by Susan Meier
But surely she could manage that…
Couldn’t she?
Chapter Four
The next morning, Piper awakened to the sound of her favorite song blaring from her iPhone. She groaned and rolled over, then, remembering the meeting in Jeff’s office the day before, she bounced up in bed.
She owned half the grocery store.
Her family’s store.
Her dad’s name had been cleared. His shame wiped away.
And she no longer earned peanuts as manager for a chain pharmacy. She was a business owner!
Grinning like an idiot, she jumped out of bed, showered, and curled her hair. Even though she was getting ready for work, today was the first day of a new start. If she did a good job with O’Riley’s, maybe she could stop being the town’s runaway bride and go back to being just plain Piper. Or Piper O’Riley, half-owner of O’Riley’s Market.
Oh, she liked the sound of that.
Dressed in jeans and a simple blue shirt, she headed out for O’Riley’s. She and Cade hadn’t discussed reopening the store. They hadn’t actually spoken after the meeting in Jeff’s office. But that was okay. She had absolutely no idea how this partnership would work, but she wasn’t letting him ride roughshod over her. She was taking control now.
She pulled into the parking lot the same time that the silver-gray Silverado did.
Cade.
Okay. So he was here? Didn’t matter. Store opened at seven. It was ten till. He had as much right to be here as she did.
She drew in a breath before opening her car door. All she had was one year with this guy. Then, if the profits were high enough, maybe she could buy him out.
For the chance to completely own the store, she could spend twelve months with Satan’s spawn.
She hopped out of her car, but he got out of his Silverado slowly, reached in, and pulled out his Stetson. Dressed in a white shirt and jeans, he had the business-casual look nailed. The shirt showed off broad shoulders and a trim waist. The jeans all but caressed his perfect butt. And the hat? The hat was like a sexy cherry on a hot fudge sundae—not really needed, but definitely an enhancement.
Her breathing did that funny thing again.
Damn it!
How the hell could she still be attracted to him?
He touched two fingers to the rim of his hat. “Mornin’, darlin’.”
And that voice. Deep. Rich. Male. With that little bit of a western drawl that made her insides shiver.
She corralled her hormones as she reminded herself she didn’t like him, so being attracted to him was wrong—pointless. But, given that they had a whole year together, and she did want him to sell his share of the store to her when their year was up, she had to be civil. Turning to walk toward the store, she said, “Good morning.”
He fell into step beside her. “We hadn’t talked about opening the store today.”
With one long, fast, eager stride, she reached the entrance. Just like a Donovan to say something that made absolutely no sense. “Store’s been open all along. Chuck Murray,” she said, referring to the assistant manager, “and the staff have been running it since your grandfather’s passing.”
“Yeah, but we hadn’t talked about when we’d take over.”
“Then why are you here ten minutes before opening time?”
“I want to check out the office.”
Her face scrunched in confusion. “For?”
A beat went by before he answered. “Be a little silly to start running a business before we got a look at the books, wouldn’t it?”
He had a point, but this store was hers now, and she was ready to take the reins. She could study the books, see how everything ran, at her leisure. Today, she’d be on the sales floor.
So, she said nothing, just pulled out the key for the main doors and shoved it in the lock.
He frowned at her. “Where did you get keys?”
“Chuck. One call last night and he was at my front door.”
“Oh, really.”
“Yes.” She opened the door and walked into the low, wide store. Her breath shivered into her lungs and back out again. This was the business her dad had owned and loved. If she hadn’t been with Cade, she might have taken a few minutes to spin around and just soak it all in. Instead, she turned to him with a professional smile. “And I had him call the other employees. I figured I’d better let the staff know I’d be here today.”
He crossed his arms on his broad chest. “Oh, really.”
His deep, tense voice suddenly made it all real. O’Rileys and Hyatts did not get along. Owning the store might be the miracle of her life, but it was something of a slap in the face to him.
Even though she’d love to say, What the hell is wrong with you? she respected his loss. Plus, she had to work with him for an entire year. No sense fighting on day one.
So, in a soft, non-threatening voice, she asked, “Why do you keep saying ‘oh really’?”
“Because I’m angry and I’m trying not to yell at you.”
She’d been nothing but nice to him and he wanted to yell at her?
Still, she kept her voice soft, even, as she said, “About what?”
“About the fact that A) we didn’t discuss opening the store, yet you’re clearly here to open. B) You called the assistant manager without consulting me and C) you got a key from him.”
Wow, he was a nitpicker. “Rumor’s out about us sharing the store. Chuck had no problem giving me his spare key.”
He ran his hand across the back of his neck. “Well, that’s great.”
She took a breath. If it killed her, she would not fight with him. “Look. It is great. It is wonderful that I got a key. I want to be ready. The people who shop here come in before work for coffee and a doughnut, or things they need for breakfast for their kids.”
“Since your family’s been boycotting this store for thirty years, how would you know?”
“I live in this town. I know a lot of things about this place, these people. I’ve also been running the drugstore.” She held his gaze. It would be a long year if he questioned or argued with everything she said. “I know things.”
