Page 76 of A Matter of Time

“Who?”

“The receptionist.”

“You know her name.” I scowled at him.

“Do I?”

“It’s Piper.”

He snapped his fingers. “Piper. That’s right.”

“Stop.”

He smiled evilly. “Anyway, she puts everyone through to me. It’s a nightmare.”

“I will be there on Monday.”

“Thank God.”

I smiled at him.

“Sit down and eat,” he ordered me, standing up to motion for the waiter.

“No, I just need to⁠—”

“He’s not going to let it go, Jory,” Jude Coughlin said to me, a huge smile on his face as he took the chair the waiter brought for me and put it down on the other side of Dane. “Just sit.”

I sat down, and Dane turned to look at me, concerned, his dark gray eyes warm. I hated putting him in a bad mood when he was in a good one.

“What do you want?” he asked.

“I want to talk to you.”

“No. What do you want to eat?”

“Eat?”

“Yes, eat.”

“I don’t want to eat.”

“Yes, you do.”

“No, I really don’t,” I insisted, looking nervously around the table. They were all looking at us.

“Never mind.” He shook his head suddenly, turned and gestured for the waiter. “I know what to get you.”

I shed my parka and settled myself into the chair. When I looked up, I found all eyes still on me. “Hey, sorry about this, everybody.”

“No, sweetie, it’s fine,” Marilyn Castro told me, reaching out to pat my arm. “You’re always welcome. You’re more his little brother than anything else.”

I wondered if that was true even as Jude nodded his agreement.

“So talk to me about the cop.”

I looked back at Dane. “What about him?”

His eyes narrowed. “You’re doing what with him?”