Free The Best of Us by Ursula Gorman

little shopping trips that’ll have to be done, so I was thinking,” Glynna paused and Carly could only imagine what was about to come out of her mouth. “I should run the store while you do your little errands.”
    Carly could only sit there and stare. Mike actually looked as shocked as Carly felt; his jaw had literally fallen open a little. “Is she serious?” Carly thought.
    “ I know that you don’t like running the store and I, of course, would be fabulous at it. So, what do you think? When do you want me to start?”
    Carly just stared at her for the length of several heartbeats. Glynna wasn’t what you would call friendly with any female and when she got something in her mind, she was like the barracuda Daniel had described her as.
    “ I’m not sure what I’m going to do yet Glynna. I appreciate the offer, but for right now, I’m doing fine.”
    “ Come now, you know this store was Jenna’s doing. She’s the one that had the business sense to run it; you just came into it by luck.”
    Okay, she was going too far. Luck? Jenna’s death was luck? Fuming, Carly started to stand up but was stopped when Mike laid his hand on her arm. Carly settled back down, “Actually Glynna, I don’t know if I’ll be able to do it, but I’m going to give it a try. I know I don’t have the business sense Jenna did, but I’ve got to give it a try.” Carly spoke to her like she was speaking to a child, but it didn’t seem to faze her one bit.
    “ Oh, I know you think you can handle it, all I’m saying is that you would be free to do the things Jenna had to do to keep the store running.”
    “ I think Carly is doing fine Glynna. Plus she has me and Daniel to help her.”
    As soon as he said it, Carly and Mike knew it was a mistake. Glynna’s eyes narrowed as her real goal became obvious.
    “ Yes, well that brings me to another point. Daniel needs to find a good woman and I believe that I’m that woman. As often as he is in here, he won’t be able to avoid me. I know he’s not seeing anyone and that he needs a woman to help take care of him and I am the best woman for the job.”
    Carly and Mike looked at each other and then turned back to look at Glynna. “Is she serious?” Carly thought incredulously.
    “ I’m not so sure he isn’t seeing anyone.” Mike tried to cover for his friend.
    “ Oh I know he’s not.”
    “ How do you know that?” Carly hated that she couldn’t help but ask.
    “ Why, because he took you to the fireman’s ball.” Glynna acted as though that explained everything.
    “ Well, I, uh…” Carly wasn’t sure how to respond to that. She turned to look at Mike.
    “ Who did you take to the ball?” Mike asked.
    “ Silly, I didn’t go. I had a nasty allergy attack and was in no condition to attend.”
    She wasn’t there? Carly was bewildered. If she wasn’t there, what was with Daniel all night? He had been acting weird but she had just chalked it up to the nerves about his speech and that fact that Glynna had been there. But she hadn’t been there at all.
    “ I know the two of you went together, my friend Bernice filled me in on everything.” Glynna said breaking into Carly’s thoughts. “She mentioned the dress you were wearing,” Glynna said with obvious distaste, “She told me about how tight it was and how you showed off so much skin.”
    So much skin? Her back and leg? What? Carly felt like she had just fallen down the rabbit hole.
    “ Oh yeah? I wish I could have been there. Sounds like I missed a lot.” Mike said looking at Carly.
    “ Well anyway, if Daniel had been dating someone, he wouldn’t have needed to take Carly. Everyone knows that he would never date you and so it only stands to reason that he’s single.”
    “ Why does everyone know that he would never date me?” Carly knew she should just ignore her, but she just couldn’t stop herself from asking. It was like a toothache you just couldn’t help but to poke at.
    Glynna gave an unfeminine