Page 28 of Sheltered By Love

It seems like a genuine question to ask, but it seems to throw the caller. “Oh, gosh, um, silly me, I can’t remember! Does that matter?”

Felicity frowns at me but carries on politely. “No, of course not. Would you like to make a time to meet so we can discuss this in person?”

“Um, is email okay? I don’t have a lot of time, and I’m organizing a lot of wedding stuff during work hours,” she says.

Felicity laughs. “Of course. The email address is on my website. I’ll look forward to working with you and congratulations.”

The woman squeals. “Thank you! I’m so excited. I’ll email you soon. Thanks so much!”

Felicity rubs her ear and hands me the handset. “Please tell me you aren’t going to be doing that with every phone call? I don’t really want a perforated ear drum.”

I hide my own wince as I turn the volume down. “Is that usual? A caller didn’t know who referred her to you?”

She scribbles something else on her pad, then looks at me. “Some people have lots of friends. And sometimes a few get married in the same year.”

That makes little sense to me, but then I never really saw the fuss about getting married anyway.

If you want to do it, do it. Why spend a fortune that you could use to buy a house?

“How do you get around her wanting to use email? Send her notes by pigeon?”

She half rolls her eyes. “I have a set of questions I ask potential clients, it’s on my website. Nicki prints the answers, and then I draw a sketch and come up with a quote. Usually, when they’ve seen the sketch they pay a deposit and I get started.”

Garrett’s probably going through this all with Nicki, but it won’t hurt to check.

“Have you ever read the email correspondence?”

She shakes her head. “I don’t really need to. If something is unclear, I’ll call the customer and get them to clarify it.”

That means she has no idea of how much information Nicki is giving out.

“How much do you pay Nicki?”

Her eyebrow rises and I hurry on before she tells me to mind my own business. “Garrett probably asked her. He’s speaking to her this morning.”

“Mrs. Davis suggested it, and we both agreed. A thirty-seventy split on all sales.”

I take a seat at the table as Felicity starts to pull things out of the cupboards and then gets butter and eggs from the refrigerator. “Does Nicki keep accounts or do you?”

If she does, I’d be surprised. I’m pretty sure she failed math every year from first grade to twelfth.

Felicity switches the oven on as she answers. “With a little help from Mrs. Davis, I was doing them. Nicki sends me a printout of the sales every quarter.”

Her voice wavers a little as she starts mixing what looks like cookie batter. “I guess I’ll have to see if someone in town can help me now.”

I stare at the delicate cup and saucer in front of me as a dozen thoughts crush on me all at once.

“Jax has an accountant in Carey’s Creek. He’s a good guy. I’m sure he can help,” I mumble.

Her eyes meet mine and she looks so surprised, that she nearly drops the cookie dough on the floor.

Felicity

Well, well, well.

Under the thick layer of swagger, there may be a decent human being after all.

Now feeling emboldened, I roll the cookie dough into balls and smile at him. “Help yourself. It’s Earl Grey. Mrs. Davis said she used to drink it with your mother?”

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