Annie's Rainbow - Fern Michaels [99]
Was she overreacting to Parker’s announcement about his nephew? It wasn’t the end of the world. What was it her father always said when they were children and things went wrong? Ah yes, we need to be thankful we have a roof over our heads, food on the table, and our health. For some reason, back then, those words had sounded important to her childish mind. Now they were just words even though they were true. She had all those things plus much more. She had her brother, two nephews and a niece she adored, two wonderful friends, and a godchild she loved dearly. And the money from the bank robbery—every penny of it, plus interest—was paid back, as of yesterday.
Annie was on her way to the bathroom when a knock sounded on her door. She frowned as she stood on her toes to look through the little glass hole. “Stella!” She couldn’t open the door fast enough. “What are you doing here?”
“I don’t know what I’m doing here. I had this feeling. Joe says he thinks I’m psychic sometimes. He could be right. I tune in to people. When I saw you this morning you looked like you did that night in Hawaii. I don’t like it when my fairy godmother is miserable, and I know you’re miserable. Why else would you pick this dump to stay in? You probably just stopped at the nearest hotel and hoped for the best. Right?”
“More or less.” Annie grinned.
“I don’t know the area very well yet, but I do know where they have good pizza and the beer is cold. They have other stuff, too, if you don’t like pizza. Joe is home with a stomachache. He ate six eclairs and a meatball sub. I don’t feel the least bit sorry for him. Besides, it was his idea for me to come here. I would have come anyway, it just makes it more official when a married couple agrees,” Stella said breathlessly.
“Okay.”
“So are you going to tell me what’s wrong? I swear to you, Annie, I will never tell a soul, not even Joe. I’d like to help you if there’s anything I can do. We owe you so much. I still can’t believe you picked us of all the people in the world, to come here and take over the Daisy Shops. Joe just loves it, and the best part is the college kids love him. Joe just loves to shoot the breeze. He’s one of those guys who can talk about anything to anybody. I swear, I don’t know how that happened. He’s just so smart. I’m just average. He should have gone to college, but his parents wanted him in that damn garage. I’m ready if you are. Do you think I talk too much?”
“No. I like listening to you. Sometimes I don’t think I talk enough. Conversation is an art form, I guess. I never mastered it.”
The two women made small talk until they arrived at Dominic’s in Avenel. When they were seated with frosty beer bottles in front of them, Stella said, “Now tell me what’s wrong? Did something happen to that guy in Hawaii? He was one cool dude, Annie.”
“He asked me to marry him. I said yes.”
“Well, we need to drink a toast to that!” Stella said, clinking her beer bottle against the one in Annie’s hand.
“I sent him a Federal Express letter breaking it off two days ago.”
Stella waved away the waitress and set her beer bottle down carefully. “What am I missing here?”
“A long story.”
“I have all night. Before I forget, I want to tell you Joe went to the library here at Rutgers and read up on everything that was ever printed about you. We kind of view you as our own personal guardian angel the way you came out of the blue and did all this good stuff for us. We think it’s just great that you were voted Businesswoman of the Year three times. You do all that good stuff for people no one knows about. Somebody had to do some heavy digging to .come up with all those words they wrote about you. That must make you feel really good. It was easier after reading all that to understand why