Page 31 of Two Hearts' Ploy

“Can we do it in the afternoon? I’ll probably need some help carrying the pieces upstairs into the master,” Jeff admitted.

“I’ll give Jim a call and send you a text when I hear back from him.”

Jeff looked at his watch. “You’d better ring me up so you can get out of here.”

She smiled. “Sounds good.”

* * *

Jeff drove to the grocery store next. Right when he was stepping out of his truck in the parking lot to head inside, his cell phone vibrated.

“Eve,” he said, suddenly feeling nervous. “How’d it go?”

“Jeff. I suppose I shouldn’t tell you this, but you actually brought tears to Wren’s eyes.”

He grimaced. “Is that a good thing?”

“That’s a fabulous thing,” she answered, laughing. “And there’s even better news. Wren played the demo for her agent, who wants to launch the song as a single. Not only do they want you to handle her recording with an orchestra, but they’re thinking about filming a video.”

Jeff was in a daze as Eve explained how it would work. Hopefully, Jeff would be available during the next couple months to handle the audio.

“I’m not scheduled to take charge of the training at the warrior home until after Labor Day. Will that be enough time?”

“I would think so,” Eve replied.

“I’ll still have some time available of course when I’m teaching, but there are a lot of workshops and even a couple of training exercises taking place out of state that I’ll be in charge of,” he admitted.

“It’s nothing to worry about right now. We’ll figure it out as we go along,” she said.

“Sounds good.”

“Thank you, Jeff. If this works out, it could mean a whole new stay at home career for me. It’s not that I don’t like performing, but I want to be there for my kids when I have them, since no one was there for me,” she confessed softly.

“I figured it was something like that,” Jeff answered gruffly. “I’m so glad that you and your mom were finally reunited after all the abuse you suffered in foster care.”

After a few more minutes of conversation, Eve disconnected, and Jeff finally headed inside the store.

Chapter Sixteen

Wren thought about giving Jeff a call after she was finished negotiating with Mike, her agent, and Eve at the studio, but surprisingly, she felt…exposed.

How had Jeff been able to recognize the deep dark thoughts that were reflected in the song she wrote?

She’d go back to the hotel and spend some time in the hot tub, Wren decided after saying goodbye to Eve, who’d be there with Jeff at the studio at nine the following morning. Maybe she’d watch a movie later after deciding which songs she’d like to start working on recording beginning tomorrow. She’d spent most of the afternoon running through her music for the album and was satisfied with her selections.

But right now, she was kind of hungry.

Since there was a small kitchen in the suite, maybe she’d just stop at the grocery store in town and pick up a few things for the week.

Better than constantly ordering room service or having to watch the time so that she wouldn’t run into a lot of people if she ate in one of the Inn’s restaurants.

Ten minutes later, she pulled into the grocery store parking lot. It wasn’t too busy, she was relieved to discover when she pulled into a space that wasn’t too far from the entrance.

Pulling out a small notepad from her purse, she made a short list of snacks along with some items she’d be able to microwave depending on the selections available.

Until she’d begun traveling cross country and had decided she was better off having food and drinks available in her SUV in coolers, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d even been in a grocery store on her own. Grinning, she separated a shopping cart from the others as she walked inside, rolling it ahead of her as she reached for bread, crackers and any other items that would be easy to leave in the SUV if she didn’t want to haul everything up to her suite tonight.

Grudgingly, she threw a lot of healthy snacks into the basket. She desperately needed to start working out again. Surprisingly, her legs hadn’t been cramping up, but it would more than likely happen if she didn’t get back to her routine.

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