Anything for You (Blue Heron #5)(40)

Time to get to work. She had a story to pitch on Ned becoming the fourth generation to currently work at Blue Heron. She clicked on the document and read what she’d written so far, then revised a little, wrote a few more paragraphs. She was pitching it to Wine Spectator, so it had to be brilliant.

A knock came on her door.

“Jessica Dunn, meet Marcy Hannigan, our new events planner,” Honor said, stepping aside for the new hire. “Marcy, if you have any questions, just ask Jess. She handled your job until this morning.”

“Hi, Marcy. It’s very nice to meet you,” Jessica said, standing to shake Marcy’s hand. Her hair was black and choppy like an anime character—really cute—and she wore black-framed glasses. Her cheeks were ruddy with good health. “And absolutely, let me know if I can help.”

“Don’t worry about me!” Marcy said, her voice strong and robust, matching her sturdy frame. “I doubt I’ll need a thing! I’ve been doing event planning for ten years, and you wouldn’t even believe some of the venues I’ve handled, or some of the personalities I’ve worked with. Donald Trump, hello? Talk about high maintenance on that wedding! But in the end he told me I was the best planner he’d ever worked with! He even offered me a permanent job, but I’m the type of person who thrives on diversity. Who cares if I had a million-dollar budget? That gets old so fast, you wouldn’t believe it, I kid you not. And even if he did send me an entire case of Cristal to try to woo me, I said, ‘Donald, I’m sorry, you’re going to have to settle for my runner-up! I’m just not interested!’ So this place will be a piece of wedding cake for little old me! I told Honor when I interviewed, I foresee absolutely no problems!”

Wow. That was quite a soliloquy. A lot of exclamation points. Jess glanced at Honor, who didn’t seem affected. Then again, Honor was very chill.

“Well, uh, welcome to Blue Heron.”

“I’d love to stay and chat, but as I told you, Honor, I want to hit the ground running. No time like the present! We all have twenty-four hours in the day, but I’m the type of person who doesn’t like to sit around on my butt, staring at a computer screen. Nice to meet you! I guess I’ll see you later!”

“You bet,” Jess said. Had she just been insulted?

Marcy’s office was right across from hers—no mere desk for her—and for the next two hours, the woman hauled stuff in—boxes, photos, a huge ficus tree, curtains—curtains? Why would anyone want to block the view of the fields?—an upholstered chair, a coffee table. She clattered. She hammered. Jess heard Honor get up and close her door, and after a while, she did the same.

Marcy had energy, she’d give her that. And if Honor had hired her, she must be a helluva wedding planner.

At that moment, Ned stuck his head in the door. “Hey. Got a minute?”

“Sure. Come on in, and close the door.”

“Yeah. Noisy out there.” He sat down. “Congrats on the promo.”

“Thanks, buddy. What’s up?”

He tilted his head back against his chair and sighed. “You know I’ve been living in the Opera House, right?” he asked.

Jess nodded. The Opera House was a beautiful old building converted into apartments a few years ago, right there on the green in the heart of Manningsport.

“Well, I can’t really afford it anymore. I’m a spendthrift youth.”

“Uh-oh.”

“Yeah. I bought a new truck, couldn’t resist a big-screen TV, bought a necklace for a certain girl who will remain nameless, and now find myself in debt.”

Jess smiled. Everyone knew Ned had a crush on Levi’s little sister, who was still in college. “You irresponsible pup. What can I do for you?”

“You have an extra bedroom, right? Ever think about renting it?”

Jess blinked. “Um...no, I never did.” With Davey’s issues, it had never crossed her mind.

“Well, I could pay you I don’t know...a couple hundred a month? And I could hang out with Davey, too, if you needed coverage or something. I have no life, except when I’m driving to Geneva to date She Who Cannot Be Named.”

A couple hundred a month, plus the raise, would mean home ownership a lot faster.

And Ned and Davey got along great; they were pretty close in age, and Ned, like Davey, was a dork about comic books and action movies. It might be really nice to have another adult in the house.

“Let me ask my brother,” she said. “If he says yes, it’s a go.”

“Great. Because if I have to move back home, I’ll kill myself.” He stood up. “Gotta make some calls. See you at O’Rourke’s.” He rose and opened the door, almost bumping into Prudence. “Oh, shit, hey, Mom. Gotta go.”

“Is that how you greet your mother?” Pru said. “Give me a kiss, you thankless slob.”

Ned rolled his eyes and kissed his mother’s cheek. “You look young and beautiful today, Mother,” he said.

“That’s more like it. Now get out of here. The grown-ups are gonna talk.” She came into Jess’s office and nodded approvingly. “Heard about the promotion. Well done, Jess.”

“I can’t thank Honor enough.”

“You know what would look great in here?” Pru said. “A cutout of Captain James Tiberius Kirk, USS Enterprise. Or Khan. Even better.” She threw herself into the chair. “So how was your weekend? Got anything good to tell me? Carl and I stayed in and did the usual. Watched HBO, fooled around, got caught by Abby again, it’s like the kid wants to see us naked.”