Just for Fun (35 page)

Sam’s other eyebrow went up. “And?”

“Jay is completely qualified. And…a nice guy,” he added reluctantly.

“Oh?” Sam asked.

Dooley looked away. “Yeah. Okay. He came to the house after he found out that we weren’t going to hire him. He pled his case.”

Sam looked like he was trying not to smile as he looked back at the puzzle in front of him. “What did your dad think of him?”

Dooley suspected Sam already knew the answer. “He likes him,” he said anyway.

“I’m not surprised,” Sam said. “Jay’s a good guy.”

Dooley sighed. “You like Jay?”

“Of course. He’s hilarious, can drink more beer than Mac and knows more about Nebraska football than Kevin.”

Dooley looked around at his friends. “You drank with him? You’ve talked football?” What the hell?

Mac shrugged. “We had to be sure that he was good enough to hang out with your dad.”

“Why?” Dooley asked.

“In case you ever need a backup. I think he’d be great,” Sam said.

“Me too,” Mac said. “We were even thinking of taking a long weekend the four of us guys and going to see the Vikings play or something.” He flipped several channels as if they were talking about nothing more than football. “Jay could cover things at your house.”

“You think Jay would do a great job helping out if the four of us ever wanted to go to a football game?” Dooley clarified. As if this was a new idea. As if him needing backup had just now occurred to them. As if finding someone was just a matter of…finding someone.

Sam nodded. “Definitely.”

“Oh, yeah,” Mac said.

“No problem,” Kevin added.

“This is all about us taking a weekend for a football game?”

“Of course,” Sam said simply. “Or baseball.”

“It has nothing to do with Jay being a backup in case I wanted to go, oh I don’t know, to California with Morgan,” he said.

“Nah.” Mac tossed more popcorn into his mouth. “That’s never going to work out.”

It wasn’t? Of course he’d been thinking the same thing, but hearing someone else say it sucked.

“Why?” Again, he was shocked and annoyed they were letting go of what had happened between him and Morgan so easily.

Mac shrugged. “She wants to live in California and you want to live here. Obviously that’s not going to work.”

“It’s not about living in California,” Dooley said, slumping deeper into the chair. “She wants this job.”

“Why?” Sam asked. “Job sounds boring. Catering to fancy-shmancy rich guys? Yuck.”

“Fancy-shmancy and hoity-toity?” Mac asked. “What’s going on with you today?”

Dooley stared at the beer commercial on TV without seeing it. Somehow, Sam’s description didn’t feel right. On the surface, that did seem like what Morgan did, but something nagged at him.

“That’s not what she does,” he said before he’d thought it all out.

“What does she do, then?” Mac asked. He commandeered the entire bowl of popcorn.

“She takes care of people.”

Sam snorted. “For money. The Britton’s not a charity, you know?”

“We take care of people for money,” Kevin pointed out.

Sam threw his pencil at him.

“Well, we do,” Kevin insisted. “None of you are here for free are you?”

“What about the Center?” Mac asked. “We all volunteer down there. We take care of the girls. You help out with Senior. We don’t get paid for that stuff.”

“We get compensated though,” Kevin said. “It’s not money, but we get cake and cookies and laughs and fun and appreciation and the reward of knowing we’ve done something good.”

Mac rolled his eyes but he didn’t argue. There was no argument. It was all true and they all felt the same way.

“Morgan tries to make people feel comfortable and relaxed even when they’re away from home. She tries to make them happy. She does it for money, but…” He trailed off as his thoughts came together.

“But?” Kevin prompted.

Dooley turned to look at him. “She does it for money because she thinks that’s what
she
needs most.”

“Which is why you’ll never be able to be together,” Mac said, propping his feet on the coffee table and tossing a handful of popcorn in his mouth.

Dooley sat, lost in thought. Morgan liked doing things for other people, but she’d seen her dad’s efforts met with sadness and anger from her mom when it cost the family. In Morgan’s mind, she’d found a way to take care of people, to make sure they enjoyed themselves and had fun, but without the risk of those negative reactions. There was no expense for her personally to see people have a good time. The best of both worlds.

Pulling himself out of his realizations he looked around at his friends. “Really? We’re not going to talk about this? You’re not going to encourage me to go after her? To show her there are other kinds of security than money?”