“An insinuation that I don’t?”
Oh, dear God! She had to endure twelve months, fifty-two weeks, three hundred sixty-five days of this?
“I didn’t say that!”
“Whatever.” He brushed past her and headed for the caged area with the office behind it. “Open the store if you want. I’m going to review the books.”
…
Furious with the way Piper had not only taken over, but with the assistant manager who’d so easily given her a key, Cade strode to the cashier’s cage, the small, enclosed space that led to the office door. As he inserted his granddad’s key into the lock, he saw a row of cars forming in the parking lot.
Well, she was the one who’d decided—on her own—to start working today. If she wanted to deal with employees and customers on their first day of ownership, that was her choice. He wanted to get into that office and find his grandfather’s proof that he hadn’t cheated Sean O’Riley. He’d show it to Piper first, kindly, as his granddad had said, then they’d see where the chips fell. But until he had the proof in his hand, he wasn’t making any waves.
Twisting the key in the lock, he prayed that whatever the proof was, it was something so clear that she’d realize her inheriting half the store was bullshit and she’d back off.
He snorted. Right. An O’Riley backing off. That was a good one.
He walked through the cage to the office door in the rear, but before he got it unlocked, a small crowd had amassed inside the main entrance. Kelly-green smocks worn by two of the people standing in front of the registers marked them as employees. He also recognized Piper’s mother and three of her church lady friends.
“Oh, Piper! This is so exciting. I’m so glad you’re in charge.”
That came from one of the employees. Fantastic.
“Maybe we can get a discount or
two.”
Harold Peterson added, “Some plants next spring.”
“Maybe some hardware since those big chains forced Bernie out of business.”
“And she’s giving her mother a job.”
That came from one of the church ladies. He put his head back as anger fizzled through his blood. She couldn’t be a normal partner who had meetings, made plans, and carried them out fifty/fifty. No. She had to take over.
Damned O’Riley.
With a curse, he turned and walked out of the customer service area toward the crowd, which quieted as he approached. “Darlin’, could I talk to you in the office?”
Piper faced him, her green eyes shining. “We need to open the store.”
Something inside his chest caught. His fizzling anger bubbled away. Her eyes were so happy and her face so pretty that for a second he could only stare at her. Why was it that he couldn’t reconcile this beautiful, happy woman to skinny, nasty, grouchy Piper? She might have grown up to be pretty but she was still an O’Riley.
He nodded at the two green-smocked employees. “Is one of you head cashier?”
A little blonde timidly raised her hand.
“Do you generally open?”
She nodded.
“Then do it.” He caught Piper’s arm and began leading her to the cashier’s cage. “They’ve been running this store for a month without us. They’ll be fine. We need to set some ground rules.”
“What about the discounts?”
Hearing the question from the would-be shoppers, he stopped, turned. “What discounts?”
The little blonde said, “Now that Piper’s in charge I heard we’d be giving discounts, cutting prices. I don’t know what to cut.”
“Prices stay exactly as they are. Get to work.” When nobody moved, he added, “Now!”
Furious again, he pivoted and encouraged Piper through the cashier’s cage and into the office, all but slamming the door behind her. “What was that all about?”
“I have no idea, but…” She winced. “Three or four of those people were from the food pantry. They had a meeting last night, and my mother’s on the board. I’m guessing she told them I’d inherited half the store and they got carried away.” She pointed at her chest. “I didn’t promise them anything. I didn’t even talk to them about anything. That’s what happens in this town sometimes. People get carried away. Rumors start.”
Oh, didn’t he know that. The gossip was so bad the day he left Lonnie that his dad had gone ballistic, and Cade had had to leave town, following in Devon’s footsteps and joining the Marines.
In his head, he counted to at least fifty. If he and Piper were going to get along well enough to run this damned store, they would have to talk through some things.
He rounded the desk that was still cluttered with invoices, memos, and order sheets. Sadness nearly overwhelmed him. His grandfather had been here one day and was gone the next. Grief squeezed his heart, and he swallowed. He’d missed the last twelve years with his mother, with his grandfather, with his brothers because he didn’t want to come home and hear the snide comments of people who believed he wasn’t supporting his child.
Somehow his grandfather felt his running the store would provide a way to mend his reputation. Plus, after the will had been read and his mom had gone home, he and his brothers had decided that the best way to keep their dad off the scent of their inheritance would be to run the store and feed the illusion that O’Riley’s had been their grandfather’s only asset. Technically, Jeb Donovan had no right to his wife’s money, but as Attorney Franklin had said, their dad could use refusing to sign divorce papers as leverage to demand a settlement.
There was no way Cade would let the man who’d beaten him, his brothers, and their mom get one cent of this money. No way he’d let an O’Riley get the store. Plus, there was the potential positive of cleaning up his reputation if he stayed the entire year.
All he had to do was get along with one beautiful brunette who just happened to be his enemy.
He’d survived boot camp and Afghanistan and led forty rowdy cowhands. Surely to God, he could handle her.
He pulled the tall-backed chair from beneath the desk and pointed at one of the softly padded chairs in front of it. “We need to work some things out.”
