Whitney in Charge (13 page)

“I know it probably seems overwhelming,” Whitney said, “but I believe we can do this.”

Shannon ignored Whitney’s protest. “Remember, how you mentioned an online business? Maybe we should do an online magazine. I thought we could have a teen magazine. Regan could find good celebrity girl role models to write about and I think we should stay clear of overly sexual content.”

“Actually I did research magazines since we had that on our list,” Whitney said. “It’s a good suggestion but many teen magazines are folding. The ones making it are writing about the controversial teen celebs.”

“Caitlyn could give us suggestions on what to include,” Shannon said.

Regan said, “I like the magazine idea and love the TV show one, but I can see where Shannon’s coming from. It might be a bit much for us, but listen I just thought of something.”

Whitney heard the excitement in Regan’s voice, and hoped it wasn’t anything too bizarre. After all, Regan had been the one to suggest having a bar and she’d be the bartender. Regan also thought of a roofing business so they could hire hunks to make Casey jealous. But the worst one was the phone sex idea she’d mentioned to Shannon. “I hope it’s not R rated.”

Regan made a face at Shannon. “You told. I was kidding about the phone sex. No, it’s a respectable one. Remember how you mentioned a clothing store.” Regan’s glance shifted from Shannon to Whitney. “Instead of having a brick and mortar store with a cash register, we could sell clothes and handbags online.”

“I can get a student from a graphic design class at college to do our website,” Shannon said. “We can keep our inventory of goods fairly thin until we see what sells the best. It’ll be easier to order more goods from the manufacturer than to have to pay for unsold merchandise.”

Whitney tapped the table with a pen. “I don’t know what to say. I thought we’d pretty much decided on the talk show, but both of you have good suggestions. I guess if we do an online magazine or sell clothes online instead, I’ll have plenty of time to learn to play the drums.”

“You should take drum lessons.” Shannon smiled at Whitney. “It just hit me now that I should get a cycle for my birthday. Wouldn’t that be something?”

“Don’t use our trip money for it,” Regan said. “I want to go to Hawaii this summer.”

Hey, she’d mention food preparation since her sisters were undecided again about their business. “You both make great cakes so we could start out—”

“Whit, I thought you were okay with us not wanting to do catering. You aren’t still thinking of catering for a business, I hope.”

“Not complete meals. I was thinking we could just start out baking specialty cakes. Carrot cakes, cheesecakes, and M & M should be popular cakes. And we should develop a unique recipe of our own. Maybe some kind of a chocolate sour cream cake with almonds or—”

Regan cut her off. “That might work and I do enjoy baking, but I saw something in the paper today we might consider. They’re looking for people to sell log cabin homes in this area. And get this. The commission on one home is five thousand dollars.”

“That’s more money than we’d make selling cakes,” Shannon said.

Whitney grinned. “Regan, I know what you’re doing. You’re suggesting building log cabins so Casey will quit being a firefighter to build them.”

Regan shook her head. “We don’t build them.”

“Don’t you have to have a model to show the prospective buyers?” Shannon asked.

“Not necessarily,” Regan said. “We can have a website with all the house plans. Or Whitney could build a log home.”

Whitney rolled her eyes at Regan. “I get it. You
do
want me to move out soon. I have no problem with that, but I’m not sure I want to build a log home.”

“I don’t think Regan wants you to move,” Shannon said, “but she remembers you talking about wanting to live in a log cabin.”

“It was actually something Rob and I talked about doing together for a retreat.” Looking at model cabins with Rob had been fun, but that was in the past. She needed to focus on the future. “I’m not interested in it now.”

“Why don’t we consider a magazine, online clothing store, and a TV show and then come back here on Monday with pros and cons for all three ideas?” Shannon walked to the French doors. “Have you seen Ben lately?”

“He’s been over a couple of times to check on me. He’s fixing dinner for me this evening. And we’re going to watch a movie at his place.” Whitney touched her stitches. “I think he’s afraid to take me any place. I told him I’m not fragile.”

