California Christmas Dreams. J.M. Jeffries

I was taught to be respectful of others and consider them before I considered myself. And one tantrum from me shut the set down for almost a day until I apologized for my behavior.”

      “You mom sounds like one hell of a woman.” He couldn’t help a spurt of admiration.

      “Her presence is a ‘no madness’ zone,” Merry said in a rueful tone.

      “If more of my clients had mothers like yours, I’d be out of business.”

      “What exactly do you do?” She ran her fingers down the neck of a zebra with flowers for a mane. She smiled as she stroked it.

      “I’m in financial-crisis management. In other words, I help high-risk clients handle their finances when they can’t do it themselves. Sometimes the court appoints me as their conservator. I take them in hand, heal their financial problems and get them out of trouble with creditors, the IRS or any other government agency they might owe money to.”

      “That’s gotta be tough,” she replied.

      “No kidding.”

      “How do you get into something like that? I do see a need. A lot of the kids I worked with were broke by the time they were twenty. They could have used you. Especially Maddie.” Her eyes turned sad.

      “Maddie?”

      “From Maddie’s Mad World. Maddie Blake. She was the star and blew all her money on clothes she didn’t need, gambling at the local casinos, living so lavishly she once had four expensive sports cars. You can only drive one car at a time, so why would anyone want four?”

      “Her mother should have stopped her,” he said, knowing how easy it was to be seduced by so much money and thinking it would be endless.

      “Her mother makes Dina Lohan look like Mother Teresa.”

      He shrugged. “What about you?”

      “I’m not wealthy,” she replied. “But my mother was a smart cookie. She negotiated a lower up-front salary for me and higher residuals, so the money kept coming when the shows went into reruns. Thank you, God, for Hulu and Netflix.”

      “Your parents didn’t raid your trust fund?”

      She laughed. “They didn’t need my money. My dad is an airline pilot and my mom is a successful artist.”

      “How do you invest your money to keep up a stream of income?” he asked. It wasn’t any of his business, but he was curious. He so seldom worked with someone who understood the value of an investment portfolio.

      She studied him as though trying to decide how much to tell him. “I have some real estate in Santa Ana, stocks and cash. My mother worked with someone like you to make sure I’d be secure the rest of my life as long as I don’t get stupid and spend it all.”

      “So you really don’t have to work if you don’t want to?” And she was wise with her money. That made him feel better, knowing she wasn’t after his father’s money.

      “I have a mortgage payment just like everyone else in the world. My residuals are nice to get, but not enough to pay it. Besides, I like working,” she said, an almost defensive tone in her voice. “I’d go crazy if I didn’t have something to do. I’m not the kind of person to sit around and twiddle my thumbs. What’s with the third degree? I’m not skimming money from your father.”

      “Sorry. I really didn’t mean to imply you were stealing from my dad.”

      “Yes, you did,” she said tartly.

      “I know he wants to make people happy. He’s not in a business that’s out to get other people. But I still have to make sure the money goes where it’s supposed to go. That it’s not frittered away on stupid things.”

      “I don’t fritter money away on stupid things,” she answered hotly. “My reputation is on the line. If any whisper of misappropriation of funds even gets started, I’ll never get another job in the entertainment field. I’m not going to risk that. I love what I do. Even as far back at being on Maddie’s Mad World, I used to rearrange the set to make it feel warmer, or more cozy, or just plain fun. Even then I knew if the acting didn’t pan out, I’d go into set design.”

      “So you have no aspirations for a movie career?”

      She shrugged. “If it was going to happen, it would have, but it didn’t. One of the things I learned very early was that your fifteen minutes of fame is over pretty quick. And there’s more to life than trying to relive that moment.”

      Damn, he couldn’t find any chinks in her armor. In fact, knowing she was self-reliant and ethical gave him a small feeling of relief. But this was his father, and Jake still had to protect him. Since his mother’s death, John had faltered a time or two with women who’d wanted to suck him dry. Jake had stepped in each time and exposed them for what they were.

      “If you’re worried about your legacy, you don’t need to be. I’m not going to touch it. I’m just here to help your dad get this place back on its feet. It’s a great place and has so much potential. It just needs a little more TLC.” She stepped into the stirrup of a horse and sat down on the saddle. “Stop being a stodgy old banker and let’s go for a ride.” She grinned at him infectiously.

      His stared at her for a moment. “Sure, why not?” He stepped across the platform to the center of the carousel, started the motor and turned on the music. As the motor warmed up, he found himself grinning. “Ready?” he asked over his shoulder.

      “You bet,” came her answer.

      He put the motor in gear and the carousel began to turn, the music blasting out from the speakers. He grabbed a pole, pulled himself up and mounted the horse next to her. Her eyes were closed as she gripped the pole in front of her. Her horse went up and down, and she looked absolutely content.