“Why would we do that?” Mac asked, munching on his popcorn, his eyes never leaving the TV.

“Because I love her?” Dooley said. “Because I’m miserable without her? Because she’ll be miserable without me too, because even though she’ll have the job and the money she thinks she wants, no one will ever love her or make her happy like I do?”

He watched as Mac’s mouth spread into a wide grin. Dooley glanced at Sam and Kevin, seeing big grins on their faces too.

They’d gotten him.

They hadn’t needed to do the talking. He’d talked it all out himself.

“You guys are dicks.”

Mac chuckled. “No wonder we get along with you so well.”

“I screwed up,” he said. “I get it. Now how do I fix it?”

“You go to California,” Sam said, as if it was obvious. “You told her you wouldn’t leave for her but you will. You have to.”

“How can I leave?” Dooley pushed up out of the chair, the same old frustration welling in his chest. “Damn, that hasn’t changed. I can’t just move to California.”

“Right. Your only back up is that weird guy, Jay, that Morgan interviewed,” Mac said.

Dooley shrugged. “Jay’s not weird. It wasn’t that. It wasn’t about Jay at all.”

“It was about…” Sam prompted.

“Me over-reacting,” Dooley admitted. “I was pissed,” he said in his defense. “She was willing to give everything up, all of
us
… Me. She had a choice and she didn’t pick me.”

“You just said you understand that she can’t help how she feels about money. She just doesn’t know there are other ways of being secure,” Sam said.

“How do I show her that?” Dooley shoved a hand through his hair. He’d thought he
had
shown her that.

Sam laid his puzzle book to one side and looked at Mac. Mac set the popcorn bowl down and sighed. “We’re not sure. We’ve been talking about it, but…as long as what’s most important to her is in California and what’s most important to you is here…” He sighed again. “We’re not sure.”

Dooley frowned at them. “You know, when you were both being idiots about love
I
actually
helped
you.”

They both looked sheepish. “We know,” Sam said. “Sorry, man.”

Dooley paced the length of the room. Great. The only thing they’d accomplished was proving to him he did want her back. “Okay,” he said turning to face his friends. “Here’s the thing. I have to find a way of showing her we can have the best of both worlds.”

“Sounds good,” Sam said.

“Great plan,” Mac agreed.

“How are you going to do that?” Kevin asked.

They all just looked at each other.

Fuck.

Dooley paced again. How was he going to do that? He could take her traveling, they could stay in nice hotels, he’d buy her diamonds. Then at the end of the day they’d curl up on the couch and watch TV with his dad, have breakfast with his nieces and spend a lot of time with these guys and their families.

How did he show her how great it would be?

“Hey,” he asked as a thought hit him. “What did Richard Gere do at the end of
Pretty Woman
?”

Mac chuckled. “What are you talking about?”

“What did Richard Gere’s character do at the end of the movie to get Julia back?”

Sam laughed. “Why does that matter?
You’re
Julia.”

Dooley crossed his arms as they all laughed. “No,” he said, when they’d quieted. “I’m the guy who screwed up and needs to grovel.”

“He’s got a point,” Mac said.

“He got a nice suit, flowers, a big diamond ring and took a limo to her house, climbed the fire escape and proposed,” Kevin said.

“I don’t think he prop—” Sam started, then cut off and said quickly, “Yep, that’s right, big proposal.”

Okay, so evidently Gere hadn’t proposed after all. Still, the happily ever after was implied. He could build on that. “Where do I get a limo?”

“It’s gonna cost you,” Sam said.

“Oh, yeah, big bucks,” Mac said with a nod.

“You sure you want to go there?” Kevin asked.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m cheap, I don’t spend money, blah, blah, blah,” Dooley said.

“Well…”

He sighed. “I don’t spend money
frivolously
,” he said. “But I hardly think winning the heart of the only woman I’ll ever love is frivolous.” He stared at each of them, daring them to give him a hard time. “Do you?” he asked the group.

“No.”

“Of course not.”

“Not at all.”

That’s what he thought. “Where do I get a limo?” he asked again. He had money and if it took every last dime he owned to win Morgan back, he would. “Do you think Sara will help me pick out a ring?” he asked Mac.

