Royal Trouble Read Free Page B

because Leigh Ann didn't have a good explanation, other than her mother called and she forgot.
    "You met my wife at lunch?" he said and Leigh Ann's eyes jerked up to meet his.
    "Yes, I did.  She's a very nice lady," Leigh Ann complemented sweetly, even though the stocky woman looked like Betty Ballbreaker and had treated her like she was gum on the sole of her ugly low-heeled pump.
    "No, Leigh Ann, she is not a nice lady," he corrected.  "But she is my wife, and she is a very well connected former judge's daughter..."
    "What does that have to do with me, Mr. Templeton?" Leigh Ann asked in confusion.
    "She says I can't keep you, so you have to go," he replied flatly. 
    How about that?  His mother had told him his new puppy had to go.  Leigh Ann racked her brain, but failed to come up with anything she could have done to upset the woman.  It had been tough, but she had been extra nice to the unpleasant woman.  Bless her heart.  There was only one thing she could conclude.  "She didn't like me?"
    "Brenda didn't give me a reason, but it probably has something to do with how you look," he told her.
    Leigh Ann looked down at herself, and thought she looked nice enough.  Nothing was hanging out of her lavender business suit.  It had been one of her favorites for interviews in her pageant days, and usually made a good impression.  She'd always won when she wore it.  Anger bristled inside of her.  What the hell did the way she looked have to do with the job she was hired to do anyway?
    "She didn't like the way I look ?" Leigh Ann asked edging forward in the seat, her voice raising a notch.  At least at the other four jobs she'd been fired from so far, her boss had a legitimate reason for letting her go. 
    As hard as she tried, she was hopelessly incompetent at office work, typing being her biggest downfall.  There wasn't much typing involved here.
    Mr. Templeton, cleared his throat and adjusted his six-seasons-out-of-date pea green tie then told her, "Um, you have to know you're beautiful."
    "I didn't know being unattractive was a requirement of this job, and I think you could plainly see what I looked like when you hired me, sir," she said harshly, surprised at herself, but proud that she was standing up for herself for once.
    "I made a mistake hiring you, Leigh Ann.  Please go to the unemployment office and I'll approve your benefits," he told her generously.  "I'm sorry things didn't work out."
    Unemployment benefits would be squat, considering how much money she made the last five weeks.  She had never collected an unemployment check before, but she had heard it was based on her last three months income.  Leigh Ann had only been working for five weeks.  "I'd rather keep my job, Mr. Templeton."
    "I...can't keep you," he told her again and shook his head looking uncomfortable. 
    Swallowing to contain the tears that burned her eyes, Leigh Ann gathered her dignity then pushed up to her feet.  Lifting her chin a notch, Leigh Ann mouthed a canned polite response that had been driven into her since childhood, " Thank you for the opportunity, Mr. Templeton."
    Definitely not what she really wanted to say to this weak, spineless bastard. 
    Go fuck yourself , floated on the tip of her tongue, but she would never let it roll off.  Ladies don't curse, Leigh Ann .  Her mother could do the same as Mr. Templeton, she thought with frustration.  Although she could never tell either of them that, she sure could think it, and the words made her feel a little better.  Leigh Ann snatched the pre-made check from the corner of his desk and walked out the door.
     
    ***
     
    "I'm sorry, Wes, I just can't keep it all up," Roxanne told Wes with a frustrated breath, as she saved the billing spreadsheet on his computer.  "I know I'm letting you down, but between planning a wedding, my chores at the ranch and the classes for the search and rescue team, I can't keep up with it all.  You need somebody full-time, and I'll stay until