Free The Good Sister by Leanne Davis Page B

without you? You know what a mess I am without you.”
    She nodded. “Your sense of organization rivals that of the absent-minded professor. But I was thinking, why couldn’t Lindsey do it? Couldn’t she take over my hours? His highness, the asswipe, said she gets to stay here for two months since he’s having problems with the stupid hotel he’s building. She could use the confidence boost, not to mention the outlet. Maybe it will remind her that she used to know how to do things that affected people’s lives, not just how to put her own shoes on.
    “Jess, you’re not working up to anything here, are you? Like trying to possibly convince her she doesn’t need to return to her husband?”
    Jessie ducked her head and kept her eyes down, but he saw the guilty blush climbing up her neck. “Noah, she just needs to remember she is still her own person. She needs to do something. She does nothing all day but cater to that obsessive, jealous, egomaniac. He has taken the Lindsey I used to know and turned her into a scared, mousey, empty woman, barely the shell of the sister I once had.”
    “Are there really any complications with the pregnancy? I keep thinking Will seems entirely too calm if that actually were the case.”
    She again glanced around. “Okay, maybe I haven’t exactly been ordered yet to take it easy, but I think I will be soon. Doesn’t that seem like a good idea for my third trimester? Please, consider it. She is highly capable, intelligent, and works a lot harder than I ever did. I would just love to see her find herself again. Even if it’s only for a few weeks. What if it serves to remind her of the incredible woman she really is?”
    He tapped his pen against the tabletop. Jessie’s eyes were big and pleading. How did she manage to make her sister’s problems his? “How will you get her to agree to it?”
    “I might have to rely a little bit on my acting skills. You know, how stressed I am at leaving you in the lurch, and how it would just ease my guilt-stricken heart if someone, anyone, I could trust, would take over for me, so I don’t have to feel so stressed and accountable over abandoning you.”
    He stared at her. “You’re good.”
    “I am. Now will you let me do this? I’ll train her and everything.”
    His gut screamed at him not to. He liked the routine he had. He loved the ease with which Jessie and he worked together. They were the right combination of friends, and there was no difficulty or inappropriateness to prevent them from having a working relationship. He liked how she kept his office, his books, his supplies, his appointments, and his animals. He was used to Jessie and how she did things. He did not want a temporary replacement, or having to learn a new personality; especially one like Lindsey’s who appeared to not have an ounce of humor or kidding in her. Who was so serious and fragile, despite being heartbreakingly beautiful.
    But… Jessie was first and foremost his damn friend. “Okay, Jessie, if you make sure she does things exactly like you do them, and like how we do things here. And you must also promise to come back after you have the baby.”
    She smiled cheekily. “I have to come back. I have a lot of animals to pay for, remember? Besides, you said your sister would be happy to watch the baby for a few days a week.”
    His sister was a stay-at-home mother of three and absolutely delighted at the prospect of adding Jessie’s baby to her days, never mind the extra money.  She lived only a few miles from the vet clinic. “Yes, she is planning to watch your baby.”
    They both heard Lindsey as her three-inch heels clicked on the vinyl floor. Jessie smiled at him and mouthed, thank you. He rolled his eyes, but smiled as he wasn’t really looking forward to being greeted each day by the glacial, timid air that seemed to hang around Lindsey.

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    “I can’t do this.”
    “You can do this. Please. It will just be for few weeks, or until Noah can get a