Mac rolled his eyes. “Will Sara be willing to go to a jewelry store with the sole purpose of buying something big and expensive?” He chuckled. “Is the ocean wet?”

“Okay, so I should do that first,” Dooley said. “But then—”

Kevin’s phone rang just then. He pulled it out, frowned at the display and answered it immediately. “Morgan?”

Doug’s heart thumped and he forgot everything else. Why was Morgan calling Kevin?

“What do you mean don’t freak out?” Kevin asked with a frown.

Dooley started toward Kevin, fully intending to rip the phone from his hand. Something had happened, involving Morgan, that might freak him out?

“You were
robbed
?”

Dooley immediately changed directions, pulling his keys from his pocket, he headed for the door. Kevin could handle the phone call part of this.
He
was going to handle the rest. Whatever it was.

“Are you okay?” Kevin asked.

Dooley’s gut clenched and he almost stopped walking. He wanted to hear her answer. But it didn’t matter. Okay or not, he was going to her and he couldn’t do anything about ‘not okay’ until he got there.

“Of course you’re shaken and scared, Morgan,” Kevin said soothingly.

Dooley gripped his keys hard in his hand and forced himself to keep walking. He just had to get to her. From there they’d figure everything else out.

Morgan was in his life now and, while she might hire or buy something for whatever problem she was having, in his world
he
took care of things. Of her. And she was going to learn that one way or another.

“Get Conner to cover me,” he told Sam as he yanked the door open, “and call Jay to go over to Dad’s. Tell Kevin I’ll call him for details when I can.”

“Where are you going?” Sam called after him.

“To the airport. To California. To Morgan.”

Not one of his friends tried to stop him as the heavy break room door swung shut behind him.

Morgan took a deep breath and combed her hair back from her face with her fingers. She hadn’t said the word robbed to anyone but the cops. Saying it out loud now made her shake—partly from the creepiness of it and partly from the anger.

It was her fault. She was in and out of the bed and breakfast so much with the renovations she had forgotten to lock the door behind her when she ran to the store for more paint. Most of what had been taken was small and replaceable. She was pissed about the iPod but the power tools were basic. What she was most upset about was her missing laptop.

Oh, and that someone had been here and taken things that belonged to her.

Had they been waiting for her to leave? Watching to see when the place was empty? That was creepy. But so was the idea they could have shown up when she was there. Alone.

Yeah, she had a power drill and she wasn’t afraid to use it but…

She shivered. She wasn’t sure she would have thought to use it, frankly. The bed and breakfast wasn’t completely isolated, but it also wasn’t a bustling business area. Being here alone, distracted by the renovations and deaf because of the iPod now seemed less than bright.

Of course, now she wouldn’t have to worry about the iPod.

“I’m shook up,” she admitted to Kevin.

“Of course you’re shaken and scared.”

Yes, shaken and scared. Definitely. And pissed.

She would have rather called Doug—in fact, she’d dialed twice—but Kevin was good too. Comforting, supportive, concerned. It especially felt great when he said, “We’re on our way.”

She glanced at the clock. “You’re working, aren’t you?”

“We can get a crew to cover,” he said. “We’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

It was silly. She was fine, the cops had been here, the theft was relatively small. But she did want them to come. Especially Doug. Kevin would bring Doug, she was sure.

“Okay. Thanks.”

Nineteen minutes later Kevin, Mac and Sam were on the porch of her bed and breakfast. No Doug.

“You sure you’re fine?” Kevin asked, pulling her into a hug before she could even answer.

“I’m not hurt. I’m pissed. And freaked out.”

“What’d they take?” Mac started examining the front door while Sam moved into the eventually-would-be lobby and living room.

The guys had been there before. In fact, they’d been helping with some of the renovations. Morgan had asked Sara to help her shop for furniture, flooring and window treatments. Sara had brought Dani who had immediately started identifying things that needed to be updated and making lists of needed supplies. She’d gotten the guys involved and from there things had really started to take shape.

Morgan still couldn’t believe it. She didn’t want them to work for free, but the only thing they’d let her do in return was cook. There were no other available contractors for at least six weeks and since emptying her savings account to buy the place and renovate, she didn’t have much left.