Page 41 of No More Secrets
“And were you able to —”
“Yes. And they said no problem with rescheduling for next Thursday.”
“You’re the best.” Beckett said it with real affection. “Appreciate the help today.”
Ellery beamed. “Happy to! See you tomorrow. Nice meeting you, Summer,” she called.
“Great to meet you, Ellery.”
“She’s something, isn’t she?” Beckett said shaking his head.
“Is she psychic like Willa?” Summer couldn’t help but ask.
Beckett laughed. “No. She’s just very good at her job and knows me better than I know myself. So,” he said, peeking into the boxes of food. “Do you want the Greek salad or the chicken pesto tortellini?”
“Excuse us for interrupting.” A man who looked like a grumpy Santa bustled into the conference room, followed by a woman in heavy-duty khakis and a polo. “But we’ve got an important situation that needs your attention, Mr. Mayor.”
“Bruce. I’ve told you a thousand times, please call me Beckett.”
Bruce was already shaking his head. “Your office deserves respect, and that’s what you get from Bruce Oakleigh,” he said, drilling a finger into his own chest. “But not everyone has respect. No siree. What kind of a message does it send our youth if the town council allows Beverly here to add one of those flailing armed inflatable freaks in front of her building. Where is your respect for tradition, Beverly? Your father didn’t run that HVAC business with ablow-up dollin the parking lot.” He waved his arms in the air. He was wheezing slightly after his tirade.
Beverly rolled her eyes. She yanked an inhaler out of the pocket of Bruce’s cargo pants and handed it to him. “Beckett, can you please just tell Bruce it’s fine for me to display a ten-footair dancerin the parking lot for our week-long maintenance package sale so I can get back to my job and you can get back to your lunch?”
“A week?” Bruce’s snowy eyebrows rose. “Well, why didn’t you say so? I thought you were making it a permanent, tawdry fixture. Mr. Mayor, please strike my comments from the record,” he said, offering Beckett a little bow.
“Consider them stricken,” Beckett said, his tone serious.
“Want to go grab a smoothie, Bruce?” Beverly offered.
“That would be lovely,” he said, letting her lead the way.
––––––––
They were interrupted two more times before Carter returned to pick Summer up, but she felt like she had gotten a good, clear picture of the middle Pierce brother. Beckett was the picture of loyalty and stability. Family was his center, and that family extended to the residents of Blue Moon Bend.
Evidence of this was framed on the walls and shelves of his office. There were pictures of his brothers, his parents, and his townspeople. Babies, firemen, newspaper clippings from town meetings. Beckett’s heart belonged to Blue Moon.
“How did it go?” Carter asked as she climbed into the truck.
“I really like your brother,” she said, missing the frown that marred Carter’s face.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Over the fluid notes of Chris Botti’s trumpet and the punchy words of the latest spy novel, Carter heard Summer muttering from the kitchen island.
She had set up her laptop after dinner and gone to work like a general directing troops. She wanted to get a solid outline of the article done, she said. But her phone hadn’t stopped ringing since she sat down.
From the great room, he had heard every conversation. First there was the model’s agent who wasn’t happy with the placement of an ad. Then came the higher-up who needed something proofedimmediatelybecause the post on moisturizers waslife and death. Now she was on the phone with her friend she called the Wolf. And in between calls he heard her furiously answering emails and muttering about blog trolls.
It was stressing him out.
“I don’t know why they didn’t give you a copy of the article, either, Nikolai,” Carter heard her sigh. “Of course you need to know what you’re shooting.”
He gave up trying to read and headed into the kitchen. Summer was sitting with her hand on her forehead.
“Look, I’ll email you a draft of the article as soon as I send Katherine her moisturizer thing.”
She rolled her eyes while she listened.
