“Well . . . um . . . I spoke to Avery Snowden yesterday and he sort of . . . kind of . . . mentioned that the young man, Jason Woods, the one who helped our guests, has had a tough time of it, working a backbreaking job and going to school. He’s paying for his education himself. He has bills. A lot of them. He is also taking night classes during the summer. His other friend, Stacey, is . . . um . . . in more or less the same position young Jason is in. And with all that going on, he still found time and energy to help Rosalee and Amalie. Not to mention digging into his tuition money to help them.”

“So you paid for the balance of their education. Anonymously, of course, knowing you. That’s wonderful, Annie. So why is a good deed like that bothering you?”

“Well because . . . because young Jason’s heart belongs to his friend Stacey, who works in the paint department, not our guest Rosalee. Jason considers Rosalee a friend, nothing more. No one is sure what Rosalee’s feelings are. One of Avery’s people, a female operative, wormed her way into the break room at Home Builders and posed as a new hire. Girls talk, you know how it is. The whole thing is actually a comedy of errors. Jason introduced Stacey to a guy named Jackson. They date. Stacey introduced Jason to Rosalee. They just hung out because Rosalee couldn’t really date when they were on the run. The thing is, both Stacey and Jason have a ‘thing’ as the young people say today, for each other, but for some strange reason, neither one will admit it. It’s not like the company has a policy where employees can’t date each other.”

“Uh-huh,” Myra said, wondering where all this was going.

“You see, the thing is, Myra, Rosalee wants to invite Jason to the gala Saturday evening. I don’t know if it’s just because she doesn’t want to show up without a partner or if she actually cares for Jason or cares for him on another level.”

“And this is your problem, why?”

“Well, now that you ask, Miss Smart-Ass Rutledge Martin Sutcliff, I had Dennis all picked out for Rosalee. They would be perfect together. And don’t tell me you disagree either because I won’t believe you. It’s like Amalie is going to be so perfect for Jack Sparrow. They just don’t know it yet. I need to work on that,” Annie fretted.

“You’re meddling, Annie.”

“I am. I admit it. I need help, Myra.”

Myra clapped her hands. “I thought you’d never ask. Sit down and let’s plot out a . . . whatever it is we can do.”