Whitney in Charge (4 page)

And talking to Tim might not go well.
Shannon had tried several moneymaking ventures through the years. None had turned a profit. She loved the soap Shannon made and gave for birthday and Christmas gifts, but she’d never marketed it enough to make any money from it. The tutoring business she wanted never happened either. Tim might not be supportive unless the fact there’d be three to share the risk instead of just Shannon might convince him.

“I did think of something else we could do,” Shannon said in a hopeful voice. “What about a pet store? I’m thinking Brandon might like to help with the animals.”

“Or we could do pet sitting first, then later open a store,” Regan said.

“How about a bookstore?” Shannon asked. “Cornett only has one bookstore.”

Whitney said, “Except it’s a big chain one. Could we compete against a big national chain? Plus bookstores aren’t doing as well with more books being sold online.”

“I buy my books at Wal-Mart.” Regan’s eyes widened. “Oh, I get it. You’re interested in a bookstore so you can sell your math books.”

“I haven’t written them yet.” Shannon put a lock of hair behind her ear.

“Maybe when Caitlyn goes off to college, you’ll have time to start writing your instructional books. Your idea of making math fun is a good selling point.”

Shannon nodded. “Tim keeps telling me I should write them. One of these days…”

“We could do a bed-and-breakfast business. But it might be too time-consuming. What do you think?” She glanced at Shannon and Regan to see their reactions.

Regan shrugged. “If you want to be the one to live there full-time, I guess it’d be okay. I’d help you during the day.”

“I’m not crazy about doing a bed-and-breakfast,” Shannon said, “but maybe a seasonal lake resort might work. We would just be committed to it maybe six months out of the year.”

“I like that. I’ll see what I can find out about running a seasonal business,” Whitney said.

Regan glanced at her watch. “Shannon, we need to leave soon to pick up Lily.”

“I need to get going anyhow.” Shannon picked up her bag. “Hey, we could do a lawn care business.”

“I like that, don’t you, Whit?” Regan asked. “Just think we can work on our tans while we work in the yards.”

Whitney muttered, “I better pick up drumsticks soon to release my tension.”

Regan hugged her. “I heard that.”

“Maybe we’ll see a business for sale in the newspaper ads. I’ll start reading through to see if there’s anything we might be interested in.” Shannon gave her a hug. “You know this might just work. I’m glad you brought it up.”

“Me too.” At the door, Whitney handed the bag of fortune cookies to Shannon. “Thanks for the food. Take the cookies for the kids. And ask your husbands if they have any great ideas.”

Originally, she’d been thinking of what she should do with her life, but the whole idea of starting a business with both Shannon and Regan popped into her head when they wanted her to go skydiving. Funny, she’d never thought before of working with them. She loved her sisters, but did she really want to spend business time with Shannon and Regan on a daily basis? Maybe she should have kept this thought to herself. Of course, the business might never happen. Shannon was correct with the unstable market. It wasn’t a great time to start a business.

But if they didn’t, what should she do with her life?

After her sisters left, Whitney sat in the kitchen alone and thought about everything they’d discussed; everything from their attempts at setting her up to go skydiving with a hot guy, to the possibility of running a business together. The business idea excited her, but she wished they would leave her alone about dating.

I’ll give Regan a call to talk a bit more about our future business.

“Hi Whit, what’s up?”

“I figured by now you’ve dropped Shannon off at her house. I’ve wondering if Shannon drilled you on the way home.”

“About what?” Regan asked.

“If you thought I’m capable enough to be in charge of our new venture in the business world.”

“Don’t be silly. We both know you’re the perfect one to be in charge. In fact, Shannon mentioned how her own attempts at making money failed. She’s probably relieved you’ll be running the show.”

“Good. You know, Regan, I’ll put a lot into it because I want us to succeed.”

“Me too. And Shannon definitely needs something else to think about instead of always worrying about Tim being gone so much. I can’t believe we both have husbands who are never home.” Regan sighed. “Crap, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to remind you about Rob.”

“Hey, it’s okay. Rob was gone a lot on assignments. I just wish we hadn’t waited to have children.” Whitney cleared her throat. “At least when Casey and Tim are home, they’re great husbands and fathers.”

“I guess.”

“We need to find something we all enjoy and are good at, and a product or service that people will be interested in buying from us.”

“Sorry, to cut you off, but it’s time for me to get Lily.”

In the background, she heard Regan’s car door open and close. “Don’t forget to get Casey’s input too.”

“I’ll ask him tonight. Could you watch Lily Saturday night? That’ll give me a chance to ask Casey about quitting his job without any interruptions.”

Whitney couldn’t see Casey not being a firefighter, but she understood Regan’s fears. One widow in the family was enough. “Sure, I can babysit.”

“I see Lily’s class. I’ll call you later.”

* * *

Whitney was on her second cup of coffee the next morning when the phone rang. She checked the caller ID, seeing Jack’s name. A warm feeling went through her at the sound of his greeting. “Hi, Jack.”

“We didn’t get to talk very long yesterday, so I decided to call you. Is that okay? Casey gave me your phone number.”

She hadn’t expected to hear from him so soon, but it was a nice surprise. Whitney settled back in her chair, smiling. “I’m glad you did.”

“Casey mentioned to me that Regan’s planning on fixing a dinner sometime and inviting us so we can meet.”

“Regan hasn’t said anything about it, but sounds good to me.”

“Since it’s not going to be this weekend, I was thinking maybe we could meet for coffee sometime before the dinner. Maybe this Saturday or Sunday? And catch a movie too.”