She nodded and almost sat without thinking, but she stopped and glanced at him as he sat in the chair behind the desk. From the look in her eyes, he could tell she wasn’t happy that he got the chair of power.
He primed himself for a fight, but instead of making a big deal out of it, she quietly sat.
Maybe her mom and friends really had embarrassed her?
And maybe he could use that?
“Here’s the deal. As much as I’m sure you’d love to hire your mother—” A thought occurred to him and he decided to run with it. “And as much as I’d like to let you hire her as a sign of good faith, we can’t do that.”
She lifted her chin. “Why not?”
“Because even without looking at the books, I can tell you we’re one employee over our limit.”
“Our limit?”
“Let’s do the math. My grandfather died, leaving the store short one manager. We inherited the store together and both of us want to work here—both as manager. That means we’re one person over on payroll.”
She nodded.
“The logical conclusion would be to lay off the assistant manager to balance out.” He leaned back. “If you really want to hire your mom, then we’re going to have to lay off another person. If you hire her as a clerk, one of the other clerks has to go.”
“I’ve managed Health Aid for seven years. I know the drill.”
“Then you realize I’m right.”
She sighed as if it pained her to admit it. “Yes.”
“Do you want to fire a clerk?”
“No.”
“Then you have to go out there right now and tell your friends that. The easy way to do it would be to explain that things have to stay the same, at least until we understand what we’ve gotten ourselves into. Because neither one of us knows how to run a grocery store.”
“My mom does.”
He smiled stiffly. “It’s not rocket science. After a few days with the books and a few days actually running the store, I’m sure we’ll figure it out.”
She nodded and rose, but, as she did, the phone rang.
He sat forward and picked it up without a second thought. “O’Riley’s.”
“Hi, um…Is this Cade Donovan?”
“Yes. Who is this?”
“Um. It’s Wendy Nelson. I work…worked…for your grandfather. Is it true Piper O’Riley now owns the store?”
He leaned back in his chair. “No. Well, yes and no. She and I inherited it together.”
Wendy said nothing for a second, then she very softly said, “Then I quit.”
He scrambled up in his seat again. “You quit?”
Halfway to the door, Piper faced him.
“Yeah, and I think Frank and Cathy will be calling you too.”
“Why?”
“I’m not working for Piper O’Riley.”
“You won’t be. You’ll be working for me.”
“So Piper won’t be there?”
“Wendy, I’m not going to lie. She owns half the store. She’s going to be here.”
“Then I’m not.”
With that, she hung up on him. He caught Piper’s gaze. “Wendy quit.”
“Wendy Nelson?”
He nodded.
She walked back to the desk, fell to the chair in front of it, and groaned.
“You two have a history?”
She avoided his gaze. “You could say that.”
“You want to tell me about it?”
“No.”
He smiled and sat back on the chair. “So, it looks like you’re not one up on me after all.”
“One up on you?”
“Oh, come on. You know everybody hates me because of Lonnie. But
it looks like this little Nelson thing makes us even. What’d you do?”
She raised her pretty green eyes to meet his but shook her head, refusing to answer.
He held back a laugh. Small-town disagreements. Sometimes they were insanity.
“Never mind. It’s not important. The important thing is, whatever you did, it’s enough that you’ve got enemies, too. So we’re on even ground.”
She quietly said, “We might be on even ground, but with the Nelsons quitting, it also looks like there’s room to hire my mother.”
Chapter Five
Two hours later, Piper tucked two O’Riley’s smocks and a copy of the work schedule for the next week into her mom’s hands and said good-bye to her at the door. Now that the schedule had been made and basic differences ironed out, Cade had commandeered the office to study the books, so she decided to tour the sales floor.
She turned from the door and faced the low, wide store. Fighting back tears of sheer joy, she forced herself to focus, concentrate, get the lay of the land so she could whip this thing into shape.
Candy, chips, and cookies on the right. Rows of groceries in the middle. Fresh vegetables, deli, and bakery in the back. Freezer and refrigeration section—including milk—on the far left. And customers. Curious O’Riley supporters trailed up and down the aisles, examining the store they’d boycotted for three decades as Hyatt supporters ignored them.
“Hey, Piper.”
The greeting came from Bunny Farmer, the thirty-three-year-old blond head cashier with two hellion sons, who stood by the middle register. With April Johnson back in the bakery, Joni Zimmerman in the deli, and no groceries to ring up, she was alone and looked bored in the checkout aisles.
“Hey, Bunny.”
“I like your shirt.”
Nearly past the register area, Piper stopped, turned, and smiled. In Bunnyworld a clothing compliment was high praise, not to be ignored. “Thanks.”
“If you’re still looking for cashiers, since the Nelsons and their friend quit because they don’t want to work with you, I have two friends who are willing to interview.”
Piper had been in management long enough to know she’d just been served the Human Resources sandwich. When someone needed a reprimand, Human Resources at Health Aid directed managers to compliment, then reprimand, then compliment again. They believed bad news went down easier sandwiched between two compliments.
