A hum escaped her grandmother. “And now tell me about this nonsense with Danielle. Bill told me she bought a bar a few months back and not a coffee bar. And why do you of all people care about this? That is below your standing.”

Maybe this once she might have agreed with her grandmother, but it was the right thing to do. Especially given the fact that she didn’t really have a choice where to work at this point. And working seemed to be a must for this plan to succeed. “You didn’t want to give me a job at Fielding Inc., so what did you expect me to do?” Trying to sound sincere, she added, “I just couldn’t stand sitting around doing nothing any longer.”

Breathing filtered through the line. Then Grandmother Eileen said, “However, I don’t think that a bar is the right place for you.”

“It’s a coffee bar, Grandmother.”

“Whatever that is. But you doing anything productive at all is an improvement, I guess.”

That was what she had to say to this? How could she have ever thought her grandmother would give her a position at Fielding Inc.? What do you care? It’s not like you want to spend your days in a stuffy office anyway.

“So, until tomorrow then.”

“Yes, Grandmother.” Madison spoke to herself, as Grandmother Eileen had already hung up.

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

»Krgh…phoo…krgh…phoo…«

Sherry buried her face deep into her pillow.

»Krgh…phoo…krgh…phoo…«

Argh! Slowly, she peeked from under the pillow to the bedside clock on the nightstand. A few minutes after three a.m.

»Krgh…phoo…krgh…phoo…«

How could a single human being snore so loudly? Sherry stared over to Rita Mae, who turned from her back to Sherry’s side.

A noise somewhere between a grunting and taking a breath rattled through the darkness before the snoring continued in its obnoxious rhythm.

Sherry hid her head under the pillow once more to drown out the noise. To no avail. God knew, she was used to not getting much sleep, but with how this was going, she wasn’t about to get any.

»Krgh…phoo…krgh…phoo…«

Enough! Sherry sat up, grabbed her pillow and the extra blanket lying on the foot of the bed, and fled Rita Mae’s room. When the door was closed, the silence was heavenly.

But then the muted snoring penetrated through the door. Wow. No wonder, I couldn’t sleep.

Drowsy, she lumbered to the living room and cleared some decorative pillows from the couch. Afterward, she tried to get comfortable—or at least as comfortable as the cold leather couch allowed. Even at five foot six, she had to bend her legs to fit. She would have expected Madison to have a bigger couch.