Page 87 of Reckoning

“Your laptop, please, and open it for me.”

He did so, then pushed it in front of her. “What are we doing here?”

“Updating your social media profile,” she said.

He frowned. “I don’t have a social media profile.”

She laughed. “I know, but you’re about to. Watch and learn,” she said, and proceeded to create a profile for him on every social media site, adding all of the security features needed as she went. Uploaded a photo, and an email address.

“How do you want to mention what it costs to hire you?” she asked.

“Don’t mention a specific charge, because if I have to travel, it will vary. They can contact me for costs and timeline via email or messaging,” he said.

“Got it,” she muttered.

He watched her fingers flying over the keyboard, and how precise she was about not revealing anything about his personal life.

Finally, she stopped, then turned the screen around to where he was sitting.

“You’re already set up on your phone. Now check this out too. You’ll want to keep all of the information for each case on your laptop. Set each one up in a document file. Everything will save to the cloud if you crater your laptop. If it suits you, then I’ll fix it to go live.”

A quick scan of the site was all it took for him to realize how simple she’d kept it. He leaned over and kissed her square on the lips.

“You rock, darlin’, but we both already knew that. Thank you. So much.”

Briar was beaming. “As much as I hate the separation that’s coming, I want you to know how proud I am of you, and that I love knowing I helped you get set up. I told you I wanted to major in business administration. I like organizing!”

He hugged her. “You’re good at it too. I can definitely take it from here.”

She leaned into the embrace, not wanting to miss a moment of their dwindling time, then reached for the sack and pulled out two doughnuts. One for him. One for her.

“We need to make toast,” she said.

He bumped his doughnut to hers. “Making toast. Our own special tradition,” he said, and then they each took a big bite.

They were still at the table when Briar heard a car in the driveway, and then Roger came hurrying into the house.

Briar was still licking sugar glaze from her fingers when he walked in.

“Hi, Dad. Is something wrong? Are you okay?”

Roger expected to find them in bed, not sitting at the table eating doughnuts, and Tate knew it.

“Uh…I’m fine. I just forgot to take my blood pressure meds this morning and…uh…I’ll be right back,” he said, and went down the hall into his bedroom.

Tate rolled his eyes. “He thought he was going to catch us in bed. Your next-door neighbor is a tattletale.”

Briar’s eyes widened. “Are you serious?”

He shrugged.

Moments later Roger was back. “So, what have you two been doing?” he asked.

“Briar just finished setting up a whole series of payment plans or me and updated my social media for work. She’s going to make one heck of an office administrator one day. I paid her in doughnuts. Want one?”

“Uh, no, but thanks,” Roger said.

Tate leaned over and gave Briar a quick kiss on the cheek. “I need to get home. Mom and Dad are meeting with the Realtor this afternoon. I need to run interference. Nothing I despise worse than fast-talking men trying to cheat unsuspecting people. Thanks again, Briar, and pace yourself on those doughnuts.”