Page 16 of The Moment He Saw Her

“I watched her car break down and told her to come into the cafe if she needed help. She asked me for a job, Sawyer took her to the Circle Left, and Bob picked up her car. Nothing more than that.”

“Ha, not what I heard from Sybil Maynard at the police station. She told me she’s a looker, and when LouJean saw you and her together, there were sparks,” Brody said with a smirk.

“This town,” Ryder said. “It’s seven kinds of crazy.”

“Just seven?”

“And I can say, hand on heart, that Libby Gulliver is not my type.”

“Classy?”

“That with the eyelashes and expensive clothes.” His brother mentioned a celebrity, and Ryder nodded. “Exactly like her.”

“What the hell is she doing in Lyntacky, then?”

“No idea,” Ryder said. “But she’s here and going to wash my dishes if she’s any good, which tells me she’s desperate because I doubt Libby Gulliver has washed a dish in her life, but that’s just instinct talking.”

“Not sure where she’s staying, as the Circle Left just started renovating, so they only have a few rooms, and the rest of the accommodations in town are full,” Brody added.

“I didn’t know they were renovating.”

“Replacing the kitchen and laying new carpet upstairs. The bachelor party has taken the only rooms they have left. They’re going with the Slatters to ski and race about like idiots on the snowmobiles.”

“She must be staying somewhere because her car is not running,” Ryder said, wondering where Libby Gulliver was now. Not that she was his worry, but still, he needed to know she was turning up on time tomorrow.

Brody shrugged. “Someone will have taken her in. Nancy would make sure of that.”

“True,” Ryder said. He wasn’t sure why it bothered him so much that Libby Gulliver could even now be wandering the streets, but it did. Possibly because she had that rich girl, never-done-it-hard vibe.

“Back to the party,” Ryder said, pushing the woman from his head. “Her birthday is next Friday, right?”

Brody nodded.

“Theme?”

“Ally, do you want a themed party?” Brody called to her.

“I want to do nails and sing karaoke!”

“Hell,” Brody hissed. “Ten little girls all singing off-key. We’ll be deaf for days after that.”

“The nails, though, bro. No way am I part of that.” Ryder shuddered.

“Zoe, Phoebe, and Mom can handle it. So how come you employed this Libby Gulliver?” his brother asked.

“Move on, Brody. Bradford can’t give me more hours, and it’s going to be busy for the next few days, so I needed someone fast.”

“And you chose the classy city girl?”

“If she’s useless, she’ll go,” Ryder said, polishing his coffee machine again.

“You don’t know anything about her and hired her.”

“I don’t know anything about a lot of people and hire them,” Ryder said. “Now get out of my cafe. I need to finish up.”

“Who?”

“Who what?” Ryder asked.

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