You Only (Cameron Farms Book 1) (13 page)

“What the fuck was that? Did you just come out of Finn’s office?” Jasmine’s voice was loud in the silent hallway.

Hale continued to the elevator, stabbed the button several times as she tried to figure out what to say.

“Hale, what on earth?” Jasmine grabbed at her arm.

She was on the verge of laughing hysterically. Jesus, she had just blown Finn while her loser date waited for her downstairs. God, this was a mess. Luckily, the elevator’s doors opened and they entered automatically. Hale pushed the button for the lobby.

“What were you doing in Finn’s office?” Jasmine was looking at her mouth.

She was sure that her lips were swollen and red. “Something stupid,” she bit out.

A huge smile swept over Jasmine’s face. “Your hair looks like someone had his hand in it and you’re flushed. I think you and Finn were doing a little more than talking.” She giggled and did a little dancing in place.

“Not another word, Jazz. I mean it,
not a word
.” Hale ordered. The doors opened and she stalked out. She had no idea how to explain what happened. How the lust took over as soon as he was near. She had to figure out what to do about this crazy attraction between the two of them.

“Hale.” Jasmine was right behind her.

She turned on a dime. “What?” She glared right into her friend’s face. “Jazz, please. I don’t know what I’m doing.” Her words were a ragged whisper. “I can’t talk about it. Can you just leave it alone?” she pleaded.

Jasmine searched Hale’s face and she must have seen how shaken Hale was. “OK.” She said softly. “I’m sure the men are wondering what happened to us.”

Fuck
, now she had to go back and sit with Major. “You had to take a call and another. That’s the only thing that happened. Got me, Jazz?” Hale’s voice shook with intensity.

Her expression turned wary, as if she was only now seeing what a fucked up mess Hale was in. “Yeah, I got ya.”

“Oh, there you are. I was getting ready to ask Izzy to send a search party for you.” Major looked unhappy. He reached for Hale’s hand as he led her to their seats on the fourth row of the bleachers.

“My apologies.” Jasmine gave a sweet smile. “I had to take a phone call about a problem, and one became two. Hale didn’t want to leave me all alone in the building.”

Hale flashed a grateful smile at her friend. Jasmine was irritated with her, but she had her back.

“It’s all right, honey.” Izzy ran his hand along Jasmine’s knee.

Major made a non-committal noise and became interested in the parade route.

Hale took the moment of quiet to disentangle her hand from Major’s. Tomorrow she would tell him that there would be no more dinners and the phone calls had to stop. She attempted to do the calming breathing exercise she’d learned in therapy to get control of her buzzing body. She felt tight and a little shaky, plus her mind was racing.
What the fuck just happened? What were they thinking? Well,
Finn was probably thinking that he just got a fabulous blowjob.
She let out a strangled laugh.

“Did you say something?” Major was sitting too close.

She scooted to her left to put more space between them. “Um. I was just thinking about how great it was to be here, to be a part of all of this.”

“I’m glad that you’re enjoying yourself.” Major tried to take her hand.

She anticipated his move and started digging in her purse.
This stops tonight
. She would be better off sitting home, alone, rather than continuing to go out with Major. There was no zing, no physical attraction between them. It wasn’t a romantic relationship and she really didn’t think they were friends. Maybe he was gay and so closeted that he was content to be the guy who accompanied her places. Christ, what did that say about her? Major wasn’t into her and Finn, if she had her way, would be
in
her in a heartbeat.

This was truly a fucked up mess.

****

At dinner last week, her old boss, Wes, and his wife, Ina, had seemed older and frail. She would always love them for giving her a job in their accounting business. Moe had stopped in for dessert and Wes asked for her help with the audit of the City’s books. He admitted that the work was taking longer than expected. His report was due in a month and a half.

There was no way that Hale would let Wes fail in his duty. He and Ina had given her such a gift when she was floundering. In those early years in Florida, they sent her letters filled with support and love.

Hale looked around the dining room table, these three people had sent her letters and made calls when she moved away. They had always supported her. She quickly tried to run through her calendar for the next month. She flashed a smile that told them that she was going to agree. “What’s this going to take?” She had heard Wes’s estimate, but she also wanted the others to share their thoughts. Most people had no idea how long a thorough audit could take. Working with government always added more time, typically there were extra steps, like employment approval involved.

“If you mean time wise, quite a bit, I fear.” Wes looked defeated.

“I’m used to putting in ten to fifteen hours a day going over financials, so the time doesn’t scare me. I have some software that Wes might not be familiar with, something I’ve worked with in the past that might speed up the process. I’m assuming there is some sort of vetting process before I can be hired?” Hale got up from the table to get a notebook from her bag so that she could make notes.

“Do you want some paper, honey?” Ina waived a steno pad and pen at Hale.

“Perfect.” Hale’s smile was genuine. In their town, it was cliché that the wife worked in her husband’s office, however Ina was an efficient assistant. Hale was certain that she could pass the C.P.A. exam on the first try.

Hale opened the cover and then glanced at Wes and Moe. “So, what are we talking about?”

“I think your C.V. will be fine, along with a letter from your former firm in Tampa.” Moe listed.

“Will you have any problem with your old firm?” Wes asked.

“No, I don’t think so. I had to sign a Non-Compete but it is very narrow. I can e-mail a copy to you, so you can look it over.”

“That would be good. Moe can decide if you need to include that in your packet,” Wes directed.

“Since I am coming on as an employee of Wes’s, I think it will be fine. I had Izzy go over the N.C., so he can answer any questions.” She continued to make notes on her pad.

“That was smart to use Izzy.” Ina smiled at Hale. “But you were always bright. When you were younger, you didn’t believe it, but we saw it right away.”

