“Well, who will watch your door if I do that?”

Jillian assured her, “I think I can survive a few minutes on my own.”

“I don’t like it,” said Lara.

“I’ll be sure to note that on your next employee evaluation.”

“Thank you.” Lara grabbed her purse and a camera bag from under her desk and walked out of the waiting room, locking the door behind her.

“She is going to have an ulcer before she’s thirty,” said Dani.

“Sorry. I know it’s a hassle every time you need to talk to me,” said Jillian. “Maybe we can set up some sort of cup and string system between our offices. Or, you know, email, like normal people.”

“This felt like a conversation that needed to happen face-to-face.”

“Is it about the thing with Zed the other day?” Jillian asked.

Dani gasped. “He told you about that?”

Jillian snickered. “No, but you’ve both been acting like a couple of scalded hens around each other. So I figure it had to be something sexual or Zed caught you in some sort of blood-letting ritual.”

“Sometimes hanging around someone who is trained in the art of observing people is a real pain in the ass,” Dani sighed.

Jillian blushed prettily. “Every once in a while, I need to practice my skills. So, as much as I appreciate the anthropological workout and you stirring up my already high-strung receptionist, what brings you by?”

Dani realized she’d already lost the plot in terms of approaching Jillian in a professional manner, considering she’d all but admitted to boning the mayor, potentially creating a tense situation between League and parish officials. So she did her best to recover some dignity by using her calmest voice to ask, “I just wanted to double check. The terms of my contract. They’re not changing, correct?”

Jillian frowned, her shoulders straightening. “No, one thing the League takes very serious is contracts. Once we sign them, they’re iron-clad as long as you fulfill the terms of your service. Why do you ask?”

Dani opened her mouth to lodge a detailed complaint about Maureen Sherman and her condescending invasion, but somehow just couldn’t make words come out of her mouth. Suddenly, she felt like she’d overreacted, shoving her way into Jillian’s office, upsetting Lara. Not to mention the slip-up revealing her . . . Zed issue. This had been an overreaction, based in panic. And now she felt like a colossal idiot.

Jillian groaned. “Is this about the other contractor horning in on your space? The redhead?”

Dani’s mouth opened and closed, a bit like a giant fish. Maybe she wasn’t a colossal idiot after all. “Yeah, it is.”