The Baby Wore A Badge. Marie Ferrarella

quickly calculated optimal time for everything to take place. Corey would be available around five-thirty or so. “Six o’clock okay?”

      Six was when she left the mayor’s office. She really didn’t want to ask for a half-hour time-off so soon into her internship. “Six-thirty would be better.”

      She wasn’t inflexible. “Fine. Six-thirty,” Erin agreed.

      There was just one more thing Calista wanted to know before tomorrow night. “You are going to tell your brother about his ‘guys’ night out’ before I get there, right? I mean, he’s not going to be surprised when I just show up on your doorstep, is he? I wouldn’t want the guy thinking I’m stalking him.”

      When they were growing up, Jake was the brother beset by females, all eager for his attention. All in all, Erin was fairly sure that by now, Jake was accustomed to having a woman turn up on the doorstep, looking for him.

      “Don’t worry, I’m telling Corey about it tonight and I’ll have him twist Jake’s arm. He won’t say no to Corey,” Erin assured her. She could see that Calista was wondering why she wanted to get rid of both her husband and her brother for the evening because Rose’s “big date” didn’t really affect either one of them. “I don’t want either one of them hanging around while Rose gets ready. You know what brothers are like. She doesn’t need to be teased unmercifully about this. She’s already nervous enough as it is. I just want her to be as confident and poised as she can be under the circumstances.”

      To Calista, it was a case of much ado about nothing, but she kept that to herself. Anything else she might have said would have to wait. Fowler came shuffling in from the back just then and peered at Erin, scowling.

      “You still here?” It was more of an accusation than a question.

      Erin shifted, turning toward the door. “I was just leaving, Mr. Fowler,” she informed him. With effort, she pasted a wide smile on her face for Calista’s sake. She didn’t want the old man taking Calista to task because she’d overstayed her welcome.

      If she thought it might get her on Fowler’s good side, she’d wasted her time. It made no difference.

      “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out,” he retorted, pointing a bony finger toward the door.

      Most of the time she could just turn a deaf ear to the old man’s rudeness, but when it was aimed at someone else, it really irritated her. Walking Erin to the door, she debated that perhaps it was time for her to start looking for another job. It was just a matter of time before she couldn’t hold her tongue around Mr. Personality. Eventually, she was going to put him in his place.

      “I’ll see you tomorrow night,” Calista promised. She saw pity in Erin’s eyes as the woman glanced toward Fowler. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what Erin was thinking.

      “Maybe the mayor can give you a raise,” Erin suggested in a whisper as she crossed the threshold.

      “That would really be nepotism,” Calista said with a laugh.

      “I’m not paying you to stand there, jawing the day away,” Fowler informed her, raising his voice so that people in the street outside could hear him.

      “No, you’re not,” Calista agreed, forcing herself to sound cheerful.

      Closing the door, she looked at her part-time employer. In truth, she felt sorry for the old man. He obviously had no friends and he alienated almost everyone he came in contact with. She had no idea how he even made a living. Since she’d started working at the shop, there had been only a handful of customers and maybe five sales. Of course, she was only here part-time, so maybe the bulk of the sales were conducted when she wasn’t around. For his sake, she hoped so. Otherwise, she couldn’t see how he would be able to manage to stay in business for any length of time.

      But that, she reminded herself, wasn’t any of her concern. Instead, she focused on the fact that she was going to be seeing Jake again tomorrow night, however briefly.

      The butterflies in her stomach returned, bringing friends.