“Poor Ben. He’s such a nice guy. He’s had a rough week too.” Sh
annon turned to look at Whitney. “While we were in the waiting room, Casey was unpleasant to Ben.”

“I asked Casey about it.” Regan poured herself some ice water, continuing her explanation. “When we went to the zoo last Saturday morning, some of Casey’s firefighter buddies were there, and they saw Ben talking to me. Back at the fire station, they teased Casey about Ben hitting on me at the zoo, which he wasn’t. Anna wanted to know Ben’s last name and get this, Anna and Ben’s ex are cousins.”

Shannon arched her eyebrow. “Wow, it’s a small world.”

“It gets more interesting.” Regan took a sip of her water. “Meredith had trashed Ben to her. She told Anna how she returned to work a few weeks after Adam was born. Ben wanted to be the one to stay home with Adam. And Meredith wanted to wait to start a family, but Ben kept insisting on having a baby.”

Whitney shook her head. “I don’t believe any of it. Ben mentioned to me how Meredith wanted to return to work full-time. I don’t see Ben making her go back to her job after a few weeks.”

“And look who has custody of Adam,” Shannon said. “It’s not Meredith.”

Whitney exhaled a deep breath. “I’m nervous about going to Ben’s tonight. We kissed by the waterfall before I got hurt and—”

“Is he a good kisser?” Regan asked.

Shannon frowned. “Geez Regan, let her finish.”

“I admit I enjoyed kissing him and I felt emotions I haven’t experienced since Rob was alive. It was nice feeling a man’s lips on mine. I don’t want another husband, so is it right to see Ben? He might want more than I can give.”

“Just go to dinner tonight and don’t think about relationships and what you should do or shouldn’t do,” Shannon said. “Enjoy getting out of the house and take it from there.”

“I think I’m rushing it.”

“Rob has been gone for almost two years,” Shannon said gently.

Regan leaned forward. “Whit, going to dinner isn’t a big deal. It’s not like you two are going away for a romantic weekend. It’s food. You love to eat. In fact, he sees how much you eat, he probably won’t be interested in you anymore.”

Whitney gave Regan a small smile. “I do like to eat, but it’s not just Ben. Jack wants to take me to dinner tomorrow. It seems like removing my ring started a chain reaction.”

Ben watched Whitney use her fork to split her meatball in smaller pieces. He hoped she liked his dinner. He couldn’t believe how nervous he felt. He hated to admit it, but Meredith had been right for once. It was time he dated. Since they’d been married for seven years and tack on another year since the divorce, he was definitely out of practice.

Because of the tragic end to their first date, he wanted tonight to be perfect for Whitney. He’d talked to Regan about fixing dinner instead of going out, and she agreed Whitney would love it. Caitlyn was babysitting as originally planned except at Regan’s house instead. Since the teenager got to babysit her niece, too, while Regan and Casey went out, she was thrilled to get paid double.

After Whitney ate a forkful of spaghetti and meat, she said, “You never should have cooked. It’s so delicious that I’ll be inviting myself to dinner.”

“You’re welcome to eat with me any time, but just to warn you I’m limited in what I can cook. I only have a few recipes that taste good.” He grinned. “Although I’m good at marinating meat before I grill it.”

“You shouldn’t have mentioned grilling. I love to eat outside by the pool. You might get the job of cooking for us when we swim.”

Good, she mentioned them swimming together in her pool. “I’m glad you like what I fixed. I’ll still take you out to dinner soon, but thought it might be more relaxing to have it at home.”

“Oh, you aren’t fooling me,” she teased. “I know why you decided not to take me to a restaurant.”

He raised his eyebrows. “I’ve got to hear this. Why do you think we’re eating here?”

“You didn’t want people to see my battered face and wonder if you beat me.”

He laughed. “Actually you’re so beautiful I didn’t want other guys hitting on you. Obviously with my TV debut as a bad date, I realize no other female will want to go out with me.”

“That’s true. Unless they find out how enjoyable it is to get knocked out on a date with you.”

