Page 68 of Second Act
His response came back immediately.I’ll let you know how you can repay me later. Now I have to go make up for this afternoon’s lost time.
“Hugh got the afternoon off to charm the Animal Control inspector.” As a warm glow spread through her, she couldn’t help but wonder whether he was doing it for her or for the kids.
“To dowhat?”
“Oh, right, you don’t know about the impending catastrophe at the Carver Center.” She filled him in on the situation while she buttered her bagel, her appetite suddenly back in full force. She savored her first bite of the warm bread with its chewy crust and lightly crisped top. Bagels were one of the things she loved about New York.
“I don’t know a ton about the movie biz,” Aidan said as she ate with gusto, “but changing the shooting schedule in less than twenty-fourhours seems pretty...significant. Are you sure you don’t know how Hugh feels about you?”
Jessica sailed through her morning appointments on a wave of pure joy. Hugh was going to rescue the K-9 Angelz program. Yes, she had that much confidence in his ability to win friends and influence the inspector. But the joy came from Aidan’s conviction that Hugh wouldn’t have done something as difficult as changing the filming schedule unless he was trying to impress Jessica.
She took a car service to the Carver Center, not wanting to arrive with slush stains on her scrub pants. Emily greeted her at the front door with a hug. “Mr. Baker called to say he’s running a little late due to work, but I’m not worried. I’ve never known an inspector to come at the beginning of the time window.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe you enlisted a movie star to help us, but I’m so grateful. The health inspector was quite prickly, so I’m concerned about what he might have reported us for.”
The Carver Center’s director was usually unflappable, so the inspector must have been downright awful. “We’ve got this,” Jessica said. “But I’m going to take a look at the kennel area to see if I need to make any extra tweaks.”
“Diego was here until ten o’clock last night scrubbing and polishing. He got all the kids to groom their dogs until they practically sparkle.” Emily’s eyes took on a militant light. “I can’t believe a rational person could find anything wrong with our facilities.”
Jessica remembered what her contact had said about nasties and crazies but decided to keep it to herself. “Diego is one amazing kid.”
“I can’t wait to see what he does with his life,” Emily said. “It’s going to be extraordinary.”
Jessica agreed as she slipped off her quilted winter jacket and shrugged into the pristine white lab coat she’d brought with her. She kept it for occasions when she needed to look especially authoritative and competent. It even had her name and the clinic’s logo embroidered on it in the same serious forest green as her scrubs.
“The lab coat is a nice touch,” Emily said as she took Jessica’s jacket to hang on a hook in the hallway.
“Let’s hope it helps,” Jessica said before she headed down the stairs to the dogs’ quarters. Once she’d quieted the enthusiastic greeting, she scanned the basement space. Sure enough, it was immaculate, the floor so clean she wouldn’t hesitate to eat off it, and the dogs’ coats shone with brushing and good health. Even the windows had been washed, so the pale winter sunlight came through with maximum brightness.
She walked down the hallway to check on the storage closet where Pari was quarantined. The door was open to allow for ventilation, and she noticed that someone—her money was on Diego—had set up a fan in one corner to circulate the air. She nodded in approval as she spoke softly to the little dog. She felt badly about not petting Pari, but she didn’t have gloves with her.
Her gaze fell on the brown dog bed where she’d slept, and memories of the power of Hugh’s arms cradling her ignited flares of heat deep in her body. He’d gotten into all the corners of her life, a realization that made her uneasy.
She forced herself to focus on the room, giving it a thorough scan and finding nothing objectionable, before she strode out.
Upstairs, she joined Emily in the kitchen, where the director was chatting with Kyra Dixon, the center’s chef.
When they heard the front door open, both Jessica and Emily jumped off the stools on which they had settled to wait.
“Good to see you, Mr. Baker,” Jessica heard the security guard say, and her nerves fizzed.
Hugh appeared in the door to the kitchen, his brilliant blue gaze scanning the room until it locked on her. When he smiled, she read all the feelings in it that she had hoped for, and her heart unfurled like a flower in the spring sunlight.
“Jess,” he said, coming toward her with his hands stretched out, palms up. She met him and laid her hands in his, loving the feel of his fingers closing around hers. He bent and kissed her in an unguarded way that took her back to the early days of their affair, when she’d been intoxicated by his every touch.
The kiss was not long, but it left her wrapped in a haze of desire. He released her hands to greet Emily and Kyra, who glanced between Jessica and Hugh with somewhat dreamy expressions. She had time to notice he wore a perfectly tailored charcoal-gray suit, which she guessed belonged to Hugh himself since it seemed less tight fitting than Julian’s attire.
“No tuxedo?” she teased once she’d recovered enough to speak.
“It seemed implausible that I’d stopped in for a visit to the Carver Center while en route to Monte Carlo, so I came as myself.” He turned to Emily. “On the way here, I had a few thoughts about how to explain my presence.”
Jessica stood back and listened with openmouthed admiration as he outlined his plan to sway the inspector into giving a favorable report and discussed the timing of all of their entrances and exits, so as not to overwhelm the inspector and make him or her feel pressured.
“Brilliant!” Emily agreed with enthusiasm. “Now I guess we should all take our positions.”
“Or as we say in the movie business, ‘Places, everyone!’” Hugh said. He gave Jessica a private smile before he disappeared up the stairs to the lounge.
Kyra let out a long, exaggerated sigh and said, “You are one lucky woman.”
“Hey, I’ve met your fiancé,” Jessica said, remembering the tall, patrician blond who’d brought her the giant flower arrangement. “You’re not exactly suffering on that front.”
