Sentimental Journey Read Free

expression was downcast and slightly preoccupied as she entered the outer office area.
    Ann Morrow, the receptionist, glanced up and frowned. "I wasn't expecting you for another twenty minutes, Miss Thorne."
    "I came back early," she answered abruptly, and immediately tempered her sharpness. "I wanted to look over the Atkins account."
    "I took the file into Mr. Dane's office a few minutes ago." The girl lifted her shoulders in mute apology.
    "That's all right." Jessica hadn't really been interested in looking over the account, at least not overly so. Now that her uncle, Ralph Dane, was going over the file, there was no point her looking at it. "I'll be in my office if anyone calls for me."
    As Jessica turned away, she found herself thinking that Brodie Hayes wouldn't call. He didn't know where she worked, either.
    A door opened and a tall, distinguished-looking man came striding out. His dark hair was grayed at the temples, a pair of dark-rimmed glasses were in his hand.
    "Ann…" he began, glancing up from the file he held. At the familiar sound of her uncle's voice, Jessica paused instinctively. His peripheral vision caught her presence and his attention immediately shifted to her. "Jessie, you're back already. You're just the person I wanted to see. Come into my of rice."
    He didn't wait to see if she was coming as he retraced his path, leaving the door to his private office open for her. Jessica hesitated for only a split second, then tossed her coat over the back of the chair beside the receptionist's desk and followed him. Closing the door, she walked to a leather-covered chair and set her bag on the seat.
    "Back early from lunch, aren't you?" he accused in his terse, clipped voice. "Not that I mind. This Atkins account is a shambles." He dropped the file on his desk and pushed back the cuff of his jacket to glance at his watch. "What are you—a glutton for work? Twenty minutes early."
    "I had my lunch. There wasn't any shopping I wanted to do, so I came back to the office." Jessica shrugged.
    "No shopping, huh?" Ralph Dane grunted. "I'd celebrate the day your Aunt Rebecca ever said that!" Hitching up his trousers, he sat down in the swivel chair behind his desk and opened the file holder. "I've just looked over the Atkins file. The ad campaign is…hokey, for want of a better word. Parts of it are worth saving, but this…"
    A red pencil began slashing out tines of copy while Jessica moved closer to the desk, turning at an angle to see what he was eliminating. Her concentration held for two minutes until the words "success" and "hometown boy" made her attention stray. They came too soon after her encounter with Brodie Hayes for her not to apply them to him instead of this old and valued account.
    "Are you listening to me, Jessie?" her uncle demanded impatiently.
    She winced, both at her inattention and his diminutive use of her name. "Sorry, I was thinking," she admitted.
    "Not about this, obviously." He flipped the pencil onto the desk top and leaned back in his chair, folding his hands in his lap. "Out with whatever it is that's on your mind so we can concentrate on this."
    "It wasn't anything important."
    "Important enough for you not to pay attention. Get it off your chest," he ordered.
    Jessica knew her uncle well enough to know he would persist with his questions until she came up with a response. She had never been any good at making up stories, so she settled for the truth, or a portion thereof.
    "On my way back to the office, I met a man who lived here several years ago, a hometown boy who's doing quite well now. The comparison with the Atkins campaign clicked in my mind."
    "Who is he?"
    "Brodie Hayes." Jessica was surprised by how naturally she spoke his name.
    "Never heard of him," her uncle grumped. "Anything else?"
    "No." Nothing that she was going to tell him.
    The trick she had pulled on Brodie Hayes was strictly private. It wasn't something she was proud of and she wasn't going to confide in her uncle.