“That’s all right,” Jenny said quickly. She looked around the room, and realized people were watching her while pretending not to. “Don’t worry about it. I told you, Delane and I aren’t seeing each other anymore.” She swallowed. She was respected at the office, but she knew what people thought—she was a good manager, fair and organized, but a little cool, a little unapproachable. Even though she’d got used to it, the realization sometimes hurt.
One of the sales staff, an older man, cleared his throat. “I wish Delane didn’t have so much on his plate. So many projects going forward so fast, we could use him here…”
There was some generalized grumbling, and Jenny was grateful she was no longer the center of attention. She checked her watch. Ten after ten. Delane was late as usual. The conference room was glass on three sides, bright with a nice view. But the sun streaming in made it warm. That was the reason she had perspiration on her lip again. She took a quick swipe with her finger and her eye caught the portrait that hung on the one solid wall.
Delane Kyle, the youngest son of one of Charleston, South Carolina’s, premier families. He’d apparently been considered a bit wild in his younger days, but when he’d come into his trust fund, he’d turned into quite a businessman, with holdings here and at Myrtle Beach to the north. Kyle Development, the company he’d founded, had grown very fast.
Delane Kyle was handsome in a lean, smooth kind of way.
Not like Mitch Oliver.
Jenny’s mind conjured Mitch. He was not smooth. He was tall, with shoulders as wide as the island, and everything about him was big. Dark hair, a little shaggy, an emphatic wedge of a nose, a faint scar below his eye. Though his features were blunt, they were as regular as if they’d been carved by a sculptor who’d really known what he was doing. She pictured his unmanicured, competent-looking hands, that masculine, barest stubble of a dark beard—
For heaven’s sake! She’d been thinking about Mitch Oliver for two weeks. Didn’t she have enough on her plate without mooning over a man she barely knew? She pulled out the schedule of the week’s sales presentations and made herself concentrate.
At ten twenty-five, Yvonne opened the door and stuck her head in. “Sorry, folks. I just got word. Delane isn’t coming.”
There was some low-key grumbling before Yvonne continued, “His lawyer’s here.”
At that moment, Timothy Suddington stepped around Yvonne and into the room.
The staff exchanged glances as Suddington went to stand directly in front of the portrait of Delane.
He plunked a briefcase down on the table, and an eerie kind of quiet settled over the room. “I think y’all know who I am,” Suddington said. “You know that I handle Delane Kyle’s legal work, both business and personal. This morning, Kyle Development filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. District Court, Bankruptcy Division, in Columbia, South Carolina.”
There was silence. Hot shock ran through Jenny, and she pressed a quick hand to her lower belly.
Then everyone spoke at once.
“Hell, I knew we were down on sales but—”
“How can he be bankrupt? He’s got a Ferrari and a yacht docked right here in Harbor Town—”
Jenny’s thoughts were racing, but she managed to put up a hand. “Wait, everybody. Wait, this can’t be as bad as it sounds—”
“Easy for you to say,” one of the women said. “You don’t have a kid to watch out for.”
This isn’t the time for another trip to the bathroom! Jenny told her stomach firmly. “Nobody’s said anything about our jobs. Tim, you need to tell us more. I happen to know Delane came into his trust a few years ago. It was a lot of money.”
They were all looking at Timothy Suddington now. He said, “Jenny, you know I can’t talk too much about Delane’s personal matters. I’m his lawyer. Just his lawyer.” He looked genuinely sorry to be fulfilling that role today, and in that second, Jenny realized that any money Delane had had was gone.
She pressed a protective hand to her stomach again.
Suddington made a fist, brought it down lightly on his briefcase. “I’m sure you all know that appearances can be very deceiving. Delane—with good intentions—tried to play with the big boys. He expanded Kyle Development too quickly. The business was fundamentally sound, but no matter how hard he tried, Delane had cash-flow problems—”
“Skip the bullshit.” It was Rick, the man who had been concerned about sales. “What’s happening here?”
“The office will close at four today. Please make sure that when you clean out your desks, you take your personal belongings home. Anything left here at the close of business today will be tagged and taken by the court as a business asset.”
There was a roaring sound in Jenny’s ears. She managed to say, “At least I have the payroll checks done.”
Suddington said, “I’m sorry, Jenny. You can’t distribute those checks. I’m sure if there are any assets, the bankruptcy court will eventually see that everyone’s paid—”
Dear God, the man was saying they couldn’t even meet the last two weeks’ payroll. As the reality of that sunk in, people gasped. One of the women started to cry.
Jenny felt like weeping, too. She had a big mortgage and a baby on the way.
Emotions zoomed through her: anger, fear, determination, fear, fear, fear. Shame again—after all her work and planning, she was out of a job! Then for a second, she felt hysterical laughter well in her, and she fought the sensation down, scared anew at how out of control she was.
It was a good thing after all that she’d let Crystal go with Mitch Oliver. At least he could give the little girl a place to live. Which was more than Jenny might be able to do.
WHEN CRYSTAL GOT HOME from school, she saw that Jason was in his room. Jason wasn’t as big as the other boys. And he was pretty nice except he didn’t like it when her cat sat on his desk and looked at his hamster. He always said, “That cat looks hungry. Get that cat outta my room.”
But the kitten wasn’t around today. Crystal thought maybe she was hiding from Face-off again. So maybe it was okay to look in Jason’s room now, and see his hamster. She really liked Nosy. Nosy had eyes like shiny black beads and fur that was very soft. Jason let her pet him sometimes.
She stopped in the doorway to see if Jason would ask her to come in. All the boys went in and out of each other’s rooms, but she didn’t know if she should. Her momma always said to knock, but here if the door was shut and you knocked, the door would probably come open just from your knocking. Most of them were busted.
She stopped in the doorway. Jason was sitting there looking at the computer real hard. Then he looked up at her and said, “Whatcha looking at?”
That was just his way of talking. Crystal said, “Can I see Nosy?”
“So, like what’s stopping you?”
She came into his room. Jason was kind of her friend. Uncle Mitch was nice, he let her call Miss Jenny every night. Crystal was happy to call Miss Jenny, but sad too because she didn’t know when she’d get to see her again. Miss Jenny had said Crystal had to come here and Mrs. Winters had said Crystal had to come here, and once, she heard Mrs. Winters telling Miss Jenny that the judge would say Crystal had to come here and live, and so she knew it didn’t matter if she wanted to stay with Miss Jenny.
Uncle Mitch said maybe Miss Jenny could come for a visit some time. Crystal was happy and sad about that. She didn’t want to cry when Miss Jenny left and she was pretty sure she would.
She was trying and trying not to cry about anything.
Besides, Uncle Mitch was nice, and when he came home from