Chasing the Runaway Bride by Susan Meier Read Free Book Online

work here—both as manager. That means we’re one person over on payroll.”
    She nodded.
    “The logical conclusion would be to lay off the assistant manager to balance out.” He leaned back. “If you really want to hire your mom, then we’re going to have to lay off another person. If you hire her as a clerk, one of the other clerks has to go.”
    “I’ve managed Health Aid for seven years. I know the drill.”
    “Then you realize I’m right.”
    She sighed as if it pained her to admit it. “Yes.”
    “Do you want to fire a clerk?”
    “No.”
    “Then you have to go out there right now and tell your friends that. The easy way to do it would be to explain that things have to stay the same, at least until we understand what we’ve gotten ourselves into. Because neither one of us knows how to run a grocery store.”
    “My mom does.”
    He smiled stiffly. “It’s not rocket science. After a few days with the books and a few days actually running the store, I’m sure we’ll figure it out.”
    She nodded and rose, but, as she did, the phone rang.
    He sat forward and picked it up without a second thought. “O’Riley’s.”
    “Hi, um…Is this Cade Donovan?”
    “Yes. Who is this?”
    “Um. It’s Wendy Nelson. I work…worked…for your grandfather. Is it true Piper O’Riley now owns the store?”
    He leaned back in his chair. “No. Well, yes and no. She and I inherited it together.”
    Wendy said nothing for a second, then she very softly said, “Then I quit.”
    He scrambled up in his seat again. “You quit?”
    Halfway to the door, Piper faced him.
    “Yeah, and I think Frank and Cathy will be calling you too.”
    “Why?”
    “I’m not working for Piper O’Riley.”
    “You won’t be. You’ll be working for me.”
    “So Piper won’t be there?”
    “Wendy, I’m not going to lie. She owns half the store. She’s going to be here.”
    “Then I’m not.”
    With that, she hung up on him. He caught Piper’s gaze. “Wendy quit.”
    “Wendy Nelson?”
    He nodded.
    She walked back to the desk, fell to the chair in front of it, and groaned.
    “You two have a history?”
    She avoided his gaze. “You could say that.”
    “You want to tell me about it?”
    “No.”
    He smiled and sat back on the chair. “So, it looks like you’re not one up on me after all.”
    “One up on you?”
    “Oh, come on. You know everybody hates me because of Lonnie. But it looks like this little Nelson thing makes us even. What’d you do?”
    She raised her pretty green eyes to meet his but shook her head, refusing to answer.
    He held back a laugh. Small-town disagreements. Sometimes they were insanity.
    “Never mind. It’s not important. The important thing is, whatever you did, it’s enough that you’ve got enemies, too. So we’re on even ground.”
    She quietly said, “We might be on even ground, but with the Nelsons quitting, it also looks like there’s room to hire my mother.”

Chapter Five
    Two hours later, Piper tucked two O’Riley’s smocks and a copy of the work schedule for the next week into her mom’s hands and said good-bye to her at the door. Now that the schedule had been made and basic differences ironed out, Cade had commandeered the office to study the books, so she decided to tour the sales floor.
    She turned from the door and faced the low, wide store. Fighting back tears of sheer joy, she forced herself to focus, concentrate, get the lay of the land so she could whip this thing into shape.
    Candy, chips, and cookies on the right. Rows of groceries in the middle. Fresh vegetables, deli, and bakery in the back. Freezer and refrigeration section—including milk—on the far left. And customers. Curious O’Riley supporters trailed up and down the aisles, examining the store they’d boycotted for three decades as Hyatt supporters ignored them.
    “Hey, Piper.”
    The greeting came from Bunny Farmer, the thirty-three-year-old blond head cashier with two hellion sons, who stood by the