one blew anything up. Test review for a couple of cla.s.ses. He flipped a homeroom and study hall for a friend who wanted to go to the OB with his pregnant wife to see the sonogram of the baby. That had him finished at 2:30 so he went to his mother's and put up one row of Christmas lights across the front of the house for her. Then he cleaned up and stopped at the store on his way over to her house.

”Sounds like such a perfect, almost leisurely life,” she said.

”I'll get out of your hair as soon as I help you clean up the dishes. I know you're tired,” he said.

”If I'm not that tired?” she asked.

He left at 5:00 a.m.

Chapter Ten.

Riley was very observant during Emma's first week on the job. The feedback was excellent. She was surprised, but shouldn't have been; Emma had always been a hard worker. Riley just couldn't get beyond the image of Emma riding through Central Park in a carriage on her wedding day, decked out in Vera w.a.n.g, no less. When Riley thought of Emma on her hands and knees scrubbing around the base of a toilet, she wondered what her budget for housekeeping had been in her Manhattan apartment.

She shouldn't have been surprised because when Emma wanted something, she had never been afraid to go after it. She was diligent. Determined. She wondered what Emma had done to land herself a millionaire. But in order to find out, she'd have to be on friendly terms with her and that just wasn't happening. Employer and employee-that was who they were.

Emma had always had to be enterprising. Her childhood had been tough. Her father's sudden death left her essentially alone, alone but for Riley and the Kerrigans. Somehow, Emma got through the worst of it with grace. She always managed to work hard, get by, put a good face on it. Like she was doing now, acting like it was her lucky G.o.dd.a.m.n day she got a job cleaning.

Really, she'd survived so much. Riley felt sorry for her. But she was also feeling something else. Trouble. Unease. Distrust. Maybe envy? Why would you envy someone who'd had so many bad knocks?

Because she was the beautiful, strong and tragic princess. No one would ever see Riley that way. Riley was the tough poor girl who made good. For that she'd get applause. But Emma? In her mind she saw that news clip of her on the courthouse steps, broken and crying, then rising stoically, lifting her regal chin and slowly descending as if she were on the red carpet, damaged shoe notwithstanding. Even in her most devastating moments, always chic. Always poised. In fact, Emma could wear devastation like a crown.

Friday night after work Riley dropped in on her mother. June was puttering around in her old kitchen. June was always cooking. She would never stop working even though Riley and Adam had convinced her to retire. So now she volunteered. At the church, in the neighborhood, at the animal shelter.

A mangy-looking dog wandered into the kitchen, walking slowly as if her feet hurt.

”And who is this?” Riley asked.

”This is Beatrice. Isn't she lovely?”

Riley gave a short laugh. ”Actually...she's pretty ugly.”

”Shhh. Be nice now-Beatrice has had a rough time of it. She's going to need a little time to regain her former beauty. But she's a lovely lady and needs a place to relax until she has her forever home.”

”If the whole world were as kind as you...”

”Where's Maddie tonight?”