There would have been absolutely no way to have missed her, Nik thought. "Yes, I did."
Sam pulled on his chin. Day-old white bristles poked out all along the bottom half of his face, pointy and sharp like the spines of a bristled porcupine.
"It was okay, my letting her in, then?" Sam yanked a little more on his chin as he looked uncertainly at Nik from beneath s.h.a.ggy brows.
Nik was suddenly reluctant to give his tacit approval. He didn"t want Sara"s early-morning appearance to become a habit. He had no intentions of sharing breakfast with her every day. This was the time of day when tranquillity was supposed to reign supreme and he was allowed to enjoy his domain in peace and quiet. Still, he didn"t want to make Sam feel as if he"d done something wrong, either. Sam tended to be on the sensitive side.
"Frankly, Sam, I don"t quite see how you could have stopped her."
Sam took that to be a yes. He nodded his head toward the rear of the building. "I just come to tell you that Ms. Harriet "s here."
Nik placed his fork next to the plate and rose. "All right, tell her that I set the breads aside for her in the back office. Everything else is in the walk-in. I"ll help her out to the van with it when she"s ready."
Given the choice of the omelet or following Nik, Sara opted to satisfy her curiosity. She was off her stool and had caught up to Nik in a few quick strides.
"Do you do this every day?" He looked at her, confused Was she talking about breakfast? "Give away food?" she clarified.
Nik opened the walk-in and left it that way. He moved to the rear and felt the temperature drop. "Yes."
Sara nodded her approval. "Good thinking. it"s a h.e.l.l of a write-off."
Was that what she thought? That he was doing it for tax reasons? Was she the type of person who only did something if it benefited her? Nik had never cared for self-serving people. And he definitely didn"t care for being thought of in that light.
"I don"t do this for a write-off."
The annoyance in his voice didn"t stop her. Sara didn"t know exactly why, but somehow she"d known he was going to say that. And she was glad he had. "Charitable impulses ? "
He pulled out a large cardboard box filled with yesterday "s pastries.
Let them eat cake, he thought cryptically. But there were more substantial items to accompany the pastries, and everyone should be allowed to indulge a sweet tooth once in a while.
"I don"t like anyone to go hungry, even if they can"t leave a sizable tip at the end of the meal." He fairly growled out the words, not enjoying having his motives examined under a microscope. He gestured toward the counter. "Don"t you have an omelet to finish?"
There was a distinct edge to his voice. Maybe she"d satisfy her curiosity about Harri and the mission food another day. Giving Nik a smart salute, she retreated. "Yes, I certainly do."
The pain in his neck was gone, Nik thought as he turned his back on Sara, but the one in another region of his body was obviously just beginning.
"You look like you"ve been dumped right in the middle of a blizzard."
With a page in each hand, Sara looked up to see who was addressing her.
There were columns and scribbled entries dancing in her head.
Jennifer was on the other side of the room with Katie. They looked as if they had been there for a while. Sara hadn"t even heard them come in or walk by her.
She dropped the papers on the desk. "How long have you been here? "
Jennifer grinned as she finished fixing Katie"s braid, which had come undone. "Oh, long enough to hear you mumbling to yourself about the messes some people got themselves into."
Sara flushed, wondering if Jennifer had taken offense. "That long, huh? I didn"t mean that the way it sounded." She looked down at the multicolored folders spread out all over her desk. There were many more housed within the top two drawers of the file cabinet. "It"s just that this has got to be the most creative accounting system I"ve ever seen outside of a courtroom ."
Jennifer picked up a file. She knew exactly how Sara felt. "Most of this is Nik"s own way of keeping track. Once a month Julia used to sit down and try to make heads or tails of his system. After she left, I got the wonderful task."
She flipped open the file and took a deep breath. It wasn"t fair to have Sara tackling this all on her own right from the start. It would take hours to unscramble Nik"s notations. "I could sit down and "
Ginger popped her head into the office, glancing at Sara curiously.
"Jennifer, Mrs. Lorenzo"s on line one about tomorrow "s dinner party."
She grinned at Sara. "Hi, I"m Ginger. You re new. "
"Yes, I know." Sara laughed.
Jennifer glanced toward the telephone. She couldn"t wait until the Lorenzo catering job was behind ;ier. Mrs. Lorenzo called on a daily basis to change her mind about every detail. " " Sara"s here to reconstruct everything on those discs Nik blew up. "
Ginger looked at Sara sympathetically. "Lots of luck." Ginger pointed toward the telephone. "Line one," she reminded
Jennifer, then ducked out again.
Katie reached for the telephone. Jennifer just managed to place her hand on the receiver first. Jennifer looked at Sara apologetically.
"That"s all right," Sara a.s.sured her. She"d been at this for over three hours now and was actually making some headway " " I think I can probably work my way backward from some of the older files and data discs. " q
As Jennifer picked up the receiver, Sara dug in again.
Twenty minutes later Jennifer hung up. Before her was a rather extensive list of last-minute changes that Mrs. Lorenzo had requested for her fiftieth wedding anniversary party. Jennifer"s ear felt flattened. Mrs. Lorenzo had changed her mind about the main course.
Again. And there were more waitresses to recruit now. Mrs. Lorenzo had informed her that twenty more people were being invited. She had calls to make and people to see. Still, Jennifer felt guilty about leaving Sara to cope with this paper storm all on her own.
Torn, Jennifer glanced toward the doorway and saw Nik standing there with a tray. Silently Jennifer moved toward her daughter and watched the scene unfold.
It was obvious to Jennifer that Sara was oblivious to Nik"s presence as she sat, making notes on a large yellow pad. The woman appeared to be valiantly attempting to arrange the different files into piles that could be cross-referenced between inventory and accounting.
And it was just as obvious that Nik felt awkward about what he was doing. He had a determined set to his jaw that made him look as if he was about to enter a boxing ring.
Nik slid the tray onto the desk, nudging aside several folders. One opened and fell to the floor, a flurry of papers. .h.i.tting the beige carpet.
Sara looked up, surprised. "You trying to make this job impossible? "
With a sigh she bent to pick up the papers.
Nik joined her on the floor. With a swipe of his hands he collected all the sheets in a single, jumbled mess. "Don"t get smart. That was an accident." He deposited the papers on the desk. Sara debated throwing them into the trash, then calmed down.
"I just brought you something to eat," he muttered needlessly.
There was a salad, a cup of coffee and, as she lifted the lid on the center dish, a succulent offering of sliced lamb with baby carrots and baby peas. She replaced the lid. "What, no dessert?"
He lifted a brow. "Sugar tends to make you sluggish in the long run."
"Never happen," she a.s.sured him. She nodded at the tray, curious.
"Isn"t this service a little above and beyond the call of duty?"
He didn"t want her making more out of it than it was. If he was being honest with himself he wasn"t sure what had prompted him to throw together a tray for Sara when he"d realized that she hadn"t come in for anything to eat. It certainly wasn"t because she looked as if she needed someone to take care of her.
Nik was already edging his way out of the room. "Just eat. You haven"t taken a break or eaten anything since you sat down here after breakfast "