Free Stacking the Deck (A Betting on Romance Novel Book 2) by Cheri Allan Page A

sorry, but I’d better take this. There’s probably a fan in the front hall closet.” As Carter left in search of the fan, she turned toward the back yard. “Hello?”
    “Liz? Finally! I thought you were going to make yourself available.”
    “Sorry. Some things came up.”
    “Yeah, well things came up here, too, and I could use your help. Now’s not the time to go AWOL on me. Did you get my text? My e-mail?”
    “Not yet. I was out. What’s going on?”
    Something wrong? Carter mouthed, box fan in hand.
    Liz shook her head. Work, she mouthed back.
    “…Janice is having a fit about the disaster recovery meeting Friday. I thought you worked that out with her,” Grant said.
    “I did. I—”
    “And, I need you to send me the schedule again. I can’t find the copy you left me, and Ethan’s getting annoyed we don’t have it posted on the board already.”
    “No problem. I—”
    “No problem? You’re not having to deal with all the fires that keep creeping up! The Scrips2U people are complaining that some of their CSRs can’t access the ordering system, and to top it off, the software vendor isn’t returning my calls.”
    “Okay. I’ll call Andy. I’m sure it’s—”
    “It’s a pain in the ass is what it is! Where have you been? I sent you a text about this over two hours ago!”
    Had it been that long?
    Liz gritted her teeth as Carter set the box fan in the window and plugged it in. “I doubt it’s a software problem. If it’s only some of the CSRs, they’re probably forgetting to enter their new ID codes. The system will lock them out after three attempts as a security measure. Just have a shift manager enter his/her override numbers for now, and I’ll have Andy sort it out in the morning.”
    “The job is done, Liz. We shouldn’t have to hold their hands like this.”
    “It’s our job to hold their hands. If these transitions were easy, they wouldn’t need us.”
    Grant heaved an audible sigh. “The wrap-up is complete. We did what we were contracted to do. Sometimes you need to cut the cord and move on. Andy needs to take care of this now. Not you.”
    “You know Andy is getting married next week. He’s preoccupied.”
    “It’s a civil ceremony, Liz. At the town hall. It’s not a big deal.”
    “It is to them,” she said, coughing a little. The lingering smoke was beginning to irritate her throat. “Listen. I’m sorry, but I’m in the middle of something. I’ll follow up with Andy, and I’ll e-mail the schedule as soon as we hang up. Anything else?”
    “No. That’s it. For the moment.”
    “Great,” she said.
    “Great.”
    Liz pocketed her phone and hurried to open the back slider as Carter waited to take the still-smoking skillet outside. She avoided his eyes as he walked past, her gaze drawn to a large, sooty handprint on the hip of his jeans, the dark outline of fingertips just brushing his back pocket.
    She swallowed in alarm.
    Grant wasn’t the only one with fires to put out.

    CHAPTER NINE
____________________

Twelve years earlier…
    B ETH STOOD ALONE at the far end of Jenny’s living room and carefully sipped her cup of punch. Her stomach growled. The Whitmeyer’s owned The Old Mill Bar & Grill across town and were notoriously cool. They were probably watching horror movies in the master suite upstairs, while their famous hot wings and potato skins sat in chafing dishes for the masses.
    Beth eyed the cookies, salsa and tortilla chips on a nearby table, but there was no way she’d risk dribbling salsa down her shirt or getting cookie crumbs in her teeth. Besides, she couldn’t eat in front of boys. No way.
    They came in periodically, the boys that is, raiding the chips bowl, jostling and joking and dropping crumbs on the floor in testosterone–fueled orgies before they elbowed each other and laughed their enticing, low laughs and wandered away again. Beth sucked in her stomach and pretended to be engrossed in her manicure like she’d seen the other