He swallowed
a bite of garlic bread. “Did you and your sisters think of any new ideas for a business? I’m sure you’ve ruled out the resort. Casey said you might have guests getting injuries if you bought it, and liability insurance isn’t cheap.”

“Casey’s the only one thinking that’d be a problem. He shouldn’t be giving reasons why we won’t buy the resort anyhow. If we bought it, I’d have a place to live and Casey, Regan, and Lily could move in to our mom’s house.”

He wasn’t crazy about Casey being his neighbor. Casey had made it pretty clear every time they met that he didn’t care for him. He couldn’t figure out why Casey was unpleasant toward him. Ben frowned. “I didn’t know you might move. Adam will be happy to have Lily next door, but I’d rather you’d stay.”

“Casey and Regan want to buy the house. Their present home is pretty small. But they don’t seem to be in a rush, so you might be stuck with me for a neighbor a bit longer.” She smiled and took another bite of her spaghetti.

“That’s fine by me.” He gazed at her beautiful eyes. Not just unique because of the brilliant green color, he thought but because she had kind eyes.

She ran her finger around the rim of her wine glass. “I thought we’d decided on a business this week. Actually it was one Shannon had originally mentioned us doing. A cable TV show. Molly from
The Bold News
called me after she saw my accident on the news. I started thinking how much I missed being a producer, so I brought it up to Regan and Shannon that we should have a talk show.”

“Isn’t Molly the one who called you before about moving back to New York?” If she didn’t get busy doing a show with her sisters, Whitney might leave Cornett. He realized how much he didn’t want that to happen.

“Yes, it was Molly and…” Her voice trailed off.

“What is it?” He saw on her face she looked unsure about telling him something. “You can tell me. I’m a big boy.”

She laughed. “Okay, I’ll tell you what Molly wanted this time, but I’d never do it without your permission. She wants me to appear on
The Bold News
about our first date.”

“Oh, I get it. She wants to call it the worst date ever. Right?”

“Something like that and have others on who had bad first dates. I thought it might be good to appear on
The Bold News
right before we started our show. But it’s not something I have to do or even sure I want to.”

He stuck his fork into a meatball. “I guess I’ll give you permission if I can fly you to New York.”

“That might be a reason I won’t do it. I hate flying. I always have. I could distract you with my anxiety.”

She had a point about distracting him, but it’d be because of her looks. “We could practice sitting in my plane and not even fly. I can help you work through your fear of flying.”

“Now you sound like Jack.” She smiled. A smile that worried him, because it appeared when she mentioned his apparent competition. “Oh, I never told you how Jack was a pilot in Iraq and knew Rob.”

Ben forced himself to swallow. “How well did Jack know Rob?”

“He flew Rob a few times and they talked a lot. He liked Rob.” Whitney took a sip of wine. “Did your ex like to fly with you?”

Good, Whitney stopped talking about Jack. “She did and loved flying. I think that was the only thing she liked during our marriage.”

“I’m sorry your marriage didn’t work out.”

“I wanted to beat the odds and be married to the same woman forever. But I’m grateful to her for having Adam. She wasn’t crazy about having any children which I didn’t find out until after we married.”

“I heard Meredith went back to work soon after Adam was born.” Whitney paused for a moment. “Meredith’s cousin, Anna, is a firefighter with Casey. I’m afraid she said a lot of negative things about you to Casey.”

“That would explain why Casey doesn’t care for me.” He frowned. “I guess she took Meredith’s side, but I have to admit that bothers me.”

“Don’t worry. We considered the source and knew she wasn’t telling the truth.”

“I’m relieved to hear that. I didn’t realize Anna’s at the same station with Casey.” He shrugged. “I bet Meredith told Anna how she had to go back to work because I took paternity leave for the first couple of months.”

“Anna mentioned you stayed home with Adam when he was a baby.”

“Meredith acted like a martyr, but the truth is I wanted her to stay home the first few months with Adam. We weren’t hurting for money, but she insisted on returning to the practice when Adam was only three weeks old.”