Sentimental Journey Read Free Page A

Despite their family relation he was still her boss, and she didn't want him to know she had used devious means to handle a situation. He was too open and aboveboard in his dealings to condone such behavior.
    "Take this file, look over my notes, add some of your own, and take it back to the boys. Tell them they'd better come up with something better than this or they're fired." He closed the folder and handed it to her.
    Hiding a smile at his false threat, she nodded. "Will do."
    In the outer office, she paused to pick up her coat. Ann Morrow was on the telephone. Jessica pointed to her office to indicate to the receptionist that that was where she would be, and the girl nodded.
    Her office was small, containing no more than a desk, two chairs and a filing cabinet, but then she was a very junior member of the staff. Jessica's first year with her uncle's advertising firm had been spent in the back room, learning the fundamentals. When her apprenticeship had been served, she had been elevated to handling accounts.
    In truth, the accounts were with old established customers, and Ralph Dane worked closely with her on these. Jessica knew she had obtained the job because she was his niece. But she also knew that if she weren't capable, the family ties would not guarantee that she would keep the job.
    Sighing, Jessica settled into the lumpy seat of her chair and opened the file. She skimmed over the cuts and read the notes in the margin. Some of the changes she would have made; others she wouldn't have noticed. Her uncle had an instinctive knack for what was abrasive to the public. Perhaps she would learn this talent in time.
    In time. Time. How long had it been since she had last seen Brodie Hayes? Ten years? She had been—what…eleven or twelve?
     

 
    Chapter Two
     
    JESSICA DECIDED she had been eleven years old. It was surprising what an indelible impression Brodie Hayes had made on her. She could even recall vividly the first time she had heard his name. It had been on a Saturday afternoon in July. She had been in the family room with her sister and brother, listening to the stereo.
    Despite the vast age difference, they had never minded Jessica hanging around them. Her adoration of them had bordered on hero worship. They were so much older, had done so much more and were permitted to do so much more that Jessica got a vicarious thrill out of quietly listening to them talk.
    Her father had walked in and raised his voice to be heard over the volume of the music. "Jordanna, there's a rather disreputable-looking man at the front door who wants to speak to you."
    At first, her sister had only expressed mild surprise that someone was calling to see her, but as her father's words had sunk in, her expression changed to one of apprehension and dismay.
    "It couldn't be," she protested. "Brodie Hayes wouldn't come here."
    "Brodie Hayes?" Her brother, Justin, frowned in surprise. "You never mentioned that you were seeing him."
    "I'm not," Jordanna protested, while Jessica looked on with mounting interest. Her brother had sounded angry and faintly outraged. It made Jessica wonder who this Brodie Hayes was. "A bunch of us went swimming at the lake a couple of weeks ago," Jordanna explained in defense of her brother's accusation. "Brodie was there. I talked to him, just to be polite, and he's been pestering me to go out with him ever since."
    "He's no good, Jordanna," Justin stated flatly. "Stay away from him."
    "I intend to." Jordanna was emphatic. "There's something about him that scares me."
    "If you feel that way, Jordanna," her father spoke up, "I'll tell him that you don't want to see him."
    Jessica sat quietly on the large, boldly colored rug in front of the fireplace, glancing from one speaker to another, her head turning back and forth as if she were watching a tennis match. With every word that was spoken, her ears had figuratively grown bigger and bigger.
    For Jordanna who was so self-possessed and so popular to be frightened