Page 6 of Moonshine and Magnolias
“No. Well, yes, and then no. First.” Brandi handed over the panties. “These aren’t mine. They’re Aunt Eulalee’s.”
There’s a mental image that wouldn’t be going away anytime soon.
“Second, can you work the breakfast shift?” Brandi tucked her blond hairbehind an ear and avoided Wendy’s frown. “I didn’t sleep well last night.”
Wendy clenched the frilly material in her palm. It was just like when they worked summers at the Hall and her cousin blew off the schedule, expecting Wendy to cover. “Is your sleep disruptor Heath this time? Or Andy? No, Andy was last week. I know.” She snapped her fingers. “It’s Carter. Right? Carter?”
Brandi’s face took on a bored expression. “Are you going to do it for me or not?”
“When we made the calendar, I told you to let me know beforehand if you couldn’t work your assigned shifts.”
“This is beforehand. I don’t have to be downstairs for another twenty minutes.”
“Seventeen.”
Brandi rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”
“And I meant a day or two,” Wendy said. “I also have things to do, you know.”
“Well, gee. God forbid you do your Thursday tasks on a Friday.” Brandi’s expression crumpled, her smooth skin turning a pale shade of pink. “I had too much on my mind last night and couldn’t sleep. With the funeral and the wake yesterday and near-strangers asking how I’m holding up…” She heaved out a heavy breath and swiped at her eyes. “I’m sorry I don’t have the ability to compartmentalize like you. I’ll put learning that on my Saturday list of things to do.”
Wendy bit the inside of her cheek. Brandi couldn’t use her heart-shaped face and large doe eyes to return to the kept and easy life she preferred. And since Wendy couldn’t fire her cousin, she’d play the role of teacher until Brandi got the hang of what to do. Or until she ran off with the next man who offered her the lap of luxury. “Fine. You do what you need to do. I’ll take the breakfast shift.”
“I’ll try to do better. And I’ll be at the staff meeting. Nine-thirty sharp.” Brandi’s lips turned up in a smile, but sadness still darkened her eyes. “Thanks.”
She shuffled down the hallway to her own room. Wendy went back to herlaptop and made the change. It wasn’t that she was inflexible and rigid, regardless of Brandi’s taunt about Laundry Day. But with having to move so much until high school, Wendy had learned organization made everything easier. It would also make things smoother for her cousin and aunt when she left.
The printer whirred with the new schedule. She retrieved it and placed it on the dresser with the daily activities for the patrons, making sure the corners lined up, and checked the time.
Ten minutes before her shift. She ran her hand down her ponytail. But there was no reason to hang around when there was work to do.
She picked up the papers, stuck a pencil behind her ear, and tucked her laptop and ledger under her arm. She smoothed her crisp Fountenoy Hall shirt before heading down the grand staircase. Aunt Eulalee would already be in the kitchen, preparing pancakes or waffles and eggs and something with peaches.
As she neared the dining room, she inhaled the scent of sausage filtering into the hallway. Eulalee’s cooking was the one thing she would miss when she was back in Atlanta. She stepped into the dining room and gave a silent good morning to her ancestors.
Dr. Upshaw sat at one of the tables, a cup of coffee at hand. He stared at a tablet that lay next to him, his long fingers drumming out a beat that shifted the papers scattered around his saucer. He lifted his head when she moved toward the kitchen.
His hazel eyes were no less intent and intelligent than yesterday, and the same damn awareness made her skin tingle. She’d have to give her brain a talking to later. This kind of immediate heat was never real, and it was messing up her morning.
A large drop of coffee perched on the edge of his cup and she tightened her grip on the ledger to keep from saving his papers from a large stain. It was his fault for laying them out in such a haphazard manner. “You’re up early.”
“I had to get some work done, and my snoring brother made it hard to concentrate.”
“Then I’ll leave you to it.” She placed her computer and ledger on the sideboard, and posted the daily activity page.
He gave a nod to the paper she had just tacked up. “What’s happening today?”
“Peach picking in the morning, around ten.” Something on the schedule almost every day during the season and always a hit with guests. “We have to do it early since it gets hotter than blue blazes by noon. The afternoon is open.”
“These peaches go into your whiskey?”
Impressive. “You’ve done your research.”
He gestured to his tablet and laughed, a warm, rich sound, and she had to fight her answering smile. “Remember, that’s what I do.”
She poured herself a cup of coffee from the silver server. “You’ll get to try some of our medicinal brew tonight if you head down to our after dinner drinks. I hope you come and help pick.” Fiddlesticks. Why did she have to say that? It sounded like an invitation and she’d have been perfectly happy to spend the morning with only her other guests. Even if they spent half their time making lovey faces and blowing kisses at each other.
He looked back down at his notes, his mouth twisted in a half-hearted smile. “I’ll try.”