Phone calls, coffee, movie and a dinner. Of course, the dinner would be with Regan and Casey present too. But was she ready to start dating Jack? Tomorrow was Saturday. She needed more time. “I’d like to meet you sometime, but I can’t this weekend.”

“I’ll call you next week then to set up a time.”

She heard the disappointment in his voice. She felt a little guilty because she didn’t have any plans for the weekend except for babysitting Lily. He probably wondered why an unemployed woman was too busy for coffee. She felt an explanation was needed.

Now I need to think of one in a hurry.
Hey, she used to be a producer and had to make intelligent decisions and conversation all the time. “Regan asked me to babysit Lily. And I have a few other things going on this weekend.”

“Lily’s such a cute kid.”

“She is. I love watching her, but I don’t think my other niece is too thrilled when I babysit.” She laughed. “I’m cutting into her teenager’s income as a babysitter.”

“We can’t have that. Teenagers need work experience. Maybe you could change your plans and have her watch Lily while Casey and Regan go out,” he replied in a hopeful voice.

“I’m guessing Caitlyn, that’s my niece, has a date night planned by now. But I’m looking forward to meeting you.”
Just not yet.

“Me too. So I’ll call you later. Hope you have a good day.”

“Thanks, Jack.”

After their good-byes, she ran her finger around the rim of her cup.
Did I make a mistake by not agreeing to see Jack in a day or two?
She felt guilty in stretching the truth. She had little going on in her life. Nothing that should keep her from seeing Jack soon, but even if she was ready to date, she’d still hesitate. There was a possibility that they might not hit it off, and the phone calls would then stop. Talking to Jack made her feel happier than she had for a long time.

* * *

Well, so much for seeing Whitney soon. Jack leaned back in his chair, stretching out his long legs. He hoped she wasn’t playing a game with him, but she didn’t seem like the type of woman to play silly games. Her upbeat voice gave him the impression that she wanted to talk when he called her, and by everything Casey had said about her, she wasn’t the type of woman to lie to get out of seeing him. She seemed sincere when she explained her weekend would be filled with a lot of activities.

He finished drinking his iced tea and put it on the patio table. Maybe Casey had told her how at first he hadn’t been interested in meeting her. That’d be enough to make him not want to meet someone if he already knew they weren’t thrilled about meeting him. But, when Casey had mentioned his sister-in-law, he’d just been on a horrible date with one of his sister’s friends. It was so bad that he thought about quitting dating for a long time. Casey told him she was cute, but didn’t say much beyond that except that he hadn’t ever really noticed if Whitney was pretty or not. He’d said his wife was gorgeous which Jack couldn’t argue and they were in the same family, after all. That didn’t help much.

But after talking to Whitney the first time, Jack had changed his mind. There was something about her voice…the way it was soft and breathy, but sure and confident. He felt a connection to her. Not sure why, but he did.

Casey had told him how she quit her job as a producer to take care of her mother not long after becoming a widow. He thought Whitney had to be a special woman to leave a high paying job she loved to help her family out, especially after experiencing such a loss herself.

Running his fingers through his hair, he decided to leave and get a haircut. When he did see Whitney, he didn’t want his hair to be too long.

* * *

Later the same day, Whitney stared at her casserole before putting it away into the refrigerator. She’d made it to give it to Ben to welcome him to the neighborhood. Glancing out her window, she saw Ben driving into his garage in a nice sedan. Perfect timing. He must have left work early. Maybe he had short days on Fridays at the hospital.

She sighed. She worried that Ben would think she wanted more than to be a friendly neighbor. She wasn’t looking for a romantic relationship, but it’d be nice to have a guy friend. Discussing sports and news events with the men on the set while working in New York had been interesting. She liked hearing their perspective on things, and guy friendships were a lot of fun.

Since she made it for Ben and Adam, she might as well deliver it now so they could have it for dinner. She tore off a sheet of plastic wrap to cover the casserole before picking it up. While walking across her yard, she thought of calling Jack sometime instead of waiting for him to call again.

Funny how she was thinking about Jack when she had a hot guy living in the neighborhood. The whole meeting him in person eventually might work, but she’d hoped to keep it to phone conversations for a longer period. Chatting with Jack was fascinating and easier on her emotions than remembering what had happened to her husband and mother. Jack had to be a wonderful person; Casey was a good judge of character.

After she rang the doorbell, Ben opened the door and smiled at her. “Hi. Come in.”

Whitney stepped inside, and looked around at the boxes cluttering his floor in the foyer.

He shoved his hands in his pockets. “I was able to leave the hospital early, so thought I’d come straight home to finish unpacking.”

“I’m glad you did because I just made you a casserole. I hope you and Adam like chicken.”

“We love chicken,” Ben said. “Thank you. I won’t have to quit working now to cook dinner.”

She handed him the casserole. “You can heat it up in the microwave when you’re ready to eat.”

“It’d be nice if you could join us this evening.”

“I’m sorry. I have other plans.” She didn’t but felt like she should stick to her plan of not getting involved. A guy friendship needed to be developed slowly.

“Maybe you could visit now for a bit. How about something cold to drink? I have pop, beer and iced tea.”

“Sure I can stay for a little while. And iced tea sounds good.”

She followed him into the kitchen and sat on a high stool next to the counter while he put the casserole away.

With the refrigerator still open, he took out a glass pitcher. After pushing the button on the ice maker, he put ice in a glass and poured Whitney’s tea. “I remember you told Adam how you still missed living where you used to. How long have you lived here?”

“I grew up in Cornett, then went to college in New York. After I graduated, I started working on
The Bold News
.” She sipped her tea.

He sat on a stool next to her. “What did you do there?”

“I eventually became a producer.”

“That’s impressive. I feel like I’m living close to a celebrity.”