Hale felt her heart swell with love for Ina. “Working for you all, well, it helped me, especially when I moved away. I had a direction and I needed that at the beginning.”

“You’ll have to keep track of your hours, and we’ll combine them with mine and turn them in to the council for review and payment. Now on to the critical point, I can’t pay you anywhere near what you charged working for that big firm.” Wes looked full of regret as he finished.

“I assumed that. I won’t say that my time isn’t worth big money, but between us, I consider this my civic duty.” Hale gave a rueful chuckle. “I’ll survive on the established rate.”

“Unfortunately, Wes can’t show you the work until you get approval from the council. I think I can push this through with just an approval from the mayor and the council president. I don’t see why it would be necessary to wait for the next meeting.” Moe advised.

“I can pull most of the paperwork together tomorrow. Moe, I’ll think about the recommendations and touch base with you, so you can advise who’ll pack the most punch from Cantor Hart.”

Moe laughed. “I sense a little bit of your father in that statement. You can overwhelm them with your references and accomplishments. They may gossip about you personally, but they cannot touch your professional life.”

“Well, I am my father’s daughter.” Hale joined in the laughter but soon turned serious. “I haven’t heard either of you mention that you’ve run this by Finn.” She hit them with a laser stare.

Wes shifted on his chair. “I left that to Moe.”

“I spoke with Finn and Matt yesterday. They’ve been in the loop for about two months regarding Wes’s concerns about the workload. They had offered some suggestions, such as approaching a few other C.P.A.s in the area.” Moe admitted.

“I bet that wasn’t viable,” Hale interjected. “They’ll all be hustling to prepare for the end of the year and take time off before the tax rush starts. Plus, I can’t imagine Wes wants to share his work with his competitors.”

“They aren’t my competitors. I haven’t taken on any new clients in the last five years.” Wes shared.

“Even if that is the case, I can’t imagine you want to give the council any ideas about looking for another accountant,” Hale countered. “Why find your own replacement?”

“That is true.” Ina answered and slowly nodded at Hale as if she had given the correct answer in the schoolroom.

“I understand that you can’t show me the books, but can you give me an approximation of your time from last year? And where you stand this year? That way, I can start moving some things around on my schedule.” She was already making notes and at the top of the list was to text Ashley about this new job.

“I can do that,” Ina promised.

“So, once again, I’ll be working for you all.” Hale smiled at the group.

“I think it sounds like we have a deal.” Moe clapped his hands together.

“Not so fast, I have to get approval from the council and I need to know that this isn’t going to irritate Finn. I don’t want any problems with him.” Hale looked pointedly at Moe.

“You are doing us all a huge favor. I can’t imagine the mayor having a problem with that,” Wes answered.

“I’ll see to it that Wes speaks with the mayor, Hale. It’s good of you to be concerned about Finn’s feelings. Does that mean that you two are friendly?” Ina saw between the lines.

“Well, it’s hard to avoid one another, I mean with being close to Jasmine and Izzy. I would say that we can be in the same room.” Hale didn’t know how to answer this question. For years, she had blamed herself for choosing her emotional health over their relationship. Past boyfriends had never excited her like Finn did. She believed that he was “the one” and she had blown her chance of happiness.

Now, she didn’t know what to think. The sexual attraction between them was still there, but the past still stood between them. Finn might give in to the physical demands of his body, but he had not forgiven her. Without that, they couldn’t start again.

Where is he?” Hale asked under her breath as she tapped her toe impatiently under the table.

“Did you say something, Hale?” Wes’s voice boomed in the medium sized conference room. The City Courthouse had gone through a major renovation and the conference room was nicely appointed. The table had a strip for electrical plug-ins running down the middle, and the walls had two flat screens waiting for use during a presentation.

She leaned closer to the elderly man. “I was just saying that I don’t like these chairs. I feel like I have to work to stay still.”

“You know, you don’t need to be nervous. This is just a cursory process, a hoop to jump through.” He reached over and patted her hand.

If only
. Hale hadn’t heard a word from Finn in the five days since the encounter in his office. She told herself to ignore any feelings of disappointment. Today, she was to meet with the President of the City Council, Cecily Newton, Moe as the city’s attorney, Wes, and someone from the mayor’s office, or maybe Finn, himself.

The waiting was making her crazy. She fought the urge to check the time, again. She had tried to prepare by dressing in her new version of corporate wear. Today’s choice was a St. John Knit’s suit in a deep caramel with cream accents. She carried her prized, ivory colored Hermes Birkin bag and hoped to present a polished appearance.

The group was waiting for either the representative of the mayor’s office or the mayor to arrive. Cecily tapped her pen against her notepad. Wes straightened his binder and Moe tried to make small talk. Finally, the sound of footsteps sounded in the hall outside the open door.

Matt Weiss walked in alone. He had papers rolled up in his hand. He pulled out the empty chair to Cecily’s right and dropped into it.

“Now we can begin.” Cecily added extra emphasis to the word “now.”

“I apologize to everyone, something came up and I tried to wrap it up as quickly as possible.” Matt’s smile appeared fake.

“Will the mayor be attending?” Moe asked.

“Ah, no. He has reviewed the packet that Ms. Cameron submitted, and feels that she can do the work.” Matt sat back in his chair.

Hale caught his word choice,
can do the work
, not is qualified or well qualified. It was petty, but she knew, as did everyone in this room, that she was more than qualified to take on this project. She would be working for less than a quarter of her previous hourly fee, if she was approved.

“Thank you, Matt. I have just a few things that I want to go over with Wes and Ms. Cameron.” Cecily took over smoothly. “Ms. Cameron, I read your impressive C.V. and accompanying letters. I just want to make certain that you understand that this is a very important job.”