Ask Anyone

“Excellent,” Jenna conceded.

“It was okay,” the girl muttered, her scowl firmly in place.

“Darcy, don’t be rude to Mr. Spencer,” Jenna chided. “By the way, Bobby, this is my daughter, Darcy.”

“I can see the resemblance,” he said with a pointed glance at the girl’s hairdo.

“It was a little experiment that went awry,” Jenna explained.

“I like it,” Darcy insisted. She turned to Bobby. “Is there anything to do here?”

Bobby studied her with an assessing look. “How old are you? Ten? Twelve?”

“Nine,” Jenna said.

“Then at this hour of the night, there is nothing for you to do,” Bobby said.

“Normally she wouldn’t be out this late,” Jenna said defensively. “But I couldn’t leave her at the hotel by herself, and you were the one who refused to talk to me earlier in the evening.”

Bobby could have debated endlessly who was at fault for the late meeting, but right now he needed to concentrate on preventing that meeting between Jenna and his sister. “Why don’t we get together tomorrow?” he suggested. “Say, around noon. I’ll take you on a tour of the waterfront area.”

Immediate interest sparked in Jenna’s eyes, but faded almost as quickly. “You know I’m supposed to meet your sister at noon, don’t you?”

He feigned ignorance. “Really?”

“Oh, don’t try that with me. I know Walker couldn’t wait to run into the kitchen to warn you.”

“So, what’s it going to be? Are you more interested in lunch with Daisy or in seeing the land I’m planning to develop?”