Why the hell had he thanked her? Thanking her was about a million aeons away from what he should’ve done. He should’ve kissed her and walked out the door, showing her just how in control Liam Browne was today. Of everything. Including her.
Yeah, right. Of course you are. That’s why your heart’s in your mouth and Tanya’s right inside your head again...just as she’s always been.
BALANCING A HEAVY cardboard box atop her lifted thigh, Tanya stretched her arm around it and just about managed to fit the key into the lock of her brand-new office. It was seven-thirty and already the sun’s heat warmed her back through the thin cotton of her T-shirt. Today would undoubtedly be another scorcher. Dropping her leg, she hefted the box more steadily into her arms, turned and walked backward through the door.
She lowered the box to the floor.
Excitement mixed with a hefty dose of fear as she stared around the space. She had a lot to do in the next five days. Empty shelves lined the cream-colored walls, and in the far corner, three tall glass display cabinets waited to be filled with party paraphernalia. The supplier had promised her the cabinets would be easy enough for two people to move.
All she had to do was find someone willing to work with her. It was the only way she could possibly make the current haphazard mess of her new office into an ordered and attractive space for potential clients to browse around.
The grand opening would be Saturday night. She had a single working week to make a miracle.
She sighed. “Heaven help me.”
Extracting her keys from the door, Tanya purposefully pushed it closed, slammed home the bolt and lowered the blind.
A lonely weekend had made her doubt her abilities and weakened her fragile confidence. Her levels of strength and self-belief ebbed and flowed as unpredictably as the ocean that lapped Templeton’s shoreline. She couldn’t do everything she wanted to do, felt she needed to do, without other people’s help. It was wrong of her to hope that Liam might drop by, or that he would at least meet her for dinner sometime. She had to let him go and wish him well.
The new Tanya Todd didn’t use people or gauge what they could do for her. Not anymore. Now she wanted friends, she wanted colleagues to laugh with as well as work with. Who knew, maybe one day she’d find someone to love and share her life with. Someone who didn’t know her before...who didn’t have anything to forgive her for.
Like Liam did.
Fisting her hands on her hips, Tanya scanned the office a second time. In the meantime, she needed to scour the Cove’s couple of thousand residents in the hope of finding someone willing to work with her. Changing the opinion of certain Templeton residents who thought nothing of hanging, drawing and quartering a person before, during or after their treasonous behavior had been proved, would be difficult, but she would succeed.
She couldn’t spend every waking moment atoning for her past, so she would look for someone willing to know her from that moment forward.
Tanya walked to the huge picture window at the front of the office, pulled down the blind and turned. Without the sunlight streaming through the door and window, the large, open-plan space fell into shadowed semidarkness. Nerves rippled through her as fear of the mammoth task ahead—both emotional and physical—amplified in the sudden gloom.
The last thing she needed was people to look inside and have their negativity dent her already shaky belief she could make a success of her new business. A disdainful look, a sharp gibe or word of cynicism could be the first pull that unraveled her carefully woven plans. Everything would be perfect before anyone saw the interior of the Party Place.
Her gaze fell on the antique rosewood desk she’d found at an auction and had shipped to Templeton. The moment she’d laid eyes on it, Tanya was confident she’d found the perfect piece of nostalgia to sit behind as she spoke, cajoled and, hopefully, laughed with clients as they made plans for their engagement, wedding or birthday celebrations.
She strolled toward it and lifted the sheet covering its surface. She ran her fingers over the smooth wood. Sturdy and strong, just as she would be. In time.
Determination rose, fueling her passion for change. She’d made some dire mistakes and, sooner or later, the punishment would arrive in a formal envelope at her sister’s apartment, confirming her date in court on shoplifting charges. But for now, she had the opportunity to prove to herself—and the courts—that she was a smart and savvy businesswoman who had just weakened under stress, as a million and one others had before her.
Pulling back her shoulders, Tanya shook off the darker aspect of her return and smiled.
Tomorrow, she’d put an ad in the local newspaper for an assistant, but today she had work to do. Having this venture fail was not an option. Liam might not have shown an inkling of wanting to rekindle their friendship, but Templeton didn’t begin and end with one man. It began and ended with what happened next and what she did about it.
She dropped the sheet over the desk. Time to get to work.
The next couple of hours passed in a frenzy of stock checking and unpacking the first of what felt like a hundred boxes. Collapsing onto the chair behind her desk, Tanya sat cocooned in a sweaty, thirsty cloud of satisfaction. She ran her gaze over the blotter on her desk, the knickknacks, pens and single vase of lilies in the far corner. The desk took pride of place in front of the center back wall, and her face would be the first thing customers saw when they stepped inside. As time went on, the more the thought pleased rather than intimidated her.
Yet, despite her resolve, a sharp knock on the front door shot Tanya’s heart into her throat.
She stared ahead, her previous bravado melting to sludge at her feet.
A second sharp rap on the glass.
Tanya stood, tugged down her dirt-streaked T-shirt and smoothed the mess of her ponytail. Deciding not to pull back the blind to see who was there for fear of losing her nerve, she threw back the bolt and yanked open the door.
Her sister’s best friend, Leah Dixon, stood on the sidewalk, her bright hazel eyes shining behind her glasses, and her smile wide. “Hey you. So, you’ve finally come back.”
Tanya slumped and smiled as relief flooded through her. “Leah. Hi.”
“It would be nice to get out of this heat for a while.”
Tanya stepped back and waved Leah inside. “Come on in.”
“Thanks.” Leah swept into the office. “Wow, looks as though you’re going to be busy for the next few weeks.”
Tanya closed the door. “Week. Singular.”
Leah lifted an eyebrow. “You’re planning to open in a week? I know you were never one to shy away from hard work, but—”
“This Saturday. It will be fine. I managed most of the organizing of the stock, groundwork and everything else before I came.”
“I see.”
The skeptical tone of Leah’s voice rankled and Tanya frowned. “What?”
“So you were as prepared as possible before facing the firing squad, right?”
Leah’s eyes shone with humor and Tanya raised her hand in mock surrender. “Got me. Come what may, the Party Place will open Saturday. My first priority is getting any remaining invitations out. I mailed quite a few to businesses before I came. It’s the personal ones I’ve been holding on to.” Ignoring Leah’s questioning stare, Tanya walked around her and lifted yet another box waiting to be emptied. “So I’m guessing you’ve spoken to Sasha and she asked you to check up on me?”
“Something