Tidewater Lover Read Free

Whitfield was in, it wouldn't be easy for Mike to explain about the new delays on Whitfield's construction project. He was in for a tongue-lashing, but she knewMike would handle the unpleasant situation in his usual calm way.
    With a sigh, Lacey walked back to the metal cabinets to resume her filing of the folders she had placed on top. The door to her office opened. Lacey glanced over her shoulder and smiled as she recognized the girl who had entered.
    "Hi, Maryann," she greeted the girl who was one of her best friends. "What are you doing?" It was purely a rhetorical question.
    "I am escaping," Maryann Carver declared and sank into the spare, straight-backed chair at Lacey's desk. She had the air of a person who had been pushed to the limit. "A word of advice, Lacey. Don't ever take a job as a payroll clerk. No, two words of advice," she corrected herself. "Don't ever put off going to the dentist."
    "Is your tooth bothering you again?" Lacey sympathized.
    "Yes. Have you got any aspirin for a suffering fool? I forgot to bring any with me this morning and this tooth is killing me." Maryann combed her fingers through hair that couldn't make up its mind whether it was brown or blond.
    "I think there is a bottle of aspirin in the middle drawer of my desk. Help yourself." Lacey slipped a folder into its proper place in the file. "You really should see a dentist."
    "I am, at four this afternoon. All I have to do is survive till then." The desk drawer was opened and pills rattled in their plastic bottle. "He's only going to fix this one tooth. I have to go back in a couple of weeks for a regular checkup. You know, that's one good thing about mothers. They always make sure you have your regular checkups when you live at home. Of course, I'll never tell my mother there are advantages to living at home. She'd have me back in my old room before I could say no."
    "So would my mother." Lacey closed the file drawer and returned to her desk, that task finished.
    "Hey, I just remembered!" With pills in her hand, Maryann paused on her way to the water cooler. "You start your vacation on Monday. Are you still planning to visit your parents in Richmond?"
    "Just for a weekend. My cousin Margo called a few minutes ago. She's going off on a cruise with her husband and asked me to stay in their beach house while they are away."
    "Beach house? How lucky can you get? Are you staying there by yourself? Or would you like a roommate?"
    "But that roommate—" Lacey knew Maryann was suggesting herself "—would have to commute back and forth to work every day."
    Maryann grimaced. "You only brought that up because you want the place to yourself."
    Lacey smiled away the remark. "It's certainly going to be a better vacation than I had planned. Imagine, two weeks with the ocean at my doorstep and an uncrowded beach." Each time she thought about it, it sounded more idyllic. As she set the bottle of aspirin back into the middle drawer, Lacey noticed the light had gone off on the first line of the telephone. "Poor Mike. I wonder if he needs an aspirin."
    "Why should he? Don't tell me he has a toothache, too?" Maryann filled a paper cup with water and downed the aspirin in her hand.
    "No, but I bet he has a headache." Lacey motioned toward the telephone. "He just finished talking to the sarcastic Mr. Whitfield. That man is the cause of many a headache."
    "Who is Mr. Whitfield?"
    "A very rude and obnoxious person. Doubly so because the complex we're building for him is way behind schedule. He's a real pain. I wish Mike would punch him in the mouth some day. After the job is done, of course," she added.
    "Tut, tut, Lacey. The customer is always right." There was a definite twinkle of laughter in Maryann's eyes. "Look, I'd love to sit and exchange miseries all day, but we both have a lot of work to do. We'll have lunch tomorrow and you can tell me all about the beach house and your sarcastic Mr. Whitfield. I suppose the house is fabulous and I'll be green with envy.