1105 Yakima Street - Debbie Macomber [31]
Miranda knew she should give Will the privacy he’d requested but felt an almost overwhelming need to comfort him. “Will,” she said softly, moving a few feet into his office. “Is there anything I can do?”
He kept his eyes lowered and shook his head. “I have no one to blame but myself.”
“Tell me what happened,” she urged, wondering why he was so upset if there was no new crisis with his mother. She struggled to hide her feelings for him. Admittedly those feelings alternated between annoyance and attraction, but there were times, such as right now, when she realized how deeply she cared about Will. He was vain, supercilious, pompous and a hundred other adjectives she could think of. On the other hand, he was intelligent and witty, a talented businessman, devoted to his family and kind to animals. Not to mention good-looking in a dignified but still sexy way.
“I ran into Tanni Bliss,” Will muttered. “Shirley was in California last weekend.”
“So I heard.”
Will’s head shot up. “You knew?”
He asked the question as though she’d personally betrayed him by keeping the information to herself.
“Well, yes. Shirley and I are good friends.”
“You might’ve told me.” His eyes snapped with irritation.
Miranda planted one hand on her hip. “And why would I do that?”
“You know how I feel about Shirley.”
She looked up at the ceiling and rolled her eyes. “You have got to be kidding me. Shirley is no more interested in you than…than the man in the moon. You’re a smart boy. You should’ve figured that out by now.”
“I’m the one who introduced her to Larry Knight.” He jammed his index finger against his chest. “I met her first and—”
“Shirley isn’t a prize marble,” Miranda countered swiftly. “Are you so egotistical that you can’t accept the fact that not every woman in the universe is going to fall in love with you?”
He glared at her and said, “Then I guess you’ll be happy to know Larry proposed.”
As it happened, she was. “Shirley told me. So who told you? Larry?”
“No, Tanni. Like I said,” he returned pointedly, “I ran into her at the bank and she said she and her mother had a—” he made quotation marks in the air “—‘fabulous time’ with Larry and his children. When they got there, Larry asked Tanni and her brother if they had any objections to him as their stepfather. And now…they’re engaged.”
Miranda smiled delightedly, although she wondered whether Shirley would move to California. She felt a little forlorn at the prospect of not having her best friend close by anymore.
“I feel like I’ve been kicked in the gut,” Will said.
“Oh, for crying out loud, get over it.”
Will seemed shocked that anyone would speak to him in such a derogatory tone of voice. “I beg your pardon?”
“You heard me. Get off your pity pot. If you think Shirley was ever interested in you, then you’re delusional.”
Will got to his feet and placed both hands on the edge of his desk. Leaning forward, he demanded, “And you know this because…”
“Because she told me so herself.”
“I don’t believe it.”
“Believe what you want. You aren’t the right man for Shirley. She recognized it from the start. Unfortunately, you didn’t.”
“Then why did she go out with me?”
That was a no-brainer. “Gratitude. You helped Shaw get into art school and she felt she owed you. That’s the only reason she agreed to a couple of dates. They didn’t mean anything—at least not to her.”
“Are you always this…” He seemed to fumble for the right word.
“Correct?” she supplied.
His eyes narrowed and his ears grew red. “I was thinking more along the lines of smart alec.”
“Well, smart is true enough. I was at the top of my class,” she bragged. “By the way, did you notice the Chandler sold while you were out?”
Will brightened considerably. “Hey, that’s great! I didn’t even look.”
“Yes, to a new customer who recently moved here. Veronica Vanderhuff wants to decorate her home with work by local artists and the first piece in her collection is the watercolor.”
Will wore a smug, know-it-all look. “I told you that wall was the perfect place to display it. The Chandler was the first thing she saw